Genetic differences between invasive and noninvasive neonatal group B streptococcal isolates.

Background: Streptococcus agalactiae, also known as group B streptococcus (GBS), is the most common cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis. To improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of neonatal GBS sepsis, better knowledge of clonal relatedness and diversity among invasive and noninvasive GBS isolates is critical.

Methods: In a Germany-based study, invasive neonatal GBS isolates were compared with noninvasive isolates from neonates in whom sepsis was suspected, but whose blood cultures were sterile.

Colonization, serotypes and transmission rates of group B streptococci in pregnant women and their infants born at a single University Center in Germany.

Objective: To evaluate colonization, transmission rate and serotype distribution of group B streptococci (GBS) in pregnant women and infants born in a single University Center in Germany.

Methods: In a prospective study we collected cultures from pregnant women and ear cultures from newborns. We performed serotyping and susceptibility testing.

Molecular epidemiology of invasive neonatal Streptococcus agalactiae isolates in Germany.

Background: Streptococcus agalactiae [group B streptococcus (GBS)] is a well-known cause of invasive infections leading to sepsis and meningitis in neonates. A comprehensive nationwide active surveillance study over 2 years was performed in Germany to describe the molecular epidemiology among 296 invasive neonatal GBS isolates.

Methods: Isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Low prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a southwestern region of Germany.

Introduction: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has developed into an important human pathogen and is increasingly being found to be the cause of skin and soft tissue infections or invasive infections in many communities. We have determined the prevalence of MRSA among S. aureus isolates from pediatric in- and outpatients of the University Children's Hospital of Freiburg, from children attending primary care pediatricians and from healthy children entering school in a prospective study carried out in a southwestern region of Germany.

Incidence and clinical presentation of invasive neonatal group B streptococcal infections in Germany.

Objective: Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in newborn infants. So far, there have been no published data on the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of invasive neonatal group B Streptococcus infections in Germany.

Methods: A prospective active surveillance study involving all of the pediatric hospitals, which reported their cases to the German Pediatric Surveillance Unit, and all of the microbiological laboratories serving pediatric hospitals, which reported their cases to the Laboratory Sentinel Group at Robert Koch Institute Berlin, was conducted between 2001 and 2003.

Antibiotic resistance patterns among respiratory pathogens at a German university children's hospital over a period of 10 years.

Unlabelled: Growing antimicrobial resistance among Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis is raising major concern worldwide. Strains of S. pneumoniae, H.

Heterogeneity of genotype-phenotype correlation among macrolide-resistant Streptococcus agalactiae isolates.

Seventy-four erythromycin-resistant group B Streptococcus isolates were analyzed regarding their phenotype-genotype and phenotype-serotype correlation. Four different phenotypes were assessed, one of them for the first time. ermB and ermTR were the most frequent genotypes (80%).

Association between resistance to erythromycin and the presence of the fibronectin binding protein F1 gene, prtF1, in Streptococcus pyogenes isolates from German pediatric patients.

A total of 301 German pediatric group A streptococcus isolates were screened for the presence of macrolide resistance and the fibronectin binding protein F1 gene (prtF1) encoding an adhesin and cell invasiveness protein. The prtF1 gene was present significantly more often among macrolide-resistant isolates. The majority of these were not clonally related.

Serotype distribution of invasive group B streptococcal isolates in infants: results from a nationwide active laboratory surveillance study over 2 years in Germany.

We report the serotype distribution of invasive group B streptococci (GBS) isolated from 296 infants in Germany. Serotype distribution was as follows: serotype Ia, 15%; Ib, 5%; II, 5%; III, 65%; IV, 1%; and V, 8%. Analysis of serotype according to the source of isolation highlighted the considerable role of serotype III in meningitis in early-onset infection (82%) and late-onset infection (84%).

Antibiotic susceptibility in neonatal invasive isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae in a 2-year nationwide surveillance study in Germany.

The antimicrobial susceptibility of 296 invasive neonatal group B streptococcus isolates from a nationwide 2-year surveillance study in Germany was investigated. All isolates were susceptible to beta-lactams, linezolid, quinupristin-dalfopristin, and vancomycin. Erythromycin and clindamycin resistance was found in 10.

A serotype V clone is predominant among erythromycin-resistant Streptococcus agalactiae isolates in a southwestern region of Germany.

One hundred ninety-three Streptococcus agalactiae isolates of neonatal origin and 146 isolates from adult women were analyzed for macrolide resistance and investigated for clonality. Among erythromycin-resistant isolates, serotype V turned out to be the most frequent. Comparative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed genetic clustering of resistant strains and predominance of a single clone family within an otherwise heterogeneous serotype V population.