[Viridans streptococci in human infections: identification and susceptibility to antibiotics].

A method for the speciation of viridans streptococci (devoided of group antigens) is described. The major identification criteria are based on the reaction of a series of biochemical tests such as acid production in lactose, inuline, raffinose, mannitol and sorbitol, hydrolysis of arginine, esculin and Na hippurate, and production of polysaccharides in 5% sucrose media. A total of 460 strains were isolated from human specimens and identified as follows: 118 Streptococcus mitis, 102 S.

[Antibiotic resistance genetic basis of human origin streptococci (author's transl)].

One hundred strains of group A, B, C, D (S faecalis, S. faecium, S. bovis) F, G, S.

Conjugative R plasmids in Streptococcus faecium (group D).

Ten isolates of Streptococcus faecium were found to be resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, macrolides and related drugs, streptomycin, and kanamycin, and four strains were resistant to chloramphenicol. Six of these 10 strains transferred all their resistance markers (except penicillin) by conjugation at a low frequency (10(-7) to 10(-9)). Several plasmids of different molecular weights were found in each of the wild-type strains.

High-level aminoglycoside resistance in group A, B, G, D (Streptococcus bovis), and viridans streptococci.

Of 20 clinical isolates of group A, B, G, D (Streptococcus bovis), and viridans streptococci, 5 transferred their antibiotic resistance markers into streptococcal recipients at a low frequency (10(-4) to 10(-8)) in the apparent absence of extrachromosomal elements. All strains carried genetic markers for high-level resistance to streptomycin, kanamycin, neomycin, lividomycin A, and ribostamycin, as well as resistance to macrolides and related drugs, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol.

Conjugative R plasmids in group C and G streptococci.

Two streptococcal isolates of groups C and G harbored conjugative R plasmids with molecular weights of 17 X 10(6) (pIP646) and 20 X 10(6) (pIP920). These plasmids carried genetic markers for resistance to macrolides and related drugs, as well as to chloramphenicol (pIP920), and have very similar HindIII restriction enzyme patterns.

[Group D streptococci in human infections: identification and sensitivity to antibiotics (author's transl)].

A method for the speciation of group D streptococci is described. A major criterion for identification is the reaction of antigenic extracts against streptococcal group D antisera. In addition, a series of biochemical tests is used: bile-esculine, resistance to 6.

Conjugative transfer of multiple antibiotic resistance markers in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Two antibiotic-resistant isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were investigated for conjugative transfer of their drug resistance markers into streptococcal (groups B and D) and pneumococcal (encapsulated and non-encapsulataed) recipients. Of these, 7 wild-type donor pneumococci transferred all their resistance markers (except Pc [penicillin], Su [sulfonamide], and Tp [trimethoprim]) into group D Streptococcus and non-encapsulated S. pneumoniae recipients at a low frequency (10(-5) to 10(-6)).

High-level, plasmid-borne resistance to gentamicin in Streptococcus faecalis subsp. zymogenes.

Each of three isolates of Streptococcus faecalis subsp. zymogenes harbored three R plasmids and a hemolysin-bacteriocin plasmid. The plasmids carried by one of these strains were physically characterized after their conjugative transfer.

Metabolically deficient dwarf-colony mutants of Escherichia coli: deficiency and resistance to antibiotics of strains isolated from urine culture.

Sixteen metabolically deficient dwarf-colony mutants of Escherichia coli were isolated from urine culture and represented about 2% of all E. coli isolated during the same period. In 14 cases, mutants were isolated from debilitated patients: elderly persons or patients in the terminal stages of a chronic disease.

Molecular studies and possible relatedness between R plasmids from groups B and D streptococci.

Resistance plasmids isolated from Streptococcus agalactiae (group B) and S. faecalis (group D) have been compared in regard to resistance markers, molecular weight, and DNA-DNA homology. Three of them (pIP501, pIP612, and pIP613) have been found to confer identical (or very similar) resistance patterns (erythromycin, lincomycin, and streptogramin B, respectively) and to have similar molecular weights (19.

[Dwarf colony mutants of Escherichia coli: plasmids resistant to antibiotics].

Deficient dwarf colony (DDC) mutants of E. coli K 12, harboring or no resistance plasmids, were obtained in vitro. The R plasmids of parental strains and to DDC mutants were transfered by conjugation to normal colony, and to DDC mutants of E.

Formation of HfrH-type donor cells as a result of integrative suppression by R-F recombinant plasmids.

Three recombinant plasmids, resulting from recombination between an R plasmid of the FI incompatibility group and the F of HfrH, were introduced in a temperature-sensitive dnaA mutant to isolate Hfr-type-donors. All of the temperature-insensitive clones isolated from two of the three recombinant plasmids had the same origin and transfer pattern as the parental HfrH strain.

[R plasmids incompatibility groups in epidemic Salmonella (author's transl)].

The susceptibility to antimicrobial agents of 410 strains belonging to six serotypes of epidemic Salmonella (S. wien, S. saint-paul, S.

[Dwarf colony mutants of "Escherichia coli" study of a strain isolated from an uroculture (author's transl)].

A dwarf colony mutant of Escherichia coli was isolated from the urine of a patient with an asymptomatic urinary infection. This dwarf mutant growths poorly (minute transparent colonies) on Trypticase Soja and Mueller-Hinton agar, and requires thiamine concentration of 3 x 10-11 M.

[Characteristics of "Streptococcus mutans" from endocarditis and susceptibility to antimicrobial agents (author's transl)].

Strains of Streptococcus mutans were isolated from blood cultures of ten patients with endocarditis. Nine of these patients had a typical clinical picture of subacute bacterial endocarditis, with fever, weakness, heart murmur and multiple positive blood cultures. All the patients had previous valvular heart diseases; only in three cases the initiating event involved some type of dental manipulations which where supposed as the source of infection.

R plasmids in Streptococcus agalactiae (group B).

Two plasmids determining resistance to tetracycline (RIP500) and to chloramphenicol, erythromycin, lincomycin, and pristinamycin I (RIP501) were isolated from a strain of Streptococcus agalactiae. The frequency-of-resistance loss is very low for RIP500 (<3 x 10(4)) but higher for RIP501 (the efficiency was dependent upon the curing agents and incubation temperature and varied between 0.5 and 96%).

[Dwarf colony mutants of "staphylococcus": study of three strains isolated from patients with osteosynthesis (author's transl)].

Dwarf colony mutants of staphylococci were isolated from per operative samplings obtained from three patients with a bacterial contamination of their osteosynthesis material. The dwarf mutants grown in trypticase soja agar (TSA) after 72 h at 37 degrees C (two cases) and in nutrient broth (one case). They displayed poor growth (very small, transparent colonies on TSA), reduced biochemical activity, deficient pigment formation and intermediary resistance to aminoglucoside antibiotics (kanamycin, streptomycin, gentamicin).

Genetic and physical studies of recombinant plasmids formed between an R plasmid of compatibility group FI and sex factor F of HfrH.

Recombinant plasmids between an R plasmid of the FI group (R162/3) and the sex factor F or HfrH were produced after the conjugal transfer of this R plasmid into HfrH. Three types of recombinant plasmids were identified after the mating of HfrH (R162/3) with recA and rec+ recipients. One specimen of each type (pIP218, pIP222, pIP226) was studied in this report.