An outbreak of urinary tract infections following cystoscopy traceable to a malfunctioning drying cabinet.

Background: is an important bacterial pathogen, particularly as a cause of nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients. Only few reports exist in which cystoscopes were implicated as an outbreak source. We describe an investigation into the cause of a sudden increase in the number of urinary tract infections (UTI) with .

[Mycoplasma pneumoniaeoutbreak in the Netherlands 2023-2024].

Currently, there is a nationwide outbreak of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. M. pneumoniae is a bacterium that can cause atypical pneumonia, especially in children and young adults, and does not respond to the standard antibiotics prescribed for pneumonia.

Multicenter evaluation of the BIOFIRE Joint Infection Panel for the detection of bacteria, yeast, and AMR genes in synovial fluid samples.

The bioMérieux BIOFIRE Joint Infection (JI) Panel is a multiplex diagnostic test for the simultaneous and rapid (~1 h) detection of 39 potential pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes directly from synovial fluid (SF) samples. Thirty-one species or groups of microorganisms are included in the kit, as well as several AMR genes. This study, performed to evaluate the BIOFIRE JI Panel for regulatory clearance, provides data from a multicenter evaluation of 1,544 prospectively collected residual SF samples with performance compared to standard-of-care (SOC) culture for organisms or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing for AMR genes.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization for detecting Coxiella burnetii in tissue samples from chronic Q fever patients.

Objective: Detection of the intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii, causative agent of chronic Q fever, is notoriously difficult. Diagnosis of and duration of antibiotic treatment for chronic Q fever is partly determined by detection of the bacterium with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) might be a promising technique for detecting C.

Community-acquired bacteraemia in COVID-19 in comparison to influenza A and influenza B: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the Netherlands it was noticed that very few blood cultures from COVID-19 patients turned positive with clinically relevant bacteria. This was particularly evident in comparison to the number of positive blood cultures during previous seasonal epidemics of influenza. This observation raised questions about the occurrence and causative microorganisms of bacteraemia in COVID-19 patients, especially in the perspective of the widely reported overuse of antibiotics and the rising rate of antibiotic resistance.

Costs of a clinical pathway with point-of-care testing during influenza epidemic in a Dutch hospital.

Our study aim was to determine how a new clinical pathway, including PCR-based influenza point-of-care test (POCT), influences the hospitalisation costs of patients suspected of influenza presenting at the emergency department of a Dutch hospital during two consecutive influenza epidemics (2016-2017 and 2017-2018). Compared to mean costs per patient of €3661 in 2016-2017, the implementation of this new clinical pathway with influenza POCT in 2017 was associated with mean costs per influenza-positive patient of €2495 in 2017-2018 (P = .3).

Pitfalls of molecular diagnostic testing for Coxiella burnetii DNA on throat swabs.

Introduction: Coxiella burnetii, the causative pathogen of Q fever, is regularly detected in throat swabs from patients without serological evidence of Q fever infection. C. burnetii is also frequently found in bulk tank milk from dairy cows.

Coxiella burnetii in non-Hodgkin lymphoma tissue samples: Innocent until proven otherwise?

Purpose: Coxiella burnetii has been suggested as a potential cause of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), as C. burnetii was detected in B-NHL tissues. To further investigate this potential relationship, we hypothesized that among subjects previously exposed to C.

Direct detection of Trichomonas vaginalis virus in Trichomonas vaginalis positive clinical samples from the Netherlands.

Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common sexually transmitted parasitical infection worldwide. T. vaginalis can carry a virus: Trichomonas vaginalis virus (TVV).

Case report: Coxiella burnetii vascular infection and lymphoma in the Netherlands.

Objectives And Design: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been linked to infection with Coxiella burnetii, potentially through overproduction of IL-10 during infection with C. burnetii.

Materials And Methods: Description of a case report.

Disseminated infection in a peritoneal dialysis patient.

A disseminated peritoneal dialysis-related infection is very rare. belongs to the rapidly growing mycobacteria and can be misidentified as a diphtheroid bacterium, which in our case delayed diagnosis and optimal treatment. Due to intrinsic resistance to most antimicrobials, therapeutic options in infections are limited.

Outbreak of NDM-1-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Dutch Hospital, with Interspecies Transfer of the Resistance Plasmid and Unexpected Occurrence in Unrelated Health Care Centers.

In the Netherlands, the number of cases of infection with New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM)-positive is low. Here, we report an outbreak of NDM-1-producing infection in a Dutch hospital with interspecies transfer of the resistance plasmid and unexpected occurrence in other unrelated health care centers (HCCs). Next-generation sequencing was performed on 250 carbapenemase-producing isolates, including 42 NDM-positive isolates obtained from 29 persons at the outbreak site.

Allelic imbalance at the HER2/TOP2A locus in breast cancer.

Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with various histological features and molecular markers. These are utilized for the prediction of clinical outcome and therapeutic decision making. In addition to well established markers such as HER2 overexpression and estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER and PR) status, chromosomal instability is evolving as an important hallmark of cancers.

Dysregulation of serum gamma interferon levels in vascular chronic Q Fever patients provides insights into disease pathogenesis.

A large community outbreak of Q fever occurred in the Netherlands in the period 2007 to 2010. Some of the infected patients developed chronic Q fever, which typically includes pathogen dissemination to predisposed cardiovascular sites, with potentially fatal consequences. To identify the immune mechanisms responsible for ineffective clearance of Coxiella burnetii in patients who developed chronic Q fever, we compared serum concentrations of 47 inflammation-associated markers among patients with acute Q fever, vascular chronic Q fever, and past resolved Q fever.

