Genetic relatedness of clinical and environmental Acinetobacter baumanii isolates from an intensive care unit outbreak.

Introduction: Determination of microbial genetic relatedness is important for improving efficiency of infection control measures during hospital outbreaks. This study aimed to analyze the clonal relationships of clinical and environmental Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated during an outbreak in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a secondary care hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Methodology: Twelve clinical and fourteen environmental A.

Distribution of β-lactamases in carbapenem-non-susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In this study, the distribution of β-lactamase genes among 55 consecutive Acinetobacter baumannii isolates with reduced susceptibility to imipenem collected at Prince Salman Hospital (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) from February-June 2011 was investigated. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by Etest and were interpreted against Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) breakpoints. PCR was used to search for β-lactamase genes, insertion sequence ISAba1 and class 1 integrons.

Molecular characteristics of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in Riyadh: emergence of CTX-M-15-producing E. coli ST131.

Background: The prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) has increased recently. The aim of this study was to further characterise and to assess the occurrence of ESBL-EC in Riyadh, to use pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing to investigate the epidemiology of ESBL-EC and to determine the prevalence of ST131 in ESBL-EC.

Methods: A total of 152 E.

High prevalence of acquired quinolone-resistance genes among Enterobacteriaceae from Saudi Arabia with CTX-M-15 β-lactamase.

We examined the prevalence of acquired quinolone resistance determinants among Enterobacteriaceae with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, aac(6')-Ib-cr, and qepA genes were sought by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 160 nonduplicate, clinical Enterobacteriaceae with ESBLs from Prince Salman Hospital in Riyadh during 2009. MICs were determined for qnr- and aac(6')-Ib-cr-positive isolates.

Application of bleach method in diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.

Extra pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) comprises 15% of the total tuberculosis cases. Bleach concentration method for demonstration of Acid fast bacilli (AFB) has been recently described for sputum. The aim of this study is to apply this method for demonstration of AFB in material obtained from extra-pulmonary sites and to correlate with cytology and conventional Ziehl Neelsen (Z N) staining.

Application of bleach method to improve sputum smear microscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

In an active surveillance study, the bleach concentration method to improve sputum smear microscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis was applied in chest symptomatics in Mahidpur block of Ujjain district in Madhya Pradesh, India. We purposely selected twenty villages with population of approximately 20,000 individuals. 664 sputum specimens from 297 chest symptomatics were collected.