Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae circulating in the Reunion Island, a French territory in the Southwest Indian Ocean.

Background: The spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in the Southwest Indian Ocean area (SIOA) is poorly documented. Reunion Island is a French overseas territory located close to Madagascar and connected with Southern Africa, Indian sub-continent and Europe, with several weekly flights. Here we report the results of the CPE surveillance program in Reunion Island over a six-year period.

Fourier-Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy Can Quickly Type Gram-Negative Bacilli Responsible for Hospital Outbreaks.

The typing of epidemic bacterial pathogens in hospitals relies on DNA-based, expensive, and time-consuming techniques, that are often limited to retrospective studies. However, the quick identification of epidemic pathogens in the routine of the microbiology laboratories would expedite infection control procedures that limit the contamination of new patients. IR Biotyper (Bruker Daltonics GmbH) is a new typing machine based on Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy which generates spectra, aiming at typing the micro-organisms within 3 h.

Molecular epidemiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from infected ICU patients: a French multicenter 2012-2013 study.

Although Pseudomonas aeruginosa has a non-clonal epidemic population structure, recent studies have provided evidence of the existence of epidemic high-risk clones. The aim of this study was to assess the molecular epidemiology of P. aeruginosa isolates responsible for infections in French ICUs, regardless of resistance patterns.

Outbreak of IMI-1 carbapenemase-producing colistin-resistant Enterobacter cloacae on the French island of Mayotte (Indian Ocean).

The spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in the Southwest Indian Ocean islands is poorly known. Here we describe an outbreak of colistin-resistant Enterobacter cloacae harbouring bla in the French overseas department of Mayotte. Between October 2015 and January 2017, all isolates of imipenem-non-susceptible E.

A Bundle of Measures to Control an Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Associated With P-Trap Contamination.

OBJECTIVE To describe an outbreak of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in which the hospital waste-pipe system was the likely source of contamination and to report the bundle of measures that facilitated the long-term control of the outbreak. DESIGN Outbreak investigation. SETTING The hematology unit of a tertiary-care referral center.

High prevalence and moderate diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the U-bends of high-risk units in hospital.

The presence of P. aeruginosa in water supply is clearly identified as a risk factor for P. aeruginosa infection in critical care units, even if routes of transmission are often unclear and remain a matter of debate.

Trends of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli sequence type 131 and its H30 subclone in a French hospital over a 15-year period.

Sequence type 131 (ST131) is a predominant lineage among extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. It plays a major role in the worldwide dissemination of E. coli producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs).

Epidemic spread of Pandoraea pulmonicola in a cystic fibrosis center.

Background: Pandoraea spp. are recently discovered bacteria, mainly recovered from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, but their epidemiology and clinical significance are not well known. We describe an epidemic spread of Pandoraea pulmonicola from 2009 in our CF center, involving 6 out of 243 CF patients.

Detection of Temporal Clusters of Healthcare-Associated Infections or Colonizations with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Two Hospitals: Comparison of SaTScan and WHONET Software Packages.

The identification of temporal clusters of healthcare-associated colonizations or infections is a challenge in infection control. WHONET software is available to achieve these objectives using laboratory databases of hospitals but it has never been compared with SaTScan regarding its detection performance. This study provided the opportunity to evaluate the performance of WHONET software in comparison with SaTScan software as a reference to detect clusters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Comparison of double-locus sequence typing (DLST) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) for the investigation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations.

Reliable molecular typing methods are necessary to investigate the epidemiology of bacterial pathogens. Reference methods such as multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) are costly and time consuming. Here, we compared our newly developed double-locus sequence typing (DLST) method for Pseudomonas aeruginosa to MLST and PFGE on a collection of 281 isolates.

Molecular epidemiology of carbapenem non-susceptible Acinetobacter baumannii in France.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii have emerged globally. The objective of this study was to investigate the epidemiology, clonal diversity and resistance mechanisms of imipenem non-susceptible A. baumannii isolates in France.

Development of a multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat typing scheme for genetic fingerprinting of Burkholderia cenocepacia and application to nationwide epidemiological analysis.

Organisms of the Burkholderia cepacia complex are especially important pathogens in cystic fibrosis (CF), with a propensity for patient-to-patient spread and long-term respiratory colonization. B. cenocepacia and Burkholderia multivorans account for the majority of infections in CF, and major epidemic clones have been recognized throughout the world.

