Publications by authors named "Pascal Schlaepfer"
We report a cluster of infections with genetically related toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae linked to an outbreak among asylum seekers in Switzerland that subsequently affected patients without known exposure. This discovery highlights the importance of rapid, interdisciplinary outbreak investigations and regular vaccination status assessment, especially in elderly populations with waning immunity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOutbreak with OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in a COVID-19 ICU cohort: unraveling routes of transmission.
Antimicrob Resist Infect Control
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- - An outbreak of a specific drug-resistant bacteria (OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii) occurred in ICU patients who also had COVID-19.
- - The bacteria likely spread through contaminated surfaces, possibly from a shared positioning pillow used between patients.
- - The rapid transmission may have been driven by healthcare workers' gloves and gowns becoming contaminated with respiratory secretions during patient care.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effects of reducing genomic sequencing on SARS-CoV-2 surveillance outcomes in Switzerland, analyzing over 143,000 sequences.
- Results show that while some key outcomes like variant detection and cluster analysis could still be achieved with only 35% of the original sequencing effort, this reduction varies significantly by viral lineage.
- The research highlights the need for genomic surveillance programs to balance cost and public health benefits, emphasizing that reduced sequencing may compromise accuracy in tracking emerging variants of concern.
Background: Reliable species identification of cultured isolates is essential in clinical bacteriology. We established a new study algorithm named NOVA - Novel Organism Verification and Analysis to systematically analyze bacterial isolates that cannot be characterized by conventional identification procedures MALDI-TOF MS and partial 16 S rRNA gene sequencing using Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS).
Results: We identified a total of 35 bacterial strains that represent potentially novel species.
There is a dynamic reciprocity between plants and their environment: soil physiochemical properties influence plant morphology and metabolism, and root morphology and exudates shape the environment surrounding roots. Here, we investigate the reproducibility of plant trait changes in response to three growth environments. We utilized fabricated ecosystem (EcoFAB) devices to grow the model grass Brachypodium distachyon in three distinct media across four laboratories: phosphate-sufficient and -deficient mineral media allowed assessment of the effects of phosphate starvation, and a complex, sterile soil extract represented a more natural environment with yet uncharacterized effects on plant growth and metabolism.
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