Prospective observational multicenter study to define a diagnostic algorithm for biliary candidiasis.

Aim: To develop an algorithm to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with biliary candidiasis.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of 127 patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, for various biliary disorders, at 3 tertiary referral centers in Germany from July 2011 through July 2012 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01109550).

Effect of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis in AIDS patients on the formation of the small colony variant phenotype of Staphylococcus aureus.

Emergence of Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants (SCVs) has been associated with antibiotic use, particularly with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ). In this study, 634 specimens of 125 patients with AIDS were prospectively screened for S. aureus with normal phenotype and for S.

Population dynamics of persistent Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the airways of cystic fibrosis patients during a 6-year prospective study.

Molecular typing of normal (n = 456) and small-colony-variant (SCV; n = 239) Staphylococcus aureus isolates cultured from the airways of 52 of 72 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients (72.2%) during a 6-year prospective study revealed a median long-term persistence of 37 months (range, 6 to 70). SCV persisted longer in the airways than the normal S.

Prevalence of genes encoding pyrogenic toxin superantigens and exfoliative toxins among strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from blood and nasal specimens.

A total of 429 different Staphylococcus aureus isolates encompassing 219 blood isolates and 210 isolates taken from anterior nares were systematically searched by two multiplex PCR-DNA enzyme immunoassays (PCR-DEIA) for exfoliative toxin (ET) genes eta and etb, as well as for the classical members of the pyrogenic toxin superantigen (PTSAg) gene family comprising the staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes sea-see and the toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 gene tst. In addition, a third PCR-DEIA was established to investigate the possession of four recently described SE genes, viz. seg-sej.