Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Europe, 1999–2002

European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System shows large variations in methicillin-resistant S. aureus

Trends of penicillin and erythromycin resistance among invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae in Europe

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldOBJECTIVES: To forecast trends in resistance to penicillin and erythromycin among Streptococcus pneumoniae in Europe. METHODS: Since 1999, the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) has collected routine antimicrobial susceptibility test results of S. pneumoniae. To observe and predict changes of reduced susceptibility over time, we used a multinomial logistic regression model. RESULTS: Large variations in penicillin and erythromycin non-susceptibility were observed between countries, and reduced susceptibility to erythromycin (17%) has become more frequent than reduced susceptibility to penicillin (10%) in Europe overall. An overall decrease in single penicillin non-susceptibility, but an increase in dual non-susceptibility was observed, indicating a shift of single penicillin to combined non-susceptibility with erythromycin. By 2006, the proportion of single erythromycin and dual non-susceptibility could increase to as much as 20.4% and 8.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that appropriately dosed beta-lactams for empirical therapy are still the treatment of choice, and that macrolides should be used with prudence

The Dawn of Dutch: Language contact in the western Low Countries before 1200

The Low Countries are famous for their radically changing landscape over the last 1,000 years. Like the landscape, the linguistic situation has also undergone major changes. In Holland, an early form of Frisian was spoken until, very roughly, 1100, and in parts of North Holland it disappeared even later. The hunt for traces of Frisian or Ingvaeonic in the dialects of the western Low Countries has been going on for around 150 years, but a synthesis of the available evidence has never appeared. The main aim of this book is to fill that gap. It follows the lead of many recent studies on the nature and effects of language contact situations in the past. The topic is approached from two different angles: Dutch dialectology, in all its geographic and diachronic variation, and comparative Germanic linguistics. In the end, the minute details and the bigger picture merge into one possible account of the early and high medieval processes that determined the make-up of western Dutch