A pan-resistant Myroides odoratimimus catheter-related bacteremia in a COVID-19 patient and review of the literature

Myroides spp. are opportunistic environmental Gram-negative bacteria. These affect mostly immunocompromised hosts and generally lead to soft tissue, and urinary tract infections. Bacteremia most commonly develop secondary to soft tissue or catheter related infections and may lead rarely to mortality. Myroides spp. are generally suscetible to fluoroquinolones, piperacillin/tazobactam, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, carbapenems or tetracyclines however, pan-resistant isolates and multiple resistance genes have been reported in clinical isolates of Myroides spp. We report a pan-resistant Myroides odoratimimus bacteremia in a patient with severe COVID-19 ending with fatality and in this context a review of reported Myroides bacteremias are also described. In this study, a 64-year old male patient with history of coronary artery bypass was admitted to ICU with severe COVID-19 pneumonia accompanied by pneumomediastinum and pneumopericardium. Continous renal replacement therapy and extracorporeal membraneous-oxygenation were initiated due to acute renal failure and persistent hypercarbia/hypoxia, respectively. Within four weeks of hospitalization various episodes of bacteremia developed and multiple antibiotics were used. On the 5th week of follow-up, acute phase reactants increased and empirical broad spectrum antibiotics were initiated. Blood culture revealed Gram-negative rods. The patient became hypotensive and despite maximum medical care he was lost due to cardiac arrest. M. odoratimimus was identified by MALDI-TOF and the bacterium was pan-resistant. According to Center for Genomic Epidemiology results the strain was identified as M. odoratimimus PR63039 and the genome analysis revealed antibiotic resistance genes associated with resistance to beta-lactams (bla(OXA-347), bla(MUS-1), bla(EBR-1)), tetracyclines (tetX), sulfonamides (sul2), macrolides (ereD), (ermF)

The effect of CD14 and TLR4 gene polimorphisms on asthma phenotypes in adult Turkish asthma patients: a genetic study

Background: Endotoxins stimulate T helper 1 cell maturation and send a negative signal to T helper 2 polarisation. This causes a decrease IgE levels and prevents atopy (Hygiene hypothesis). It is shown that this response is under genetic control by polymorphisms in CD14 and TLR4 genes in some researchs. We aimed to investigate the effects of genetic variants of CD14 (-) and TLR4 (Asp299Gly, Thr399Ile) genes on asthma phenotypes in adults with asthma

Microbiological Approach to a Possible Infective Endocarditis Case Caused by Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

Aggregatibacter (Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans, a small, gram-negative coccobacillus that grows slow and fastidious, is generally colonized in the oral cavity. It is a rarely seen bacterium because of the difficulty of isolation but it can be a causative agent for dental infections and infective endocarditis (IE) particularly in the persons having prosthetic heart valves. In this report, a possible IE case caused by A.actinomycetemcomitans in a patient with aortic valve replacement has been presented. A 36-year-old man has admitted to Trakya University Hospital, Health Center for Medical Research and Practice, with the complaints of chills, malaise, intermittent fever, severe arthralgia and weight loss (20 kg). During his follow-up period, the blood cultures that were obtained three week intervals yielded the identical gram negative coccobacilli morphology. The patient was then diagnosed as possible IE on the basis of having one major (growth of the typical microorganisms that may cause IE in two different blood cultures) and two minor (presence of prosthetic valve and high fever) criterias. The isolate could not be identified with conventional methods, while it was identified as Francisella tularensis with VITEK 2 (bioMerieux, France) system. Hence this identification was not confirmed by real-time Taqman polymerase chain reaction, so MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was used to identify this bacteria. In the first run of the study, the isolate was named as Shigella dysenteriae initially, however when it was retested the next day it was identified as A.actinomycetemcomitans. In order to enlighten these conflicting results, 16S and 23S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis was performed, and consequently the bacterium was identified as A.actinomycetemcomitans. Doxycycline (2 x 100 mg po, 20 days) and streptomycin (2 x 10 mg/kg im, 10 days) therapy were initiated, considering the initial suspicious identification (F.tularensis), and on the fifth day of therapy the blood culture was negative with the regression of patient's complaints. Therapy continued with the addition of rifampicin to doxycycline from the 21(st) day and the patient discharged with cure. As a result, the identification of an exceptional bacterium like A.actinomycetemcomitans may be difficult and time-consuming in certain laboratory facilities. So, the use of different identification methods in addition to classical methods are needed to overcome such a problem, especially for uncommon isolates and clinically discordant cases. This case was presented because A.actinomycetemcomitans is a rare etiological agent for IE patients and it could be a good example to draw attention to the problem when identifying the organism using automatized identification systems

An early prenatal diagnosis of a 69,XXY case using quantitative fluorescent PCR (QF-PCR) in uncultured amniocytes

Quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) has been largely employed for rapid detection of common aneuploidies in prenatal and postnatal diagnosis and consists in DNA amplification by PCR using fluorescent labelled primers and the analysis of chromosome specific small tandem repeats (STR). QF-PCR can rapidly and accurately diagnose sex chromosome status and imbalances, reducing maternal anxiety and aiding in efficient pregnancy management. In this study, an early diagnosis of a 69,XXY case was performed with QF-PCR technique from the uncultured amniocytes. Although, long-term cultures are more common techniques performed in prenatal cytogenetic diagnostic centers, QF-PCR is also an additional molecular reliable technique that enables early prenatal diagnosis. We conclude that, cytogenetic results are important for identifying structural chromosomal abnormalities

