Whole genome sequencing characterization of Clostridioides difficile from Bulgaria during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Increased incidence of Clostridioides difficile infections were documented in Bulgarian hospitals during COVID-19. WGS was performed on 39 isolates from seven hospitals during 2015-2022. Antimicrobial resistance and toxin genes were inferred from genomes.

Pseudomonasaeruginosa antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, resistance mechanisms and international clonal lineages: update from ESGARS-ESCMID/ISARPAE Group.

Scope: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous opportunistic pathogen considered one of the paradigms of antimicrobial resistance, is among the main causes of hospital-acquired and chronic infections associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This growing threat results from the extraordinary capacity of P. aeruginosa to develop antimicrobial resistance through chromosomal mutations, the increasing prevalence of transferable resistance determinants (such as the carbapenemases and the extended-spectrum β-lactamases), and the global expansion of epidemic lineages.

The role and utilisation of public health evaluations in Europe: a case study of national hand hygiene campaigns.

Background: Evaluations are essential to judge the success of public health programmes. In Europe, the proportion of public health programmes that undergo evaluation remains unclear. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sought to determine the frequency of evaluations amongst European national public health programmes by using national hand hygiene campaigns as an example of intervention.

Molecular epidemiology and multidrug resistance mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Bulgarian hospitals.

A panel of 29 multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from seven hospitals as part of a country-wide surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Bulgarian hospitals was studied. Molecular typing through multiple-locus variable number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA6) yielded 23 different profiles. Phenotypic and genotypic tests for the detection of acquired carbapenemases yielded negative results in all cases.

Detection of new Francisella-like tick endosymbionts in Hyalomma spp. and Rhipicephalus spp. (Acari: Ixodidae) from Bulgaria.

We report on the identification of two new Francisella-like endosymbionts (FLEs) found in three different tick species from Bulgaria. The FLEs were characterized by 16S rRNA and tul4 gene sequencing and seem to lack the molecular marker RD1. These two new taxa seem to be facultative secondary endosymbionts of ticks.