Clinical Bacteriology

Respiratory syncytial virus rapid antigen detection tests (RADT) are used widely. RADT exhibited high specificity (97%) and moderate sensitivity (80%) compared with reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in 720 hospitalized children <3 years old. Older age, prolonged symptoms, and respiratory syncytial virus genotype-B infection were significantly associated with false-negative results of RADT.

Ahora necesitamos resolver una pregunta más ¿Quiénes somos en el Universo?. Muchos expertos coinciden en haber encontrado evidencia de vida en Marte en la década de 1970 que respalda la actual.  El 12 de abril de 2012, un equipo internacional que incluía a Levin y Straat publicó un artículo revisado por pares que sugiere la detección de "vida microbiana existente en Marte" en base a una especulación matemática a través del análisis de conglomerados experimentos de la Misión Viking de 1976.

Los expertos de la NASA y sus artículos oficiales definen que determinar los lugares de existencia extraterrestre se difiere a años de ardua investigación. El viaje a marte se respalda en la hipótesis de la coexistencia de colonizaciones de microorganismos procariotas y eucariotas que se van respaldando con los hallazgos científicos de que marte es un privilegio para la preservación de la humanidad.

کابینت های ایمنی زیستی ( )BSCsفضاهای کاری محصور با هود تهویه هستند که به منظور نگهداری
میکروارگانیسم های بیماریزا در طی فرآیندهای میکروبیولوژیکی طراحی شده است.
هدف اصلی کابینت های ایمنی زیستی محافظت از پرسنل آزمایشگاه و محیط زیست در برابر میکروارگانیسم
بیماریزا است زیرا ممکن است در هنگام کار با چنین میکروارگانیسم هایی ، آئروسل ها ایجاد شوند. این ها فقط
برای موجودات خاص گروه خطر و برای فرآیندهایی که ممکن است منجر به تشکیل آئروسل شوند استفاده می
شود.

Asthma is a disease characterized by wide variations in
pathogenesis that cause resistance to flow in intrapulmonary
airways. The dramatic changes in the architecture of the airway
walls are usually connected to allergic reaction or other forms of
hyper sensitivity, causing marked spasms that lead to difficulty in
breathing. It is possible to relieve or remove the symptoms in the
majority of patients by adopting the clinical guidelines for
pharmacotherapy of asthma which include inhaled corticosteroids,
long and short acting beta agonists, muscarinic antagonists,
leukotriene modifiers, xanthine drugs and some allergy medicines.
The proper use of these agents can aid in reducing or reversing
many symptoms of asthma. Certain methods of using medicines,
for example the correct use of the inhaler for relief and
maintenance therapy, are also associated with a significant
reduction in symptoms. This can be achieved by a pharmacist’s
intervention that can provide a detailed understanding of the
current rational drug choices and proper medication use to the
patient. Nowadays massive resources are being ploughed into
research in a concerted effort to halt the progress of this illness
that can strike in all ages.

Objectives: To determine antimicrobial resistance pattern of P.aeruginosa in regional tertiary carehospitals of Saudi Arabia.

Method and materials: A total of 121 clinical isolates of P.aeruginosa from eight different hospitals were studied. The clinical data of the patients was collected using a predesigned questionnaire. All isolates were identified as P.aeruginosa using standard bacteriological methods and API 20E kits. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion method recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.

Results: Majority of P.aeruginosa isolates were from patients suffering from respiratory tract infections (43.8%), followed by wound infections (21.5%). The overall drug resistance data of 121 P.aeruginosa strains showed low to moderate resistance to all drugs tested (4.9% to 30.6%). The highest resistance was exhibited by meropenem (30.6%) followed by ticarcillin (22.3%), imipenem (19%), and piperacillin (17.3%). Piperacillin-tazobactam showed lowest resistance (4.9%). Irrespective of site of infection, P.aeruginosa strains showed high resistance to meropenem followed by ticarcillin and imipenem. About 13.2% strains were multidrug resistant.

Conclusion: This study showed low to moderate rate of drug resistance in P.aeruginosa. Resistance rate <10% to amikacin, cefepime and piperacillin-tazobactam is encouraging for the treatment of pseudomonal infection. Continuous monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibilities at each hospital is important to help in deciding the most adequate therapy for P.aeruginosa infection and to know the developing resistance pattern.

