Detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population by three prevailing rapid antigen tests: cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Rapid antigen diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) are the most widely used point-of-care tests for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection. Since the accuracy may have altered by changes in SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology, indications for testing, sampling and testing procedures, and roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination, we evaluated the performance of three prevailing SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDTs.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we consecutively enrolled individuals aged >16 years presenting for SARS-CoV-2 testing at three Dutch public health service COVID-19 test sites.

Modernization of Control of Pathogenic Micro-Organisms in the Food-Chain Requires a Durable Role for Immunoaffinity-Based Detection Methodology-A Review.

Food microbiology is deluged by a vastly growing plethora of analytical methods. This review endeavors to color the context into which methodology has to fit and underlines the importance of sampling and sample treatment. The context is that the highest risk of food contamination is through the animal and human fecal route with a majority of foodborne infections originating from sources in mass and domestic kitchens at the end of the food-chain.

The needs for diagnostic imaging in cases of group A streptococcal meningitis in children: a case report and review of the literature.

Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a rare cause of bacterial meningitis in children and is associated with a high cerebral complication rate. In this case report, we present a 9-year-old girl with GAS meningitis complicated with cerebritis. Clear guidelines about choice of treatment and indications of follow-up by imaging tests are lacking, making GAS meningitis unpredictable and difficult to treat.

[Rotavirus infections in neonates: not as innocent as expected].

Background: Rotavirus is a common cause of gastroenteritis in children. It is much less known that rotavirus infections can lead to encephalitis with convulsions in neonates.

Case Description: A premature boy (36 weeks + 5 days) developed neonatal convulsions 17 days post-partum.

Global outbreak of severe Mycobacterium chimaera disease after cardiac surgery: a molecular epidemiological study.

Background: Since 2013, over 100 cases of Mycobacterium chimaera prosthetic valve endocarditis and disseminated disease were notified in Europe and the USA, linked to contaminated heater-cooler units (HCUs) used during cardiac surgery. We did a molecular epidemiological investigation to establish the source of these patients' disease.

Methods: We included 24 M chimaera isolates from 21 cardiac surgery-related patients in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, 218 M chimaera isolates from various types of HCUs in hospitals, from LivaNova (formerly Sorin; London, UK) and Maquet (Rastatt, Germany) brand HCU production sites, and unrelated environmental sources and patients, as well as eight Mycobacterium intracellulare isolates.

Healthcare-associated prosthetic heart valve, aortic vascular graft, and disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infections subsequent to open heart surgery.

Aims: We identified 10 patients with disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infections subsequent to open-heart surgery at three European Hospitals. Infections originated from the heater-cooler unit of the heart-lung machine. Here we describe clinical aspects and treatment course of this novel clinical entity.

Antimicrobial activity of LFF571 and three treatment agents against Clostridium difficile isolates collected for a pan-European survey in 2008: clinical and therapeutic implications.

Objectives: In November 2008, a study was performed with support from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to obtain an overview of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) in European hospitals. A collection of 398 C. difficile isolates obtained from this hospital-based survey was utilized to identify antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of common C.

Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 toxinotype V found in diarrhoeal pigs identical to isolates from affected humans.

In diseased piglets from two Dutch pig-breeding farms with neonatal diarrhoea for more than a year, culture and PCR analyses identified the involved microorganism as Clostridium difficile PCR ribotype 078 harbouring toxin A (tcdA) and B (tcdB), and binary toxin genes. Isolated strains showed a 39 bp deletion in the tcdC gene and they were ermB gene-negative. A number of 11 porcine and 21 human isolated C.

Emergence of Clostridium difficile infection due to a new hypervirulent strain, polymerase chain reaction ribotype 078.

Background: Since 2005, an increase in the prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) due to polymerase chain reaction ribotype 078 has been noticed in The Netherlands. This strain has also been identified as the predominant strain in pigs and calves.

Methods: CDI caused by type 078 was studied in relation to CDI caused by the hypervirulent type 027 and by types other than 027 and 078.