ß-Lactams are the most widely used antibiotics, and ß-lactamases are the greatest source of resistance to them. Colorimetric tests are good, rapid, indicators of ß-lactamase production and its contingent resistance in Haemophilus, Moraxella and Neisseria spp. They can also be applied to Gram-negative bacilli but are less useful, since the usual question is not whether a ß-lactamase is produced ...

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are prevalent in bacteria and archaea. Although not essential for normal cell growth, TA systems are implicated in multiple cellular functions associated with survival under stress conditions. Clinical strains of bacteria are currently causing major human health problems as a result of their multidrug resistance, persistence and strong pathogenicity. Here, we presen...

Immunological characterization of various Pseudomonas pseudomallei preparations was carried out by SDS-PAGE and Western blot using sera from infected humans and from patients with other bacterial infections. Somatic (SOM) and partially purified cell extracts (PCE) gave more complex SDS-PAGE patterns: M(r) ranged from 86 to 12.7 and 48 to 10 kDa, respectively. The culture-filtrated antigens (CF)...

INTRODUCTION Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response related to high mortality rates in the hospital environment. Delayed etiological diagnosis and inadequate antimicrobial therapy are associated with treatment failures. Molecular tests based on polymerase chain reaction are regarded as faster and more accurate procedures than culture techniques for microbial identification, providing a high...

Two-hundred consecutive, single patient isolates of Enterobacter spp., Serratia spp., Citrobacter spp., and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were evaluated for AmpC production using a variety of inducer-substrate antibiotic combinations in a disk approximation format. The combinations examined included cefoxitin-piperacillin, imipenem-cefotaxime, imipenem-ceftazidime, imipenem-piperacillin-tazobactam, an...

Cronobacter spp. (Enterobacter sakazakii) is an important pathogen contaminating powdered infant formula (PIF). To describe the genotypic diversity of Cronobacter isolated in China, we identified the isolates using fusA allele sequencing, and subtyped all of the isolates using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), and multiple-locus variable-number tandem-...

Received at: 16/5/2015 Accepted: 15/6/2015 Storage of table eggs in refrigeration is a popular habit but it may be lead to different degree of contamination with pathogens and increase the risks of illness in humans. A total of 75 chicken table eggs (grades II) were collected from 5 farms (15 of each) in Alexandria province and which were stored in refrigerator at 5 °C. The collected eggs were ...

qnrE1, found in a clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate, was undetectable by PCR assays used for the six qnr families. qnrE1 was located on a conjugative plasmid (ca. 185 kb) and differed from qnrB alleles by 25%. Phylogenetic reconstructions of qnr genes and proteins and analysis of the qnrE1 surroundings showed that this gene belongs to a new qnr family and was likely mobilized by ISEcp1 fro...

BACKGROUND Antimicrobial resistance is a serious problem that compromises the empirical treatment of infections, resulting in a lack of effective antibiotics and high medical expenses. Here, we aimed to monitor the trends in antimicrobial resistance among Enterobacteriaceae isolated from blood samples in mainland China. METHODS A total of 2240 Enterobacteriaceae isolates from blood were colle...

Cross- infection from patient to patient or from hospital personnel to patients represents constant hazards. It is one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality especially in Intensive Care Unit all over the world. To identify the types and the source of bacterial contamination in ICU and to study the sensitivity of bacterial isolates to commonly used antibiotics in hospitals this...