Gram negative anaerobe susceptibility testing in clinical isolates using Sensititre and Etest methods.

Gram negative anaerobic organisms are important pathogens in a range of clinical infections, and susceptibility testing is not commonly performed in the microbiology laboratory. We performed anaerobic susceptibility testing on 70 clinically relevant Gram negative anaerobes isolated from routine cultures in a busy diagnostic laboratory which were identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The susceptibility testing was performed by two methods: Sensititre trays (ThermoFisher Scientific) against 15 different antibiotics, and Etests (bioMérieux) against five clinically relevant antibiotics (metronidazole, piperacillin-tazobactam, amoxicillin-clavulanate, meropenem and clindamycin).

Induction of inflammatory responses from THP-1 cells by cell-free filtrates from clinical isolates of Alloiococcus otitidis.

In our model system using the THP-1 monocytic cell line, whole heat-killed cells of Alloiococcus otitidis elicited several pro-inflammatory cytokines identified in ear effusions of children with otitis media (OM). Levels of these cytokines were equivalent to or greater than those elicited by a standard Gram-positive otopathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae. The current study examined the hypothesis that extracellular material produced by A.

In vitro inflammatory responses elicited by isolates of Alloiococcus otitidis obtained from children with otitis media with effusion.

Alloiococcus otitidis is usually detected in children with otitis media (OM) by PCR as it is not often detected by routine culture. Our improved method for its isolation obtained A. otitidis from nearly 50% of 78 children with OM with effusion.

Marked host specificity and lack of phylogeographic population structure of Campylobacter jejuni in wild birds.

Zoonotic pathogens often infect several animal species, and gene flow among populations infecting different host species may affect the biological traits of the pathogen including host specificity, transmissibility and virulence. The bacterium Campylobacter jejuni is a widespread zoonotic multihost pathogen, which frequently causes gastroenteritis in humans. Poultry products are important transmission vehicles to humans, but the bacterium is common in other domestic and wild animals, particularly birds, which are a potential infection source.