Imaging hydrological dynamics in karst unsaturated zones by time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography.

The hydrodynamics of karst terrain are highly complex due to the diverse fractures and reservoirs within limestone formations. The time delay between rainfall events and subsequent flow into reservoirs exhibits significant variability. However, these hydrological processes are not easily visualized in karst topography.

Corrigendum to Persistent Aseptic Pyelonephritis After Acute Bacterial Pyelonephritis: Possible Role of Corticosteroids Kidney International Reports, Volume 7, Issue 8, August 2022, Pages 1897-1900.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.

Why are people still dying of drug-susceptible TB in Paris in the 21 century?

Although the burden of TB is lower in France than in low-income countries, patients continue to die from TB in Paris. Our goal was to describe TB-related deaths and to identify associated risk factors. We conducted a retrospective cohort study in two hospitals in Paris between 2013 and 2018.

Combined use of a broad-panel respiratory multiplex PCR and procalcitonin to reduce duration of antibiotics exposure in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (MULTI-CAP): a multicentre, parallel-group, open-label, individual randomised trial conducted in French intensive care units.

Introduction: At the time of the worrying emergence and spread of bacterial resistance, reducing the selection pressure by reducing the exposure to antibiotics in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a public health issue. In this context, the combined use of molecular tests and biomarkers for guiding antibiotics discontinuation is attractive. Therefore, we have designed a trial comparing an integrated approach of diagnosis and treatment of severe CAP to usual care.

Pyogenic lung abscess in an infectious disease unit: a 20-year retrospective study.

Background: Pyogenic lung abscesses are rare and poorly described infections. This study aimed to describe their prognostic factors.

Methods: We retrospectively included all patients hospitalized between 1 January 1998 and 1 June 2018, with an International Classification of Diseases, version 10 (IDC-10) diagnosis of pyogenic lung abscess, from the Diamm based medical records (Micro6, Nancy, France).

An unusual community-acquired invasive and multi systemic infection due to ExoU-harboring Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain: Clinical disease and microbiological characteristics.

Community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are rare. Most cases involve patients either with underlying immunosuppression or structural chronic lung diseases. We report here an atypical case of a severe community-acquired invasive infection due to a hypervirulent ExoU-producing strain, in an immunocompetent patient.

Meningococcal purpura fulminans and severe myocarditis with clinical meningitis but no meningeal inflammation: a case report.

Background: During fulminant meningococcal septicaemia, meningococci are often observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) although the patients have frequently no meningeal symptoms. Meningococcal meningitis, by contrast, usually features clinical meningeal signs and biochemical markers of inflammation with elevated white blood cell count (pleiocytosis) in the CSF. Cases of typical symptomatic meningitis without these biochemical features are uncommon in adults.

[Brucellosis with hepatic lesions: A diagnosis to keep in mind].

Introduction: Brucellosis is a rare infection in France and its wide spectrum of clinical presentation can be a diagnostic challenge.

Case Report: We report here the case of a 76-year-old Tunisian-born woman referred for fatigue, weight loss, intermittent fever, and pain in the right upper quadrant, along with hepatic lesions on CT-scan, MRI and PET-FDG suggesting malignant lesions. However blood cultures were positive to Brucella melitensis leading to a diagnosis of hepatic brucelloma.

The Challenging Diagnosis of Non-Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Non-Mechanically Ventilated Subjects: Value of Microbiological Investigation.

Background: Early recognition and an attempt at obtaining microbiological documentation are recommended in patients with non-community-acquired pneumonia (NCAP), whether hospital-acquired (HAP) or health care-associated (HCAP). We aimed to characterize the clinical features and microbial etiologies of NCAP to assess the impact of microbiological investigation on their management.

Methods: This was a prospective 1-y study in a university hospital with 141 non-mechanically ventilated subjects suspected of having HAP (n = 110) or HCAP (n = 31).

Molecular characterization of DHA-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates collected during a 4-year period in an intensive care unit.

Seventeen Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates producing DHA-1 β-lactamase were collected in an intensive care unit between 2006 and 2010. Molecular analysis revealed the predominance of ST48 and ST1263 clones of K. pneumoniae and the spread of DHA-1-encoding plasmids belonging to incompatibility group IncL/M or IncHI2.

Complete nucleotide sequence of two multidrug-resistant IncR plasmids from Klebsiella pneumoniae.

