Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of a Hospital Outbreak Clonal Lineage of Subspecies serovar Mikawasima Containing and That Emerged on a Neonatal Ward, During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Nontyphoid salmonella can cause severe infections in newborns and is therefore declared a pathogen of major health significance at this age. The aim of the study was molecular and antimicrobial characterization of β-lactamase-producing Mikawasima outbreak clone on a Neonatal ward, University Hospital of Split (UHS), Croatia during the COVID-19 pandemic. From April 2020, until April 2023, 75 nonrepetitive strains of Mikawasima were isolated from stool specimens and tested for antimicrobial resistance.

Molecular characterisation of colistin and carbapenem-resistant clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii from Southeast Europe.

Objectives: To characterise 11 colistin- and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates recently emerging in hospital settings.

Methods: A. baumannii isolates were collected from hospitalised patients under colistin treatment in three countries of Southeast Europe: Turkey, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Molecular characterization of colistin resistance genes in a high-risk ST101/KPC-2 clone of Klebsiella pneumoniae in a University Hospital of Split, Croatia.

Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (KPC-KP) has become a major concern worldwide due to multidrug resistance and the ability to spread locally and globally. Infections caused by KPC-KP are great challenge in the healthcare systems because these are associated with longer hospitalization and high mortality.

A RARE PRESENTATION OF GENITOURINARY TUBERCULOSIS MIMICKING ABDOMINAL TUMOR.

Genital tuberculosis is a rare and unexpected disease in European countries including Croatia. Diagnosis of female genital tract tuberculosis is challenging and is rarely pin-pointed by clinical symptoms because of their low specificity. The authors decided to present a case of genitourinary tuberculosis in a young, immunocompetent fertile woman with high clinical suspicion of abdominal tumor mass.

Microbiome profiling and characterization of virulent and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium from treated and untreated wastewater, beach water and clinical sources.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) is an opportunistic pathogen among the highest global priorities regarding public and environmental health. Following One Health approach, we determined for the first time the antibiotic resistance and virulence genes, and sequence types (STs) affiliation of VREfm recovered simultaneously from marine beach waters, submarine outfall of a wastewater treatment plant and an offshore discharge of untreated sewage, and compared them with the surveillance VREfm from regional university hospital in Croatia to assess the hazard of their transmission and routes of introduction into the natural environment. Importantly, VREfm recovered from wastewater, coastal bathing waters and hospital shared similar virulence, multidrug resistance, and ST profiles, posing a major public health threat.

Submarine Outfalls of Treated Wastewater Effluents are Sources of Extensively- and Multidrug-Resistant KPC- and OXA-48-Producing in Coastal Marine Environment.

The rapid and ongoing spread of carbapenemase-producing has led to a global health threat. However, a limited number of studies have addressed this problem in the marine environment. We investigated their emergence in the coastal waters of the central Adriatic Sea (Croatia), which are recipients of submarine effluents from two wastewater treatment plants.

Identification of Recent Tuberculosis Exposure Using QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus, a Multicenter Study.

We investigated whether the difference of antigen tube 2 (TB2) minus antigen tube 1 (TB1) (TB2-TB1) of the QuantiFERON-TB gold plus test, which has been postulated as a surrogate for the CD8 T-cell response, could be useful in identifying recent tuberculosis (TB) exposure. We looked at the interferon gamma (IFN-γ) responses and differences in TB2 and TB1 tubes for 686 adults with QFT-plus positive test results. These results were compared among groups with high (368 TB contacts), low (229 patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases [IMID]), and indeterminate (89 asylum seekers or people from abroad [ASPFA]) risks of recent TB exposure.

Vancomycin-resistant COLONIZATION and infection in a HEMATOLOGIC patient.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), especially , have emerged as significant nosocomial pathogens and patients with impaired host defenses are at a particular risk of VRE infection. The most common occurrence is asymptomatic colonization of the gastrointestinal tract that can persist for a long time and serve as a reservoir for transmission of VRE to other patients. We present a case of a patient who was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia and suffered from bone marrow aplasia following induction therapy.

Endemicity of OXA-23 and OXA-72 in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii from three neighbouring countries in Southeast Europe.

According to the World Health Organization, bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii is the first on the critical priority list of pathogens in urgent need for new antibiotics. The increasing resistance of A. baumannii to the last-line treatment options, including carbapenems, is a global problem.

The Spectrum of Design Solutions for Improving the Activity-Selectivity Product of Peptide Antibiotics against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria and Prostate Cancer PC-3 Cells.

The link between the antimicrobial and anticancer activity of peptides has long been studied, and the number of peptides identified with both activities has recently increased considerably. In this work, we hypothesized that designed peptides with a wide spectrum of selective antimicrobial activity will also have anticancer activity, and tested this hypothesis with newly designed peptides. The spectrum of peptides, used as partial or full design templates, ranged from cell-penetrating peptides and putative bacteriocin to those from the simplest animals (placozoans) and the Chordata phylum (anurans).

Molecular Characterization and Survival of Carbapenem-Resistant Isolated from Hospitalized Patients in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Increasingly difficult treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has become a global problem of the 21st century. Within a group of multiresistant bacteria, the convincingly occupies the position at the top of the group designated as ESKAPE pathogens. In this study, 61 isolates of were recovered from different samples originating from various departments of the University Clinical Hospital Mostar during 2018.

