Inactivation of thymidine kinase as a cause of resistance to zidovudine in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli: a phenotypic and genomic study.

Objectives: The antiviral zidovudine has been recently identified as an active drug against resistant Enterobacteriaceae, but prevalence of resistance to this compound remains unknown. The aim was to estimate the prevalence of clinical Escherichia coli isolates resistant to zidovudine and to decipher the mechanism of zidovudine resistance.

Methods: We screened 537 isolates on zidovudine-containing agar plates and studied their thymidine kinase (tdk) gene sequences, the putative target involved in zidovudine resistance.

Sexual assault under benzodiazepine submission in a Paris suburb.

Sexual assaults under benzodiazepine submission have been described, since use of benzodiazepine enables non consensual sexual activity but rarely fully reported. An accurate evaluation of the phenomenon has seemed interesting. Files of 23 adult males and females examined at the Emergency Forensic Unit of an University Teaching Hospital near Paris were reviewed.