Incidence of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infection in a quaternary referral university hospital in Brazil

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is an important cause of diarrhea in hospitals worldwide. The incidence of CDI in Latin America has not yet been standardized. To fill this gap, the present study performed a daily active surveillance, for three months, between April to July of 2021, at a quaternary referral university hospital in Brazil. The incidence density was 9.2 cases per 10,000 patient-days. Cases were associated mostly with ribotypes 014 and 106 (44% and 22%, respectively). Ribotype 027 was not identified. The findings strongly reinforce the need for broad epidemiological studies on the incidence of CDI in Brazilian hospitals to increase the understanding, prevention, and treatment of this infection.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Medical Microbiolog

Chronic lead intoxication in a jaguar (Panthera onca) shot with round lead pellets - case report

ABSTRACT Lead is a heavy metal and an important cause of acute or chronic toxicosis in humans, domestic, and wild animals. This report aims to describe a case of chronic lead poisoning in a jaguar (Panthera onca) kept under human care that was rescued from the wild environment. The animal was rescued in poor condition in 2004 and kept under human care at the Belo Horizonte Zoological Garden (Minas Gerais, Brazil) until 2020, when it presented with anorexia, vomiting and ataxia. Over the past years the animal had episodes of anemia and increased serum urea and creatinine. Radiography demonstrated 21 radiopaque projectiles on the right side of the face. At necropsy there were multiple projectiles surrounded by fibrous tissue in the subcutaneous of the right side of the face, fibrinous peritonitis, multiple gastric ulcers, and melena. The lead dosage was performed using the atomic absorption spectrometry technique using renal tissue collected at necropsy, with a result of 908 ppb (µg/kg). The findings of projectiles associated with the dosage of lead above the reference limits allow the diagnosis of chronic intoxication in this case

Isolation of Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile in crab-eating fox ( Cerdocyon thous - Linnaeus 1776) from Northeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to isolate Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile in crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous) from Northeastern Brazil. Stool samples of 18 captive crab-eating foxes from four states of Northeastern Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Paraíba e Pernambuco) were collected and subjected to C. perfringens and C. difficile isolation. Suggestive colonies of C. perfringens were then analyzed for genes encoding the major C. perfringens toxins (alpha, beta, epsilon and iota), beta-2 toxin (cpb2), enterotoxin (cpe), and NetB- (netB) and NetF- (netF) encoding genes. C. difficile strains were analyzed by multiplex-PCR for a housekeeping gene (tpi), toxins A (tcdA) and B (tcdB) and a binary toxin gene (cdtB). Unthawed aliquots of stool samples positive for toxigenic C. difficile were subjected to a commercial ELISA to evaluate the presence of A/B toxins. Clostridium perfringens (type A) was isolated from five (27%) samples, and only one sample was positive for beta-2 enconding gene (cpb2). Two (11%) stool samples were positive for C. difficile, but negative for A/B toxins. These two wild canids were also positive for C. perfringens type A. This is the first report of C. difficile in crab-eating fox

In vitro evaluation of Clostridium septicum alpha toxoid

Aiming to investigate in vitro alternatives, a test for neutralizing antibody detection using cell culture was developed. This test was more sensitive than previous animal models, allowing for detection of substantially lower alpha toxin and anti-alpha toxin titers. Titers observed during in vivo and in vitro seroneutralization had a correlation of 99.12%, indicating that cell culture is a viable alternative in the evaluation of vaccine potency, screening of vaccinal seeds, and Clostridium septicum alpha toxin titration