High Rates of Bacterial Pulmonary Co-Infections and Superinfections Identified by Multiplex PCR among Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients.

Background: The role of bacterial co-infection and superinfection among critically ill COVID-19 patients remains unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the rates and characteristics of pulmonary infections, and associated outcomes of ventilated patients in our facility.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of ventilated COVID-19 patients between March 2020 and March 2021 that underwent BioFire, FilmArray Pneumonia Panel, testing.

High rate of bacterial respiratory tract co-infections upon admission amongst moderate to severe COVID-19 patients.

Background: The role of bacterial and viral co-infection in the current COVID-19 pandemic remains elusive. The aim of this study was to describe the rates and features of co-infection on admission of COVID-19 patients, based on molecular and routine laboratory methods.

Methods: A retrospective study of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients undergoing Biofire, FilmArray Pneumonia Panel, bioMérieux, and routine cultures during the first 3 days from admission, between June 2019 and March 2021.

Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory features of acute Q fever in a cohort of hospitalized patients in a regional hospital, Israel, 2012-2018.

Introduction: Acute Q fever is endemic in Israel, yet the clinical and laboratory picture is poorly defined.

Methods: A retrospective study reviewing the medical records of acute Q fever patients, conducted in a single hospital in the Sharon district, Israel. Serum samples from suspected cases were preliminary tested by a qualitative enzyme immunoassay (EIA).

Molecular Epidemiology of Methicillin-Resistant Clinical Isolates during 7.5 Years in One Regional Hospital in Israel.

Background: The clonal repertoire of community-associated Methicillin-resistant (CA-MRSA) strains appear to differ between hospitals and geographic locations. We aimed to study the molecular epidemiology of MRSA infections in our regional hospital in Israel.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of MRSA isolates from hospitalized patients, which underwent typing between 2012 and 2019.

Multidrug-resistant enterobacteriaceae in coastal water: an emerging threat.

Background: The environmental role of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) acquisition and infection in human disease has been described but not thoroughly investigated. We aimed to assess the occurrence of CPE in nearshore aquatic bodies.

Methods: Enterobacteriaceae were cultured from coastal and estuary water near Netanya, Israel in June and July of 2018.

Decreasing urine culture rates in hospitalized internal medicine patients.

Background: There are no previous studies on decreasing urine cultures in hospitalized internal medicine patients by a combination of physician education and reflex cancellation of urine cultures in those with a negative dipstick urinalysis.

Methods: We compared urine culture rates in all hospitalized internal medicine patients 18 years or older before intervening (2016), during medical education efforts (2017), and after reflex cancellation of urine cultures in patients with a negative dipstick (negative leukocyte esterase and nitrites) (2018, 2019).

Results: Compared to the preintervention period (2016), urine cultures decreased from a baseline of 32.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Is a New Option for Outbreak Investigation: a Retrospective Analysis of an Extended-Spectrum-Beta-Lactamase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae Outbreak in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The IR Biotyper is a new automated typing system based on Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy that gives results within 4 h. We aimed (i) to use the IR Biotyper to retrospectively analyze an outbreak of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing (ESBL-KP) in a neonatal intensive care unit and to compare results to BOX-PCR and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) results as the gold standard and (ii) to assess how the cutoff values used to define clusters affect the discriminatory power of the IR Biotyper. The sample consisted of 18 isolates from 14 patients.

Screening asymptomatic households for Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngeal carriage as a part of in-hospital investigation of puerperal sepsis.

Background: Invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infection in the peripartum setting is a rare but devastating disease occasionally occurring as a health care-associated infection (HAI). Current guidelines suggest enhanced surveillance and streptococcal isolate storage after a single case of iGAS, as well as a full epidemiological investigation that includes screening health care workers (HCWs) from several sites after 2 cases. Current guidelines do not recommend routine screening of household members of a patient with iGAS.

Disseminated "Haemophilus quentini" infection in a patient with multiple myeloma - a case report and review of the literature.

We describe a case report of a 56-year-old male with undiagnosed multiple myeloma who had severe sepsis associated with pneumonia, meningitis, polyarthritis, and osteomyelitis related to invasive "Haemophilus quentini" infection. The genus was misidentified as H. influenzae by the common bacterial identification systems including newly introduced syndromic PCR-based methods.

A prospective survey of colonization and infection in the intensive care unit.

Background: (PA) surveillance may improve empiric antimicrobial therapy, since colonizing strains frequently cause infections. This colonization may be 'endogenous' or 'exogenous', and the source determines infection control measures. We prospectively investigated the sources of PA, the clinical impact of PA colonization upon admission and the dynamics of colonization at different body sites throughout the intensive care unit stay.

Water faucets as a source of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection and colonization in neonatal and adult intensive care unit patients.

We investigated the occurrence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in our neonatal and adult intensive care units. Using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction, we showed spatial and temporal associations with clonal identity between patients' and adjacent faucets' clones. Both units' taps were highly colonized with P aeruginosa and with other waterborne bacteria.

Dissemination of the blaKPC gene by clonal spread and horizontal gene transfer: comparative study of incidence and molecular mechanisms.

Objectives: In addition to the global spread of the KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-KP) clonal complex (CC)-258 clone, the blaKPC gene may also spread by horizontal gene transfer (HGT), as suspected when more than one KPC-producing Enterobacteriaceae (KPC-Ent) species are isolated in a single patient. We aimed to characterize the incidence and molecular features of KPC-KP that were isolated alone (singular KPC-KP) versus KPC-KP that were isolated together with another KPC-Ent species (joint KPC-KP).

Methods: Isolates were collected from April 2011 to August 2012 at the Laniado Medical Center.

Emergence of VIM-producing Aeromonas caviae in Israeli hospitals.

Objectives: Resistance to carbapenems in Aeromonas species is rare and mediated mostly by the chromosomal cphA gene. Our aims were to describe the molecular characteristics of the first cases of VIM-producing Aeromonas caviae isolated from human samples.

Methods: Carbapenem-resistant Aeromonas (CRA) spp.

A swordless knight: epidemiology and molecular characteristics of the blaKPC-negative sequence type 258 Klebsiella pneumoniae clone.

In June 2010, a bla(KPC)-negative, ertapenem-resistant ST-258 Klebsiella pneumoniae strain was isolated from a patient in the Laniado Medical Center (LMC). Our aims were (i) to describe its molecular characteristics and resistance mechanisms and (ii) to assess whether the bla(KPC)-negative ST-258 K. pneumoniae clone spreads as efficiently as its KPC-producing isogenic strain.