Articles

MERS-CoV: epidemiology, molecular dynamics, therapeutics, and future challenges

The Severe Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has gained research attention worldwide, given the current pandemic. Nevertheless, a previous zoonotic and highly pathogenic coronavirus, the Middle E...

Authors: Ali A. Rabaan, Shamsah H. Al-Ahmed, Ranjit Sah, Mohammed A. Alqumber, Shafiul Haque, Shailesh Kumar Patel, Mamta Pathak, Ruchi Tiwari, Mohd. Iqbal Yatoo, Abrar Ul Haq, Muhammad Bilal, Kuldeep Dhama and Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales

A first probable case of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in Colombia

Authors: Whilken Novoa, Hollman Miller, Salim Mattar, Álvaro A. Faccini-Martínez, Ricardo Rivero and Hector Serrano-Coll

Clinico-microbiological profile of Burkholderia cepacia keratitis: a case series

Burkholderia cepacia, an opportunistic pathogen mainly affecting patients with cystic fibrosis or immunocompromised, has rarely been documented as a cause of corneal infection. The clinical and microbiological pr...

Authors: Ming-Chih Ho, Eugene Yu-Chuan Kang, Lung-Kun Yeh, David H. K. Ma, Hsin-Chiung Lin, Hsin-Yuan Tan, Hung-Chi Chen and Ching-Hsi Hsiao

First detection of a plasmid-encoded New-Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) producing Acinetobacter baumannii using whole genome sequencing, isolated in a clinical setting in Benin

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is considered a top priority pathogen by the World Health Organization for combatting increasing antibiotic resistance and development of new drugs. Since it was origi...

Authors: Carine Yehouenou, Bert Bogaerts, Kevin Vanneste, Nancy H. C. Roosens, Sigrid C. J. De Keersmaecker, Kathleen Marchal, Dissou Affolabi, Reza Soleimani, Hector Rodriguez-Villalobos, Françoise Van Bambeke, Olivia Dalleur and Anne Simon

Molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from pediatric community-acquired pneumonia in pre-conjugate vaccine era in Western China

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) is one of the most common pathogens which can cause morbidity and mortality in pediatric infections worldwide. This study aimed to describe the phenotypic and molecular ch...

Authors: Zhuoxin Liang, Jinjian Fu, Ling Li, Rongsong Yi, Shaolin Xu, Jichang Chen, Xiaohua Ye and Eric McGrath

Clinical characteristics and predictors of mortality in young adults with severe COVID-19: a retrospective observational study

Little is yet known whether pathogenesis of COVID-19 is different between young and elder patients. Our study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and provide predictors of mortality for young adu...

Authors: Yanjiao Lu, Zhenli Huang, Meijia Wang, Kun Tang, Shanshan Wang, Pengfei Gao, Jungang Xie, Tao Wang and Jianping Zhao

Dysbiosis of urine microbiota in obstructive urinary retention patients revealed by next-generation sequencing

Urinary retention (UR) is a common urinary system disease can be caused by urinary tract obstruction with numerous reasons, however, the role of urine microbes in these disorders is still poorly understood. Th...

Authors: Shan Jiang, Saisai Lu, Xiaomin Chen, Fengxia Li, Chengwei Zhu, Yuancai Zheng, Xiaobing Wang and Shihao Xu

A case series of medically managed Candida parapsilosis complex prosthetic valve endocarditis

In recent years, Candida parapsilosis is recognized as a species complex and is composed of Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto, Candida orthopsilosis and Candida metapsilosis. Candida parapsilosis complex prosthe...

Authors: Penghao Guo, Yuting He, Rui Fan, Zhongwen Wu, Yili Chen, Yuli Huang, Kang Liao and Peisong Chen

Antimicrobial coating is associated with significantly lower aerobic colony counts in high-touch areas in an orthopedic ward environment

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) are the most common complication found in the hospital environment. The aim of the study was to examine whether the use of an antimicrobial coating in high-touch areas in an ...

Authors: Lars Ejerhed, Leyla Roshani and Annette Erichsen Andersson

Prevalence of Campylobacter species in human, animal and food of animal origin and their antimicrobial susceptibility in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli accounts for most cases of human gastrointestinal infections. The infection occurs through ingestion of contaminated food or water, and direct contact with feces of inf...

