Clinical and microbiological characteristics of Eggerthella lenta causing bacteremia.

Eggerthella lenta is an obligate anaerobic, Gram-positive bacilli, belonging to the human microbiota of gastrointestinal and female reproductive tracts, oral cavity and prostate gland. In this article, we aim to describe clinical and microbiological characteristics of seven E. lenta strains causing bacteremia.

Brain abscess caused by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Eubacterium nodatum mimicking acute stroke.

We described a case of a 65-year-old man with a brain abscess caused by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Eubacterium nodatum. The patient presented right central facial nerve palsy, mutism and right hemiparesis at the examination. The patient underwent a left frontal craniotomy with evacuation of the brain abscess.

Ultrafast detection of β-lactamase resistance in from blood culture by nanopore sequencing.

This study aimed to assess the ultra-fast method using MinION™ sequencing for rapid identification of β-lactamase-producing clinical isolates from positive blood cultures. Spiked-blood positive blood cultures were extracted using the ultra-fast method and automated DNA extraction for MinION sequencing. Raw reads were analyzed for β-lactamase resistance genes.

Description of eight human infections caused by Bacteroides pyogenes in a tertiary hospital of northern Spain.

Bacteroides pyogenes is a Gram-negative obligate anaerobe, saccharolytic, non-motile, non-pigment-producing and non-spore-forming rod. Reports of human infections caused by B. pyogenes are scarce, with approximately 30 cases documented in scientific literature.

Disseminated infection associated with bacteraemia and osteomyelitis pubis in an elderly patient.

Objective: We describe a rare case of a disseminated infection associated with hip osteomyelitis.

Methods: A 91-year-old female patient was admitted with oedema of her right leg, fever of 38 °C and data consistent with ruptured Baker's cyst. A disseminated infection including bloodstream infection, pneumonia and multiple abscesses along both lower limbs was observed.

Fusobacterium ulcerans: from gut to commensal and bacterial translocation?

The genus Fusobacterium contains currently 13 species presenting as non-sporing, obligate anaerobic, Gram-negative fusiform rods. Fusobacterium ulcerans was discovered in 1988 causing tropical ulcers. We present the case of a patient with diverticulitis complicated with bacteremia.

COI vs Ct: comparing automated antigen tests cut-off index (COI) to PCR cycle threshold (Ct).

Introduction: The objective of this study was to compare the numeric cut-off index (COI) of automated antigen tests with the cycle-threshold (Ct) value.

Materials And Methods: COI values of all samples processed with the Elecsys® SARS-CoV-2 Antigen (Roche, Switzerland) from January to February 2022 were retrieved and the positive were compared to RdRP Cts of Allplex Variants I (Seegene, Korea). COI between 0.

Repurposing Positive SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test Devices for Variant Tracking.

From the very beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, one of the very few common opinions was that to control the expansion of the virus as many as the possible test had to be done. Antigen tests, being affordable and easy and fast to use, represented a great opportunity to expand the testing capacities of many healthcare systems. However, in 2021 with the appearance of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants, variant tracking strategies had to be implemented, which often included needing a second test to determine the variant of the patients diagnosed with antigen tests or not taking these samples into consideration at all.

Misidentification of the SARS-CoV-2 Mu variant using commercial mutation screening assays.

Detection of mutations by multiplex real-time RT-PCR is a widely used method for the screening of SARS-CoV-2 variants, but this method has several limitations. We describe three cases in which a Mu strain containing the mutation K417N was initially misclassified as the Beta variant. We recommend the detection of P681H to distinguish between these two variants.

Use of the Ct difference between the Nucleocapside (N) and the Spike (S) or RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) genes as a preliminary screening for SARS-CoV-2 variants with the Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay: Searching the N in Variants.

Purpose: With the rise of the different Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI) in order to control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, strategies for accurately tracking these different variants have been developed. While most of these strategies rely heavily on specific PCRs targeting the characteristic mutations of some lineages, several approaches using the alterations at the cycle threshold (Ct) of different commercial PCR diagnostic tests have been described. The objective of this study is to analyse the use of the Ct difference at the Allplex™ SARS-CoV-2/FluA/FluB/RSV Assay (Seegene, Korea) between the Nucleocapside (N) and the Spike (S) or RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) genes as a preliminary screening for variant tracking.

Ultra-fast direct method for identifying microorganisms from BACTEC lytic/10 anaerobic/F flasks.

Fast diagnosis of bloodstream infections remains the most important challenge for clinical microbiologists. The introduction of the mass-spectrometry represents a breakthrough, although several methods are already commonly used for the direct identification from positive blood cultures we present a faster method (ultra fast) for Lytic anaerobic flasks. We compare the ultra-fast (UF) method with the extensively employed differential centrifugation method (DC) and both to routine identification after 18-24 h of incubation.