Carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in two university hospitals in Algeria

International audienc

Effect of Welding on The Corrosion Behaviour of a Highly Alloyed Austenitic Stainless Steel UNS N06027 in Polluted Phosphoric Acid Media

[EN] The objective of this work is to study the effect of welding on the corrosion resistance of the austenitic stainless steel Alloy 59 (UNS N06027) as well as the galvanic corrosion generated by the base/weld pair estimated from the polarisation curves according to the mixed potential theory. The materials have been exposed to polluted phosphoric acid at several temperatures. The microstructure of the samples was studied by SEM and EDX analysis. The results show that the welding process shifts the corrosion potential values to more anodic potentials. The corrosion current densities and the passive current densities also increased by the effect of welding. This effect is aggravated with the increase in temperature. Open circuit potential values were located in the passive zone of the potentiodynamic curves, which means that the materials passivated spontaneously.The galvanic corrosion of the pair is not severe in the studied conditions. The ratio between the galvanic current density of the pair and the corrosion current density of the uncoupled anode is less than 5, which implies compatibility of the members in the couple.The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperacion "MAEC" (PCI Mediterraneo C78196/07, D/023608/09, D/030177/10 and D/030177/10) for its financial support to the Krupp VDM Group (Germany) for the supplied alloys and to Dr. Asuncion Jaime for her translation assistance.Bakour, S.; Guenbour, A.; Bellaouchou, A.; Escrivá Cerdán, C.; Sánchez Tovar, R.; Leiva García, R.; Garcia-Anton, J. (2012). Effect of Welding on The Corrosion Behaviour of a Highly Alloyed Austenitic Stainless Steel UNS N06027 in Polluted Phosphoric Acid Media. International Journal of Electrochemical Science. 7(11):10530-10543. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/61163S105301054371

Carbapenem Resistance and Acinetobacter baumannii in Senegal: The Paradigm of a Common Phenomenon in Natural Reservoirs

Incidence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is rising in several parts of the world. In Africa, data concerning this species and its resistance to carbapenems are limited. The objective of the present study was to identify the presence of A. baumannii carbapenem-resistant encoding genes in natural reservoirs in Senegal, where antibiotic pressure is believed to be low. From October 2010 to January 2011, 354 human head lice, 717 human fecal samples and 118 animal fecal samples were screened for the presence of A. baumannii by real time PCR targeting blaOXA51-like gene. For all samples positive for A. baumannii, the carbapenemase-hydrolysing oxacillinases blaOXA23-like and blaOXA24-like were searched for and sequenced, and the isolates harbouring an oxacillinase were genotyped using PCR amplification and sequencing of recA gene. The presence of A. baumannii was detected in 4.0% of the head lice, in 5.4% of the human stool samples and in 5.1% of the animal stool samples tested. No blaOXA24 gene was detected but six fecal samples and three lice were positive for blaOXA23-like gene. The blaOXA23-like gene isolated in lice was likely a new oxacillinase sequence. Finally, the A. baumannii detected in stools were all of recA genotype 3 and those detected in lice, of recA genotype 4. This study shows for the first time a reservoir of blaOXA23-like-positive gene in human head lice and stool samples in Senegal

Emergence of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST512 isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of a child in Algeria

International audienceWe report class A carbapenemase (KPC)-3-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae meningitis in a 6-month-old child in Algeria. Multilocus sequence typing showed that the sequence type obtained corresponded to ST512, an allelic single-locus variant of the pandemic ST258 widely distributed in KPC producers from Europe. To our knowledge, this is the first report of KPC-3-producing K. pneumoniae ST512 in a North African country

Characterization of NDM-1-and OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from inanimate surfaces in a hospital environment in Algeria

International audienceBackground: Investigation of several outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection has demonstrated that contamination of the inanimate hospital environment could be implicated in the spread of these multidrug-resistant strains. Aim: To investigate the occurrence of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii on inanimate surfaces and possible dissemination in the hospital environment in Algeria as a potential source of infection in humans. Methods: A. baumannii strains were isolated from the hospital environment and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using disc diffusion and E-test methods. Carbapenemase activity was detected using microbiological tests, including modified Hodge test, modified Carba NP test, and EDTA test. Carbapenem resistance determinants were studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Clonal relatedness was determined using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Results: A total of 67 A. baumannii isolates were obtained from 868 environmental samples and identified by MALDI-TOF MS. Among them, 61 isolates were resistant to imipenem with minimum inhibitory concentration >32 mu g/mL and positive by the modified Hodge test and modified Carba NP test. In addition, the activity of carbapenemase was inhibited by EDTA in 32 strains. PCR and sequencing showed the presence of bla(OXA-23) gene in 29 strains, and the bla(NDM-1) gene in 32 isolates. MLST demonstrated the presence of five types of ST (ST19, ST2, ST85, ST98, and ST115). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated the dissemination of carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii strains recovered from inanimate surfaces in a hospital environment, surrounding patients, healthcare workers and visitors, in Algeria as a potential source for nosocomial infection. (C) 2015 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved