Building antimicrobial stewardship through massive open online courses: a pilot study in Macedonia.

Background: The global struggle against antibiotic resistance requires antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer health professionals unprecedented access to high-quality instructional material on AMS; the question is how apprehensible it is to non-native English speakers. Furthermore, to better understand how education interventions promote change towards rational antibiotic prescribing, leading institutions call for studies integrating behavioural science.

National Laboratory Surveillance of Influenza in Macedonia during Four Seasons.

Objective: The aim of the study is to comprehend results of the influenza lab surveillance system in the Republic of Macedonia after the 2009 pandemic and to determine the main characteristics of four consecutive epidemic seasons (from 2010/2011 until 2013/2014).

Methods: As part of the universal surveillance system, nasal and throat specimens were collected from patients. After extraction of RNA, the CDC real-time RT-PCR assays for the detection of influenza types and subtypes were performed.

Comparison of Directigen Flu A+B with Real Time PCR in the Diagnosis of Influenza.

Unlabelled: Early diagnosis and treatment of patients with influenza is the reason why physicians need rapid high-sensitivity influenza diagnostic tests that require no complex lab equipment and can be performed and interpreted within 15 min. The Aim of this study was to compare the rapid Directigen Flu A+B test with real time PCR for detection of influenza viruses in the Republic of Macedonia.

Materials And Methods: One-hundred-eight respiratory samples (combined nose and throat swabs) were routinely collected for detection of influenza virus during influenza seasons.

Gastrointestinal Colonization with Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci In Hospitalized and Outpatients.

Background: The incidence of infection and intestinal colonization with vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) is increasing in many countries in the last decade. Concerning the difficult antimicrobial treatment of infections caused by VRE, decreasing the incidence and prevalence of these infections is an important factor in VRE-induced morbidity and mortality control.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal colonization with vancomycin resistant enterococci in hospitalized and outpatients, and to determine the genetic base of the vancomycin resistance in VRE isolates.

Methods for molecular surveillance of influenza used in Macedonia.

The Aim: To present and compare different Nucleic Acid Testing assays used for laboratory diagnosis of influenza virus infection in our country.

Materials And Methods: Respiratory samples used were nose and throat swabs. The RNA extraction was performed with a QIAamp viral RNA kit.

Laboratory surveillance during pandemic influenza season 2009/2010 in Republic of Macedonia.

Objective: To provide virological and epidemiological information on patients laboratory-tested for influenza A/ H1N1pdm during the pandemic season April 2009/May 2010.

Materials And Methods: Demographic and other data were obtained from the request form arriving with the samples of patients whose symptoms met the clinical definition of influenza A infection. The RNA was tested for the presence of influenza virus using the CDC real-time RT-PCR assay.

The first survey about the antibiotic usage in the Republic of Macedonia.

Development of antibiotic resistance represents a major global and Macedonian public health problem. To assess the opinion and knowledge of the citizens of Macedonia about the usage of antibiotics, voluntary and anonymous survey was realized. A total of 239 persons (age 10-67 years) were interviewed.

Phenotypic and genetic relationship of Acinetobacter Baumannii isolates.

Unlabelled: The interest in Acinetobacter continues to rise. One of the main reasons is the emergence of multi-resistant strains, which cause outbreaks of infection involving several patients in a ward, in the intensive care unit and in different areas of the hospital. Many outbreaks of its infection or colonization in surgical, neonatal and burn intensive care units have been reported, but the epidemiology of these infections remains unclear.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) producing Escherichia Coli and Klebsiella Pneumoniae.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae as well as genes encoding ESBLs.

Material And Methods: A total of 1207 non-repeat isolates of E. coli and K.

Chlamydia pneumoniae and helicobacter pylori serology - importance in patients with coronary heart disease.

Background: Chronic infections in CHD are due to one or both of the organisms Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori.

Aim: To examine the association between serum markers of Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori infection and markers of myocardial damage. in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), with chronic coronary artery disease (CAD) and in-control group.

Risk factors for Toxoplasma infection in pregnant women in FYR of Macedonia.

The aim of the study was to identify risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women in FYR of Macedonia. Retrospective analysis of serological and epidemiological data in a series of 235 pregnant women from Macedonia, tested for Toxoplasma infection between January 2004 and December 2005, showed an overall prevalence of infection of 20.4%.

Isolation, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of brucella blood culture isolates.

Unlabelled: Isolation of slowly growing and fastidious Brucella spp strains from clinical specimens is difficult, because of varying factors, including species specificities, stadium of disease, and previous antibiotic treatment of the patients. The use of automated blood culture systems has overcome some cultivation problems. The automated identification system such as VITEK 2 compact allows more precise identification, as well.

Phenotypes and genes of resistance of pneumococci to penicillin isolated from children.

Unlabelled: (Full text is available at http://www.manu.edu.

RT-PCR detection of HIV in Republic of Macedonia.

The aim of the study was to detect HIV RNA in seropositive patients using RT-PCR method and thus, to establish PCR methodology in the routine laboratory works. The total of 33 examined persons were divided in two groups: 1) 13 persons seropositive for HIV; and 2) 20 healthy persons - randomly selected blood donors that made the case control group. The subjects age was between 25 and 52 years (average 38,5).

Virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from urine samples.

Haemolysin, enterococcal surface protein (Esp), aggregation substance and gelatinase are some markers that have been proposed as possible enterococci virulence factors. The aim of this study was to detect the presence of haemolysin, gelatinase and enterococcal surface protein in enterococci isolated from urine and to determine their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. A total of 50 strains of Enterococcus faecalis isolated from urine samples was examined.

Initial empiric antimicrobial treatment of Chlamydia pneumoniae: a study of 54 cases in the Republic of Macedonia.

Unlabelled: Analysis of the adequacy of the initial empiric antimicrobial treatment of patients with acute Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) infection, admitted to the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Clinical Centre, Medical Faculty, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, for community-acquired pneumonia.

Material And Methods: A total number of 407 patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) hospitalized at the Clinic between September 1997 and June 2002, with an average age of x=46.44 years, of whom 53.

Incidence of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients treated at the Clinical Center of Skopje, Macedonia, with special attention to MRSA.

The distribution of 3497 Staphylococcus aureus strains according to methicillin resistance, specimens, departmental profession and antibiotic resistance patterns was analysed. The strains were cultured from the patients of the Clinical Center of Skopje, Macedonia, between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2004. The majority of the isolates was obtained from suppurated wounds (28.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: comparison of susceptibility test methods with mecA gene analysis for determining oxacillin (methicillin) resistance in our clinical isolates.

The aim of the study was to determine which of the following susceptibility test methods, using recommended or modified NCCLS, best detects oxacillin resistance: disk diffusion, agar screen, and broth dilution. PCR for mecA was used as "gold standard". We studied 120 Staphylococcus aureus isolates received from different patients hospitalized at the Clinical center in Skopje from May 2001 to November 2003.

Investigation of antimicrobial activity of essential oils of several Macedonian Thymus L. species (Lamiaceae).

Antimicrobial activity of twenty specimens of essential oils of eleven Thymus species, naturally occurring in the Macedonian flora, was investigated by agar diffusion and broth dilution methods. Inhibition of growth and microbicidal action was examined on three Gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae). In spite of wide variability in essential oil composition, ranging from traces of thymol to the amount of about 50% thymol in oils, all examined samples of Thymus essential oil possessed strong antibacterial activity.