Bacteremia due to Serratia rubidaea in intensive care unit: a case series.

INTRODUCTION: Bacteremia caused by Serratia rubidaea is seldom mentioned in comparison with other Enterobacteriaceae species. It primarily affects immunocompromised patients undergoing invasive procedures. Furthermore, the incidence, clinical features, and microbiological profile of this pathogen in the intensive care unit are rarely described. CASE PRESENTATION: We present four North African case studies of bacteremia in four young female patients admitted to the intensive care unit for ketoacidosis with a history of diabetes mellitus. All four patients developed catheter-related infections complicated by deep vein thrombosis. The catheter site was femoral in all cases, and the main clinical manifestation was poorly tolerated fever. The pathogen was isolated in multiple peripheral blood cultures (> 4) for each patient, showing a similar profile in all cases: resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and sensitivity to aminoglycosides, piperacillin, fluoroquinolones, and folate-pathway inhibitors. Targeted treatment consisted of a combination of ciprofloxacin 400 mg twice per day and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole 400/80 mg thrice per day for all four cases. However, in one case, this regimen was switched to amikacin due to adverse effects. The outcomes were favorable in the majority of cases. The patients described in this study were 21, 66, 22, and 27-year-old North African women. CONCLUSION: Most of the reported cases shared common risk factors and clinical aspects. Notably, a case of thrombosis complicating a catheter infection caused by Serratia rubidaea has not been previously reported in the literature. Furthermore, this bloodstream infection typically affects deeply immunocompromised patients. However, our four cases, admitted to the intensive care unit for ketoacidosis, only had a history of diabetes mellitus.

Tunisian consensus on the management of Helicobacter Pylori infection.

Helicobacter pylori infection is the most common infectious disease worldwide. It is associated with duodenal and gastric ulcer disease and the risk of gastric neoplasia. The management of helicobacter pylori infection currently represents a real challenge for clinicians, given the ever-increasing rate of resistance of Helicobacter pyolori to various antibiotics. In this consensus document, we present recommendations adapted to the Tunisian context, including indications for the detection of helicobacter pylori infection, indications for the use of different diagnostic methods, and a therapeutic strategy for the management of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Clonal Spread of Colistin-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Coproducing KPC and VIM Carbapenemases in Neonates at a Tunisian University Hospital.

In this study, we have attempted to report the first clonal spread of colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae coproducing KPC and VIM carbapenemases in the neonatal unit of Rabta Teaching Hospital of Tunis (Tunisia). This retrospective study was performed from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 in the Microbiology Laboratory at the Rabta University Hospital of Tunis. Twenty-one nonreplicate colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae were isolated from 19 patients hospitalized in the neonatal unit and 2 patients in the adult intensive care unit (ICU). Most of the strains were isolated from invasive specimens. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and PCR analysis and nucleotide sequencing of the blaKPC and blaVIM genes were performed. Mortality was reported in 92% of cases. All the strains were resistant to colistin (minimum inhibitory concentration [MICs] ranged from 8 to 12 mg/L). The MICs for imipenem of K. pneumoniae isolates ranged from 3 to 256 mg/L for 13 strains that were characterized as intermediate or resistant. The MICs for ertapenem were higher than 32 mg/L for the 19 resistant strains. All the isolates were sensitive to tigecycline and chloramphenicol. PFGE analysis revealed two clones (I and II). Twenty of the 21 colistin-resistant, carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates belonged to clone I. Only one strain was related to clone II. PCR analysis and nucleotide sequencing revealed that the 20 isolates belonged to clone I, coproduced the blaKPC and blaVIM genes. A single strain (clone II), which was isolated in the ICU, did not produce KPC and VIM carbapenemases. All strains did not produce OXA-48.

Multiple and mixed Helicobacter pylori infections: Comparison of two epidemiological situations in Tunisia and France.

Individuals can be infected by either a single or multiple strains of Helicobacter pylori. Multiple infection with genetically different isolates and particularly mixed infection with both antibiotic-susceptible and resistant isolates are difficult to detect and should impact the effectiveness of eradication treatment. It is largely assumed that multiple infections are more frequent in developing countries but an actual comparison developing/developed using a single methodology has never been reported. To compare the prevalence of multiple and mixed H. pylori infection in Tunisia and France, we conducted a prospective study including 42 H. pylori-culture positive infected patients (21 Tunisian and 21 French) never previously treated for H. pylori infection. One gastric biopsy was collected from antrum. Three to eleven (mean = 9) colonies were isolated from each biopsy. A total of 375 different isolates were genotyped using RAPD fingerprinting and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed on amoxicillin, clarithromycin, ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, tetracycline and metronidazole with E-tests. Multiple infection was defined by different RAPD fingerprintings among the different isolates from a single patient. Mixed infection was defined by different resistance profiles among the different isolates from a single patient. Multiple H. pylori infection is more prevalent in Tunisia than in France. It occurred in ten (48%) Tunisian patients and in one (5%) French patient (p < 0.001). Mixed infection is common (24%), it occurred in 4 (19%) Tunisian patients and in 6 (29%) French patients (p = 0.46) and was mainly (8/10) due to genetically related clones in single infection.