The significance of monitoring respiratory sample cultures and polymerase chain reaction tests for detecting bacterial pathogens in severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Background: Bacterial superinfection is one of the most common and potentially lethal complications in severely and critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Objectives: To determine the colonisation time frame and the spectrum of potential bacterial pathogens in respiratory samples from patients with severe and critical COVID-19, using routine culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on patients aged ≥18 years with confirmed severe and critical COVID-19 who were admitted to or transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU).

SARS-CoV-2 Recombination and Coinfection Events Identified in Clinical Samples in Russia.

Recombination is one of the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 evolution along with the occurrence of point mutations, insertions, and deletions. Recently, recombinant variants of SARS-CoV-2 have been registered in different countries, and some of them have become circulating forms. In this work, we performed screening of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences to identify recombination events and co-infections with various strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus detected in Russia from February 2020 to March 2022.

Development and application of an RT‒PCR assay for the identification of the delta and omicron variants of SARS-COV-2.

The emergence of mutations in the coronavirus genome provides opportunities for occurrence new strains with higher transmissibility, severity and duration of the disease poses. In 2020, a new variant of the coronavirus SARS-COV-2 - Delta was identified in India. This genetic variant has spread rapidly and became dominant in many countries, including Russia.

Genomic analysis of the international high-risk clonal lineage Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 395.

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae, which is frequently associated with hospital- and community-acquired infections, contains multidrug-resistant (MDR), hypervirulent (hv), non-MDR/non-hv as well as convergent representatives. It is known that mostly international high-risk clonal lineages including sequence types (ST) 11, 147, 258, and 307 drive their global spread. ST395, which was first reported in the context of a carbapenemase-associated outbreak in France in 2010, is a less well-characterized, yet emerging clonal lineage.

Genomic Variability of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Circulating in the Russian Federation during Early December 2021 and Late January 2022.

Analysis of genomic variability of pathogens associated with heightened public health concerns is an opportunity to track transmission routes of the disease and helps to develop more effective vaccines and specific diagnostic tests. We present the findings of a detailed genomic analysis of the genomic variability of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that spread in Russia between 8 December 2021 and 30 January 2022. We performed phylogenetic analysis of Omicron viral isolates collected in Moscow ( = 589) and downloaded from GISAID ( = 397), and identified that the BA.