Clinical significance of Staphylococcus aureus infection in patients with chronic liver diseases.

Background: Staphylococcus aureus increasingly is recognized as an important pathogen in patients with chronic liver diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical features and the outcome of S. aureus infections in patients with chronic liver diseases.

'Neisseria skkuensis' sp. nov., isolated from the blood of a diabetic patient with a foot ulcer.

A Gram-negative bacterium was isolated from the blood of a patient with diabetes mellitus. However, it could not be identified by conventional microbiological methods, and so was characterized by phenotypic and genotypic analyses. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the strain belonged to the genus Neisseria.

A single clone of Acinetobacter baumannii, ST22, is responsible for high antimicrobial resistance rates of Acinetobacter spp. isolates that cause bacteremia and urinary tract infections in Korea.

We investigated the characteristics of a total of 96 Acinetobacter spp. isolates that were shown to cause bacteremia and urinary tract infections (UTIs) from 10 university hospitals located in various regions of Korea from November 2006 to August 2007. The antimicrobial susceptibilities of these isolates were determined using a broth microdilution method, and the species were identified using molecular identification.

Predominance of an ST11 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae clone causing bacteraemia and urinary tract infections in Korea.

To investigate the antimicrobial resistance, extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and clones of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates causing bacteraemia or urinary tract infection (UTI) in Korea, a total of 406 K. pneumoniae isolates from patients with bacteraemia (221 isolates) and UTI (185 isolates) were collected from 10 tertiary-care Korean hospitals from July 2006 to October 2007. In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for all isolates and ESBL production was tested.

Evaluation of ceftriaxone utilization at multicenter study.

Background/aims: As bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents has grown due to the increasing use of antimicrobial agents, we sought to evaluate the suitability of ceftriaxone usage (representative of third generation cephalosporins) at 10 university hospitals in Korea.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the appropriateness of antibiotic usage in 400 adult patients who received ceftriaxone between February 1, 2006 and June 30, 2006. Drug utilization evaluation (DUE) methods were based on standards set forth by the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

Dissemination of ST131 and ST393 community-onset, ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli clones causing urinary tract infections in Korea.

Objective: Ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli is growing concern in clinical settings. In this study, we investigated the distribution of virulence determinants and phylogenetic groups among community-onset, ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolates causing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in Korea.

Invasive infection caused by a community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain not carrying Panton-Valentine leukocidin in South Korea.

Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-negative, SCCmec type IVa strains are the most common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) circulating in the community in South Korea. This report describes five elderly patients presenting in 2006 to 2007 with invasive community-associated MRSA infection caused by a PVL-negative, SCCmec type IVa strain with sequence type 72 and spa type t324.

Nonclonal emergence of colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from blood samples in South Korea.

In vitro activities of colistin and other drugs were tested against 221 Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates that were collected between 2006 and 2007 in nine tertiary care South Korean hospitals from patients with bacteremia. The clonality of colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae (CRKP) isolates was assessed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

Imported malaria in Korea: a 13-year experience in a single center.

The incidence of imported malaria has been increasing in Korea. We reviewed data retrospectively to evaluate the epidemiology, clinical features, and outcomes of imported malaria from 1995 to 2007 in a university hospital. All patients diagnosed with imported malaria were included.

Two distinct clones of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from Korean hospitals.

We investigated the characteristics of 48 carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates collected from 5 tertiary care hospitals in Korea by multilocus sequencing typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reaction amplification of the antimicrobial resistance determinants. We identified 2 distinct main clones of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii isolates, which showed different antimicrobial resistance profiles and are also differentiated by the kinds of oxacillinase (OXA) carbapenemases and Acinetobacter-derived cephalosporinase (ADC) beta-lactamases.

[Two cases of septic arthritis by Mycoplasma hominis after total knee replacement arthroplasty].

Mycoplasma hominis has been related with pelvic inflammatory illnesses and postpartum and neonatal infections. Extragenital M. hominis infections are rare, but septicemia, septic arthritis, wound infection, meningitis, and other infections in Immunocompromised patients have also been described.

Clinical significance and outcome of nosocomial acquisition of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Background: There have been few reports on the causes and treatment outcomes for nosocomial spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study to compare the microbiological and clinical characteristics in nosocomial versus community-acquired SBP. All patients with SBP, for whom culture was proven to be positive for SBP at Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, Republic of Korea) from 1 January 2000 through 31 June 2007, were included.

Changes of serotype and genotype in Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from a Korean hospital in 2007.

We investigated the change in clones and serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in a Korean tertiary-care hospital. Serotypes of S. pneumoniae isolates were determined by the capsular quellung method, and in vitro susceptibility testing was performed by broth microdilution method.

Evidence for clonal dissemination of the serotype K1 Klebsiella pneumoniae strain causing invasive liver abscesses in Korea.

Seventy-three liver abscess isolates of serotype K1 Klebsiella pneumoniae from a nationwide collection in Korea were genotypically characterized using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. We found that serotype K1 K. pneumoniae strains that caused liver abscesses in Korea were genotypically related and that most were sequence type 23.

Clinical significance and predictors of community-onset Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia is a serious and possibly fatal condition. It is important to determine the likelihood of P. aeruginosa bacteremia when Gram-negative sepsis is suspected in community-onset infection.

Clinical implications of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) with VanD phenotype and vanA genotype.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical implications of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) with VanD phenotype and vanA genotype (VanD-vanA VRE).

Methods: We tested in vitro and in vivo efficacies of teicoplanin against VanD-vanA VRE strains. Change in teicoplanin MICs was monitored during incubation with teicoplanin.