We report here the complete nucleotide sequence of two IncR replicons encoding multidrug resistance determinants, including β-lactam (blaDHA-1, blaSHV-12), aminoglycoside (aphA1, strA, strB), and fluoroquinolone (qnrB4, aac6'-1b-cr) resistance genes. The plasmids have backbones that are similar to each other, including the replication and stability systems, and contain a wide variety of transposable elements carrying known antibiotic resistance genes. This study confirms the increasing clinical importance of IncR replicons as resistance gene carriers.

Emerging severe and fatal infections due to Klebsiella pneumoniae in two university hospitals in France.

Severe infections caused by hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae have been reported in Southeast Asian countries over the past several decades. This report shows their emergence in France, with 12 cases observed during a 2-year period in two university hospitals. Two clones (sequence type 86 [ST86] and ST380) of serotype K2 caused five rapidly fatal bacteremia cases, three of which were associated with pneumonia, whereas seven liver abscess cases were caused by K1 strains of ST23.

Molecular epidemiology and genetic environment of acquired bla ACC-1 in Salmonella enterica serotype Livingstone causing a large nosocomial outbreak in Tunisia.

Eighty-four isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Livingstone were collected from patients hospitalized in a pediatric ward in Sfax Hospital (South Tunisia). These isolates were responsible for two nosocomial outbreaks in 2000 and 2002. Twenty-eight clinical isolates of S.

Genetic context of plasmid-carried blaCMY-2-like genes in Enterobacteriaceae.

Analysis of 15 European clinical Enterobacteriaceae isolates showed that differences in the genetic context of blaCMY-2-like genes reflected the replicon type, usually IncA/C or IncI1. These blaCMY-2 loci may originate from the same ISEcp1-mediated mobilization from the Citrobacter freundii chromosome as structures described in earlier studies.

Prevalence of plasmid-mediated AmpC beta-lactamases among Enterobacteriaceae in Algiers hospitals.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and diversity of plasmid-mediated AmpC cephalosporinases (PAcBLs) in clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae collected between 2003 and 2007 from three Algiers hospitals. Antibiograms were determined on Mueller-Hinton agar plates using the disk diffusion method, and minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined by Etest. Isolates resistant to cefoxitin or ceftazidime were screened for bla(CMY), bla(DHA), bla(FOX) and bla(ACC) as well as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

A plasmid-borne Shewanella algae Gene, qnrA3, and its possible transfer in vivo between Kluyvera ascorbata and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The plasmid-borne quinolone resistance gene qnrA1 is prevalent in multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. A chromosomally encoded homologue in Shewanella algae, qnrA3, has been described. We isolated two qnrA3-positive strains, one of Klebsiella pneumoniae (He96) and one of Kluyvera ascorbata (Kas96), from the feces of an immunocompromised outpatient.

Genetic environment of acquired bla(ACC-1) beta-lactamase gene in Enterobacteriaceae isolates.

We studied the genetic organization of bla(ACC-1) in 14 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae from France, Tunisia, and Germany. In a common ancestor, ISEcp1 was likely involved in the mobilization of this gene from the Hafnia alvei chromosome to a plasmid. Other genetic events involving insertion sequences (particularly IS26), transposons (particularly Tn1696), or sulI-type integrons have occurred, leading to complex genetic environments.

First detection of the Ambler class C 1 AmpC beta-lactamase in Citrobacter freundii by a new, simple double-disk synergy test.

We report on the first detection of an AmpC-type Ambler class C 1 (ACC-1) beta-lactamase in Citrobacter freundi isolated from a patient also harboring ACC-1-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. We propose a simple cefoxitin-based double-disk synergy test (DDST) for the specific detection of ACC-1 in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, including natural AmpC producers, in association with a cloxacillin-based DDST as a first-line AmpC-type beta-lactamase screening test.

Emergence of DHA-1-producing Klebsiella spp. in the Parisian region: genetic organization of the ampC and ampR genes originating from Morganella morganii.

Eleven Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates and one Klebsiella oxytoca clinical isolate showing various pulsed-field gel electrophoresis types and producing an inducible DHA-1 class C beta-lactamase were isolated in the Parisian region between 1998 and 2003. The aim of this study was to compare the genetic organization of the bla(DHA-1) genes in this collection of clinical isolates. In four isolates, the Morganella morganii-derived genomic region containing bla(DHA-1) was inserted in an entire complex sul1-type integron, including a region common to In6-In7 (CR1), as previously described in a bla(DHA-1)-producing Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis KF92 isolate from Saudi Arabia in 1992.