ABSTRACT
Background: For the past two decades, Acinetobacter spp. have emerged as an important
pathogen globally in various infections. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the
frequency, risk factors, and antibiotic resistance pattern of Acinetobacter spp. from various clinical
samples. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, hospital record–based, cross‑sectional study
included a total of 8749 clinical samples collected from patients at a tertiary care hospital in Odisha,
India from July 2010 to December 2012. The samples were processed and identified by standard
protocol. The Acinetobacter isolates were tested for antibiotic resistance by Kirby‑Bauer disk
diffusion method [according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines].
Results: From 8749 clinical samples, 4589 (52.5%) yielded significant growth and only 137 (3%,
137/4589) Acinetobacter spp. were isolated. Maximum (56.9%) isolates were obtained from pus/
swab, followed by blood (13.1%) and urine (12.4%). Elderly age, being inpatients, longer duration of
stay in the hospital, associated co‑morbidity, and invasive procedure were found to be significant risk
factors in the setup investigated (P is less than 0.05). Out of 137 isolates, 75 (54.7%) were resistant
to more than three classes of antibiotics (multidrug resistant) and 8 (5.8%) were resistant to all
commonly used antibiotics (pan‑drug resistant). Majority of the isolates were sensitive to imipenem,
meropenem, and piperacillin/tazobactam, and showed resistance rates of 19%, 22%, and 23%,
respectively. All eight pan‑drug resistant isolates were 100% sensitive to colistin. Conclusion: This
hospital‑based epidemiological data will help to implement better infection control strategies and
improve the knowledge of antibiotic resistance patterns in our region.
Key words: Acinetobacter species, antibiotics, frequency, resistance, risk factors

Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) of sheep, caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, has been a signi¢cant disease
in themajority of sheep-rearing regions for over a century. Because of the chronic and often sub-clinical nature of
the infection, it has proved di⁄cult to control and prevalence is high in many parts of the world, which in turn
leads to signi¢cant economic losses for farmers.This review describes the important characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis
and examines the pathogenesis and epidemiology of the infection in sheep.The review also discusses the
immune response to infection and describes themethods that have been developed to control CLA, with particular
emphasis on the use of vaccination and serological testing.

Rabbit listeriosis is one of the major diseases problems that facing rabbit breeding and industry in Egypt. Listeria monocytogenes is the main responsible food borne pathogen for listeriosis in humans, rabbits and many animal species. The scope of the present study was to discuss the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of some virulence genes (16s rRNA, hlyA and iap) of L. monocytogenes isolates in rabbits and to show the correlation between the intensity of the experimental infection and hematological, biochemical changes and their effects on the immune status of the animal. Conventional bacteriological examination for isolation of L. monocytogenes was applied for all collected samples including culturing on specific media and biochemical identification test. Samples were collected from suspected cases of rabbit farms in Ismailia Governorate. Moreover, an oral experimental trial for induction of listeriosis in two groups of rabbits (1 st was the infected group and 2 nd was the control) was also, done. L. monocytogenes was isolated from rabbit farms in a percentage of 21.8% (12/55) however; experimentally it was reisolated from all rabbits of the 1 st group. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia, leukocytosis associated with neutrophilla, lymphopenia and monocytosis were observed in experimentally infected rabbits at 7 days p.i. and leukocytosis with neutrophilia and monocytosis in 15 days p.i. A highly significant elevation in the activities of ALT and AST, hypocalcemia associated with significant increase in uric acid, creatinine and inorganic phosphorus were observed in infected group. Meanwhile, highly significant decrease in total proteins associated with decrease of total globulins especially alpha and beta-globulin and hypoalbuminemia but increased gamma globulin in 15 days p.i. were recorded. PCR analysis of 16S rRNA gene was applied for the molecular identification and differentiation of L. monocytogenes from other Listeria species. 16S rRNA gene was found in all the recovered isolates (100%). Also, the genotypic detection of some virulent genes with PCR revealed that hly A gene was detected in (11/12) of L. monocytogenes isolates (91.7%) meanwhile, iap gene gave clear bands at 193 bp in all isolates (100%) confirming more virulence and pathogencity of these isolates. Recommendation of successful preventive, good sanitation programs and control measures in rabbit farms should be implemented. Also, further in vitro and in vivo studies for the role and mechanism of other