Authors: Tizazu Zenebe, Niguse Zegeye and Tadesse Eguale

Evaluation of Rapid Sepsityper® protocol and specific MBT-Sepsityper module (Bruker Daltonics) for the rapid diagnosis of bacteremia and fungemia by MALDI-TOF-MS

During bloodstream infections, rapid adaptation of empirical treatment according to the microorganism identified is essential to decrease mortality. The aim of the present study was to assess the microbiologic...

Authors: Léa Ponderand, Patricia Pavese, Danièle Maubon, Emmanuelle Giraudon, Thomas Girard, Caroline Landelle, Max Maurin and Yvan Caspar

Point-of-care cerebrospinal fluid Gram stain for the management of acute meningitis in adults: a retrospective observational study

Gram stain of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is widely used in the diagnosis of acute meningitis, however, it is often conducted in the laboratory, as only some hospitals have access to point-of-care Gram stain (PC...

Authors: Tomohiro Taniguchi, Sanefumi Tsuha, Soichi Shiiki and Masashi Narita

Epidemiological and viral features of a cohort of SARS-CoV-2 symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in an area of the Colombian Caribbean

Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emerging viral pandemic disease. In the last 6 months, SARS-CoV-2 has caused millions of reported cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths. A...

Authors: Salim Mattar, Caty Martinez-Bravo, Ricardo Rivero, Héctor Contreras, Álvaro A. Faccini-Martínez, Camilo Guzman-Teran, Ketty Galeano, Nelson Alvis-Guzman, Verónica Contreras, German Arrieta, Marco Gonzalez-Tous, Jorge Miranda, Martha Ospina, Francisco Camargo-Assis, Marcela Mercado-Reyes, Evelyn Garay…

Clinical syndromes and treatment location predict utility of carbapenem sparing therapies in ceftriaxone-non-susceptible Escherichia coli bloodstream infection

Cefiderocol, ceftazidime-avibactam, ceftolozane-tazobactam, intravenous fosfomycin and plazomicin represent potential carbapenem sparing agents for extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase or AmpC beta-lactamase produ...

Authors: Ouli Xie, Kathryn Cisera, Lucy Taylor, Carly Hughes and Benjamin Rogers

COVID-19 vaccine development: What lessons can we learn from TB?

At the time of writing, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected more than 49 million people causing more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide since its emergence from Wuhan, China in December 2019. Vaccine development ...

Authors: Hussain A. Safar, Abu Salim Mustafa and Timothy D. McHugh

Hypervirulent Streptococcus agalactiae septicemia in twin ex-premature infants transmitted by breast milk: report of source detection and isolate characterization using commonly available molecular diagnostic methods

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infections caused by Streptococcus agalactiae is a leading cause of meningitis and sepsis in neonates, with early-onset GBS symptoms emerging during the first week of life and late-ons...

Authors: Edward P. C. Ager, Eric D. Steele, Lindsey E. Nielsen, Matthew A. Nestander, Katrin Mende and Steven E. Spencer

Antimicrobial resistance in hospitalized surgical patients: a silently emerging public health concern in Benin

Surgical site infections are related to high morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Because the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospitals is becoming a worldwide challenge for surgeons who tre...

Authors: Carine Laurence Yehouenou, Arsène A. Kpangon, Dissou Affolabi, Hector Rodriguez-Villalobos, Françoise Van Bambeke, Olivia Dalleur and Anne Simon

Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in bloodstream infections due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae among patients with malignancy: a meta-analysis

The colonization of Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) in bloodstream infections (BSIs) has been increased dramatically worldwide, and it was associated with worse clinical ou...

Authors: Ai-Min Jiang, Na Liu, Rui Zhao, Hao-Ran Zheng, Xue Chen, Chao-Xin Fan, Rui Zhang, Xiao-Qiang Zheng, Xiao Fu, Yu Yao and Tao Tian

Ex vivo infection of murine precision-cut lung tissue slices with Mycobacterium abscessus: a model to study antimycobacterial agents

Multidrug-resistant infections due to Mycobacterium abscessus often require complex and prolonged regimens for treatment. Here, we report the evaluation of a new ex vivo antimicrobial susceptibility testing model...

