["And zebras do exist after all"! : Pulmonary nocardiosis: case series and overview].

Nocardiosis is a rare disease that occurs primarily in patients with predisposing factors (immunosuppression/chronic lung disease). It is caused by aerobic, Gram-positive bacteria that are ubiquitous in soil. Cutaneous and pulmonary manifestations are most common, but disseminated forms also occur.

Analysis of Diagnostic Modalities in Hospital-admitted Patients Evaluated for COVID-19.

Background/aim: To assess the diagnostic performance of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), low-dose chest computed tomography (CT), and serological testing, alone and in combinations, as well as routine inflammatory markers in patients evaluated for COVID-19 during the first wave in early 2020.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of all patients who were admitted to the emergency department due to fever and/or respiratory symptoms. CT scans were rated using the COVID-19 Reporting and Data System (CO-RADS) suspicion score.

Quantitative drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by use of MGIT 960 and EpiCenter instrumentation.

Since numbers of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are on the rise, the simple classification into "susceptible" and "resistant" strains based on susceptibility testing at "critical concentrations" has to be reconsidered. While future studies have to address the correlation of phenotypic resistance levels and treatment outcomes, a prerequisite for corresponding investigations is the ability to exactly determine levels of quantitative drug resistance in clinical M. tuberculosis isolates.

Tuberculosis drug resistance in an area of low endemicity in 2004 to 2006: semiquantitative drug susceptibility testing and genotyping.

We determined the quantitative levels and the genetic mechanisms of resistance in drug-resistant clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis sampled over a period of 3 years (n = 45; 17 of the isolate were multidrug resistant). Our results led us to hypothesize that some strains categorized as resistant to isoniazid, ethambutol, or streptomycin by standard laboratory procedures of in vitro drug susceptibility testing may still respond to a treatment regimen that includes these agents.

Genotyping reveals a wide heterogeneity of Tropheryma whipplei.

Tropheryma whipplei, the causative agent of Whipple's disease, is associated with various clinical manifestations as well as an asymptomatic carrier status, and it exhibits genetic heterogeneity. However, relationships that may exist between environmental and clinical strains are unknown. Herein, we developed an efficient genotyping system based on four highly variable genomic sequences (HVGSs) selected on the basis of genome comparison.