Abacteriological characterization of strains of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, etiological agent of caseous lymphadenitis,
was made in goat flocks from Venezuela Northwestern region where goat breeding is the main way of living. From 18 goat
farms, 65 animals presented abscesses. Of the total number of goats affected, C. pseudotuberculosis was isolated in 67.69% of
them; other microorganisms in 27.71%. C. pseudotuberculosis grew forming cream white, dry, waxy colonies with a narrow
zone of
-haemolysis; pellicle and sediment were seen in BHI broth but did not become turbid. All the isolates were similar
in morphological, culture and biochemical characteristics to the C. pseudotuberculosis reference strain ATCC 19410, but some
isolates showed variations in the minimum inhibitory concentration values with antibiotics. The frequency of isolation of the
microorganism was higher in animals older than a year. According to these results, it is established that C. pseudotuberculosis
is actually widely spread through goat flocks in the Northwestern region of Venezuela.

The story of medical bacteriology and its attempt to »eradicate« all of mankind`s »invisible enemies«: the rise and fall of a leading science in the modern age.

When the WHO announced the »eradication of smallpox« in 1980, the vision of a world free of infectious diseases seemed to be within reach. For the first time, it seemed possible to »wipe out« epidemics by means of bacteriology. However, just a short time later, when new pathogens emerged and old ones resurfaced that had long since been considered defeated, it became clear that this was an illusion. Focussing on Germany between 1890 and 1933, Silvia Berger reveals that this was not the first time that the belief in the possibility of controlling infectious diseases had been shattered. After the First World War, bacteriology was already facing a serious crisis. The dream of destroying all »invisible enemies« and creating »pure« bodies and territories, rigorously pursued by military bacteriologists between 1914 and 1918, now faded into the background. In the 1920s, the scientists working in this exclusive field were forced to admit that they were no longer in a position to explain the complex interaction of micro and macro-organisms with their hypotheses. Rather than being considered a »war«, the relationship between bacteria and humans began to be expressed in terms such as »balance« or »symbiosis«, as a kind of peaceful co-existence.

In 2008, the study was awarded the Henry-E.-Sigerist Prize for young academics by the Swiss Society for the History of Medicine and Science. 2009 the book won the Förderpreis of the German Society for the History of Medicine, Natural Science and Technology.

»a highly original work, constituting an outstanding contribution to the history of preventive medicine and to German history«
Paul Weindling, Oxford

"Ohne Übertreibung darf man festhalten, dass mit Silvia Bergers Buch die Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Bakteriologie in der Zwischenkriegszeit im Wesentlichen geschrieben ist und es ganz erheblicher Anstrengungen bedürfte, an dieser Deutung vor- bei zu kommen."
Christoph Gradmann, Oslo

" [...] a highly valuable and original work. It fully deserves an English translation in order to reach a larger readership."
Jean-Paul Gaudillière, Paris

Background and study aim: During last two decades, there has been a world-wide trend in increasing occurrence of enterococcal infections in the hospitals. The aim of present study was to determine the spectrum of enterococcal infections, species prevalence, antimicrobial and characteristics of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in a tertiary care hospital, Eastern India.
Patients and Methods: Between January 2013 and July 2014, 152 Enterococcus species were obtained from clinical samples. Enterococci were identified using standard biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion according to Clinical resistance
& Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines.VRE agar base was used to screen VRE isolates. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of VRE isolates were determined using Epsilometer-test. VRE isolates were also examined by PCR to detect vanA gene.
Results: From 1602 clinical samples, 961 (60%) were culture positive and 152 (15.8%) enterococcal isolates were obtained. Most common species isolated was E. faecalis (63.8%) followed by E. faecium (35.5%). Majority of enterococcal infections were detected from ICUs and surgical wards and clinically presented as UTIs. Disk diffusion method showed 67.1% were resistant to penicillin, 61.2% ampicillin, 58.5% ciprofloxacin, 46.7% high-level gentamicin, 42. 8% high-level streptomycin, 7.9% teicoplanin and none to linezolid. Twenty (13.2%) enterococcal isolates were vancomycin resistant in VRE screen and disk diffusion method. Epsilometer-test of VRE isolates showed 8 (40%) isolates were resistant and 9 (45%) were intermediately resistant. From 20 VRE isolates, six showed VanA and two VanB phenotypes and all six VanA phenotypes had vanA gene cluster.
Conclusion: More accurate and reliable MIC determination tests should be performed in all suspected VRE isolates. Confirmatory PCR is required for identifying resistant gene cluster.
Key words: Enterococci, E. faecalis, E. faecium, VRE, vanA gene

