Nosocomial transmission of avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in China: epidemiological investigation.

Study Question: Can avian influenza A (H7N9) virus be transmitted between unrelated individuals in a hospital setting?

Methods: An epidemiological investigation looked at two patients who shared a hospital ward in February 2015, in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Samples from the patients, close contacts, and local environments were examined by real time reverse transcriptase (rRT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and viral culture. Haemagglutination inhibition and microneutralisation assays were used to detect specific antibodies to the viruses.

[Diversity of culturable butane-oxidizing bacteria in oil and gas field soil].

Butane-oxidizing bacteria in soil sample sites from Puguang gas field in Sichuan province and Jianghan oil field in Hubei province were isolated and 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis were applied. The differences of number and phylogenetic position and population diversity of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria in different environment were investigated. The results show that 25 strains of butane-oxidizing bacteria were isolated.