Authors: Carmen Amelia Molina-Torres, Oscar Noé Flores-Castillo, Irma Edith Carranza-Torres, Nancy Elena Guzmán-Delgado, Ezequiel Viveros-Valdez, Lucio Vera-Cabrera, Jorge Ocampo-Candiani, Julia Verde-Star, Jorge Castro-Garza and Pilar Carranza-Rosales

Editorial Expression of Concern: Comparative effectiveness of β-lactam versus vancomycin empiric therapy in patients with methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) bacteremia

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Davie Wong, Titus Wong, Marc Romney and Victor Leung

Differential effects of antibiotics on neutrophils exposed to lipoteichoic acid derived from Staphylococcus aureus

Persistent bacteremia occurs in at least 30% of patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SAB) and may be attributable to a dysregulated host immune response. Neutrophils interact with a variety ...

Authors: Marquerita Algorri and Annie Wong-Beringer

Severe vivax malaria trends in the last two years: a study from a tertiary care centre, Delhi, India

Plasmodium vivax, once considered benign species, is recently being recognised to be causing severe malaria like Plasmodium falciparum. In the present study, the authors report the trends in malaria severity in P...

Authors: Monika Matlani, Loick P. Kojom, Neelangi Mishra, Vinita Dogra and Vineeta Singh

A high prevalence of multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacilli in a Nepali tertiary care hospital and associated widespread distribution of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase-encoding genes

Multi-drug resistance (MDR) and extensive-drug resistance (XDR) associated with extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and carbapenemases in Gram-negative bacteria are global public health concerns. Data on...

Authors: Sulochana Manandhar, Raphael M. Zellweger, Nhukesh Maharjan, Sabina Dongol, Krishna G. Prajapati, Guy Thwaites, Buddha Basnyat, Sameer Mani Dixit, Stephen Baker and Abhilasha Karkey

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage among janitors working in hospital and non-hospital areas: a comparative cross-sectional study

Nasal colonization of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) plays a key role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of both healthcare-associated and community-acquired MRSA infections in various popul...

Authors: Seid Abie, Moges Tiruneh and Wondwossen Abebe

Features and associated factors of bacterial skin infections in hospitalized patients with pemphigus: a single-center retrospective study

Infections were the primary cause of death (34.3–55.5%) in patients with pemphigus. Skin was usually the origin of infections. The study aimed to explore features and associated factors of bacterial skin infec...

Authors: Furong Li, Yejun Wu, Wenjie Bian, Lei Huang, Xuejun Zhu, Xixue Chen and Mingyue Wang

Bacteriophage therapy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms: a review

Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important bacterial pathogens that causes infection with a high mortality rate due to resistance to different antibiotics. This bacterium promp...

Authors: Zahra Chegini, Amin Khoshbayan, Majid Taati Moghadam, Iman Farahani, Parham Jazireian and Aref Shariati

Selective digestive decontamination solution used as “lock therapy” prevents and eradicates bacterial biofilm in an in vitro bench-top model

Most preventing measures for reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) are based mainly on the decolonization of the internal surface of the endotracheal tubes (ETTs). However, it has been demonstrated th...

Authors: María Jesús Pérez-Granda, Beatriz Alonso, Ricardo Zavala, María Consuelo Latorre, Javier Hortal, Rafael Samaniego, Emilio Bouza, Patricia Muñoz and María Guembe

Beta-lactams susceptibility testing of penicillin-resistant, ampicillin-susceptible Enterococcus faecalis isolates: a comparative assessment of Etest and disk diffusion methods against broth dilution

This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of disk diffusion and Etest methods, compared to that of the broth dilution reference method for identifying beta-lactam susceptibilities of Penicillin-Resistant, Ampi...

Authors: Natália Conceição, Wellington Francisco Rodrigues, Kessys Lorrânya Peralta de Oliveira, Lucas Emanuel Pinheiro da Silva, Laís Rezende Cardoso de Souza, Cristina da de Cunha Hueb Barata Oliveira and Adriana Gonçalves de Oliveira

The accuracy of four commercial broth microdilution tests in the determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration of colistin

Colistin is considered as one of the last-resort antibiotics and reliable antimicrobial susceptibility testing is therefore crucial. The reference standard for AST according to EUCAST and CLSI is broth microdi...

Authors: Erlangga Yusuf, Mireille van Westreenen, Wil Goessens and Peter Croughs

Low biomass microbiota in the upper genital tract of reproductive age women: fact or fiction?