This paper demonstrates the Direct Torque Control Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (DTC-PMSM) drive fed by asymmetrical multilevel inverter. The cascaded H-bridges topology with ratio-3 dc voltage sourced cells inverter has been employed. The DTC controller receives a reference torque and flux signals, the torque controller output determines the position of the desired flux vector. The amplitude of this vector is determined by the reference flux amplitude. The reference voltage vector is calculated as a continuous value using a technique developed originally for the SVM controlled drive. In this study, however, the reference voltage vector has been approximated to the nearest voltage vector achievable by one switching state of the multilevel inverter. The performance of two- and three-cells per arm inverter drives has been compared to that of the SVM-inverter drive at two values of the switching intervals. The results reflect the low switching frequency and torque ripple advantages of the proposed scheme. © 2008 IEEE.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4692567&reason=concurrency

Objective: In recent years, enterococci have become increasingly resistant to a wide range of antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to identify the species isolated from the urine cultures of hospitalized patients at Cukurova University Medical Faculty Balcalı Hospital, Adana, Turkey. and determine antimicrobial susceptibility rates of enterococcus strains.
Materials and Methods: In this study, a total of 536 enterococcus strains isolated from the urine cultures of the patients hospitalized, and treated in Balcalı Hospital of Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine between January 2012 and April 2014 were typed and antibiotic resistance rates of these isolated were determined Identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing of the enterococci strains were performed using Vitek-2 automated system (BioMérieux, France).
Results: Of these isolated strains 277 (51.6%) were identified as Enterococcus faecalis, 249 (46.4%) as Enterococcus faecium, five (0.9%) as Enterococcus avium, two (0.3%) as Enterococcus durans, two (0.3%) as Enterococcus gallinarum and one (0.1%) as Enterococcus hirae. The rates of resistance were 98.1% to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, 97% to clindamycin, 84.2% to ampicillin, 83.2% to erythromycin, 83.2% to imipenem, 73.3% to tetracycline, 66.6% to ciprofloxacin, 65.1% to moxifloxacin, 14.7% to vancomycin, 14.3% to teicoplanin, 4.8% to linezolid and 0.3% to tigecycline. High level aminoglycoside resistance was detected as 9.3 % for only gentamicin and 17.5% for only streptomycin.
Conclusion: In this study, glycopeptide resistant enterococcus strains were detected. Thus,resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin detected in our hospital demonstrates that these antibioticst should be used cautiously in the treatment of enterococcal infections in our center.

"The clinical bacteria of multi-drug resistant to some antibiotics are
considered a common problem in the world wide. Alternative
antibacterial strategies are urgently needed, and thus this situation
has led to a re-evaluation of the therapeutic use of ancient
remedies, such as plants and plant-based products, including
Nigella sativa (N. sativa). This study aimed to evaluate the
antibacterial activity of Yemeni N. sativa oil against some Clinical
Bacterial Isolates (CBI) and Control Strains of Bacteria (CSB) in
comparison with Augmentin® (Amoxicillin and Clavulanic Acid).
This study was carried out in Sana’a city during the period of one
year from May 2012 to April 2013. The antibacterial activity of oil
with different concentrations was determined by using disc agar
diffusion technique against CBI (Staphylococcus aureus and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and CSB (Staphylococcus aureus
ATCC25619, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC29737), also the
Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) of oil extract was
determined. The results indicated that, the highest significant
antibacterial activity was at the maximum concentration of the oil
against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in
comparison with Augmentin ® discs (p < 0.05) respectively. This
study observed that, there was strong positive correlation between
the diameter zone (DZ-mm) and oil concentrations (%). In
addition, the DZ (mm) of the oil for CSB was higher than CBI.
Also the oil activity was found to be more effective against
Staphylococcus aureus than Pseudomonas aeruginosa. On the
other hand, the MIC of the oil against CBI were ranged between ≥
0.5% and 4%. Whereas, the CSB particularly Staphylococcus
aureus were sensitive to low concentrations of oil. It could be
concluded that, the oil had high antibacterial effect against CSB
and CBI with high concentration and more effective than
Augmentin® discs."

