Concomitant Marked Decline in Prevalence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Other Respiratory Viruses Among Symptomatic Patients Following Public Health Interventions in Australia: Data from St Vincent's Hospital and Associated Screening Clinics, Sydney, NSW.

Our Australian hospital tested almost 22 000 symptomatic people over 11 weeks for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Following travel bans and physical distancing, SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses diagnoses fell dramatically. Increasing rhinovirus diagnoses as social control measures were relaxed may indirectly indicate an elevated risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resurgence.

Limited diversity in the gene pool allows prediction of third-generation cephalosporin and aminoglycoside resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Early appropriate antibiotic treatment reduces mortality in severe sepsis, but current methods to identify antibiotic resistance still generally rely on bacterial culture. Modern diagnostics promise rapid gene detection, but the apparent diversity of relevant resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae is a problem. Local surveys and analysis of publicly available data sets suggested that the resistance gene pool is dominated by a relatively small subset of genes, with a very high positive predictive value for phenotype.

Subtype distribution of Blastocystis isolates from a variety of animals from New South Wales, Australia.

A total of 438 stool samples from 38 different species of animal from seven different locations were studied for the presence of Blastocystis. PCR analysis was completed on all samples and DNA sequence data from the rDNA were submitted to subtype allocation. There was a total of 80 (18%) sequences from 18 species, and nine different subtypes were identified - ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST5, ST7, ST11, ST12 and ST13.

Clinical significance and phylogenetic relationship of novel Australian Pneumocystis jirovecii genotypes.

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an important opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients. Molecular typing is employed to study this pathogen, as no culture system exists. No Australian P.

Prevalence and significance of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from blood cultures in a tertiary hospital.

Blood cultures (BC) are the most important tool in the diagnosis of bloodstream infections. However, false positive results are associated with increased laboratory costs and inappropriate antibiotic use. In order to determine the prevalence and location of blood cultures contaminated with coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), we performed a retrospective analysis of all blood cultures performed at St.

Amoebiasis: current status in Australia.

Entamoeba histolytica is one of the most common parasitic infections worldwide, infecting about 50 million people and resulting in 40,000-100,000 deaths a year. In Australia, people at risk of infection include immigrants, travellers returning from countries of high endemicity, Indigenous people, and men who have sex with men. Clinical manifestations range from asymptomatic carriage to invasive disease.

Epidemic strains of Shigella sonnei biotype g carrying integrons.

Class 2 integrons (Tn7) were found in all randomly selected epidemic (n = 27) and preepidemic (n = 13) strains of multiresistant Shigella sonnei biotype g. A class 1 integron was also found in two epidemic strains. Gene cassettes within these integrons account for resistance to commonly used therapeutic agents.