Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterobacterales, Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates From Bloodstream Infections in Australian Children, 2013-2021.

Background: Gram-negative bloodstream infections are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in children. Increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is reported globally, yet efforts to track pediatric AMR at a national level over time are lacking.

Methods: The Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) surveillance program captures clinical and microbiological data of isolates detected in blood cultures across Australia.

Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance surveillance outcome programs - bloodstream infections and antimicrobial resistance patterns from patients less than 18 years of age, January 2020 - December 2021.

From 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, thirty-eight institutions across Australia submitted data to the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) from patients aged < 18 years (AGAR-Kids). Over the two years, 1,679 isolates were reported from 1,611 patients. This AGAR-Kids report aims to describe the population of children and adolescents with bacteraemia reported to AGAR and the proportion of resistant isolates.

transcription is an early predictor for COVID-19 outcomes, a multi-cohort observational study.

Purpose: Robust biomarkers that predict disease outcomes amongst COVID-19 patients are necessary for both patient triage and resource prioritisation. Numerous candidate biomarkers have been proposed for COVID-19. However, at present, there is no consensus on the best diagnostic approach to predict outcomes in infected patients.

Effect of Piperacillin-Tazobactam vs Meropenem on 30-Day Mortality for Patients With E coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae Bloodstream Infection and Ceftriaxone Resistance: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Extended-spectrum β-lactamases mediate resistance to third-generation cephalosporins (eg, ceftriaxone) in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Significant infections caused by these strains are usually treated with carbapenems, potentially selecting for carbapenem resistance. Piperacillin-tazobactam may be an effective "carbapenem-sparing" option to treat extended-spectrum β-lactamase producers.

Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella enterica 4,[5],12:i:- Sequence Type 34, New South Wales, Australia, 2016-2017.

Multidrug- and colistin-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype 4,[5],12:i:- sequence type 34 is present in Europe and Asia. Using genomic surveillance, we determined that this sequence type is also endemic to Australia. Our findings highlight the public health benefits of genome sequencing-guided surveillance for monitoring the spread of multidrug-resistant mobile genes and isolates.

Assessing the public acceptability of proposed policy interventions to reduce the misuse of antibiotics in Australia: A report on two community juries.

Objective: To elicit the views of well-informed community members on the acceptability of proposed policy interventions designed to improve community use of antibiotics in Australia.

Design: Two community juries held in 2016.

Setting And Participants: Western Sydney and Dubbo communities in NSW, Australia.

Antibiotic resistance in Enterobacteriaceae: mechanisms and clinical implications.

Resistance of the Enterobacteriaceae to antibiotics, especially of the β lactam type, is increasingly dominated by the mobilization of continuously expressed single genes that encode efficient drug modifying enzymes. Strong and ubiquitous selection pressure has seemingly been accompanied by a shift from "natural" resistance, such as inducible chromosomal enzymes, membrane impermeability, and drug efflux, to the modern paradigm of mobile gene pools that largely determine the epidemiology of modern antibiotic resistance. In this way, antibiotic resistance is more available than ever before to organisms such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae that are important causes of major sepsis.

Meropenem versus piperacillin-tazobactam for definitive treatment of bloodstream infections due to ceftriaxone non-susceptible Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp (the MERINO trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli or Klebsiella spp. frequently cause bloodstream infections. There has been a worldwide increase in resistance in these species to antibiotics such as third generation cephalosporins, largely driven by the acquisition of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase or plasmid-mediated AmpC enzymes.

Rapid identification of gram negative bacteria from blood culture broth using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

An important role of the clinical microbiology laboratory is to provide rapid identification of bacteria causing bloodstream infection. Traditional identification requires the sub-culture of signaled blood culture broth with identification available only after colonies on solid agar have matured. MALDI-TOF MS is a reliable, rapid method for identification of the majority of clinically relevant bacteria when applied to colonies on solid media.

The clinical and public health challenge of Gram-negative resistance in Australasia.

The Gram-Negative 'Superbugs' Conference of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, 2-3 August 2013 The Australian Society for Infectious Diseases hosted a national conference focused specifically on raising awareness of and contemplating solutions to the rise in antimicrobial resistance, especially in Gram-negative bacteria. Presentations were primarily informative, although some lively interactive sessions were held, particularly to debate contentious areas and to discuss options for policy makers and practitioners in infection control and antimicrobial stewardship. The conference brought together a diversity of backgrounds and interests, and was the first national meeting focused on this area.

Computational inference of grammars for larger-than-gene structures from annotated gene sequences.

Motivation: Larger than gene structures (LGS) are DNA segments that include at least one gene and often other segments such as inverted repeats and gene promoters. Mobile genetic elements (MGE) such as integrons are LGS that play an important role in horizontal gene transfer, primarily in Gram-negative organisms. Known LGS have a profound effect on organism virulence, antibiotic resistance and other properties of the organism due to the number of genes involved.

Context-driven discovery of gene cassettes in mobile integrons using a computational grammar.

Background: Gene discovery algorithms typically examine sequence data for low level patterns. A novel method to computationally discover higher order DNA structures is presented, using a context sensitive grammar. The algorithm was applied to the discovery of gene cassettes associated with integrons.

Integron gene cassettes in Acinetobacter spp. strains from South China.

The epidemiology of emerging antibiotic resistance genes in Asia is inadequately defined and studies within the major pools of transmissible genes such as integron gene cassettes are important. One hundred and twenty-two non-repetitive Acinetobacter spp. isolates were obtained from inpatients of a major hospital in South China.

In vitro interactions of tobramycin with various nonantibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cenocepacia.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia are the major pathogens that colonize the airway surface and cause progressive respiratory failure and high mortality, especially in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Tobramycin is the treatment of choice, but persistent usage enables the infectious organisms to activate defence mechanisms, making eradication rarely successful. Combinations of antibiotic and nonantibiotic compounds have been tested in vitro against P.

An outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii producing OXA-23 carbapenemase in western China.

Twenty-two non-repetitive carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates were obtained from Intensive Care Unit patients. All of the isolates carried bla(OXA-23), bla(OXA-66), a novel cephalosporinase-encoding gene (bla(ADC-25)) and a class 1 integron with an aacC1-orfP-orfQ-aadA1a cassette array and had identical enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) profiles. ISAba1 was found upstream of bla(OXA-23), but was not associated with bla(OXA-66) or bla(ADC-25).

Beta-lactam resistance in the gram negatives: increasing complexity of conditional, composite and multiply resistant phenotypes.

The greatest impact of microbiology data on clinical care is in the critically ill. Unfortunately, this is also the area in which microbiology laboratories are most often non-contributive. Attempts to move to rapid, culture-independent diagnostics are driven by the need to expedite urgent results.

Horizontal gene transfer in a polyclonal outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

In the last few years, phenotypically carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter strains have been identified throughout the world, including in many of the hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) of Australia. Genotyping of Australian ICU outbreak-associated isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of whole genomic DNA indicated that different strains were cocirculating within one hospital. The carbapenem-resistant phenotype of these and other Australian isolates was found to be due to carbapenem-hydrolyzing activity associated with the presence of the blaOXA-23 gene.