Correction to: Molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) isolates identifies local transmission of infection in Kuwait, a country with a low incidence of TB and MDR-TB.

The original publication of this article [1] contained few erroneous paragraphs and errors in Table 1 and Table 2. The first four paragraphs are in the 'Results' section while the last four paragraphs are in the 'Discussion' section. The errors in Table 1 involve the number of isolates tested for pyrazinamide and pyrazinamide susceptible isolates, ethambutol-susceptible isolates with a mutation and number of resistant isolates with a mutation for streptomycin.

Molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) isolates identifies local transmission of infection in Kuwait, a country with a low incidence of TB and MDR-TB.

Background: Increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections is hampering global tuberculosis control efforts. Kuwait is a low-tuberculosis-incidence country, and ~ 1% of M. tuberculosis strains are resistant to rifampicin and isoniazid (MDR-TB).

Health Care-Associated Infections in a Neurocritical Care Unit of a Developing Country.

Background: Health care-associated infections (HAIs) in intensive care units (ICUs) specialized for neurocritical care (neurocritical care units [NCCUs]) are serious yet preventable complications that contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, reliable data are scarcely available from the developing world. We aimed to analyze the incidence, epidemiology, microbial etiology, and outcomes of HAIs in an NCCU of a tertiary care teaching hospital in a high-income, developing country.

A 4-year prospective study of septicemia in pediatric surgical patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kuwait.

Background: Critically ill children are at high risk for developing nosocomial infections that contributes to death in 4% of all pediatric intensive care unit admissions. This prospective study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of septicemia in the pediatric surgery department of a large tertiary care teaching hospital in Kuwait and to evaluate the risk factors, the microbial etiology, and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolated microorganisms.

Methods: All patients admitted to the pediatric surgery department from January 2001 until December 2004 with the diagnosis of septicemia were included in the study, and the microbiologically proven cases were then analyzed.

Fatal strongyloidiasis in three kidney recipients in Kuwait.

Objective: It was the aim of this study to report 3 rare fatal cases of strongyloidiasis in Kuwaiti renal transplant patients.

Clinical Presentation And Intervention: All 3 cases received allografts from cadaveric donors of Asian origin, the first 2 from an Indian (transplanted on the same day) and the third from a Bangladeshi. In all 3 cases, Strongyloides stercoralis larvae were first isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage.

Increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in Kuwait: implications for therapy.

From 2001 to 2004, 824 consecutive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates obtained from all the teaching hospitals and primary-care centers serving all of Kuwait were studied for their susceptibility to a number of antibiotics. Of these, 514 (63%) were resistant to penicillin, 55% of which were of intermediate resistance, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.16-1 microg/ml, and 8% were of full resistance (MIC > or =2 microg/ml).

Implications of Streptococcus pneumoniae penicillin resistance and serotype distribution in Kuwait for disease treatment and prevention.

Streptococcus pneumoniae causes serious infections. Treatment is difficult because of the emergence of penicillin resistance in S. pneumoniae.

Discrepancy in antimicrobial susceptibility test results obtained for oral streptococci with the Etest and agar dilution.

A total of 270 viridans group streptococci (VS) isolated from healthy children, identified to the species level, were tested for their susceptibilities to penicillin, imipenem, erythromycin, and vancomycin. A total of 270 isolates and 1,080 organism-antibiotic combinations were evaluated. The overall susceptibility rates of all isolates obtained by the Etest (ET) versus agar dilution (AD) were 60.

Species distribution and antifungal susceptibility of Candida bloodstream isolates in Kuwait: a 10-year study.

Bloodstream infections due to Candida species are important complications in severely ill hospitalized patients. This study presents data on species distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of Candida bloodstream isolates obtained from Kuwait during a 10-year period. All the bloodstream isolates were identified to species level by the germ tube test and carbohydrate assimilation profile using the VITEK 2 yeast identification system.

Prevalent PCR ribotypes of clinical and environmental strains of Clostridium difficile isolated from intensive-therapy unit patients in Kuwait.

Ninety-five isolates of Clostridium difficile from symptomatic and asymptomatic patients and 18 from their environment in the intensive-therapy units (ITUs) of four teaching hospitals in Kuwait were typed by PCR amplification of rRNA intergenic spacer regions (PCR ribotyping). A total of 32 different ribotypes was detected among the clinical isolates. The predominant ribotypes from the clinical isolates were types 097 and 078, which accounted for approximately 40 % of all isolates in the ITUs in Kuwait.

In vitro activity of 15 antimicrobial agents against clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile in Kuwait.

A total of 73 clinical isolates of Clostridium difficile isolated from stool/rectal swabs of patients admitted to the intensive care units at Mubarak Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital Burn unit and Haematology wards at the Kuwait Cancer Control Centre, were investigated for their susceptibility to 15 antibiotics using the Etest. Amoxycillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, meropenem, metronidazole, penicillin, piperacillin, piperacillin/tazobactam, teicoplanin and vancomycin had excellent activities with MIC(90)s of 0.38, 0.