Streptococcus Pneumoniae Causing Intra-abdominal and Pelvic Infection: A Case Series.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pathogen known to cause pneumonia, sinusitis, meningitis, and otitis media, but is overlooked as a pathogen causing gastrointestinal illness. We report four cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae causing intra-abdominal and pelvic infection. Streptococcus pneumoniae should be considered in the setting of intra-abdominal infection, especially in patients with risk factors for invasive pneumococcal disease or with a concomitant respiratory infection at presentation.

Nocardia Septic Arthritis Complicating an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair.

Nocardia infection following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) allograft reconstruction is a rare occurrence. We report a case of Nocardia infection of an allograft ACL reconstruction and septic arthritis of the knee joint due to an organism most similar to the novel Nocardia species Nocardia aobensis.

Anncaliia algerae microsporidial myositis.

The insect microsporidian Anncaliia algerae was first described in 2004 as a cause of fatal myositis in an immunosuppressed person from Pennsylvania, USA. Two cases were subsequently reported, and we detail 2 additional cases, including the only nonfatal case. We reviewed all 5 case histories with respect to clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and management and summarized organism life cycle and epidemiology.

Persistence of related bla-IMP-4 metallo-beta-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae from clinical and environmental specimens within a burns unit in Australia - a six-year retrospective study.

Background: To describe the clinical epidemiology, environmental surveillance and infection control interventions undertaken in a six-year persistence of bla-IMP-4 metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae within a separately confined hospital burns unit in a tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Methods: MBL positive clinical and environmental isolates were collected from the Burns Unit, from the first detection of isolates in September 2006 to August 2012. Unit-acquired clinical isolates were included, and patient outcomes analyzed amongst those who acquired clinically significant infections.

Dientamoeba fragilis: a family cluster of disease associated with marked peripheral eosinophilia.

Dientamoeba fragilis has emerged as an important and underrecognized cause of gastrointestinal illness. We report a familial cluster of D. fragilis associated with marked peripheral eosinophilia and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Plasmids and bacterial strains mediating multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infections are coresidents of the hospital environment.

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a global problem. The widespread use of antibiotics continues to exacerbate the problem giving rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria both in and outside a clinical context. The general hospital environment is an obvious important focus for the selection and spread of multiresistant bacteria and a potential direct source of HAIs.

Reusable venesection tourniquets: a potential source of hospital transmission of multiresistant organisms.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of multiresistant organism (MRO) colonisation of reusable venesection tourniquets.

Design And Setting: A prospective study in a tertiary hospital to collect and analyse reusable venesection tourniquets for the presence of MROs - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and extended-spectrum β-lactamase and metallo-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae - using a sensitive enrichment method. Tourniquets were collected and tested during a 10-week period between September and November 2010.

Tn6060, a transposon from a genomic island in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate that includes two class 1 integrons.

A 25,441-bp transposon was recovered from a Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate. While the transposition module was >99% identical to sequence of Tn1403, the element had been subject to rearrangements, with two In70.2-like class 1 integrons inserted into it in an unusual "tail-to-tail" configuration.