M1Streptococcus pyogenes causing community-acquired pneumonia, pleural empyema and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Objectives: Streptococcus pyogenes causes superficial infections but can also cause deep-seated infections and toxin-mediated diseases. In the present study, phylogenetic and in silico prediction analyses were performed on an antimicrobial resistant M1S. pyogenes strain causing severe clinical manifestations during the current surge of invasive group A Streptococcus (iGAS) disease.

Comprehensive Analysis of Virulence Determinants and Genomic Islands of -Producing Clinical Isolates from Greece.

Nosocomial outbreaks of multidrug-resistant (MDR) complex (ECC) are often reported worldwide, mostly associated with a small number of multilocus-sequence types of and strains. In Europe, the largest clonal outbreak of -producing ECC has been recently reported, involving an ST182 strain in a Greek teaching hospital. In the current study, we aimed to further investigate the genetic make-up of two representative outbreak isolates.

Emergence of Clonally-Related South Asian Clade I Clinical Isolates of in a Greek COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.

has recently emerged as a multidrug-resistant yeast implicated in various healthcare-associated invasive infections and hospital outbreaks. In the current study, we report the first five intensive care unit (ICU) cases affected by isolates in Greece, during October 2020-January 2022. The ICU of the hospital was converted to a COVID-19 unit on 25 February 2021, during the third wave of COVID-19 in Greece.

Possible COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis Due to in Greece.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes direct damage to the pulmonary epithelium, enabling Aspergillus invasion. Rapid progression and high mortality of invasive aspergillosis have been reported. In the present study, we report a rare case of possible COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) caused by A.

Molecular Basis of Resistance to First-Line Drugs of Strains in Greece.

The aim of this study was to determine the rate and the mutations of genes involved to the first-line antituberculous drugs' resistance of isolated in Central Greece from 2010 to 2019. During the study period, the rate of resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide was 5.4%, 0.

Changing Characteristics and Susceptibility to Ceftazidime/Avibactam of Bloodstream Extensively Drug-Resistant from a Greek Intensive Care Unit.

During 2014-2016, a total of 248 carbapenem-resistant (CARB-R Kp) were recovered in a Greek intensive care unit (ICU), the colistin resistance (COL-R) rates among CARB-R Kp from bloodstream infections (BSIs) were determined, and molecular characterization and the susceptibility of CARB-R+COL-R Kp to ceftazidime/avibactam were performed. The majority of CARB-R Kp from BSIs ( = 53) were OXA-48 (43.4%) and KPC (33.

Extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii bacteraemia in a multidisciplinary intensive care unit during a 6-year period: Risk factors for fulminant sepsis.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine potential host-, pathogen-, infection- and treatment-related risk factors that might predict a fulminant fatal course of bacteraemia caused by extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDR-Aba).

Methods: Eighty-seven patients with monomicrobial growth of XDR-Aba in blood cultures within a 6-year period (2011-2016) were studied. Patients were divided into three groups according to ICU outcome: Group A (n=40) consisted of patients who survived; Group B (n=10) included patients with fulminant sepsis who died early (≤48h); and Group C (n=37) included patients who died later (>48h) after the onset of bacteraemia.

Investigation of Extensively Drug-Resistant blaOXA-23-Producing Acinetobacter baumannii Spread in a Greek Hospital.

A rapid increase was observed in the incidence of extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDR Aba) isolates in a Greek hospital during 2014. To investigate the causes of this rise, the antimicrobial resistance profiles of all carbapenem-resistant (CARB-R) Aba isolates recovered during 2014-2015 were determined. Selected XDR Aba isolates (n = 13) were characterized by molecular methods.

Characterization of ST258 Colistin-Resistant, blaKPC-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Greek Hospital.

The emergence of colistin resistance may further contribute to treatment failure of infection caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae. The colistin resistance rates were determined and colistin-resistant carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (COL-R CP-Kp) were characterized over an 18-month period in a Greek hospital.

Molecular identification of tigecycline- and colistin-resistant carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii from a Greek hospital from 2011 to 2013.

An alarming increase in the resistance rates of tigecycline and colistin among carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii recovered from a Greek hospital over a 3-year period (2011-2013) was investigated. The antimicrobial resistance profiles and carbapenemase gene content were determined for a collection of colistin- and/or tigecycline-resistant carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii isolates (n = 42), which were recovered consecutively during the study period.

Identification and characterization of genetic structures coding for carbapenemases in Enterobacteria from Central Greece.

The dissemination of carbapenemases among different species of Enterobacteriaceae was investigated in the University Hospital of Larissa, Central Greece. The presence of the isoform (Tn4401a) of the transponson carrying blaKPC-2 and 5 divergent blaVIM-carrying class I integrons, including a novel structure, suggests interspecies transfer of these mobile elements and underscores their ongoing evolution.

Successful control of a neonatal outbreak caused mainly by ST20 multidrug-resistant SHV-5-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, Greece.

Background: Extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-Kp) infection can cause significant morbidity and mortality in neonates. We investigated a nosocomial ESBL-Kp outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the University Hospital of Larissa (UHL), Central Greece.

