Polymerase chain reaction targeting 16S ribosomal RNA for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis after neurosurgery.

Objectives: Bacterial and aseptic meningitis after neurosurgery can present similar clinical signs and symptoms. The aims of this study were to develop and test a molecular method to diagnose bacterial meningitis (BM) after neurosurgery.

Methods: A 16S ribosomal RNA gene PCR-based strategy was developed using artificially inoculated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) followed by sequencing.

Presence of high-risk clones of OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii (ST79) and SPM-1-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ST277) in environmental water samples in Brazil.

This study reports the presence of hospital-associated high-risk lineages of OXA-23-producing ST79 Acinetobacter baumannii and SPM-1-producing ST277 Pseudomonas aeruginosa in urban rivers in Brazil. These findings indicate that urban rivers can act as reservoirs of clinically important multidrug-resistant bacteria, which constitute a potential risk to human and animal health.

Clonal complexes 104, 109 and 113 playing a major role in the dissemination of OXA-carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in Southeast Brazil.

Carbapenem resistance among Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from clinical settings in Brazil has increased dramatically in the last 10 years due to the emergence and dissemination of OXA-type carbapenemase encoding genes. This study aimed to characterize the presence of carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D β-lactamases (CHDL)-encoding genes and clonal complexes playing a major role in the dissemination of OXA-carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii in Southeast Brazil.