Exploring risk factors and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns associated with bacteriuria among Syrian refugees in makeshift camps.

Background: The health and well-being of refugees are critically compromised by harsh living conditions, which foster the emergence of infectious diseases and the misuse of antimicrobial agents. This multicentre cross-sectional community-based study investigated the prevalence of urine carriage of bacteria and the associated antimicrobial resistance patterns among Syrian refugees living in makeshift camps in Lebanon, an East Mediterranean country.

Methods: We used multivariable logistic regression models to identify the risk factors associated with bacteriuria in this vulnerable population.

A Cross-Sectional Study Revealed a Low Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Asymptomatic University Students in Tripoli, North Lebanon.

This study aimed to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence among >18-year-old students in the Faculty of Public Health and Faculty of Sciences at the Lebanese University in Tripoli, Northern Lebanon, in June 2023 and to characterize the circulating Omicron subvariants. Out of 357 participants, only 2 (0.56%) tested positive by qPCR, corresponding to 0.

Spotlight on the epidemiology and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of species in the MENA region, 2000-2023.

Recent cholera outbreaks in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have raised public health concerns and focused attention on the genus . However, the epidemiology of species in humans, water, and seafood is often anecdotal in this region. In this review, we screened the literature and provided a comprehensive assessment of the distribution and antibiotic resistance properties of species in different clinical and environmental samples in the region.

An unusual two-strain cholera outbreak in Lebanon, 2022-2023: a genomic epidemiology study.

Cholera is a life-threatening gastrointestinal infection caused by a toxigenic bacterium, Vibrio cholerae. After a lull of almost 30 years, a first case of cholera was detected in Lebanon in October 2022. The outbreak lasted three months, with 8007 suspected cases (671 laboratory-confirmed) and 23 deaths.

Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 anti-Spike antibody levels and breakthrough infection risk among vaccinated adults in North Lebanon.

Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has swiftly propagated, triggering a competitive race among medical firms to forge vaccines that thwart the infection. Lebanon initiated its vaccination campaign on February 14, 2021. Despite numerous studies conducted to elucidate the characteristics of immune responses elicited by vaccination, the topic remains unclear.

The occurrence of the carbapenemase gene, bla, on a transmissible IncX3 plasmid in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from a farm dog.

Objectives: In-depth phenotypic and genomic analyses on a carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli isolate, recovered from the faeces of a farm dog in Lebanon, focusing on its antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns and the underlying resistome.

Methods: E. coli strain EC-106 was identified using MALDI-TOF-MS.

Genomic analysis of isolates from Lebanon reveals marked genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance.

In this study, we characterized 54 clinical isolates of collected in North Lebanon between 2009 and 2017 through phenotypic and genomic analyses. The most prevalent serogroup was accounting for 46.3 % (25/54) of the isolates, followed by (27.

The emergence of carbapenemase-producing in hospitals: a major challenge for a debilitated healthcare system in Lebanon.

Background: Carbapenem- and extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant (CR-E and ESCR-E, respectively) are increasingly isolated worldwide. Information about these bacteria is sporadic in Lebanon and generally relies on conventional diagnostic methods, which is detrimental for a country that is struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis and a collapsing public health system. Here, CR-E isolates from different Lebanese hospitals were characterized.

Parasitic Contamination of Fresh Leafy Green Vegetables Sold in Northern Lebanon.

Contaminated, raw or undercooked vegetables can transmit parasitic infections. Here, we investigated parasitic contamination of leafy green vegetables sold in local markets in the Tripoli district, Lebanon, during two consecutive autumn seasons (2020-2021). The study involved the microscopic examination of 300 samples of five different types of vegetables (60 samples per type) and used standardized qualitative parasitological techniques for some protozoa and helminths.

Prevalence of Latent Tuberculosis Infection among Patients Undergoing Regular Hemodialysis in Disenfranchised Communities: A Multicenter Study during COVID-19 Pandemic.

: Due to their weakened immune response, hemodialysis (HD) patients with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) are at higher risk for active tuberculosis (TB) disease and are more subject to patient-to-patient transmission within dialysis units. Consequently, current guidelines advocate screening these patients for LTBI. To our knowledge, the epidemiology of LTBI in HD patients has never been examined before in Lebanon.

