The microbiome of the nasopharynx

The nasopharyngeal microbiome is a dynamic microbial interface of the aerodigestive tract, and a diagnostic window in the fight against respiratory infections and antimicrobial resistance. As its constituent bacteria, viruses and mycobacteria become better understood and sampling accuracy improves, diagnostics of the nasopharynx could guide more personalized care of infections of surrounding areas including the lungs, ears and sinuses. This review will summarize the current literature from a clinical perspective and highlight its growing importance in diagnostics and infectious disease management

The need for year-round monitoring of faecal pollution in bathing water

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health concern, which arises from natural processes sped up by the misuse and mismanagement of antibiotics which, has led to longer treatment time, increased costs and risk of death. The environment can play a major role as a source and spread of AMR, with faecal pollution coming from both anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic activity. Faecal pollution poses a major risk to human health, animal health and the environment highlighting One Health initiative. Monitoring of faecal pollution within Northern Ireland falls under the EU Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) which is legislation to monitor identified bathing water sites. Monitoring occurs only during the bathing season, which is from the 1st June to 15th September. However, cold-water swimming is a popular hobby in Northern Ireland that happens all year round highlighting a potential risk. The enumeration of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) is utilised to identify the potential risk from faecal pathogens to the public. However, FIB does not identify the source of contamination and so microbial source tracking (MST) assays are used to identify possible sources of faecal pollution by targeting specific marker genes. In this investigation, we utilised enumeration of FIB and MST to identify sources of faecal contamination within Newcastle, Co Down during both dry weather and wet weather events outside of the bathing season

Competent but complex communication: The phenomena of pheromone-responsive plasmids

Enterococci are robust gram-positive bacteria that are found in a variety of surroundings and that cause a significant number of healthcare-associated infections. The genus possesses a high-efficiency pheromone-responsive plasmid (PRP) transfer system for genetic exchange that allows antimicrobial-resistance determinants to spread within bacterial populations. The pCF10 plasmid system is the best characterised, and although other PRP systems are structurally similar, they lack exact functional homologues of pCF10-encoded genes. In this review, we provide an overview of the enterococcal PRP systems, incorporating functional details for the less-well-defined systems. We catalogue the virulence-associated elements of the PRPs that have been identified to date, and we argue that this reinforces the requirement for elucidation of the less studied systems