Authors: Thor Haahr, Jørgen Skov Jensen, Signe Altmäe and Peter Humaidan

SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and advances in developing potential therapeutics and vaccines to counter this emerging pandemic

A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), causing an emerging coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which has taken a catastrophic turn with high toll rates in China and ...

Authors: Ali A. Rabaan, Shamsah H. Al-Ahmed, Ranjit Sah, Ruchi Tiwari, Mohd. Iqbal Yatoo, Shailesh Kumar Patel, Mamta Pathak, Yashpal Singh Malik, Kuldeep Dhama, Karam Pal Singh, D. Katterine Bonilla-Aldana, Shafiul Haque, Dayron F. Martinez-Pulgarin, Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales and Hakan Leblebicioglu

Majocchi’s granuloma on the forearm caused by Trichophyton tonsurans in an immunocompetent patient

Majocchi's granuloma is an uncommon fungal infection of the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. The most frequently identified cause of Majocchi’s granuloma is anthropophilic Trichophyton rubrum, and it is most commo...

Authors: Yun-yan Zheng, Yue Li, Ming-yan Chen, Qian-yun Mei and Ru-zhi Zhang

Nocardia takedensis: a newly recognized pathogen responsible for skin and soft tissue infections

Nocardia takedensis was first isolated in 2005, from soil in Japan. We report here two cases of lymphangitis in France (2012–2017) caused by N. takedensis both occurring after skin injury while gardening, which e...

Authors: Romain Lotte, Alicia Chevalier, Sabine Dantas, Nicolas Degand, Alice Gaudart, Pierre-Simon Rörhlich, Laurent Boyer, Veronica Rodriguez-Nava, Pascal Del Giudice and Raymond Ruimy

Safety and bactericidal efficacy of cold atmospheric plasma generated by a flexible surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge device against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro and in vivo

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), which is ionized gas produced at atmospheric pressure, could be a novel and potent antimicrobial therapy for the treatment of infected wounds. Previously we have shown that CAP g...

Authors: Gabrielle S. Dijksteel, Magda M. W. Ulrich, Marcel Vlig, Ana Sobota, Esther Middelkoop and Bouke K. H. L. Boekema

CTX-M-9 group ESBL-producing Raoultella planticola nosocomial infection: first report from sub-Saharan Africa

Raoultella are Gram-negative rod-shaped aerobic bacteria which grow in water and soil. They mostly cause nosocomial infections associated with surgical procedures. This case study is the first report of a Raoulte...

Authors: Tafese Beyene Tufa, Andre Fuchs, Torsten Feldt, Desalegn Tadesse Galata, Colin R. Mackenzie, Klaus Pfeffer and Dieter Häussinger

The effect of an antibiotic stewardship program on tigecycline use in a Tertiary Care Hospital, an intervention study

A drug-oriented antibiotic stewardship intervention targeting tigecycline utilization was launched at Makassed General Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2016 as a part of a comprehensive Antibiotic Stewardship Pro...

Authors: Rima Moghnieh, Dania Abdallah, Lyn Awad, Marwa Jadayel, Nicholas Haddad, Hani Tamim, Aline Zaiter, Diana-Caroline Awwad, Loubna Sinno, Salam El-Hassan, Rawad Lakkis, Rabab Khalil and Tamima Jisr

Prevention of cytomegalovirus infection after solid organ transplantation: a Bayesian network analysis

Cytomegalovirus infection is one of the most common complications after solid organ transplantation. There have been several classes of antiviral drugs for the prevention of cytomegalovirus infection, such as ...

Authors: Yu Zhang, Tao Zhou, Mingzhu Huang, Guangxiang Gu and Qiang Xia

Nasal decolonization of Staphylococcus aureus and the risk of surgical site infection after surgery: a meta-analysis

To assess the effects of nasal decontamination on preventing surgical site infections (SSIs) in people who are Staphylococcus aureus carriers undergoing different types of surgeries and diverse measures of decolo...

Authors: Jia Tang, Jiangjin Hui, Jing Ma and Chen Mingquan

Complications of peritonsillar abscess

The vast majority of patients with peritonsillar abscess (PTA) recover uneventfully on abscess drainage and antibiotic therapy. However, occasionally patient´s condition deteriorates as the infection spread in...

