Carriage of antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacterales among pregnant women and newborns in Amhara, Ethiopia.

Objectives: Infections are one of the most common causes of neonatal mortality, and maternal colonization has been associated with neonatal infection. In this study, we sought to quantify carriage prevalence of extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBL) -producing and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) among pregnant women and their neonates and to characterize risk factors for carriage in rural Amhara, Ethiopia.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study nested in the Birhan field site.

External Quality Assessment of Bacterial Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing in African National Public Health Laboratories, 2011-2016.

Background In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a regional microbiology external quality assessment (EQA) programme for national public health laboratories in the African region, initially targeting priority epidemic-prone bacterial diseases, and later including other common bacterial pathogens. Objectives The aim of this study was to analyse the efficacy of an EQA programme as a laboratory quality system evaluation tool. Methods We analysed the proficiency of laboratories' performance of bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) for the period 2011-2016.

Molecular Characterization of Corynebacterium diphtheriae Outbreak Isolates, South Africa, March-June 2015.

In 2015, a cluster of respiratory diphtheria cases was reported from KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. By using whole-genome analysis, we characterized 21 Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates collected from 20 patients and contacts during the outbreak (1 patient was infected with 2 variants of C. diphtheriae).