Global prevalence, resistance rates, and underlying resistance mechanisms of clinical Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma species.

Mycoplasmas are significant pathogens in human health, implicated in a range of clinical conditions from respiratory infections to urogenital disorders. Their resistance to commonly used antibiotics poses a substantial challenge to treatment and control. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the global distribution of clinical mycoplasmas, elucidate their resistance to various antibiotics, and identify the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying their resistance.

Spiritual Holy Water Sites in Ethiopia: Unrecognized High-Risk Settings for Transmission of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Ethiopia is a high-tuberculosis (TB) burden country with 157 new cases per 100,000 people, with 23,800 TB-related deaths in 2020. In Ethiopia, TB patients have different healthcare-seeking behaviors. They frequently visit spiritual places, such as holy water sites (HWSs), to seek treatment for their illness spiritually.

evaluation of the binding activity of novel mouse IgG1 opsonic monoclonal antibodies to and other selected mycobacterial species.

Antimicrobial resistance alongside other challenges in tuberculosis (TB) therapeutics have stirred renewed interest in host-directed interventions, including the role of antibodies as adjunct therapeutic agents. This study assessed the binding efficacy of two novel IgG1 opsonic monoclonal antibodies (MABs; GG9 & JG7) at 5, 10, and 25 µg/mL to live cultures of , , , , and American Type Culture Collection laboratory reference strains, as well as clinical susceptible, multi-drug resistant, and extensively drug resistant strains using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. These three MAB concentrations were selected from a range of concentrations used in previous optimization (binding and functional) assays.

Genetic diversity of strains isolated from spiritual holy water site attendees in Northwest Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study.

Background: The genetic diversity of complex (MTBC) strains was characterized among isolates from individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) symptoms attended holy water sites (HWSs) in the Amhara region, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was done from June 2019 to March 2020 to describe the genetic diversity and drug-resistance profiles of MTBC isolates. Sputum specimens were collected and cultured in the Löwenstein-Jensen culture medium.

Patterns and profiles of drug resistance-conferring mutations in genotypes isolated from tuberculosis-suspected attendees of spiritual holy water sites in Northwest Ethiopia.

Purpose: This study examined the patterns and frequency of genetic changes responsible for resistance to first-line (rifampicin and isoniazid), fluoroquinolones, and second-line injectable drugs in drug-resistant (MTB) isolated from culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) symptomatic attendees of spiritual holy water sites (HWSs) in the Amhara region.

Patients And Methods: From June 2019 to March 2020, a cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 122 culture-positive MTB isolates from PTB-suspected attendees of HWSs in the Amhara region were evaluated for their drug resistance profiles, and characterized gene mutations conferring resistance to rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), fluoroquinolones (FLQs), and second-line injectable drugs (SLIDs) using GenoType®MTBDR VER2.

Molecular epidemiology of multidrug-resistant , and outbreak among neonates in Tembisa hospital, South Africa.

Background: An outbreak of multidrug-resistant infections in a neonatal ward within a tertiary hospital in South Africa resulted in the mortality of 10 patients within six months. In this work, the genomic epidemiology of and the molecular factors mediating this outbreak were investigated.

Methods: Bacterial cultures obtained from clinical samples collected from the infected neonates underwent phenotypic and molecular analyses to determine their species, sensitivity to antibiotics, production of carbapenemases, complete resistance genes profile, clonality, epidemiology, and evolutionary relationships.

Genetic diversity of isolates from the central, eastern and southeastern Ethiopia.

Introduction: The population structure of complex (MTBC) in Ethiopia is diverse but dominated by Euro-American (Lineage 4) and East-African-Indian (Lineage 3) lineages. The objective of this study was to describe the genetic diversity of MTBC isolates in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Ethiopia.

Methods: A total of 223 MTBC culture isolates obtained from patients referred to Adama and Harar TB reference laboratories were spoligotyped.

Molecular investigations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes among baseline and follow-up strains circulating in four regions of Eswatini.

Background: The tuberculosis (TB) epidemic remains a major global health problem and Eswatini is not excluded. Our study investigated the circulating genotypes in Eswatini and compared them at baseline (start of treatment) and follow-up during TB treatment.

Methods: Three hundred and ninety (n = 390) participants were prospectively enrolled from referral clinics and patients who met the inclusion criteria, were included in the study.

Profile and Frequency of Mutations Conferring Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in the Central, Southeastern and Eastern Ethiopia.

Purpose: Advances in molecular tools that assess genes harboring drug resistance mutations have greatly improved the detection and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). This study was conducted to determine the frequency and type of mutations that are responsible for resistance to rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), fluoroquinolones (FLQs) and second-line injectable drugs (SLIDs) in (MTB) isolates obtained from culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients in the central, southeastern and eastern Ethiopia.

Patients And Methods: In total, 224 stored culture-positive MTB isolates from pulmonary TB patients referred to Adama and Harar regional TB laboratories between August 2018 and January 2019 were assessed for mutations conferring RIF, INH, FLQs and SLIDs resistance using GenoTypeMTBDRplus (MTBDRplus) and GenoTypeMTBDRsl (MTBDRsl).

Drug Resistance in Ethiopia: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global public health issue, despite advances in diagnostic technologies, substantial global efforts, and the availability of effective chemotherapies. , a species of pathogenic bacteria resistant to currently available anti-TB drugs, is on the rise, threatening national and international TB-control efforts. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to estimate the pooled prevalence of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) in Ethiopia.

Emerging Transcriptional and Genomic Mechanisms Mediating Carbapenem and Polymyxin Resistance in : a Systematic Review of Current Reports.

