[Triclocarban antibacterial activity on resistant staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci].

Triclocarban is an antiseptic of the anilide family. Its antibacterial activity was re-assessed in vitro against various susceptible and antibiotic resistant staphylococcus, streptococcus, and enterococcus strains. The results of this study show that, in vitro, the effectiveness of triclocarban antibacterial is maintained at very low MICs ranging from 0.

In vitro antibacterial activity of ceftobiprole against clinical isolates from French teaching hospitals: proposition of zone diameter breakpoints.

The aims of this study were to determine the in vitro activity profile of ceftobiprole, a pyrrolidinone cephalosporin, against a large number of bacterial pathogens and to propose zone diameter breakpoints for clinical categorisation according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) breakpoints. MICs of ceftobiprole were determined by broth microdilution against 1548 clinical isolates collected in eight French hospitals. Disk diffusion testing was performed using 30 μg disks according to the method of the Comité de l'Antibiogramme de la Société Française de Microbiologie (CA-SFM).

In vitro antibacterial activity of doripenem against clinical isolates from French teaching hospitals: proposition of zone diameter breakpoints.

The aims of the study were to determine the in vitro activity of doripenem, a new carbapenem, against a large number of bacterial pathogens and to propose zone diameter breakpoints for clinical categorization in France according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) breakpoints. The MICs of doripenem were determined by the broth microdilution method against 1,547 clinical isolates from eight French hospitals. The disk diffusion test was performed (10-μg discs) according to the Comité de l'Antibiogramme de la Société Française de Microbiologie (CASFM) method.

Correlation between the VITEK2 system and cefoxitin disk diffusion for the daily detection of oxacillin resistance in a large number of clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates.

The aim of the present study was to compare the performance of the new VITEK2 AST-P551 card with the cefoxitin disk diffusion method for the daily detection of methicillin resistance with a high number of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates. Detection of the PBP2a protein or mecA gene was performed for each discordant case. Seventy (3.

Significance of Propionibacterium acnes-positive samples in spinal instrumentation.

Study Design: A retrospective study about Propionibacterium acnes infections after Cotrel-Dubousset (CD) instrumentation.

Objectives: To analyze the significance of P. acnes-positive deep samples after CD.

Clinical efficacy and time to symptom resolution of 5-day telithromycin versus 10-day amoxicillin-clavulanate in the treatment of acute bacterial sinusitis.

Objective: This study compared the clinical efficacy, time to symptom resolution, and tolerability of a 5-day regimen of telithromycin with a 10-day regimen of high-dose amoxicillin-clavulanate in acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS).

Research Design And Methods: In this multinational (41 centers in Canada, Germany, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey), open-label, noninferiority study, patients >/=18 years old (n=298) with a clinical (>7 days' symptoms) and radiological (air/fluid level, total opacification, mucosal thickening >/=10 mm) diagnosis of ABS were randomized to receive telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 5 days or amoxicillin-clavulanate 875/125 mg twice daily for 10 days. Clinical efficacy and tolerability were assessed at the test-of-cure visit (days 17-21).

[Monitoring of antibiotic resistance of gram negative anaerobes].

Material And Method: Using an agar reference method (Norma M11-A5, National Committee for Clinical and Laboratory Standards) the minimal inhibitory concentrations of nine antibiotics were determined for 376 anaerobic strains. The following strains were investigated: 254 Bacteroides fragilis group (including 143 B. fragilis), 122 other gram-negative anaerobes (Bacteroides spp.

Antibiotic innovation may contribute to slowing the dissemination of multiresistant Streptococcus pneumoniae: the example of ketolides.

Background: Despite increasingly frequent bacterial resistance to antibiotics, antibacterial innovation is rare. Ketolides constitute one of the very few new antibiotic classes active against Streptococcus pneumoniae developed during the last 25 years. Their mechanism of action resembles that of macrolides, but they are unaffected by common resistance mechanisms.

Long-term evolution of a nosocomial outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa producing VIM-2 metallo-enzyme.

From April 1996 to July 2004, an outbreak of metallo-beta-lactamase-positive (MBL) Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurred in the haematology ward at Nantes University Hospital in France. Fifty-nine patients were carriers of VIM-2-positive strains of whom 14 were infected (mostly urinary tract infections and pneumonia). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified related isolates demonstrating resistance to all beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, fosfomycin, rifampicin but not colistin.

Real-time PCR assay for the detection and quantification of Legionella pneumophila in environmental water samples: utility for daily practice.

We developed a quantitative real-time PCR assay targeting the mip gene of Legionella pneumophila for a prospective study from September 2004 to April 2005. It was compared with a standard culture method (French guideline AFNOR T90-431), analysing 120 water samples collected to monitor the risk related to Legionellae at Nantes hospital and to investigate a case of legionellosis acquired from hospital environment. Samples from six distinct water distribution systems were analysed by DNA extraction, amplification and detection with specific primers and FRET probes.

Identification of the novel narrow-spectrum beta-lactamase SCO-1 in Acinetobacter spp. from Argentina.

