Comparative evaluation of culture results and composition of microbiome of removed tonsils due to distant focal disease or other reasons. A prospective pilot study.

The aim of this prospective pilot study was to compare culture and microbiome results of the removed tonsils of patients with assumed distant focal disease (11 patients) and those who underwent a tonsillectomy, due to other reasons, such as recurrent tonsillitis, tonsil stones or snoring (nine patients). Aerobic culture was carried out for samples taken from the surface of the tonsils by swabs before tonsillectomy for all 20 patients. The squeezed detritus and the tissue samples of removed tonsils, taken separately for the right and left tonsils, were incubated aerobically and anaerobically.

Proteomics-Based RT-qPCR and Functional Analysis of 18 Genes in Metronidazole Resistance of .

Previously, we reported that metronidazole MICs are not dependent on the expression levels of genes in strains and we compared the proteomes of metronidazole-resistant laboratory strains to those of their susceptible parent strains. Here, we used RT-qPCR to correlate the expression levels of 18 candidate genes in a panel of selected, clinical gene-positive and -negative strains to their metronidazole MICs. Metronidazole MICs were correlated with the expression of certain tested genes.

Novel and rare β-lactamase genes of Bacteroides fragilis group species: Detection of the genes and characterization of their genetic backgrounds.

Objectives: This study screened the prevalence of rare β-lactamase genes in Bacteroides fragilis group strains from clinical specimens and normal microbiota and examined the genetic properties of the strains carrying these genes.

Methods: blaHGD1, blaOXA347, cblA, crxA, and pbbA were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction in collections of Bacteroides strains from clinical (n = 406) and fecal (n = 184) samples. To examine the genetic backgrounds of the samples, end-point PCR, FT-IR, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry were used.

Fear of making a mistake: a prominent cause of stress for COVID-19 ICU staff-a mixed-methods study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on many domains of healthcare. Even in high-income countries such as Sweden, the number of patients has vastly outnumbered the resources in affected areas, in particular during the first wave. Staff caring for patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units (ICUs) faced a very challenging situation that continued for months.

Peritonsillar abscess: an 8-year retrospective, culture based evaluation of 208 cases.

Peritonsillar abscess (PTA) is a common infection which requires surgical intervention and suitable antibiotic therapy. Beside and several other mostly anaerobic bacteria can be cultured from the properly taken pus samples of PTA, the clinical significance of which is still not fully understood. This study focused on the culture-based microbiological evaluation of PTA cases, compared to surgical intervention and empirical antibiotic management.

Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Carbapenem-Heteroresistant Strains.

Carbapenem-resistant strains usually emerge by an insertion sequence (IS) jump into the upstream region of the carbapenemase gene. However, intermediate or fully resistant -positive strains also exist. These do not have such IS element activations, but usually have heterogeneous resistance (HR) phenotypes, as detected by a disc diffusion or gradient tests.

A novel Bacteroides metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) and its gene (crxA) in Bacteroides xylanisolvens revealed by genomic sequencing and functional analysis.

Objectives: We sought to characterize the carbapenem resistance mechanism of Bacteroides xylanisolvens 14880, an imipenem-resistant strain from Germany, and assess its prevalence.

Methods: Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined using agar dilution or Etest methodology and specific imipenemase activity was detected. The genomic sequence of B.

An update on ampicillin resistance and β-lactamase genes of spp.

There are several β-lactamase genes described for s strains, of which and are specific for and define two genetic divisions. The expression and phenotypic effects of these genes are usually regulated by insertional activation. Information is lacking about how is regulated for most of the strains and whether there could be a genetic element for it.

Molecular characterization of metronidazole resistant Bacteroides strains from Kuwait.

Eleven metronidazole resistant Bacteroides and one newly classified Phocaeicola dorei strain from Kuwait were investigated for their resistance mechanisms and the emergence of their resistant plasmids. All but one strain harbored nimE genes on differently sized plasmids. Of the 11 nimE genes, 9 were preceded by full copies of the prototype ISBf6 insertion sequence element, one carried a truncated ISBf6 and one was activated by an additional copy of IS612B.

Detection of beta-lactamase production in clinical Prevotella species by MALDI-TOF MS method.

Penicillins, can be used in treatment of infections due to Prevotella species if they are susceptible to penicillin. Early and accurate preliminary detection of β-lactamase-producing isolates is crucial for treatment of infection. The aim of this study was to determine β-lactamase-producing Prevotella species by MALDI-TOF MS and screen them for the presence of cfxA gene, responsible for β-lactamase production.

A Europe-wide assessment of antibiotic resistance rates in Bacteroides and Parabacteroides isolates from intestinal microbiota of healthy subjects.

Here, we sought to assess the levels of antibiotic resistance among intestinal Bacteroides and Parabacteroides strains collected between 2014 and 2016 in Europe and also attempted to compare resistance levels between clinical and commensal isolates. Bacteroides and Parabacteroides isolates were recovered from faecal samples via the novel Bacteroides Chromogenic Agar (BCA) method. Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by agar dilution for ten antibiotics.

Comparing identification of clinically relevant Prevotella species by VITEK MS and MALDI biotyper.