The spread of carbapenem- and polymyxin-resistant poses a significant threat to public health, challenging clinicians worldwide with limited therapeutic options. This review describes the current coding and noncoding genetic and transcriptional mechanisms mediating carbapenem and polymyxin resistance, respectively. A systematic review of all studies published in PubMed database between 2015 to October 2020 was performed.

Machine learning reveals that Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes and anatomic disease site impacts drug resistance and disease transmission among patients with proven extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: There is a general dearth of information on extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). Here, we investigated Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) drug resistance and transmission patterns in EPTB patients treated in the Tshwane metropolitan area, in South Africa.

Methods: Consecutive Mtb culture-positive non-pulmonary samples from unique EPTB patients underwent mycobacterial genotyping and were assigned to phylogenetic lineages and transmission clusters based on spoligotypes.

Emergence of in Extended-Spectrum-β-Lactamase-Producing Clinical in Pretoria, South Africa: Global Evolutionary Phylogenomics, Resistome, and Mobilome.

Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing are critical-priority pathogens that cause substantial fatalities. With the emergence of mobile genes mediating resistance to colistin in , clinicians are now left with few therapeutic options. Eleven clinical strains with resistance to cephems and/or colistin were genomically analyzed to determine their resistomes, mobilomes, and evolutionary relationships to global strains.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, antimicrobials, immunity, and lung-gut microbiota crosstalk: current updates and emerging advances.

Increasingly, gut microbiota distortions are being implicated in the pathogenesis of several infectious and noninfectious diseases. Specifically, in the absence of an eubiotic microbiota, mice are more prone to colonization and infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). In this qualitative analysis, the following were observed: (1) antimicrobials cause long-term gut microbiota perturbations; (2) Mtb causes limited and transient disturbances to the lung-gut microbiota; (3) pathogens (e.

Pathogenomics and Evolutionary Epidemiology of Multi-Drug Resistant Clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from Pretoria, South Africa.

Antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is increasingly being implicated in invasive infections worldwide with high mortalities. Forty-two multidrug resistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae isolates were collected over a 4-month period.

Publisher Correction: The Resistome, Mobilome, Virulome and Phylogenomics of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Clinical Isolates from Pretoria, South Africa.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

A Comparative Evaluation of the New Genexpert MTB/RIF Ultra and other Rapid Diagnostic Assays for Detecting Tuberculosis in Pulmonary and Extra Pulmonary Specimens.

Studies evaluating the new GeneXpert Ultra with other rapid diagnostic assays are limited, particularly in different geographical settings. The performance of the GeneXpert Ultra, the GeneXpert G4, the Line probe assays (LPA) and auramine smear microscopy in detecting TB in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary samples were thus evaluated. Remnants (n = 205 samples) of pulmonary (n = 125 samples) and extra-pulmonary (n = 80 samples) specimens from TB suspects were prospectively collected.

The Resistome, Mobilome, Virulome and Phylogenomics of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Clinical Isolates from Pretoria, South Africa.

Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli is a common occurrence in food, clinical, community and environmental settings worldwide. The resistome, mobilome, virulome and phylogenomics of 20 multidrug resistant (MDR) clinical E. coli isolates collected in 2013 from Pretoria, South Africa, were characterised.

Antibiotic resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in Africa: A systematic review of current reports of molecular epidemiology, mechanisms and diagnostics.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a main global public health problem. However, a systematic review of TB resistance epidemiology in Africa is wanting.

Methods: A comprehensive systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science and ScienceDirect for English research articles reporting on the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex resistance in Africa from January 2007 to December 2018 was undertaken.

Genomic analysis of a multidrug-resistant clinical Providencia rettgeri (PR002) strain with the novel integron ln1483 and an A/C plasmid replicon.

Whole-genome sequence analysis was performed on a multidrug-resistant Providencia rettgeri PR002 clinical strain isolated from the urine of a hospitalized patient in Pretoria, South Africa, in 2013. The resistome, mobilome, pathogenicity island(s), as well as virulence and heavy-metal resistance genes of the isolate, were characterized using whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis. PR002 had a genome assembly size of 4,832,624 bp with a GC content of 40.

Multi- and Extensively Drug Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in South Africa: a Molecular Analysis of Historical Isolates.

Modern advances in genomics provide an opportunity to reinterpret historical bacterial culture collections. In this study, genotypic antibiotic resistance profiles of isolates from a historical 20-year-old multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) culture collection in South Africa are described. DNA samples extracted from the phenotypically MDR-TB isolates ( = 240) were assayed by Hain line probe assay (LPA) for the confirmation of MDR-TB and by Illumina Miseq whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for the characterization of mutations in eight genes (, , , , , , , and ) that are known to code for resistance to commonly used anti-TB agents.

Comparison of line probe assay to BACTEC MGIT 960 system for susceptibility testing of first and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in a referral laboratory in South Africa.

Background: The incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is increasing and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a major challenge. Controlling resistance, reducing transmission and improving treatment outcomes in MDR/XDR-TB patients is reliant on susceptibility testing. Susceptibility testing using phenotypic methods is labour intensive and time-consuming.

First Report of a Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequence of a Clinical Sequence Type 6 Strain from South Africa.

is a lactic acid-producing Gram-positive bacterium commonly found in the intestinal tract of humans and animals; it is implicated in multidrug-resistant nosocomial infections. The draft genome of this sequence type 6 (ST6) strain consists of 3,215,228 bp, with 37.20% GC content, 3,048 predicted coding sequences, and 61 RNA genes.

Draft Genome Sequence of a Clinical Sequence Type 18 Strain from South Africa.

We report the first draft genome sequence of an sequence type 18 (ST18) strain isolated from a tuberculosis patient in Africa. The genome is comprised of 3,202,539 bp, 501 contigs, 37.70% GC content, 3,202 protein-encoding genes, and 61 RNA genes.