A core-genome multilocus sequence typing scheme for the detection of genetically related clusters.

The recently observed increase in invasive infections causes concern in Europe. However, conventional molecular typing methods lack discriminatory power to aid investigations of outbreaks caused by . Therefore, there is an urgent need for high-resolution molecular typing methods to assess genetic relatedness between isolates.

Microbiological and scanning electron microscopic evaluation of epidural catheters.

Background: Epidural catheters are frequently colonized by gram-positive bacteria. Although the incidence of associated epidural infections is low, their consequences can be devastating. We investigated bacterial growth on epidural catheters by quantitative bacterial culture and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to explore the patterns of epidural catheter colonization.