Culture-negative endocarditis due to Bartonella quintana.

Bartonella spp. was first described as a possible cause of culture-negative endocarditis in 1993, and has since emerged as a significant cause of this condition worldwide. We describe a complicated case of culture-negative endocarditis in an immune-competent male patient, which was confirmed on resected heart valves to have been caused by Bartonella quintana by broad-range 16S ribosomal RNA polymerase chain reaction.

Characteristics of infections caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli from community hospitals in South Africa.

A study was designed to characterize 22 nonrepeat extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli clinical isolates recovered from specimens originating from doctor's consultation rooms and several private and a state hospital in the Cape Town metropolitan area during 2008-2009. Characterization was done by using isoelectric focusing, PCR, sequencing of bla(CTX-M), bla(TEM), bla(SHV), and bla(OXA) as well as PCR for plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance determinants, ST131, phylogenetic groups, and plasmid replicon typing. Genetic relatedness was determined with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis using XbaI and multilocus sequencing typing.