RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA AGENTS WITH REAL TIME MULTIPLEX PCR

Introduction: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common infectious disease that is associated with high treatment costs and mortality rates that vary between 4% and 50%. Culture and serological tests are the most commonly used means of determining of the etiology of CAP, although no agents are identified in almost 50% of cases. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods developed in recent years allow for both the rapid diagnosis and identification of the causative agent in up to 87% of cases. In the present study, we investigate bacterial CAP agents in pleura fluid samples obtained from pleuritic patients based on no growth in cultures

A Case of Urethritis Caused by Cefuroxime-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is one of the most important pathogenic microorganisms in sexually-transmitted diseases in the world. N. gonorrhoeae is an important problem for the community health due to the emerging resistance to antibiotics which has been used in the treatment in recent years, as well as the infections caused by it. When the antibiotic groups which were preferred in the past such as penicillins, tetracyclines, macrolides, trimethoprim-sulphametoxazole and quinolones are evaluated together, N. gonorrhoeae has been reported to become a multidrug-resistant organism with reduced susceptibility to third-generation cephalosporins, which has been recommended in the last few years and started to be used widely. We herein present the first cefuroxime-resistant N. gonorrhoeae strain in Turkey, which was isolated from urethral swab culture taken from a patient presenting with complaint of urethral discharge

Rothia mucilaginosa meningitis after sinus surgery: A case report and literature review

Introduction: Rothia mucilaginosa, a member of the family Micrococcaceae, which is a normal flora member of the upper respiratory tract. Infections are very rare, but often causes opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients. We report the first case of Rothia mucilaginosa meningitis due to sinus surgery in a healty adult in Turkey. A literature research was done for the meningitis caused by Rothia mucilaginosa until recently

Salvage Use of Tigecycline for Severely Ill Children

Objective: Tigecycline has a wide spectrum antimicrobial activity including multi-drug resistant and extended drug resistant nosocomial Gram-negative bacteria. Although its pediatric use has not been approved, clinicians are sometimes obligated to choose tigecycline as salvage therapy. In this study, we present our clinical experience regarding tigecycline use in children

Resistant gram-negative infections in a pediatric intensive care unit: a retrospective study in a tertiary care center

Aim: Healthcare-associated infections cause increased morbidity and mortality in intensive care units. In this study, it was aimed to compare infections with multi-drug resistance and extended drug resistance, while evaluating the characteristics of resistant Gram-negative infections in the pediatric intensive care unit in our university hospital

Results of a Multicenter Study Investigating Plasmid Mediated Colistin Resistance Genes (mcr-1 and mcr-2) in Clinical Enterobacteriaceae Isolates from Turkey

Colistin is a polymyxin antibiotic which is considered as one of the last line agents against infections due to multidrug resistant or carbapenem resistant gram-negative pathogens. Colistin resistance is associated with chromosomal alterations which can usually cause mutations in genes coding specific two component regulator systems. The first plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene, mcr-1 was described in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in December 2015 and followed by another plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene mcr-2 in 2016. The rapid and interspecies dissemination of plasmid-mediated resistance mechanisms through horizontal gene transfer, have made these genes considerably threatening. After the first reports, although mcr-1/mcr-2 producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates have been reported from many countries, there have been no reports from Turkey. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of mcr-1/mcr-2 in clinical Enterobacteriaceae isolates from different parts of our country. A total of 329 Enterobacteriaceae isolates from 22 laboratories were collected which were isolated between March, 2015 and February, 2016. mcr-1/mcr-2 were investigated by polymerase chain reaction during February-March, 2016. Two hundred and seventeen of Klebsiella pneumoniae (66%), 75 of Salmonella spp. (22.8%), 31 of Esherichia coli (9.4%), 3 of Enterobacter cloacae (0.9%), 2 of Klebsiella oxytoca (0.6%) and 1 of Enterobacter aerogenes (0.3%) isolates were included to the study. Agarose gel electrophoresis results of PCR studies have shown expected band sizes for positive control isolates as 309 bp for mcr-1 and 567 bp for mcr-2. However, the presence of mcr-1/mcr-2 genes was not detected among the tested study isolates of Enterobacteriaceae. Although mcr-1/mcr-2 were not detected in our study isolates, it is highly important to understand the mechanism of resistance dissemination and determine the resistant isolates by considering that colistin is a last-line antibiotic against infections of multidrug or carbapenem resistant gram-negative bacteria. Thus, it is suggested that these mechanisms should be followed-up in both clinical and non-clinical (e.g. isolates from food animals, raw meats and environment) isolates of special populations