Sporadic Legionnaires' disease: the role of domestic electric hot-water tanks.

Sporadic community-acquired legionellosis (SCAL) can be acquired through contaminated aerosols from residential potable water. Electricity-dependent hot-water tanks are widely used in the province of Quebec (Canada) and have been shown to be frequently contaminated with Legionella spp. We prospectively investigated the homes of culture-proven SCAL patients from Quebec in order to establish the proportion of patients whose domestic potable hot-water system was contaminated with the same Legionella isolate that caused their pneumonia.

A single-centre 10-year experience with Candida bloodstream infections.

Objective: To describe the clinical and microbiological features associated with Candida bloodstream infections observed at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (Montreal, Quebec) between August 1996 and July 2006.

Methods: Episodes were retrieved from the microbiology laboratory. Different patient episodes and different isolate episodes in the same patient were selected.

Utility of the germ tube test for direct identification of Candida albicans from positive blood culture bottles.

We compared the germ tube test for the direct identification of Candida albicans from positive blood culture bottles, with results obtained from subcultured colonies. The direct germ tube test was 87.1% sensitive and 100% specific for the identification of C.

Susceptibility patterns of Candida species recovered from Canadian intensive care units.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the speciation and susceptibility patterns of Candida species recovered from Canadian intensive care units (ICUs) during a 1-day point-prevalence study on fungal colonization/infection in Canadian ICUs.

Methods And Setting: Blood, urine, respiratory tract, rectal, and wound fungal cultures were performed for 357 patients present at any time during a single-day 24-hour period in 35 Canadian ICUs. Comparative in vitro activities of amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, micafungin, anidulafungin, and aminocandin were determined.

Autotransporter-encoding sequences are phylogenetically distributed among Escherichia coli clinical isolates and reference strains.

Autotransporters are secreted bacterial proteins exhibiting diverse virulence functions. Various autotransporters have been identified among Escherichia coli associated with intestinal or extraintestinal infections; however, the specific distribution of autotransporter sequences among a diversity of E. coli strains has not been investigated.

Evaluation of the in vitro activity of caspofungin against bloodstream isolates of Candida species from cancer patients: comparison of Etest and NCCLS reference methods.

The in vitro activity of caspofungin (CAS) was compared with the activity of fluconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B against 178 bloodstream Candida spp. from cancer patients. The activities were assessed using the reference NCCLS M-27A microdilution method and the Etest method.

Genotypic characterization of macrolide-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated in Quebec, Canada, and in vitro activity of ABT-773 and telithromycin.

Increasing resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to macrolides represents a challenge for clinicians. New ketolides have an enhanced activity against macrolide-resistant strains. Four hundred and seventy-four strains of S.

In vitro activity of three new triazoles and one echinocandin against Candida bloodstream isolates from cancer patients.

The in vitro activities of voriconazole, posaconazole, ravuconazole and micafungin were compared with those of fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, flucytosine and amphotericin B against 164 candidaemia isolates recovered from cancer patients in two Canadian centres. The MIC(50) results for ravuconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole and micafungin were 0.01, 0.

Characterization of age-related changes in body weight and organ weights from birth to adolescence in humans.

The pharmacokinetics and tissue dose of chemicals may differ among individuals of a population, particularly between adults and children. The adult-children differences in pharmacokinetics arise from age-related changes in the physiological, biochemical, and physicochemical determinants of uptake and disposition of chemicals. The objectives of this study were to review the published literature to assemble data on the human body weight and organ weights as a function of age (specifically between birth and 18 yr old) and to analyze these data, in order to develop regression equations for calculating body weight and organ weights of children using age as the dependent function.

In vitro activity of a novel ketolide ABT-773 against invasive strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

New ketolides such as ABT-773 are a promising group of antibiotics in an era of increasing antibiotic resistance. We tested 704 invasive strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae collected from 1990 to 1998. Overall resistance was 8.

A nosocomial outbreak of fluoroquinolone-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Over the course of a 20-month period, in a hospital respiratory ward in which ciprofloxacin was often used as empirical antimicrobial therapy for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), 16 patients with chronic bronchitis developed nosocomial LRTIs caused by penicillin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (serotype 23 F). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ciprofloxacin for all isolates from the first 9 patients was 4 microg/mL, in association with a parC mutation. Isolates from the subsequent 7 patients all had a ciprofloxacin MIC of 16 microg/mL, in association with an additional mutation in gyrA.

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of macrolide-resistant group A Streptococcus strains in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Resistance to macrolides among group A streptococci is an increasing problem worldwide. We examined 496 strains phenotypically and genotypically for resistance to erythromycin and clindamycin. Strains were isolated in five different geographical areas representing about 45% of the total Quebec population.

Comparative activity of new quinolones against 326 clinical isolates of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important emerging pathogen causing a variety of infections in severely ill patients. This microorganism is inherently resistant to many antibiotics, and only a few therapeutic options are available. The principal aim of this study was to assess the in vitro activity of new quinolones against this pathogen.

Comparative activity of trovafloxacin and Bay 12-8039 against 452 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the in-vitro activity of new quinolones against clinical strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Four hundred and fifty-two single clinical isolates (of which 362 were susceptible to penicillin, 54 intermediate and 36 highly resistant) were tested against penicillin, cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, trovafloxacin and Bay 12-8039. Of the tested S.

Comparison of activity of 10 antibiotics against clinical strains of Helicobacter pylori by three different techniques.

The authors determined the susceptibility of 55 single clinical strains of Helicobacter pylori isolated in the Montreal area to 10 antibiotics by three different methods--an agar dilution technique considered to be the gold standard, a disk diffusion method and the E-test. Testing was performed on Mueller-Hinton agar supplemented with 10% sheep blood; plates were incubated at 37 degrees C for 72 h in a microaerophilic atmosphere. The metronidazole resistance rate is about 11% in the Montreal area.

In vitro synergism of ceftriaxone combined with aminoglycosides against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The antipseudomonal activities of ceftriaxone (CEF) or ceftazidime (CAZ), each combined with tobramycin (TOB) or netilmicin (NET), against 90 clinically significant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were examined both by checkerboard and time-kill assays. As expected, susceptibility testing of single antibiotics by agar dilution demonstrated good activity for CAZ (89% susceptible), TOB (94%), and NET (58%), but poor activity for CEF (15%). Checkerboard studies revealed striking synergy (FIC indices < or = 0.