Population structure of clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa from West and Central African countries.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) has a non-clonal, epidemic population with a few widely distributed and frequently encountered sequence types (STs) called 'high-risk clusters'. Clinical P. aeruginosa (clinPA) has been studied in all inhabited continents excepted in Africa, where a very few isolates have been analyzed.

Wastewater treatment plants release large amounts of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli into the environment.

Background: The determinants of the spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBLEC) in the community remain unclear. To evaluate its dissemination in the environment, we analyzed the ESBLEC population throughout an urban wastewater network.

Methods: Samples were collected weekly, over a 10-week period, from 11 sites throughout the wastewater network of Besançon city (France).

Tracking down antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in a wastewater network.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa-containing wastewater released by hospitals is treated by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), generating sludge, which is used as a fertilizer, and effluent, which is discharged into rivers. We evaluated the risk of dissemination of antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa (AR-PA) from the hospital to the environment via the wastewater network.

Evidence for induction of integron-based antibiotic resistance by the SOS response in a clinical setting.

Bacterial resistance to β-lactams may rely on acquired β-lactamases encoded by class 1 integron-borne genes. Rearrangement of integron cassette arrays is mediated by the integrase IntI1. It has been previously established that integrase expression can be activated by the SOS response in vitro, leading to speculation that this is an important clinical mechanism of acquiring resistance.

Most multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from hospitals in eastern France belong to a few clonal types.

This study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of clinical multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing to analyze 187 strains isolated in different French hospitals. To illustrate the diversity of resistance mechanisms to antibiotics in a given clone, we identified β-lactamases with an extended spectrum by using phenotypic and genotypic methods.

Impact of barrier precautions and antibiotic consumption on the incidence rate of acquired cases of infection or colonization with Acinetobacter baumannii: a 10-year multi-department study.

Following a previous investigation, this ecological study assessed the impact of barrier precautions and various factors on the annual incidence rate of acquired Acinetobacter baumannii cases in each of the 32 departments of the University Hospital of Besançon from 2000 to 2009. Ultimately, our study confirms the effectiveness of barrier precautions in addition to standard precautions for controlling A baumannii within our hospital departments. In comparison with the previous research, it emphasizes the significant role of fluoroquinolones in the emergence and the spread of this microorganism.

Usefulness of weekly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus screening.

We evaluated the usefulness of adding weekly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening to our established admission screening and clinical sampling in 4 acute care units of a university hospital. Our results suggest that weekly MRSA screening allows the detection of 56.1% of all cases of hospital-acquired MRSA carriage.

Usefulness of antimicrobial resistance pattern for detecting PVL- or TSST-1-producing meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a French university hospital.

Several recent reports have suggested that community-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clones, particularly those harbouring genes for Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) or toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), are increasingly responsible for infections in hospitals. Here, a retrospective study was carried out to investigate whether antimicrobial resistance patterns could be used to detect these pathogens in a French university hospital. Isolates were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, PCR profiling (PVL genes and tst), PFGE typing and multilocus sequence typing.

Microbiological and epidemiological features of clinical respiratory isolates of Burkholderia gladioli.

Burkholderia gladioli, primarily known as a plant pathogen, is involved in human infections, especially in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). In the present study, the first respiratory isolates recovered from 14 French patients with CF and 4 French patients without CF, identified by 16S rRNA gene analysis, were tested for growth on B. cepacia selective media, for identification by commercial systems, and for their antimicrobial susceptibilities, and were compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Ecological study of the effectiveness of isolation precautions in the management of hospitalized patients colonized or infected with Acinetobacter baumannii.

Objective: To assess the impact of isolation precautions on the incidence of patients colonized or infected with Acinetobacter baumannii (case patients) in a university hospital during the period from 1999 to 2006.

Design: Ecological study.

Setting: The Besançon University Hospital in France, a 1,200-bed acute care hospital with approximately 50,000 admissions per year.

The role of water fittings in intensive care rooms as reservoirs for the colonization of patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Objective: To assess the role of the water environment in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization of patients in intensive care units in the absence of a recognized outbreak.

Design And Setting: Prospective, single-centre study over an 8-week period in two adult ICUs at a university hospital. Environmental samples were taken from the water fittings of rooms once per week, during a 8-week period.