Longitudinal whole-genome based comparison of carriage and infection associated Staphylococcus aureus in northern Australian dialysis clinics.

Background: The study objective was to reveal reservoirs potentially leading to Staphylococcus aureus infections in haemodialysis clinic clients in the tropical north of the Australian Northern Territory (NT). This client population are primarily Aboriginal Australians who have a greater burden of ill health than other Australians. Reservoir identification will enhance infection control in this client group, including informing potential S.

CtGEM typing: Discrimination of Chlamydia trachomatis ocular and urogenital strains and major evolutionary lineages by high resolution melting analysis of two amplified DNA fragments.

Chlamydia trachomatis infects the urogenital tract (UGT) and eyes. Anatomical tropism is correlated with variation in the major outer membrane protein encoded by ompA. Strains possessing the ocular ompA variants A, B, Ba and C are typically found within the phylogenetically coherent "classical ocular lineage".

Contaminated fingers: a potential cause of positive urine specimens.

Objectives: The detection of an STI agent in a urogenital tract (UGT) specimen from a young child is regarded as being indicative of sexual abuse. However, the probabilities of contamination events that could conceivably lead to STI positive specimens in the absence of sexual contact are unclear. The objective was to estimate the potential for fingers that have come in contact with positive urine to detectably contaminate negative urine.

Whole genome sequencing to investigate a putative outbreak of the virulent community-associated methicillin-resistant ST93 clone in a remote Indigenous community.

We report two cases of severe pneumonia due to clone ST93 methicillin-resistant (MRSA) presenting from a remote Australian Indigenous community within a 2-week period, and the utilization of whole genome sequences to determine whether these were part of an outbreak. was isolated from 12 of 92 nasal swabs collected from 25 community households (including the two index households); one isolate was ST93. Three of five skin lesion isolates obtained at the community were ST93.

Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes in a cross-sectional study of urogenital samples from remote Northern and Central Australia.

Objectives: The objective was to determine the frequency of trachoma genotypes of Chlamydia trachomatis-positive urogenital tract (UGT) specimens from remote areas of the Australian Northern Territory (NT).

Setting: The setting was analysis of remnants of C. trachomatis positive primarily UGT specimens obtained in the course of clinical practice.

Multisite Direct Determination of the Potential for Environmental Contamination of Urine Samples Used for Diagnosis of Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Background: The detection of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) agent in a urine specimen from a young child is regarded as an indicator of sexual contact. False positives may conceivably arise from the transfer of environmental contaminants in clinic toilet or bathroom facilities into urine specimens.

Methods: The potential for contamination of urine specimens with environmental STI nucleic acid was tested empirically in the male and female toilets or bathrooms at 10 Northern Territory (Australia) clinics, on 7 separate occasions at each.

Virulence of endemic nonpigmented northern Australian Staphylococcus aureus clone (clonal complex 75, S. argenteus) is not augmented by staphyloxanthin.

Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 75 (herein referred to as S. argenteus) lacks the carotenoid pigment operon, crtOPQMN, responsible for production of the putative virulence factor, staphyloxanthin. Although a common cause of community-onset skin infections among Indigenous populations in northern Australia, this clone is infrequently isolated from hospital-based patients with either bacteremic or nonbacteremic infections.

Is Streptococcus pyogenes resistant or susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole?

Streptococcus pyogenes is commonly believed to be resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT), resulting in reservations about using SXT for skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) where S. pyogenes is involved. S.

The utility of high-resolution melting analysis of SNP nucleated PCR amplicons--an MLST based Staphylococcus aureus typing scheme.

High resolution melting (HRM) analysis is gaining prominence as a method for discriminating DNA sequence variants. Its advantage is that it is performed in a real-time PCR device, and the PCR amplification and HRM analysis are closed tube, and effectively single step. We have developed an HRM-based method for Staphylococcus aureus genotyping.

Clinical correlates of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), PVL isoforms, and clonal complex in the Staphylococcus aureus population of Northern Australia.

Background: Regional differences in the prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and PVL isoform-harboring strains as well as in the local population structure of Staphylococcus aureus may influence the clinical spectrum of S. aureus infections.

Methods: Using a prospective collection of S.

Rapid detection of H and R Panton-Valentine leukocidin isoforms in Staphylococcus aureus by high-resolution melting analysis.

We designed a single-step, closed-tube, real-time polymerase chain reaction and high-resolution melting assay to simultaneously detect the presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene and discriminate histidine and arginine isoforms. Of 223 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from northern Australia, isoforms clustered by clonal complex (CC). All CC93 isolates harbored the arginine isoform.

Phylogenetically distinct Staphylococcus aureus lineage prevalent among indigenous communities in northern Australia.

The aim was to determine the evolutionary position of the Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 75 (CC75) that is prevalent in tropical northern Australia. Sequencing of gap, rpoB, sodA, tuf, and hsp60 and the multilocus sequence typing loci revealed a clear separation between conventional S. aureus and CC75 and significant diversity within CC75.

Community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus in indigenous Northern Australia: epidemiology and outcomes.

Background: Some strains of non-multidrug-resistant, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (nmMRSA) in Australia are likely to have emerged from strains of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) in remote Aboriginal communities.

Objective: To describe the clinical epidemiology of infection due to community-associated MRSA strains in an Australian tropical hospital setting with a significant Aboriginal population and to compare infections caused by community-associated strains of MRSA, health-care-associated strains of MRSA, and MSSA strains with respect to demographic risk factors and clinical outcomes.