Fluoroquinolone and Macrolide Treatment Failure in Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Selection of Multidrug-Resistant Isolates

Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3, isolated from a penicillin-allergic patient and initially susceptible to fluoroquinolones, macrolides, lincosamides, quinupristin-dalfopristin, and telithromycin, became resistant to all these drugs during treatment. Mutations in the parC and gyrA and in the 23S rRNA and the ribosomal protein L22 genes were detected in the resistant isolates

Enteroviruses in Spain: virological and epidemiological studies over 10 years (1988-97)

A total of 15,662 clinical samples were analysed for enterovirus (EV) isolation in cell cultures during a 10-year period (1988-97). Furthermore, 210 isolates of EV obtained in primary laboratories within Spain from patients with meningitis were characterized. The total number of EV typed was 758, including 727 non-polio EV and 31 Sabin-like (SL) polioviruses. Twenty-eight EV serotypes were represented. Echoviruses comprised 90% (653/727) of fully typed non-polio EV. The four most prevalent serotypes were echovirus 30, echovirus 9, echovirus 6 and echovirus 4. Echovirus 30 was the main serotype associated with meningitis. Echovirus 9 was the aetiological agent in 20 outbreaks of meningitis while the occurrence of echovirus 6 was localized in 1 year (1997). Coxsackieviruses A and B occurred in 3 and 7% of the non-polio EV respectively. Coxsackievirus B5 presented the relative greater abundance. This paper examines the epidemiology of EV in Spain to serotype level over a 10-year period with special attention to non-polio EV associated with meningitis.Dr I. Casas is a postdoctoral fellow supported by the Institute de Salud Carlos III, Becas de Perfeccionamiento (97/4165). We acknowledge the assistance provided by clinical colleagues in other virology laboratories: Gurutze Rubio (Cruces, Bilbao, Hospital), Nuria Rabella (Santa Cruz y San Pablo, Barcelona Hospital), Joaquin Otero (Doce de Octubre, Madrid Hospital). We also thank Raquel Noguerol, Hortensia del Pozo and Isidoro Bustillo for their technical assistance and an anonymous referee for many useful suggestions. This work was partially supported by Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria grant FIS 96/0304.S

Formal analytical solutions for the Gross-Pitaevskii equation

Considering the Gross-Pitaevskii integral equation we are able to formally obtain an analytical solution for the order parameter $\Phi (x)$ and for the chemical potential $\mu$ as a function of a unique dimensionless non-linear parameter $\Lambda$. We report solutions for different range of values for the repulsive and the attractive non-linear interactions in the condensate. Also, we study a bright soliton-like variational solution for the order parameter for positive and negative values of $\Lambda$. Introducing an accumulated error function we have performed a quantitative analysis with other well-established methods as: the perturbation theory, the Thomas-Fermi approximation, and the numerical solution. This study gives a very useful result establishing the universal range of the $\Lambda$-values where each solution can be easily implemented. In particular we showed that for $\Lambda <-9$, the bright soliton function reproduces the exact solution of GPE wave function.Comment: 8 figure

Meningitis and a Febrile Vomiting illness Caused by Echovirus Type 4, Northern Territory, Australia

A strain that emerged in July 2007 caused laboratory-confirmed meningitis

Antimicrobial Drug Prescribing for Pneumonia in Ambulatory Care

Higher levels of fluoroquinolone use were associated with increasing age and later study year

Geographical Variation in Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolates from Stool, Cow-Dung and Drinking Water

Little information is available on relationships between the biophysical environment and antibiotic resistance. This study was conducted to investigate the antibiotic resistance pattern of Escherichia coli isolated from child stool samples, cow-dung and drinking water from the non-coastal (230 households) and coastal (187 households) regions of Odisha, India. Susceptibility testing of E. coli isolates (n = 696) to the following antibiotics: tetracycline, ampicillin/sulbactam, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, cefixime, cotrimoxazole, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and nalidixic acid was performed by the disk diffusion method. Ciprofloxacin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined for ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates (n = 83). Resistance to at least one antibiotic was detected in 90% or more of the E. coli isolates. Ciprofloxacin MIC values ranged from 8 to 32 µg/mL. The odds ratio (OR) of resistance in E. coli isolates from children’s stool (OR = 3.1, 95% CI 1.18–8.01), cow-dung (OR = 3.6, 95% CI 1.59–8.03, P = 0.002) and drinking water (OR = 3.8, 95% CI 1.00–14.44, P = 0.049) were higher in non-coastal compared to coastal region. Similarly, the co-resistance in cow-dung (OR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.39–4.37, P = 0.002) and drinking water (OR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.36–7.41, P = 0.008) as well as the multi-resistance in cow-dung (OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.12–4.34, P = 0.022) and drinking water (OR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.06–7.07, P = 0.036) were also higher in the non-coastal compared to the coastal region

Inference of Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence among Diverse Group A Streptococcus Strains Using emm Sequencing and Multilocus Genotyping Methods

typing (direct sequencing of the genomic segment coding for the antigenic portion of the M protein) or by multilocus genotyping methods. Phenotype analysis, including critical AbR typing, is generally achieved by much slower and more laborious direct culture-based methods. type and the associated AbR and virulence phenotypes. types