Clinical Management of Rapidly Growing Mycobacterial Cutaneous Infections in Patients after Mesotherapy

Background. Increasing numbers of patients are expressing an interest in mesotherapy as a method of reducing body fat. Cutaneous infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria are a common complication of such procedures. Methods. We followed up patients who had developed cutaneous infections after undergoing mesotherapy during the period October 2006-January 2007. Results. Sixteen patients were infected after mesotherapy injections performed by the same physician. All patients presented with painful, erythematous, draining subcutaneous nodules at the injection sites. All patients were treated with surgical drainage. Microbiological examination was performed on specimens that were obtained before and during the surgical procedure. Direct examination of skin smears demonstrated acid-fast bacilli in 25% of the specimens that were obtained before the procedure and 37% of the specimens obtained during the procedure; culture results were positive in 75% of the patients. Mycobacterium chelonae was identified in 11 patients, and Mycobacterium frederiksbergense was identified in 2 patients. Fourteen patients were treated with antibiotics, 6 received triple therapy as first-line treatment (tigecycline, tobramycin, and clarithromycin), and 8 received dual therapy (clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin). The mean duration of treatment was 14 weeks (range, 1-24 weeks). All of the patients except 1 were fully recovered 2 years after the onset of infection, with the mean time to healing estimated at 6.2 months (range, 1-15 months). Conclusions. This series of rapidly growing mycobacterial cutaneous infections highlights the difficulties in treating such infections and suggests that in vitro susceptibility to antibiotics does not accurately predict their clinical efficacy

Structural Analyses of Avocado sunblotch viroid Reveal Differences in the Folding of Plus and Minus RNA Strands

Viroids are small pathogenic circular single-stranded RNAs, present in two complementary sequences, named plus and minus, in infected plant cells. A high degree of complementarities between different regions of the RNAs allows them to adopt complex structures. Since viroids are naked non-coding RNAs, interactions with host factors appear to be closely related to their structural and catalytic characteristics. Avocado sunblotch viroid (ASBVd), a member of the family Avsunviroidae, replicates via a symmetric RNA-dependant rolling-circle process, involving self-cleavage via hammerhead ribozymes. Consequently, it is assumed that ASBVd plus and minus strands adopt similar structures. Moreover, by computer analyses, a quasi-rod-like secondary structure has been predicted. Nevertheless, secondary and tertiary structures of both polarities of ASBVd remain unsolved. In this study, we analyzed the characteristic of each strand of ASBVd through biophysical analyses. We report that ASBVd transcripts of plus and minus polarities exhibit differences in electrophoretic mobility under native conditions and in thermal denaturation profiles. Subsequently, the secondary structures of plus and minus polarities of ASBVd were probed using the RNA-selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) method. The models obtained show that both polarities fold into different structures. Moreover, our results suggest the existence of a kissing-loop interaction within the minus strand that may play a role in in vivo viroid life cycle

Evaluation of a New Test, GenoType HelicoDR, for Molecular Detection of Antibiotic Resistance in Helicobacter pylori▿

The eradication rate of Helicobacter pylori by standard therapy is decreasing due to antibiotic resistance, mainly to clarithromycin. Our aim was to provide a new molecular test to guide the treatment of new and relapsed cases. We first studied 126 H. pylori strains for phenotypic (MIC) and genotypic resistance to clarithromycin (rrl mutation) and levofloxacin (gyrA mutation) and then developed a DNA strip genotyping test on the basis of the correlation results and literature data. Clinical strains (n = 92) and gastric biopsy specimens containing H. pylori (n = 105) were tested blindly with the new molecular test GenoType HelicoDR. The presence of mutations or the absence of hybridization with wild-type sequences was predictive, in rrl for clarithromycin resistance in 91 cases (mostly the A2147G mutation) and in gyrA for levofloxacin resistance in 58 cases (mutations at codon 87 or 91). Genotyping revealed a mix of genotypes in 33% of the cases, reflecting a coinfection or selection for resistant mutants. The sensitivity and specificity of detecting resistance were 94% and 99% for clarithromycin and 87% and 98.5% for levofloxacin, respectively. The concordance scores were 0.96 for clarithromycin and 0.94 for levofloxacin. With global resistance rates of 46% for clarithromycin and 25% for levofloxacin, which were observed for consecutive positive biopsy specimens from 2007 and 2008, the positive and negative predictive values for detecting resistance were 99% and 94% for clarithromycin and 96% and 96% for fluoroquinolone. GenoType HelicoDR is efficient at detecting mutations predictive of antibiotic resistance in H. pylori when applied to strains or directly to gastric biopsy specimens

Psoas abscess and chronic Q fever: a contiguous or hematogenous complication? A case report and literature review

<p>Few cases of psoas abscesses (PA) during chronic Q fever have been reported, and the route of transmission remains unknown. Here, we report a new case and have performed a systematic literature review to determinate the spreading route of this complication. Medline, EMBASE and Web of Science were searched. Local spreading was supported by endocarditis exclusion, evidence of vascular infection and absence of distantly infected sites. Among 275 retrieved references, 179 were initially rejected, and 85 additional references were rejected after full-text review. A total of 11 studies, reporting 13 cases, were included. Additionally, we reported one new case. A total of 14/14 cases reached Q fever vascular infection diagnostic criteria, and 7/14 provided adequate evidence supporting a causal relationship between Q fever vascular infection and PA. All patients presented aorta defects. In conclusion, Q fever PA results from the spreading of a local infection and occurs specifically in patients presenting a vascular graft or an abdominal aortic aneurysm.</p

Fast and Accurate Quantitative Detection of Helicobacter pylori and Identification of Clarithromycin Resistance Mutations in H. pylori Isolates from Gastric Biopsy Specimens by Real-Time PCR

Rapid identification of patients infected with clarithromycin-resistant Helicobacter pylori without the need for culture can help to avoid useless prescriptions of clarithromycin. We developed and tested a routine real-time quantitative PCR assay dedicated to that purpose. One hundred ninety-six consecutive gastric biopsy specimens were examined by culture, histology performed by a trained physician, and rapid PCR with the LightCycler apparatus. Infection was defined as (i) positivity of culture, (ii) positivity of histology, or (iii) positivity of PCR if confirmed by positivity of a concomitant indirect test (serology or urea breath test). Susceptibility to clarithromycin was tested by E-test and PCR. The prevalence of infection was 33.7% (66 of 196 samples). The sensitivities of culture, histology, and PCR were 90.9% (60 of 66 samples), 87.9% (58 of 66 samples), and 97.0% (64 of 66 samples), respectively. The specificity of PCR was 94.6% (123 of 130 samples). The linearity of the PCR results was achieved over a 6-log range of input DNA, and we were able to accurately quantify as few as 300 bacteria and to qualitatively detect as few as 30 bacteria per DNA sample. For clarithromycin susceptibility testing, there was 98.2% (55 of 56 samples) concordance between E-test and PCR. Forty-eight strains were clarithromycin susceptible, and 9 strains were clarithromycin resistant. The single discrepancy concerned a culture which was a mixture of mutant and wild type, with a susceptible-to-resistant ratio of 11.5: the resistant population was detected by E-test but not by PCR. Our PCR assay is accurate for fast detection of H. pylori as well as of clarithromycin resistance and is also able to objectively determine bacterial density