The indelible toll of enteric pathogens: Prevalence, clinical characterization, and seasonal trends in patients with acute community-acquired diarrhea in disenfranchised communities.

Background: There is little information on the epidemiology of enteric pathogens in Lebanon, a low- and middle-income country that suffers from a myriad of public health challenges. To address this knowledge gap, we aimed to assess the prevalence of enteric pathogens, identify risk factors and seasonal variations, and describe associations between pathogens among diarrheic patients in the Lebanese community.

Methodology And Principal Findings: A multicenter cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in the north of Lebanon.

The Role of Lebanon in the COVID-19 Butterfly Effect: The B.1.398 Example.

In the present study, we provide a retrospective genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Lebanon; we newly sequence the viral genomes of 200 nasopharyngeal samples collected between July 2020 and February 2021 from patients in different regions of Lebanon and from travelers crossing the Lebanese-Syrian border, and we also analyze the Lebanese genomic dataset available at GISAID. Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 infections in Lebanon during this period were shaped by the turnovers of four dominant SARS-CoV-2 lineages, with B.1.

High rates of macrolide and fluoroquinolone resistance in human campylobacteriosis in the Middle East and North Africa.

is one of the main causative agents of bacterial gastrointestinal infections. Recently, a rise in the incidence of campylobacteriosis has been reported worldwide. Despite the clinical importance of this zoonotic disease, its microbiological diagnosis is not systematically performed in clinical laboratories in developing countries such as the Middle East and North Africa region.

The Emergence and Dissemination of Multidrug Resistant in Lebanon: Current Status and Challenges during the Economic Crisis.

is a common cause of healthcare-associated infections and chronic airway diseases in non-clinical settings. is intrinsically resistant to a variety of antimicrobials and has the ability to acquire resistance to others, causing increasingly recalcitrant infections and elevating public health concerns. We reviewed the literature on multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolated from humans (nosocomial and community-associated), animals, and the environment in Lebanon, a country that has been suffering from a surge in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

A global snapshot on the prevalent macrolide-resistant emm types of Group A Streptococcus worldwide, their phenotypes and their resistance marker genotypes during the last two decades: A systematic review.

Watchful epidemiological surveillance of macrolide-resistant Group A Streptococcus (MRGAS) clones is important owing to the evolutionary and epidemiological dynamic of GAS. Meanwhile, data on the global distribution of MRGAS emm types according to macrolide resistance phenotypes and genotypes are scant and need to be updated. For this, the present systematic review analyses a global set of extensively characterized MRGAS isolates from patients of diverse ages and clinical presentations over approximately two decades (2000 to 2020) and recaps the peculiar epidemiological features of the dominant MRGAS clones.

Population structure analysis and laboratory monitoring of Shigella by core-genome multilocus sequence typing.

The laboratory surveillance of bacillary dysentery is based on a standardised Shigella typing scheme that classifies Shigella strains into four serogroups and more than 50 serotypes on the basis of biochemical tests and lipopolysaccharide O-antigen serotyping. Real-time genomic surveillance of Shigella infections has been implemented in several countries, but without the use of a standardised typing scheme. Here, we study over 4000 reference strains and clinical isolates of Shigella, covering all serotypes, with both the current serotyping scheme and the standardised EnteroBase core-genome multilocus sequence typing scheme (cgMLST).

Historical, current, and emerging tools for identification and serotyping of Shigella.

The Shigella genus includes serious foodborne disease etiologic agents, with 4 species and 54 serotypes. Identification at species and serotype levels is a crucial task in microbiological laboratories. Nevertheless, the genetic similarity between Shigella spp.

Enterococcus faecium CMUL1216 an Immunobiotic Strain with a Potential Application in Animal Sector.

Antibiotic misuse in the animal sector is the first cause of the emergence and spreading of MDR bacteria. Prevention of infectious diseases and enhancement of animal growth are the main effects of antibiotics that push farmers and veterinarians to use this molecule in animal farms. Thus, the use of alternative solutions such as natural antimicrobial substances as well as probiotic strains is a crucial need in this sector.

sp. Prevalence and Subtypes Distribution amongst Syrian Refugee Communities Living in North Lebanon.

Molecular data concerning the prevalence and subtype (ST) distribution of the intestinal parasite sp. remain scarce in the Middle East. Accordingly, we performed the first molecular epidemiological survey ever conducted in the Syrian population.