Authors: Tejs Ehlers Klug, Thomas Greve and Malene Hentze

Case report on a swift shift in uropathogens from Shigella flexneri to Escherichia coli: a thin line between bacterial persistence and reinfection

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are mostly caused by bacteria. Urine cultures are usually a definitive measure to select the appropriate antibiotics for the elimination of a uropathogen and subsequent recovery ...

Authors: Kukwah Anthony Tufon, Djike Puepi Yolande Fokam, Youmbi Sylvain Kouanou and Henry Dilonga Meriki

Changes in the spatial distribution of COVID-19 incidence in Italy using GIS-based maps

Authors: Cecilia Acuti Martellucci, Ranjit Sah, Ali A. Rabaan, Kuldeep Dhama, Cristina Casalone, Kovy Arteaga-Livias, Toyoaki Sawano, Akihiko Ozaki, Divya Bhandari, Asaka Higuchi, Yasuhiro Kotera, Zareena Fathah, Namrata Roy, Mohammed Ateeq Ur Rahman, Tetsuya Tanimoto and Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales

In vitro estimation of superfluid critical extracts of some plants for their antimicrobial potential, phytochemistry, and GC–MS analyses

Along with swift economic evolution and continuous amelioration of lifestyle, people at present are paying more attention to health issues. Synthetic drugs will be compensated with other natural ones that belo...

Authors: Waleed Bakry Suleiman

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is associated with Bartonella henselae infection in a patient with multiple susceptibility genes

Adult-onset hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare and life-threatening condition, which is often triggered by certain types of infection, cancer and numerous autoimmune diseases; however, of the n...

Authors: Tianjun Yang, Qing Mei, Lei Zhang, Zhendong Chen, Chunyan Zhu, Xiaowei Fang, Shike Geng and Aijun Pan

Nomogram to predict multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is burgeoning globally, and has been a serious challenge in TB management. Clinically, the ability to identify MDR-TB is still limited, especially in smear-negative TB...

Authors: Saibin Wang and Junwei Tu

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) as a significant etiological factor of laryngological infections: a review

This review article shows that coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are widely responsible for laryngological diseases. General characteristics of CoNS infections are shown in the introduction, and the path...

Authors: Michał Michalik, Alfred Samet, Adrianna Podbielska-Kubera, Vincenzo Savini, Jacek Międzobrodzki and Maja Kosecka-Strojek

Multi-drug resistant and extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing bacterial uropathogens among pregnant women in Northwest Ethiopia

Above 80% of urinary tract infections are caused by enteric bacteria, which are known for years by their drug-resistant ability. Though the prevalence of drug-resistant strains is increasing in the world, it i...

Authors: Sirak Biset, Feleke Moges, Demeke Endalamaw and Setegn Eshetie

Emerging high-risk ST101 and ST307 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae clones from bloodstream infections in Southern Italy

Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-KP) is an urgent public health issue in Italy. This pattern of resistance is due mainly to dissemination of carbapenemase genes. Molecular characterization of carbap...

Authors: Daniela Loconsole, Marisa Accogli, Anna Lisa De Robertis, Loredana Capozzi, Angelica Bianco, Anna Morea, Rosanna Mallamaci, Michele Quarto, Antonio Parisi and Maria Chironna

Ivermectin, a new candidate therapeutic against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19

Authors: Khan Sharun, Kuldeep Dhama, Shailesh Kumar Patel, Mamta Pathak, Ruchi Tiwari, Bhoj Raj Singh, Ranjit Sah, D. Katterine Bonilla-Aldana, Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales and Hakan Leblebicioglu

Presence of Borrelia miyamotoi infection in a highly endemic area of Lyme disease

A series of cases in the Northeast of the US during 2013–2015 described a new Borrelia species, Borrelia miyamotoi, which is transmitted by the same tick species that transmits Lyme disease and causes a relapsing...

Authors: Luis A. Marcos, Kalie Smith, Kelsey Reardon, Fredric Weinbaum and Eric D. Spitzer

Anticipating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB patients and TB control programmes

The COVID-19 pandemic has currently overtaken every other health issue throughout the world. There are numerous ways in which this will impact existing public health issues. Here we reflect on the interactions...

Authors: Toyin Togun, Beate Kampmann, Neil Graham Stoker and Marc Lipman