By studying the beta-lactamase content of several Acinetobacter spp. isolates from Argentina, producing the expanded-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) VEB-1a or PER-2, a novel Ambler class A beta-lactamase gene was identified. It encoded the narrow-spectrum beta-lactamase SCO-1, whose activity was inhibited by clavulanic acid.

Genetics and expression of the carbapenem-hydrolyzing oxacillinase gene blaOXA-23 in Acinetobacter baumannii.

The genetic structures surrounding the plasmid-carried blaOXA-23 oxacillinase gene, encoding resistance to carbapenems, were studied in Acinetobacter baumannii. ISAba1 and the novel element ISAba4 were detected upstream of the blaOXA-23 gene, providing promoter sequences for its expression. These insertion elements were likely involved in transposition processes at the origin of acquisition of this beta-lactamase gene.

[Clinical aspects and management of patients with tuberculous meningitis. Retrospective analysis from 1994 to 2005].

Tuberculous meningitis remains a devastating disease with poor prognosis in terms of mortality or invalidating after-effects. Eighteen cases of tuberculous meningitis, occurred between 1994 and 2005, were re-examined retrospectively. Among the 18 patients, 13 were aged from 14 to 64 years, and 5 were older than 64.

Increased resistance to beta-lactams in a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain: role of a deletion downstream of the Pribnow box in the blaSHV-1 promoter.

Two hundred and five isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were collected from Nantes University Hospital in 2002. A new 30bp deletion was detected downstream of the -10 box of the SHV-1 promoter in a clinical K. pneumoniae isolate with a high amoxicillin/clavulanic acid minimum inhibitory concentration.

Biological cost of fluoroquinolone resistance in Escherichia coli implicated in polyclonal infection.

Polyclonal Escherichia coli strains were isolated in a transplanted patient who experienced successive septic shocks. Fluoroquinolone susceptible and resistant strains were corresponding to different PFGE fragment profiles. The gyrA S83L mutation was associated with a reduction in biological fitness.

Cervical spondylitis due to Neisseria meningitidis.

The diverse clinical spectrum of meningococcal infections includes frequent clinical forms, such as meningitis or septicemia, and uncommon manifestations, such as septic arthritis. Neisseria meningitidis is not generally considered to be a causative agent of osteoarticular infections. We report the first case of acute primary cervical spondylitis in a 48-year-old man.

[Efficacy and safety of extended-release clarithromycin (5-day short-course) vs telithromycin, in acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis].

Background: The extended-release formulation of clarithromycin (CLA-ER) allows using this macrolide as a single daily dose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the CLA-ER formulation (500 mgx2) vs telithromycin (TELI) (400 mgx2) as a short course 5-day treatment, once a day, in patients with AECB.

Method: This randomized double-blind study was conducted in patients with AECB without severe airflow limitation (FEV1>35%), with sputum purulence (mandatory criterion), and with either increased sputum volume or increased dyspnea, or both (Anthonisen criteria I or II).

Correlation of agar dilution and VITEK2 system for detection of resistance to macrolides, lincosamides and pristinamycin among Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis: association with genotypes.

The performance of the VITEK2 system was evaluated against the agar dilution reference procedure for testing susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis to macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins (MLS). Eighty clinical isolates were selected according to their resistance phenotype and genotype. Results for erythromycin and clindamycin showed 100% agreement; results for lincomycin showed agreement of 78%, with one very major error and 17 minor errors; and results for pristinamycin showed agreement of 46%, with one major error and 43 minor errors.

Surgical-site infection after cardiac surgery: incidence, microbiology, and risk factors.

Objective: To identify risk factors associated with surgical-site infection according to the depth of infection, the cardiac procedure, and the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System risk index.

Design: Prospective survey conducted during a 12-month period.

Setting: A 48-bed cardiac surgical department in a teaching hospital.

[Vaccination failure: case report of Haemophilus influenzae b meningitis in a 14-month-old child].

Background: The generalization of the vaccination against H. influenzae b (Hib), according to its integration in the French vaccinal calendar, led to the incidence decrease of the purulent meningitis with Hib in young children, which became a so rare event.

Case Report: We described the case of a 14-months-old child showing a bacterial purulent meningitis with Hib, despite of a well driven vaccination.

Influence of carbon dioxide on the MIC of telithromycin for Streptococcus pneumoniae: an in vitro-in vivo study.

Incubation in CO(2) resulted in higher (> or =3 doubling dilution) MICs of telithromycin than those found in ambient air for 31.2% of 346 Streptococcus pneumoniae ermB-positive strains. An increased telithromycin MIC in CO(2) was not correlated with loss of its activity in the murine sepsis/peritonitis model.

[An example of simulation for a better understanding of PK/PD relationship of antibiotics].

The interpretation of PK/PD indices is specific to each class of antibiotics. In order to illustrate this, we developed a multidisciplinary tutorial program based on simulation of clinical cases. Three drugs were included in this software: tobramycin, vancomycin and azithromycin.