Microbiological Approach to a Possible Infective Endocarditis Case Caused by Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

Aggregatibacter (Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans, a small, gram-negative coccobacillus that grows slow and fastidious, is generally colonized in the oral cavity. It is a rarely seen bacterium because of the difficulty of isolation but it can be a causative agent for dental infections and infective endocarditis (IE) particularly in the persons having prosthetic heart valves. In this report, a possible IE case caused by A.actinomycetemcomitans in a patient with aortic valve replacement has been presented. A 36-year-old man has admitted to Trakya University Hospital, Health Center for Medical Research and Practice, with the complaints of chills, malaise, intermittent fever, severe arthralgia and weight loss (20 kg). During his follow-up period, the blood cultures that were obtained three week intervals yielded the identical gram negative coccobacilli morphology. The patient was then diagnosed as possible IE on the basis of having one major (growth of the typical microorganisms that may cause IE in two different blood cultures) and two minor (presence of prosthetic valve and high fever) criterias. The isolate could not be identified with conventional methods, while it was identified as Francisella tularensis with VITEK 2 (bioMerieux, France) system. Hence this identification was not confirmed by real-time Taqman polymerase chain reaction, so MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was used to identify this bacteria. In the first run of the study, the isolate was named as Shigella dysenteriae initially, however when it was retested the next day it was identified as A.actinomycetemcomitans. In order to enlighten these conflicting results, 16S and 23S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis was performed, and consequently the bacterium was identified as A.actinomycetemcomitans. Doxycycline (2 x 100 mg po, 20 days) and streptomycin (2 x 10 mg/kg im, 10 days) therapy were initiated, considering the initial suspicious identification (F.tularensis), and on the fifth day of therapy the blood culture was negative with the regression of patient's complaints. Therapy continued with the addition of rifampicin to doxycycline from the 21(st) day and the patient discharged with cure. As a result, the identification of an exceptional bacterium like A.actinomycetemcomitans may be difficult and time-consuming in certain laboratory facilities. So, the use of different identification methods in addition to classical methods are needed to overcome such a problem, especially for uncommon isolates and clinically discordant cases. This case was presented because A.actinomycetemcomitans is a rare etiological agent for IE patients and it could be a good example to draw attention to the problem when identifying the organism using automatized identification systems

The asymptomatic ocular surface reservoir of coronavirus disease-19 in infants and retinopathy of prematurity screening during the pandemic

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of conjunctival and pharyngeal swab sample positivity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in asymptomatic preterm and term infants. We aimed to detect asymptomatic carrier potential in infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients screened for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) at our clinic between January and June 2021 were recruited for this study. For all study cases, the previous history of possible exposure or contact with SARS-CoV-2, previous history of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), or contact with any COVID-19 case was excluded. None of the patients showed signs of COVID-19 during sample collection. Pharyngeal and conjunctival swab samples were collected before the ophthalmic examination. Nucleic acid isolation from the samples was performed using an automated system. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the samples was screened using a real-time polymerase chain reaction kit, and the positive samples were re-evaluated for the variant virus. RESULTS: Among the 127 patients with a median age of 40 weeks (range: 34–86) of postmenstrual age, positivity for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the pharyngeal and conjunctival samples was 5/127 (3.93%) and 3/127 (2.36%), respectively. Isolated conjunctival positivity was not observed in any of the patients, and all three patients were positive for both conjunctiva and pharynx. CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic infants may be a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, and conjunctival infection in infants may be a source of virus transmission. Since ROP screening cannot be postponed during the pandemic, caution should be exercised to prevent the spread of the disease

Relationship of plasma cell-free DNA level with mortality and prognosis in patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral infection. Circulating plasma cell-free DNA (pcf-DNA) is a novel marker indicating cellular damage. So far, the role of pcf-DNA did not investigate in CCHF patients. In the current study, pcf-DNA levels were investigated in CCHF patients with different clinical severity grades to explore the relationship between circulating pcf-DNA level, virus load, and disease severity. Seventy-two patients were categorized as mild, intermediate, and severe based on severity grading scores. The pcf-DNA level was obtained from all participants on admission and from the survivors on the day of the discharge. The controls consisted of 31 healthy. Although the pcf-DNA level at admission was higher in patients than in the controls, the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.291). However, at admission and in the convalescent period, the difference between pcf-DNA levels in mild, intermediate, and severe patient groups was significant. The pcf-DNA level in severe patients was higher than in the others. Furthermore, compared to survivors, non-survivors had higher pcf-DNA levels at admission (P=0.001). A direct relationship was found between the pcf-DNA level and the viral load on the day of discharge in surviving patients. ROC curve analysis identified a pcf-DNA level of 0.42 as the optimal cut-off for prediction of mortality. The positive predictive value, negative predictive value, specificity, and sensitivity for predicting mortality was 100%, 72%, 100%, and 79%, respectively. In summary, our findings revealed that pcf-DNA levels may be used as a biomarker in predicting CHHF prognosis. J. Med. Virol. 88:1152-1158, 2016. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc