An outbreak of food poisoning among children attending an international sports event in Johannesburg - don't let it happen again!

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia in an academic hospital in South Africa

This study aimed at determining the clinical manifestations, outcome and prognostic factors associated with P. aeruginosa bacteraemia at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital during the period 1998-99; to describe and quantify resistance to anti-pseudomonal drugs, and characterization of bacteraemic isolates, investigate the genetic relationship among drug susceptible and multiply resistant strains in the hospital. Clinical and laboratory investigations, culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed. Bacteraemic isolates were typed by endonuclease macrorestriction. Those with ≥97% band pattern similarity were assigned genotype status. Of 91 P. aeruginosa blood isolates, 52 (57%) were nosocomially acquired. Underlying conditions associated with episodes were burns in 24 (26.4%) and HIV infection in 21 (23%). Multi-drug resistance was present in 14 isolates (15.4%). Outcome was poor and death was associated with 36 (45.56%) of episodes. Case fatality rates were 60% in adults and 27.3% in children. Being a child, receiving appropriate antimicrobial treatment and admission to specialized care units were significantly associated with improved prognosis. P. aeruginosa bacteraemia was associated with outbreaks caused by two multiply resistant genotypes. Eighteen, antimicrobial susceptible isolates from bacteraemic episodes in paediatric wards, 9 in HIV-seropositive children, could be linked to small outbreaks in both hospitalised and community-based children. South African Medical Journal Vol. 98 (8) 2008: pp. 626-62

Global Genetic Structure and Molecular Epidemiology of Encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae

A collection of 2,209 isolates of six polysaccharide capsule types of Haemophilus influenzoe, including 1,975 serotype b isolates recovered in 30 countries was characterized for electrophoretically demonstrable allele profiles at 17 metabolic enzyme loci. Two hundred eighty distinct multilocus genotypes were distinguished, and cluster analysis revealed two primary phylogenetic divisions. The population structure of encapsulated H. influenzae is clonal. Currently, most of the invasive disease worldwide is caused by serotype b strains of nine clones, Strains producing serotype c, e, and f capsules belong to single divisions and have no close genetic relationships to strains of other serotypes, Serotype a and b strains occur in both primary phylogenetic divisions, probably as a result of transfer and recombination of serotype-specific sequences of the cap region between clonal lineages. A close genetic relatedness between serotype d isolates and some strains of serotypes a and b was identified, There are strong patterns of geographic variation, on an intercontinental scale, in both the extent of genetic diversity and the clonal composition of populations of encapsulated strains, The analysis suggests that the present distribution of clones is, in part, related to patterns of racial or ethnic differentiation and historical demographic movements of the human host population

An outbreak of food poisoning among children attending an international sports event in Johannesburg - Don't let it happen again!

No Abstrac