[Surveillance of antituberculosis-drug resistance in Cuba, 2010-2011].

Introduction: Antituberculosis-drug resistance surveillance is very important to identify multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of resistance in M. tuberculosis strains isolated between 2010 and 2011, and to demonstrate the laboratory performance in the external quality control of drug susceptibility testing.

[Surveillance of resistance to antitubercular drugs in Cuba, 2000-2009].

Objective: Determine the prevalence of resistance to antitubercular drugs in Cuba in the 2000-2009 decade.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. The sample group consisted of 2,285 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates obtained from throughout the country in the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2009.

[Antimicrobial susceptibility and genetic bases for resistance of infection-causing Enterococcus strains in Cuba].

Objective: To identify infection-causing Enterococcus species in Cuban hospitals and determine their susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs, as well as their resistance mechanisms.

Methods: A total of 687 Enterococcus isolates from 30 Cuban hospitals in nine provinces of the country were studied over the period 2000-2009. The species were identified using both the conventional method and the automatic API(®) system.

Low prevalence of Helicobacter pylori among symptomatic children from a hospital in Havana, Cuba.

The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and to introduce a new algorithm to improve its diagnosis in Cuban symptomatic children. One hundred and thirty-three consecutive children with upper gastrointestinal symptoms were studied. Patients were endoscoped and antral biopsies were obtained for rapid urease test (RUT), culture and histology.

Phenotypic and genetic characterization of antimicrobial profiles of Helicobacter pylori strains in Cuba.

The study evaluated the antibiotic resistance patterns of Helicobacter pylori strains against metronidazole and clarithromycin in a hospital in Havana, Cuba. Eighty-five percent, 22.5%, and 10% of 40 H.

Molecular characterization of adenoviral infections in Cuba: report of an unusual association of species D adenoviruses with different clinical syndromes.

Adenoviruses are common pathogens that are responsible for a wide variety of infectious syndromes. The objectives of this study were to identify and characterize members of different adenovirus species at the molecular level and to describe the correlation between viruses and clinical syndromes during a period of 4 years. Between 2002 and 2006, 45 of 512 respiratory specimens (8%) from patients with acute respiratory tract infection tested positive for adenovirus.

First report on fatal myocarditis associated with adenovirus infection in Cuba.

Myocarditis is caused frequently by viral infections of the myocardium. In the past, enteroviruses (EV) were considered the most common cause of myocarditis in all age groups. Other viruses that cause myocarditis are adenovirus and influenza viruses.

[Microbiological characterization of non-O1 Vibrio cholerae isolated in Cuba].

The study of 422 non-01 Vibrio cholerae strains from nine provinces, 9 of them isolated from a water-borne disease outbreak, was performed. All the strains exhibited antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence factors. The nine strains from the outbreak were subjected to a DNA macrorestriction study based on the pulsed field electrophoresis technique.

[Study of phenotypical and antimicrobial susceptibility markers in enteric Escherichia coli strains].

Forty strains of Escherichia coli isolated from children under 5 years of age with acute diarreas, coming from different provinces of the country , were analyzed. Four important phenotypical determinants were tested: sorbosa, sorbitol, enterohemolysin and 0157:H7 serology, in order to select those strains from enterohemorrhagic or Shiga toxin-producing category. Likewise, they were characterized by biotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility methods.

West Nile Virus infection in humans and horses, Cuba.

A surveillance system to detect West Nile virus (WNV) was established in Cuba in 2002. WNV infection was confirmed by serologic assays in 4 asymptomatic horses and 3 humans with encephalitis in 2003 and 2004. These results are the first reported evidence of WNV activity in Cuba.

[Serological diagnosis of syphilis in Cuban HIV/AIDS patients].

The non-treponemic fast detection test of plasmatic reagines (RPR) and the treponemic hemagglutination test of Treponema pallidum were used in the detection of infection due to T. pallidum in 60 males presenting HIV/AIDS infection with clinicoepidemiological diagnosis of syphilis. It was confirmed that 30% presented recently acquired symptomatic or latent syphilis and that 10% had markers of past treated infection or of late acquired latent syphilis, whereas in the other 60% no serological reactivity was detected.

[Serological response by ELISA and MAT in Cuban volunteers vaccinated with vax SPIRAL].

The seroconversion of 408 vaccinated individuals and 135 placebo included in 2 clinical trials of the Cuban vaccine against human leptospirosis was studied. 2 vaccine doses and 5 schemes were studied. Of 38 vaccinated subjects (Phase I), 11 (29 %) seroconverted by MAT and 12 (32 %) by ELISA, whereas in 33 placebo, seroconversion was observed in 2 (6 %) and 3 (9 %), respectively.

Evaluation of four methods for detecting the beta-lactamase activity in Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated in Cuba.

Four methods (chromogenic, acidimetric, inhibition, and iodometric) for demonstration of the beta-lactamase production by 70 isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, were evaluated in Cuba. There was 100% correlation between all beta-lactamase methods and the standardized penicillin dilution susceptibility test for penicillinase-non-producing N. gonorrhoeae.

High levels of multiple antibiotic resistance among 938 Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis isolates from Cuba (1990-2002).

Objectives: A national surveillance study to determine antimicrobial susceptibility in Haemophilus influenzae type b isolated from cerebrospinal fluid was carried out in Cuba from 1990 to 2002.

Methods: Susceptibility to ampicillin, co-amoxiclav, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, co-trimoxazole, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and rifampicin was tested by the microdilution method according to the NCCLS guidelines.

Results: The 34 participating laboratories recovered 938 consecutive, non-identical isolates.

High percentages of resistance to tetracycline and penicillin and reduced susceptibility to azithromycin characterize the majority of strain types of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates in Cuba, 1995-1998.

Background: In many regions the susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates to antimicrobial agents is rarely tested. The Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (GASP) in Cuba was established as part of a larger regional GASP program to facilitate the collection and reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility data for N gonorrhoeae isolates.

Goal: The goal was to retrospectively determine the antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular epidemiology of 91 isolates of N gonorrhoeae isolated from 11 centers in Cuba.

Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in human immunodeficiency virus-infected women in Cuba.

To determine the prevalence rates and serovar distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis cervical infections in Cuban women, two different groups were selected. Group I consisted of 60 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) seropositive women from different regions of Cuba and group II of 60 randomly selected women HIV seronegative and apparently healthy. C.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Cuba (1995-1999): implications for treatment of gonorrhea.

Background: Antibiotic-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, especially those resistant to penicillin and tetracycline, have spread with remarkable rapidity in many Caribbean countries.

Goal: The goal of the study was to survey the antibiotic susceptibilities of N gonorrhoeae strains isolated from 1995 to 1999 in Cuba and to discuss the impact of antimicrobial resistance on the management of gonorrhea in the country.

Study Design: Susceptibility of the strains to penicillin, tetracycline, cefuroxime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, spectinomycin, and azithromycin were determined by an agar dilution method.