Emergence of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative bacteria in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The emergence and spread of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative bacteria represents a serious public health concern. Here we show that of 477 Gram-negative isolates collected from 18 hospitals between November 2011 and February 2013 in Saint Petersburg (Russia), minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were greater than the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) epidemiological cut-off value of at least one carbapenem antibiotic in 101 isolates (21.2%).

Spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in two haematological centres in Russia.

This paper describes the clonal diversity of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolated from patients with haematological malignancies in Russia. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of 129 vanA-positive E. faecium strains revealed 23 independent restriction profiles with two predominant clonal types.

Relation between genetic markers of drug resistance and susceptibility profile of clinical Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains.

The main goal of this work is to clarify the predictive value of known genetic markers of Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistance to penicillin, tetracycline, and fluoroquinolones. The correlation between the presence of certain genetic markers and susceptibility of N. gonorrhoeae isolates to penicillin, tetracycline, and fluoroquinolones has been analyzed by means of statistical methods.