Methods: A total of sixty-four ESBL-Kp were studied; twenty six isolates were recovered from the NICU and were compared with thirty-eight randomly selected isolates from different wards of the hospital during the period March- December 2012.

Molecular characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae from vaginal colonization and neonatal infections: a 4-year multicenter study in Greece.

A multicenter collection comprising of 171 Streptococcus agalactiae isolates from pregnant women recovered between 2007 and 2010 and 46 from unmatched neonates with invasive infections was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genetic characterization. High rates of erythromycin resistance (20.47%) were observed only in isolates from pregnant women.

Carbapenemase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa from central Greece: molecular epidemiology and genetic analysis of class I integrons.

Background: Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a serious challenge for antimicrobial therapy of nosocomial infections, as it possesses several mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance. In Central Greece, a sudden increase of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa was observed during 2011, indicating the need for further analysis.

Ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli in Central Greece: mechanisms of resistance and molecular identification.

Background: Fluoroquinolone resistant E. coli isolates, that are also resistant to other classes of antibiotics, is a significant challenge to antibiotic treatment and infection control policies. In Central Greece a significant increase of ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli has occurred during 2011, indicating the need for further analysis.

Emergence of Escherichia coli sequence type 410 (ST410) with KPC-2 β-lactamase.

Fifteen carbapenem-non-susceptible Escherichia coli isolates obtained during the period May 2010 to April 2011 in a hospital and a long-term care facility (LTCF) in Larissa (Central Greece) were investigated. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to various antimicrobial agents were determined by Etest. Carriage of bla genes, including bla(KPC-2) and bla(CTX-M), was documented by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing.

Detection of Citrobacter koseri carrying beta-lactamase KPC-2 in a hospitalised patient, Greece, July 2011.

This report describes the detection of Citrobacter koseri carrying K. pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC-2) isolated in July 2011 from a Greek patient, who was also colonised by a Klebsiella pneumoniae strain coproducing KPC-2 and Verona integron-encoded metallo-beta-lactamase (VIM)-1.

Analysis of emergence of quinolone-resistant gonococci in Greece by combined use of Neisseria gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing and multilocus sequence typing.

The prevalence of quinolone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae (QRNG) in Greece remained low from 1997 to 2003 but increased dramatically from 11% to 56% between 2004 and 2007. N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were used to investigate trends in quinolone resistance from 1997 to 2007 and explore the origins of the recent increase in QRNG.

Spread of the Streptococcus pneumoniae Taiwan19F-14 clone among children in Greece.

Serotype 19F pneumococci were a leading cause of infections among children in Athens, Greece during 2001-2006. In total, 143 19F isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and 38 isolates representing the main PFGE types were also characterised by multilocus sequence typing. A diversity of distinct strains belonging to sequence types 236, 1035, 274, 172 and 319 were identified, but multidrug-resistant isolates related to the Taiwan(19F)-14 clone (ST236) constituted 76.

Genetic relatedness of the Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular biosynthetic loci.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) produces 1 of 91 capsular polysaccharides (CPS) that define the serotype. The cps loci of 88 pneumococcal serotypes whose CPS is synthesized by the Wzy-dependent pathway were compared with each other and with additional streptococcal polysaccharide biosynthetic loci and were clustered according to the proportion of shared homology groups (HGs), weighted for the sequence similarities between the genes encoding the shared HGs. The cps loci of the 88 pneumococcal serotypes were distributed into eight major clusters and 21 subclusters.

Predicted functions and linkage specificities of the products of the Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular biosynthetic loci.

The sequences of the capsular biosynthetic (cps) loci of 90 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae have recently been determined. Bioinformatic procedures were used to predict the general functions of 1,973 of the 1,999 gene products and to identify proteins within the same homology group, Pfam family, and CAZy glycosyltransferase family. Correlating cps gene content with the 54 known capsular polysaccharide (CPS) structures provided tentative assignments of the specific functions of the different homology groups of each functional class (regulatory proteins, enzymes for synthesis of CPS constituents, polymerases, flippases, initial sugar transferases, glycosyltransferases [GTs], phosphotransferases, acetyltransferases, and pyruvyltransferases).

Genetic analysis of the capsular biosynthetic locus from all 90 pneumococcal serotypes.

Several major invasive bacterial pathogens are encapsulated. Expression of a polysaccharide capsule is essential for survival in the blood, and thus for virulence, but also is a target for host antibodies and the basis for effective vaccines. Encapsulated species typically exhibit antigenic variation and express one of a number of immunochemically distinct capsular polysaccharides that define serotypes.

Evolutionary genetics of the capsular locus of serogroup 6 pneumococci.

The evolution of the capsular biosynthetic (cps) locus of serogroup 6 Streptococcus pneumoniae was investigated by analyzing sequence variation within three serotype-specific cps genes from 102 serotype 6A and 6B isolates. Sequence variation within these cps genes was related to the genetic relatedness of the isolates, determined by multilocus sequence typing, and to the inferred patterns of recent evolutionary descent, explored using the eBURST algorithm. The serotype-specific cps genes had a low percent G+C, and there was a low level of sequence diversity in this region among serotype 6A and 6B isolates.