Bacterial contamination in foods and antimicrobial resistance levels of common pathogenic strains causing food-borne disease are important in human health. Thus, typing technologies are important tools to determine primary sources of bacterial contamination. In this study, 40 Escherichia coli strains isolated from 85 food samples were evaluated in terms of genetic diversity, susceptibility to certain antibiotics, and plasmid profiles. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to identify the genetic relations of E. coli isolates. It was determined that the 40 E. coli strains revealed 32 different pulsotypes represented by 6 subtypes. Antibiotic susceptibility tests conducted by using a disc diffusion method against 15 antibiotics showed that although the isolates revealed 14 different types of resistance profiles, the strains showed the greatest resistance to ampicillin (77.5%), followed by ticarcillin–clavulanic acid (30%), tetracycline (22.5%), and cephalothin (14.5%). Plasmid isolations studies of the strains conducted by the method of alkaline lysis revealed that 18 (45%) of 40 E. coli strains contain 31 different plasmid bands ranging between 64.4 and 1 kb. The results showed that PFGE was a powerful method in tracking sources of food contamination and that the antibiotic resistance levels of food isolates were high and should be monitored.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, antibiotic resistance, genetic diversity, plasmid profiles

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a leading cause of bum infections, and antibiotic-
resistant strains of this bacterium are emerging due to extensive application
of antibiotics in the bum unit of hospitals. In this study 50 strains of P. aeruginosa
were isolated from bum patients infected with this micro-organism in the bum
unit of a general hospital in Kerman, Iran over one year [May 1999-ApriI2000].
Sensitivity/ resistance of the isolates for antibiotics and metals was determined
by MIC test. 46% of the isolates were resistant to ciprofioxacin, kanamycin (K),
gentamicin (Gm), tetracycline (Te) and chloramphenicol ( c ). 35% were resistant
to amikacin (AN), ceftriaxone (Ceft), and cefotaxime (CTX), and 10% were resistant
to imipenem (Imp) and piperacillin (PIP). The isolates exhibited varied
MIC's to metal ions. 87% were sensitive to cadmium (Cd), 62% to lead (Pb),
91 % to mercury (Hg), 54% to zinc (Zn), 85% to chromium (Cr), and 83% to
arsenate (Ars). Among them, strain 16 was found to be resistant to Pb, Cr, and Zn
as well as Te, C, Gm, and K. Conjugation and transformation experiments revealed
the transfer of Te', C, Kr and Gmr along with Pbr to a sensitive strain of P.
aeruginosa PTCC1074.1 (Rif) but not to E. coli K12 HBlOl.l (Rif). Subsequent
plasmid isolation and agarose gel electrophoresis (0.7%) confirmed the
presence of three-plasmid bands in strain 16 and the transconjugant. Furthermore,
strain 16 accumulated a maximum amount of Pb (501lM) within 60 min. and
reached a plateau afterwards.

Actualización de la bacteriología clínica moderna, se describen las bacterias que producen patología infecciosas y se estudia cada género bacteriano de importancia médica desde la perspectiva de su reciente ubicación taxonómica.
ISBN: 958-683-052-7

Gene therapy has ceased to be a futuristic dream and has become a treatment for the present. Somatic cells can be treated with gene replacements or gene fragments to express required proteins and whilst gene therapy was originally aimed at inherited disease it now treats a number of acquired complaints like cancer and HIV. Originally delivered through viruses there are now safer direct or biochemical vectors and in the future nano-particles might deliver the drug of choice straight to the nucleus of the affected cells.

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) is a rare infectious disorder that often has delayed diagnosis and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates. We present a case of an AIDS patient with a SEA due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This type of SEA in AIDS patients is characterized by localized spinal pain and prolonged fever. Magnetic resonance imaging is the method of choice in the diagnostic process. Early diagnosis, followed by specific therapy (surgical decompression combined with antituberculous drugs), is necessary to improve the prognosis of these kinds of patients.