In this multicenter study, we aimed to evaluate the performance of MALDI Biotyper and VITEK MS, for identification of Prevotella species. Three hundred and fourteen clinical isolates, collected in eight European countries between January 2014 and April 2016, were identified at the collecting sites by MALDI Biotyper (versions 3.0 and 3.

Point-of-care measurement of activated clotting time for cardiac surgery as measured by the Hemochron signature elite and the Abbott i-STAT: agreement, concordance, and clinical reliability.

Background: Since inadequate heparin anticoagulation and insufficient reversal can result in complications during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery, heparin anticoagulation monitoring by point-of-care (POC) activated clotting time (ACT) measurements is essential for CPB initiation, maintainance, and anticoagulant reversal. However, concerns exist regarding reproducibility of ACT assays and comparability of devices.

Methods: We evaluated the agreement of ACT assays using four parallel measurements performed on two commonly used devices each (i.

How MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry can aid the diagnosis of hard-to-identify pathogenic bacteria - the rare and the unknown.

: Ten years after its introduction into clinical microbiology, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has become the standard routine identification tool for bacteria in most laboratories. The technology has accelerated analyses and improved the quality of results. The greatest significance has been observed for bacteria that were challenging to be identified by traditional methods.

Performance of mass spectrometric identification of clinical Prevotella species using the VITEK MS system: A prospective multi-center study.

Prevotella species, members of the human microbiota, can cause opportunistic infections. Rapid and accurate identification of Prevotella isolates plays a critical role in successful treatment, especially since the antibiotic susceptibility profile differs between species. Studies, mostly carried out using the Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Biotyper system, showed that MALDI-TOF MS is an accurate, rapid and satisfactory method for the identification of clinically important anaerobes.

Sample preparation method influences direct identification of anaerobic bacteria from positive blood culture bottles using MALDI-TOF MS.

Rapid detection and identification of anaerobic bacteria from blood is important to adjust antimicrobial therapy by including antibiotics with activity against anaerobic bacteria. Limited data is available about direct identification of anaerobes from positive blood culture bottles using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS). In this study, we evaluated the performance of two sample preparation protocols for direct identification of anaerobes from positive blood culture bottles, the MALDI Sepsityper kit (Sepsityper) and the in-house saponin (saponin) method.

A multicenter survey of antimicrobial susceptibility of Prevotella species as determined by Etest methodology.

Knowledge about the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of different Prevotella species is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the current antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates of Prevotella species from different parts of Europe, Kuwait and Turkey. Activity of 12 antimicrobials against 508 Prevotella isolates, representing 19 species, were tested according to Etest methodology.

What do we know about the diagnostics, treatment and epidemiology of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infection in Europe?

Clostridium difficile, recently reclassified as Clostridioides difficile is responsible for a significant part of diarrheal diseases in the hospitals and in the community. Besides the main pathogenic factors, toxin A, toxin B and the binary toxin, several other putative virulence factors have been investigated. This manuscript summarize recent findings in Europe concerning source of infection, epidemiology of CDI, the changing pattern of PCR ribotypes of C.

Performance of two blood culture systems to detect anaerobic bacteria. Is there any difference?

We studied the performance characteristics of two blood culture (BC) bottles/systems, (i) BacT/ALERT-FN Plus/3D (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Étoile, France) and (ii) BACTEC-Lytic/9000 (Becton Dickinson, Sparks, USA) for detection of growth and time-to-positivity (TTP) against a balanced and diverse collection of anaerobic bacterial strains (n = 48) that included reference strains (n = 19) and clinical isolates (n = 29) of 32 species (15 Gram-negative and 17 Gram-positive). Standard suspension of bacteria was inoculated to each bottle in duplicates and incubated in the corresponding system. Overall, 62.

Distribution of PCR ribotypes among recent Clostridium difficile isolates collected in two districts of Hungary using capillary gel electrophoresis and review of changes in the circulating ribotypes over time.

Following the first description of a Clostridium difficile case caused by ribotype 027 in Hungary in 2007, the rapid spread of C. difficile infection in different hospitals within the country was observed. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the distribution of different PCR ribotypes among inpatient and outpatient isolates obtained in two geographically different parts of Hungary.

Survey of diagnostic and typing capacity for Clostridium difficile infection in Europe, 2011 and 2014.

Suboptimal laboratory diagnostics for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) impedes its surveillance and control across Europe. We evaluated changes in local laboratory CDI diagnostics and changes in national diagnostic and typing capacity for CDI during the European C. difficile Infection Surveillance Network (ECDIS-Net) project, through cross-sectional surveys in 33 European countries in 2011 and 2014.

Emergence and evolution of an international cluster of MDR Bacteroides fragilis isolates.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the antibiotic resistance profiles, antibiotic resistance mechanisms and possible 'clonal' nature of some MDR Bacteroides fragilis strains that simultaneously harboured cfiA, nimB, IS1186 and IS4351.

Methods: Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by Etests and antibiotic resistance genes and different genetic elements were detected by applying PCR methods. The environments of the cfiA and nimB genes were also determined by sequencing.