Impact of selective reporting of wound cultures on microbiology reports and antimicrobial-drug use on a wound-care ward in Finland: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Selective reporting is a promising tool for antimicrobial stewardship, but in wound cultures, its effects on the use of antimicrobials are unknown. Our HUS Diagnostic Center Bacteriology laboratory refined its selective reporting protocol for wound cultures during 2017-2018. In this study we aimed to show our protocol's impact on the frequency of antimicrobial escalation.

Efficacy of a novel PCR- and microarray-based method in diagnosis of a prosthetic joint infection.

Background And Purpose: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods enable detection and species identification of many pathogens. We assessed the efficacy of a new PCR and microarray-based platform for detection of bacteria in prosthetic joint infections (PJIs).

Methods: This prospective study involved 61 suspected PJIs in hip and knee prostheses and 20 negative controls.

Rapid molecular characterization of Acinetobacter baumannii clones with rep-PCR and evaluation of carbapenemase genes by new multiplex PCR in Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) is an increasing problem worldwide. Prevalence of carbapenem resistance in Acinetobacter spp. due to acquired carbapenemase genes is not known in Finland.

An outbreak of CTX-M-15 -producing Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, and Klebsiella in a children's hospital in Finland.

Four different extended-spectrum β -lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria from a pediatric surgery ward were studied. The presence of TEM-, SHV-, and CTX-M-type β -lactamases was analyzed and the relatedness of the isolates studied with a repetitive PCR system (DiversiLab) and pulsed-fi eld gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Molecular analysis showed that a clonal dissemination of CTX-M-15-producing Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae had occurred.

Extraintestinal Clostridium difficile infections.

Background:  Clostridium difficile causes diarrhea that ranges from a benign, self-limiting antibiotic use-associated disease to a life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis. Clostridium difficile has rarely been isolated in extraintestinal infections. Our objective was to characterize clinical features and risk factors of these infections.