Interim analysis of a 3-year follow-up study of NS5A and NS3 resistance-associated substitutions after treatment with grazoprevir-containing regimens in participants with chronic HCV infection.

Background: In HCV-infected people who fail to achieve sustained virological response after receiving a direct-acting antiviral regimen, virological failure is almost always accompanied by the presence of resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) in the target protein(s). The aim of this long-term observational study was to evaluate the persistence of NS3/4A and NS5A RASs in participants with genotype (GT) 1 infection who relapsed following treatment with a grazoprevir-containing treatment regimen.

Methods: RASs were evaluated at baseline (that is, pre-dose on day 1 of the original treatment), at the time of virological failure, and up to follow-up week 96.

Central venous catheter-related blood stream infections in children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant for primary immunodeficiency and other nonmalignant disorders.

A single-center experience of catheter-related blood stream infections in children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant for primary immunodeficiency is described. The rate of definite central venous catheter infections was 5.31/1000 line days.

A novel chromogenic medium for isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the sputa of cystic fibrosis patients.

Background: A novel chromogenic medium for isolation and identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from sputa of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients was evaluated and compared with standard laboratory methods.

Methods: One hundred sputum samples from distinct CF patients were cultured onto blood agar (BA), Pseudomonas CN selective agar (CN) and a Pseudomonas chromogenic medium (PS-ID). All Gram-negative morphological variants from each medium were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and identification using a combination of biochemical and molecular methods.

Contamination of the hospital environment with gastroenteric viruses: comparison of two pediatric wards over a winter season.

The aims of this study were to examine the extent of gastroenteric virus contamination in a pediatric primary immunodeficiency (PPI) ward and a general pediatric ward over a winter season and to determine whether changes to hospital infection control interventions would have an impact on environmental contamination levels within pediatric units. Environmental swabs were collected weekly from 11 sites in both wards from 15 December 2005 to 3 March 2006 and examined for the presence of norovirus (NoV), astrovirus, and rotavirus (RV) by reverse transcriptase PCR. Viruses were detected in 17% and 19% of swabs from both wards.

Comparison of BD GeneOhm real-time polymerase chain reaction with chromogenic and conventional culture methods for detection of group B Streptococcus in clinical samples.

A total of 200 antenatal high vaginal swabs were screened for the presence of group B Streptococcus (GBS) using a conventional culture method (recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Screening was also performed by using a new chromogenic agar, chromID Strepto B, and by using the BD GeneOhm StrepB real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which was performed directly on swabs without enrichment. Using a combination of all methods, we detected GBS in 101 samples.

Recovery of antimicrobial-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from sputa of cystic fibrosis patients by culture on selective media.

Objectives: To assess the utility of direct plating of whole sputa onto selective media as a means of identifying antimicrobial resistance in strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the sputa of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Methods: A total of 45 sputum samples from CF patients were cultured onto conventional culture media for isolation of P. aeruginosa and were also cultured directly onto Iso-Sensitest agar plates containing each of 10 antimicrobials incorporated at a 'breakpoint' concentration.

Environmental monitoring for gastroenteric viruses in a pediatric primary immunodeficiency unit.

The aim of this study was to determine if gastroenteric viruses were present on surfaces and equipment in a pediatric primary immunodeficiency unit (PPIU) by environmental sampling using swabs and subsequent nucleic acid extraction and reverse transcriptase PCR assays. A PPIU was chosen, and 11 swabs were taken at the same sites every 2 weeks for 6 months. Nested/heminested PCR assays were used to screen for astroviruses (AsV), noroviruses (NoV), and rotaviruses (RV).

Use of a heminested reverse transcriptase PCR assay for detection of astrovirus in environmental swabs from an outbreak of gastroenteritis in a pediatric primary immunodeficiency unit.

An outbreak of astrovirus gastroenteritis occurred in the Primary Immunodeficiency Unit at Newcastle General Hospital in March 2004. Environmental swabbing of the unit was undertaken after the outbreak, with multiple sites swabbed pre- and postcleaning. Astroviruses were detected in four environmental swabs and from two patient fecal samples using heminested reverse transcriptase PCR.

Detection of pneumolysin in sputum.

Western blot detection of the species-specific pneumococcal product, pneumolysin (SPN), was shown to be almost as sensitive as PCR for the non-cultural detection of pneumococci in 27 Streptococcus pneumoniae culture-positive sputa from patients stated to have chest infections. Both techniques were considerably more sensitive than counter-current immuno-electrophoresis for pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide antigens (CPS-CIE) on the same specimens. Sensitivities for PCR, SPN-immunoblotting and CPS-CIE were 100%, 85% and 67%, respectively.