Molecular Characterization of β-Lactam Resistance and Antimicrobial Susceptibility to Possible Therapeutic Options of AmpC-Producing Multidrug-Resistant in a University Hospital of Split, Croatia.

This study was performed to elucidate genetic relatedness and molecular resistance mechanisms of AmpC-producing multidrug-resistant isolates in University Hospital of Split (UHS), and define efficient antibiotics A total of 100 nonrepeated, consecutive, amoxicillin/clavulanate- and cefoxitin-resistant isolates were collected, mostly from urine (44%) and skin and soft-tissue samples (30%). They were all positive in cefoxitin Hodge test and negative for extended spectrum beta-lactamase production. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis identified four clusters and two singletons, with 79% of isolates in dominant cluster.

Survival of emerging pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii in water environment exposed to different oxygen conditions.

Bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii is a leading cause of hospital infections. Over the last decade, its occurrence in natural environments outside hospital settings has been reported. The aim was to examine the survival of A.

Designed peptide with a flexible central motif from ranatuerins adapts its conformation to bacterial membranes.

The long-standing goal in the field of peptide antibiotics has been to design lead compounds that have a wide spectrum of excellent antibacterial activity but are nontoxic to human cells. Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria have very different membranes, which are additionally modified in some drug-resistant species, presenting a challenge for the design of a single membrane-active peptide able to adapt its conformation to various physical properties of membrane microenvironments. In this paper, we describe how a peptide sequence can be constructed starting from an adaptable dynamic turn tandem motif in a central location.

Antibacterial Activity Affected by the Conformational Flexibility in Glycine-Lysine Based α-Helical Antimicrobial Peptides.

Antimicrobial peptides often show broad-spectrum activity due to a mechanism based on bacterial membrane disruption, which also reduces development of permanent resistance, a desirable characteristic in view of the escalating multidrug resistance problem. Host cell toxicity however requires design of artificial variants of natural AMPs to increase selectivity and reduce side effects. Kiadins were designed using rules obtained from natural peptides active against E.

Transmission and survival of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii outside hospital setting.

Acinetobacter baumannii origin and its epidemiology is under a great concern worldwide since this microorganism has become a leading nosocomial pathogen of the 21th century among the "ESKAPE" group of microorganisms. The aim of the study was to monitor and explore the epidemiology of this important hospital pathogen in the second largest clinical university hospital in Croatia. The presence of A.

Mycobacterium shimoidei-cavitary pulmonary disease with favorable outcome.

We report a case of cavitary pulmonary disease caused by Mycobacterium shimoidei in 67-year-old female with history of asthma. Even though susceptibility testing was not available, choice of treatment regimen (streptomycin, rifampicin, ethambutol, and clarithromycin), based on a few cases with favorable outcome reported in the literature, resulted with an excellent clinical, microbiological, and radiological response. This is the first report of pulmonary disease caused by M.

Reduced susceptibility to disinfectants of Acinetobacter baumannii biofilms on glass and ceramic.

The aim of this study was to determine the susceptibility of hospital and environmental Acinetobacter baumannii isolate biofilms on ceramics and glass to common disinfectants benzalkonium chloride and chlorhexidine. For this purpose we developed a new method for biofilm cultivation and quantification on ceramics. The biofilm bacteria were more resistant to disinfectants than the planktonic populations, as more than 50 % of the biofilm population and none of the planktonic population survived 5-minute exposure.

PGLa-H tandem-repeat peptides active against multidrug resistant clinical bacterial isolates.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates for new antibiotic classes but often display an unacceptably high toxicity towards human cells. A naturally produced C-terminal fragment of PGLa, named PGLa-H, has been reported to have a very low haemolytic activity while maintaining a moderate antibacterial activity. A sequential tandem repeat of this fragment, diPGLa-H, was designed, as well as an analogue with a Val to Gly substitution at a key position.

Pan Drug-Resistant Environmental Isolate of Acinetobacter baumannii from Croatia.

Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging nosocomial pathogen with also emerging resistance to different antibiotics. Multidrug and pan drug-resistant clinical isolates were reported worldwide. Here we report the first evidence of pan drug-resistant environmental isolate of A.

Emergence of Oxacillinases in Environmental Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Associated with Clinical Isolates.

Six carbapenem-resistant isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii were recovered from untreated and treated municipal wastewater of the capital city of Zagreb, Croatia. Molecular identification of environmental isolates of A. baumannii was performed by amplification, sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses of rpoB gene.

Carbapenem-resistant isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii in a municipal wastewater treatment plant, Croatia, 2014.

Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging hospital pathogen. Whereas A. baumannii isolated from patients or hospitals has been reported, there are few data regarding propagation of viable A.

Evaluation of PNA FISH® Yeast Traffic Light in identification of Candida species from blood and non-blood culture specimens.

PNA FISH(®) (peptide nucleic acid fluorescent in situ hybridization) Yeast Traffic Light (PNA FISH(®) YTL) assay is a commercially avaliable method for rapid identification of Candida spp. directly from positive blood cultures. This report provides a one-year experience in identification of yeasts from 25 specimens (15 positive blood cultures and 10 other clinically significant specimens) using PNA FISH(®) YTL and comparing it to VITEK 2 System.