As a first national surveillance of Acinetobacter in Cuba, a total of 500 Acinetobacter spp. isolates recovered from 30 hospitals between 2010 and 2012 were studied. Acinetobacter baumannii-calcoaceticus complex accounted for 96.4% of all the Acinetobacter isolates, while other species were detected at low frequency (A. junii 1.6%, A. lwoffii 1%, A. haemolyticus 0.8%, A. soli 0.2%). Resistance ...

WHO-endorsed phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) methods for Mycobacterium tuberculosis are assumed to be the gold standard for identifying rifampin (RMP) resistance. However, previous results indicated that low-level, yet probably clinically relevant, RMP resistance linked to specific rpoB mutations is easily missed by some growth-based methods. We aimed to compare the level of resist...

Stable, homotypic mutants of Chlamydia trachomatis for which MICs of rifampin and rifalazil are elevated were isolated by serial passage at sub-MIC concentrations of these compounds. An alternative approach, in which Chlamydia cells were incubated and subsequently passaged three times, all in the presence of the selective agent at concentrations above the MIC, appeared to be a more effective me...

Rifampin is a major drug used in the treatment of tuberculosis infections, and increasing rifampin resistance represents a worldwide clinical problem. Resistance to rifampin is caused by mutations in the rpoB gene, encoding the beta-subunit of RNA polymerase. We examined the effect of three different rpoB mutations on the fitness of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Rifampin-resistant mutants were is...

Treatment of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV co-infections is often complicated by drug-to-drug interactions between anti-mycobacterial and anti-retroviral agents. Rifabutin (RFB) is an alternative to rifampin (RIF) for TB regimens and is recommended for HIV patients concurrently receiving protease inhibitors because of reduced induction of CYP3A4. This study sought to determine the proportion of RFB...

1. Balcázar JL, Gallo-Bueno A, Planas M, Pintado J. Isolation of Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio splendidus from captive-bred seahorses with disease symptoms. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 2010;97:207–10. doi:10.1007/s10482-009-9398-4 2. Balcázar JL, Pintado J, Planas M. Bacillus galliciensis sp. nov., isolated from faeces of wild seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus). Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2010;6...

OBJECTIVE To determine the mechanism of rifampicin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in Taiwan. METHODS Rifampicin resistance was investigated with respect to the rpoB gene in 23 invasive S. pneumoniae isolates collected from 1996 to 2001. PCR and molecular typing were used for genetic and epidemiological analyses. Transformation was used to determine the functional gene for resistance. ...

Rifampicin resistance (Rifr) mutations in the RNA polymerase β subunit (rpoB) gene exhibit pleiotropic phenotypes as a result of their effects on the transcription machinery in prokaryotes. However, the differences in the effects of the mutations on the physiology and metabolism of the bacteria remain unknown. In this study, we isolated seven Rifr mutations in rpoB, including six single point m...

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency, location and type of rpoB mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients in Iran. 91 sputum were collected from suspected tuberculosis patients, 34 Rif-r isolates (87%) were identified as M. tuberculosis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and DNA sequencing methods were performed. 411 bp fragments of rpoB gene w...

OBJECTIVES Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a global problem that many countries are challenged with. Rapid and accurate detection of MDR-TB is critical for appropriate treatment and controlling of TB. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the TaqMan allelic discrimination without minor groove binder (MGB) as a rapid, efficient, and low-cost method for detection of drug resis...