Staphylococcus aureus associated with surgical site infections in Western Kenya reveals genomic hotspots for pathogen evolution.

is one of the most common pathogens attributed to hospital infections. Although infections have been well studied in developed countries, far less is known about the biology of the pathogen in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we report on the isolation, antibiotic resistance profiling, whole genome sequencing, and genome comparison of six multi-drug resistant isolates of obtained from a referral hospital in Kakamega, Western Kenya.

Whole genome sequencing and genotyping multi-drug resistant hospital isolates from Western Kenya.

Objectives: are a frequent cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. Sequence type 147 (ST147) has been reported as a major circulating high-risk lineage in many countries, and appears to be a formidable platform for the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) determinants. However, the distribution of this pathogen in Western African hospitals has been scarcely studied.

Virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes are enriched in the plasmidome of clinical Escherichia coli isolates compared with wastewater isolates from western Kenya.

Many low-middle income countries in Africa have poorly-developed infectious disease monitoring systems. Here, we employed whole genome sequencing (WGS) to investigate the presence/absence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and virulence-associated (VA) genes in a collection of clinical and municipal wastewater Escherichia coli isolates from Kakamega, west Kenya. We were particularly interested to see whether, given the association between infection and water quality, the isolates from these geographically-linked environments might display similar genomic signatures.

Antimicrobial profile of Salmonella enterica serotype Choleraesuis from free-range swine in Kakamega fish market, western Kenya.

Introduction: Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Choleraesuis is a host-adapted, facultative, intracellular pathogen that causes swine paratyphoid. Its antimicrobial resistance presents a challenge to feed manufacturing industries. However, stopping antibiotics in animal feed would have economic implications for the industry.