Predominance of t355/ST152/SCCmec V clonal type among PVL-positive MRSA isolates in a tertiary care hospital in Belgrade, Serbia.

Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is continually changing. Frequency of genotypes typical for community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) is increasing in hospitals, as well as resistance to antimicrobial agents. Moreover, different clones predominate in different geographic regions, and temporal shifts occur in the predominant clonal type.

Antimicrobial susceptibility and β-lactamase production in Bacillus cereus isolates from stool of patients, food and environment samples.

Background/aim: Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) usually ingested by food can cause two types of diseases: vomiting due to the presence of emetic toxin and diarrheal syndrome, due to the presence of diarrheal toxins. Systemic manifestations can also occur.

Prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes in community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the District of Pomoravlje.

Background/aim: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphjlococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains appear to have rapidly disseminated among population in the community without established risk factors for MRSA worldwide. Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a cytolytic toxin, encoded by the lukF-PV and lukF-PV genes. PVL may be the key toxin responsible for enhanced virulence of CA-MRSA.

High Prevalence and Resistance Patterns of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in the Pomoravlje Region, Serbia.

With a view to estimating the prevalence and resistance patterns of CA-MRSA in one region of Serbia, we performed an analysis of MRSA isolates from healthy people and hospitalised patients. The detection of CA-MRSA was carried out by SCCmec typing. In MRSA isolates from hospitalised patients SCCmec types IV and V were found in 76% of the strains.

Two copies of blaNDM-1 gene are present in NDM-1 producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Serbia.

New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates are of special interest since P. aeruginosa is a major cause of nosocomial infections, the treatment of which could now be jeopardized, especially in developing countries. Six additional NDM-1 positive P.

The clinical isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa MMA83 carries two copies of the blaNDM-1 gene in a novel genetic context.

The genetic context of the blaNDM-1 gene in the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa MMA83 was investigated. Sequencing of the cosmid selected for the blaNDM-1 gene revealed the presence of two blaNDM-1 copies in the genome of P. aeruginosa MMA83 in a unique genetic environment.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O171:H25 strain isolated from a patient with haemolytic uraemic syndrome.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains of O157:H7 serotype are a predominant cause of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) worldwide, but strains of non-O157 serotypes can also be associated with serious disease. Some of them are associated with outbreaks of HUS, others with sporadic cases of HUS, and some with diarrhoea but not with outbreaks or HUS. A large number of STEC serotypes isolated from ruminants and foods have never been associated with human disease.

Emergence of NDM-1 metallo-β-lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates from Serbia.

This work reports, for the first time, the presence of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1 (NDM-1) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, this is the first report of the NDM-1 presence in the Balkan region. Cosmid gene libraries of carbapenem-nonsusceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates MMA83 and MMA533 were screened for the presence of metallo-β-lactamases.

[Reliability of Cobas Amplicor PCR test in detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in respiratory and nonorespiratory specimens].

Background/aim: Traditional methods for detection of mycobacteria, such as microscopic examination for the presence of acid-fast bacilli and isolation of the organism by culture, have either a low sensitivity and/or specificity, or take weeks before a definite result is available. Molecular methods, especially those based on nucleic acid amplification, are rapid diagnostic methods which combine high sensitivity and high specificity. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of the Cobas Amplicor Mycobacterium tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction (CA-PCR) assay in detecting the tuberculosis cause in respiratory and nonrespiratory specimens (compared to culture).

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Belgrade area.

Objective: Lyme borreliosis is vector-borne zoonosis. The causative agent of Lyme borreliosis is a spirochete of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) sensu lato complex, which is transmitted by ticks of the Ixodes ricinus complex. The aim of our paper is to estimate the prevalence of I.

Multilocus sequence typing for investigation of diversity of Campylobacter jejuni strains from humans and environment in Norway.

This report describes the use of the Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) method for typing 32 strains previously identified as Campylobacter jejuni. This system identified a great diversity between the investigated strains. The majority of strains belonged to already existing alleles found on the Campylobacter MLST home page, and most of them represented clonal complexes ST-21 and ST-45, but there were some newly identified alleles as well.

Characterisation of the first VIM metallo-beta-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate in Serbia.

From the Central-East European region the first VIM metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were published from Croatia, Poland and Hungary. The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of MBL-production to carbapenem-resistance among P. aeruginosa clinical isolates in the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in Belgrade, Serbia between August 2004 and September 2007.

Identification of PER-1 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates of the international clonal complex CC11 from Hungary and Serbia.

PER-1 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates from Budapest, Hungary, and Belgrade, Serbia, were characterized by molecular methods. Two PER-1-positive isolates were recovered from sporadic cases in Budapest and a small cluster of PER-1-positive infections involving four patients were identified at a Belgrade hospital. A class 1 integron harbouring a bla(OXA-2)beta-lactamase gene and four other gene cassettes was detected in both the Budapest and the Belgrade isolates.

Molecular characterization of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. clinical isolates from Hungary and Serbia.

The objectives of this work were to collect and characterize vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) clinical isolates from Hungary and Serbia and to analyse their genetic relatedness. VREF isolates were initially typed by PFGE. A selection of VREF isolates representing all participating hospitals was further examined by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

[Plasmid profile analysis in identification of epidemic strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis].

Background/aim: As illness caused by Sallmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) occurs not only as sporadic cases but as outbreaks, to reveal the source and routes of spreading of infection it is necessary to identify epidemic strain by the use of some typing methods. To determine whether plasmid profile analysis, as genotyping method, could be applied for the investigation of epidemic strains, isolates of S.

Evaluation of usefulness of single-strand conformation polymorphism method for rapid detection of rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The aim was to evaluate the Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism method as a potential tool for rapid detection of rifampicin-resistant strains by the use of 39 rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Serbia. SSCP analysis on acrylamide gel detected 56.4% of the rifampicin-resistant M.

Improved serodiagnosis of early Lyme borreliosis: immunoblot with local Borrelia afzelii strain.

To improve the serodiagnosis of Lyme borreliosis (LB) the performances of four tests were evaluated. An indirect immunofluorescent assay based on Borrelia burgdorferi s.s.

[First documented case of enterocolitis in Yugoslavia caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157].

A 'new' group of pathogenic agents, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) (particularly the strains of O157 serogroup), emerged in the last 20 years, causing an increased number of sporadic and epidemic diarrhoeal diseases with hemorrhagic enterocolitis as a most common clinical manifestation of the infection. As a consequence of the absorption and cytotoxic effect of the main virulence factor of these bacteria--verotoxin (shiga-toxin), in about 10% of the affected persons extraintestinal complications, most frequently hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), occurred 7-14 days after an episode of diarrhoeal disease. The first case of hemorrhagic enterocolitis with the documented EHEC O157 infection in Yugoslavia is presented in this paper.