Histological characteristics of the abdominal aortic wall in patients with vascular chronic Q fever.

The aim of this study was to describe specific histological findings of the Coxiella burnetii-infected aneurysmal abdominal aortic wall. Tissue samples of the aneurysmal abdominal aortic wall from seven patients with chronic Q fever and 15 patients without evidence of Q fever infection were analysed and compared. Chronic Q fever was diagnosed using serology and tissue PCR analysis.

Estimated prevalence of chronic Q fever among Coxiella burnetii seropositive patients with an abdominal aortic/iliac aneurysm or aorto-iliac reconstruction after a large Dutch Q fever outbreak.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of Q fever and prevalence of chronic Q fever in patients with abdominal aortic and/or iliac disease after the Q fever outbreak of 2007-2010 in the Netherlands.

Methods: In November 2009, an ongoing screening program for Q fever was initiated. Patients with abdominal aortic and/or iliac disease were screened for presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to phase I and II antigens of Coxiella burnetii using immunofluorescence assay and presence of C.

Multi-centre evaluation of real-time multiplex PCR for detection of carbapenemase genes OXA-48, VIM, IMP, NDM and KPC.

Background: Resistance to carbapenem antibiotics is emerging worldwide among Enterobacteriaceae. To prevent hospital transmission due to unnoticed carriage of carbapenemase producing micro-organisms in newly admitted patients, or follow-up of patients in an outbreak setting, a molecular screening method was developed for detection of the most prevalent carbapenemase genes; blaOXA-48, blaVIM, blaIMP, blaNDM and blaKPC.

Methods: A real-time multiplex PCR assay was evaluated using a collection of 86 Gram negative isolates, including 62 carbapenemase producers.

Screening of post-mortem tissue donors for Coxiella burnetii infection after large outbreaks of Q fever in The Netherlands.

Background: After the largest outbreaks of Q fever ever recorded in history occurred in the Netherlands, concern arose that Coxiella may be transmitted via donated tissues of latent or chronically infected donors. The Dutch Health Council recently advised to screen tissue donors, donating high risk tissues, for Coxiella infection.

Methods: After validation of an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test for IgG antibodies against phase 2 of C.

Emergence of methicillin resistance and Panton-Valentine leukocidin positivity in hospital- and community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections in Beira, Mozambique.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the antibiotic resistance patterns, including methicillin resistance, inducible macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB ) resistance and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin gene carriage among hospital-acquired Staphylococcus aureus (HA-SA) and community-acquired S. aureus (CA-SA), in Beira, Mozambique.

Methods: In 2010-2011, two prospective surveillance studies were conducted on post-operative and burn wound infections at the Central Hospital of Beira and on skin and soft tissue abscesses at the São Lucas Health Centre.

The use of typing methods and infection prevention measures to control a bullous impetigo outbreak on a neonatal ward.

Background: We describe an outbreak of Bullous Impetigo (BI), caused by a (methicillin susceptible, fusidic acid resistant) Staphylococcus aureus (SA) strain, spa-type t408, at the neonatal and gynaecology ward of the Jeroen Bosch hospital in the Netherlands, from March-November 2011.

Methods: We performed an outbreak investigation with revision of the hygienic protocols, MSSA colonization surveillance and environmental sampling for MSSA including detailed typing of SA isolates. Spa typing was performed to discriminate between the SA isolates.

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based loss of heterozygosity (LOH) testing by real time PCR in patients suspect of myeloproliferative disease.

During tumor development, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) often occurs. When LOH is preceded by an oncogene activating mutation, the mutant allele may be further potentiated if the wild-type allele is lost or inactivated. In myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) somatic acquisition of JAK2V617F may be followed by LOH resulting in loss of the wild type allele.

Epidemic Q fever in humans in the Netherlands.

In 2005, Q fever was diagnosed on two dairy goat farms and 2 years later it emerged in the human population in the south of the Netherlands. From 2007 to 2010, more than 4,000 human cases were notified with an annual seasonal peak. The outbreaks in humans were mainly restricted to the south of the country in an area with intensive dairy goat farming.

IL-18 serum concentration is markedly elevated in acute EBV infection and can serve as a marker for disease severity.

Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-related diseases encompass both acute infections that result in acute infectious mononucleosis and chronic infections that result in lymphoproliferative malignant diseases. While classical inflammatory parameters such as C-reactive protein (CRP) have proven their usefulness during bacterial and fungal infections, they are often low and nondiscriminatory in viral infections. Here, we show that IL-18 is markedly elevated during acute EBV infections and EBV-associated diseases, while ferritin concentrations are also elevated during acute EBV infection and correlate with IL-18.

Identification of risk factors for chronic Q fever, the Netherlands.

Since 2007, the Netherlands has experienced a large Q fever outbreak. To identify and quantify risk factors for development of chronic Q fever after Coxiella burnetii infection, we performed a case-control study. Comorbidity, cardiovascular risk factors, medications, and demographic characteristics from 105 patients with proven (n = 44), probable (n = 28), or possible (n = 33) chronic Q fever were compared with 201 patients who had acute Q fever in 2009 but in whom chronic Q fever did not develop (controls).