Publications by authors named "Greta Petazzoni"

Background: During 2022 and 2023, a large upsurge of cases of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infection has struck many countries worldwide. This large epidemic event was caused by a diminished level of immunity after COVID-19 social restrictions and was fostered mainly by the emm1 genotype of the bacterium.

Methods: We characterized the genomes of the GAS isolates that caused bloodstream infections in the last ten years in a 900-bed hospital in Northern Italy.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the risk and prevalence of hospital-acquired bacterial infections in intensive care units during the first wave of COVID-19 by using advanced deep-sequencing techniques.
  • Conducted in a hard-hit region in northern Italy, the research involved collecting and analyzing samples from patients in both regular wards and ICUs to identify specific bacterial pathogens.
  • The findings highlighted the effectiveness of this novel sequencing approach in tracking bacterial transmission and understanding antimicrobial resistance during a time of increased patient load.
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Background: Mpox virus (MPXV) has recently spread outside of sub-Saharan Africa. This large multicentre study was conducted in Lombardy, the most densely populated Italian region accounting for more than 40% of Italian cases. The present study aims to: i) evaluate the presence and the shedding duration of MPXV DNA in different body compartments correlating the MPXV viability with the time to onset of symptoms; ii) provide evidence of MPXV persistence in different body compartment as a source of infection and iii) characterize the MPXV evolution by whole genome sequencing (WGS) during the outbreak occurred in Italy.

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The dissemination of carbapenemase-producing although still at low level, should be continuously monitored. OXA-244 is emerging in Europe, mainly in . In Italy, this carbapenemase was reported from an environmental river sample in 2019.

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In this study, we present two cases of , one KPC-33- and one NDM-1-producing, showing resistance to cefiderocol and ceftazidime/avibactam, collected in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Northern Italy from two patients who had recently undergone lung transplantation. Whole-genome sequencing was performed to investigate the molecular features of these strains.

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New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM)-producing () ST147 caused a large multi-hospital outbreak in Italy from 2018 to 2021. We describe a new ST6668 NDM-producing clone, belonging to CC147, which rapidly spread across hospitals in the Pavia province (Northern Italy) from February to August 2023. Genomic analyses revealed that ST6668 is different from ST147 and fast evolving.

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Summary: Bacterial Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are a major threat worldwide, which can be counteracted by establishing effective infection control measures, guided by constant surveillance and timely epidemiological investigations. Genomics is crucial in modern epidemiology but lacks standard methods and user-friendly software, accessible to users without a strong bioinformatics proficiency. To overcome these issues we developed P-DOR, a novel tool for rapid bacterial outbreak characterization.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Out of 12 enrolled patients, 10 responded well while 2 did not; 58.3% experienced adverse reactions, highlighting the complexities in treatment response and side effects.
  • * While the overall diversity of GM did not significantly differ between groups, there were notable differences in specific bacterial taxa, suggesting that further research is needed to explore these relationships.
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Acinetobacter baumannii is a nosocomial pathogen that poses a serious threat due to the rise of incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. During the COVID-19 pandemic, MDR A. baumannii clones have caused several outbreaks worldwide.

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The interactions between aromatase inhibitors (AI) in breast cancer (BC) and gut microbiota (GM) have not been completely established yet. The aim of the study is to evaluate the bio-diversity of GM and the relationship between GM, inflammation and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in postmenopausal women with BC during adjuvant AI treatment compared to women with disease relapse during or after one year of AI therapy ("endocrine-resistant"). We conducted a monocenter observational case-control study.

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The guidelines on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) recommend an empiric therapy against methicillin-resistant (MRSA) according to its prevalence rate. Considering the MRSA and MSSA VAP prevalence over the last 9 years in our tertiary care hospital, we assessed the clinical value of the MRSA nasal-swab screening in either predicting or ruling out MRSA VAP. We extracted the data of 1461 patients with positive bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).

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