Reduced turnaround times through multi-sectoral community collaboration during the first surge of SARS-CoV-2 and associated effect on patient care and hospital operations.

BACKGROUND: In March 2020, an influx of admissions in COVID-19 positive patients threatened to overwhelm healthcare facilities in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Exacerbating this problem was an overall shortage of diagnostic testing capability at that time, resulting in a delay in time-to-result return. An improvement in diagnostic testing availability and timeliness was necessary to improve the allocation of resources and ultimate throughput of patients. The management of a COVID-19 positive patient or patient under investigation requires infection control measures that can quickly consume personal protective equipment (PPE) stores and personnel available to treat these patients. Critical shortages of both PPE and personnel also negatively impact care in patients admitted with non-COVID-19 illnesses. METHODS: A multisectoral partnership of healthcare providers, facilities and academicians created a molecular diagnostic lab within an academic research facility dedicated to testing inpatients and healthcare personnel for SARS-CoV-2. The purpose of the laboratory was to provide a temporary solution to the East Baton Rouge Parish healthcare community until individual facilities were self-sustaining in testing capabilities. We describe the partnership and the impacts of this endeavor by developing a model derived from a combination of data sources, including electronic health records, hospital operations, and state and local resources. FINDINGS: Our model demonstrates two important principles: the impact of reduced turnaround times (TAT) on potential differences in inpatient population numbers for COVID-19 and savings in PPE attributed to the more rapid TAT.

Immunity against the Obligate Intracellular Bacterial Pathogen Rickettsia australis Requires a Functional Complement System.

The complement system has a well-defined role in deterring blood-borne infections. However, complement is not entirely efficacious, as several bacterial pathogens, including some obligate intracellular pathogens, have evolved mechanisms for resistance. It is presumed that obligate intracellular bacteria evade complement attack by residing within a host cell; however, recent studies have challenged this presumption. Here, we demonstrate that the complement system is activated during infection with the obligate intracellular bacterium Rickettsia australis and that genetic ablation of complement increases susceptibility to infection. Interaction of Rickettsia australis with serum-borne complement leads to activation of the complement cascade, producing three effector mechanisms that could negatively influence R. australis. The C9-dependent membrane attack complex can lead to deposition of a bacteriolytic membrane pore on the bacteria, but this system does not contribute to control of rickettsial infection. Similarly, complement receptor (CR1/2)-dependent opsonophagocytosis may lead to engulfment and killing of the bacteria, but this system is also dispensable for immunity. Nevertheless, intact complement is essential for naturally acquired and antibody-mediated immunity to Rickettsia infection. Comparison of infection in mice lacking the central complement protein C3 with infection in their wild-type counterparts demonstrated decreases in gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production, IgG secretion, and spleen hyperplasia in animals lacking complement. The correlation between loss of secondary immune functions and loss of complement indicates that the proinflammatory signaling components of the complement system, and not membrane attack complex or opsonophagocytosis, contribute to the immune response to this pathogen.

The Rickettsia conorii Adr1 Interacts with the C-Terminus of Human Vitronectin in a Salt-Sensitive Manner.

Spotted fever group (SFG) Rickettsia species are inoculated into the mammalian bloodstream by hematophagous arthropods. Once in the bloodstream and during dissemination, the survival of these pathogens is dependent upon the ability of these bacteria to evade serum-borne host defenses until a proper cellular host is reached. Rickettsia conorii expresses an outer membrane protein, Adr1, which binds the complement inhibitory protein vitronectin to promote resistance to the anti-bacterial effects of the terminal complement complex. Adr1 is predicted to consist of 8 transmembrane beta sheets that form a membrane-spanning barrel with 4 peptide loops exposed to the extracellular environment. We previously demonstrated that Adr1 derivatives containing either loop 3 or 4 are sufficient to bind Vn and mediate resistance to serum killing when expressed at the outer-membrane of E. coli. By expressing R. conorii Adr1 on the surface of non-pathogenic E. coli, we demonstrate that the interaction between Adr1 and vitronectin is salt-sensitive and cannot be interrupted by addition of heparin. Additionally, we utilized vitroenctin-derived peptides to map the minimal Adr1/vitronectin interaction to the C-terminal region of vitronectin. Furthermore, we demonstrate that specific charged amino acid residues located within loops 3 and 4 of Adr1 are critical for mediating resistance to complement-mediated killing. Interestingly, Adr1 mutants that were no longer sufficient to mediate resistance to serum killing still retained the ability to bind to Vn, suggesting that Adr1-Vn interactions responsible for resistance to serum killing are more complex than originally hypothesized. In summary, elucidation of the mechanisms governing Adr1-Vn binding will be useful to specifically target this protein-protein interaction for therapeutic intervention.

Nonselective Persistence of a Rickettsia conorii Extrachromosomal Plasmid during Mammalian Infection.

Scientific analysis of the genus Rickettsia is undergoing a rapid period of change with the emergence of viable genetic tools. The development of these tools for the mutagenesis of pathogenic bacteria will permit forward genetic analysis of Rickettsia pathogenesis. Despite these advances, uncertainty still remains regarding the use of plasmids to study these bacteria in in vivo mammalian models of infection, namely, the potential for virulence changes associated with the presence of extrachromosomal DNA and nonselective persistence of plasmids in mammalian models of infection. Here, we describe the transformation of Rickettsia conorii Malish 7 with the plasmid pRam18dRGA[AmTrCh]. Transformed R. conorii stably maintains this plasmid in infected cell cultures, expresses the encoded fluorescent proteins, and exhibits growth kinetics in cell culture similar to those of nontransformed R. conorii. Using a well-established murine model of fatal Mediterranean spotted fever, we demonstrate that R. conorii(pRam18dRGA[AmTrCh]) elicits the same fatal outcomes in animals as its untransformed counterpart and, importantly, maintains the plasmid throughout infection in the absence of selective antibiotic pressure. Interestingly, plasmid-transformed R. conorii was readily observed both in endothelial cells and within circulating leukocytes. Together, our data demonstrate that the presence of an extrachromosomal DNA element in a pathogenic rickettsial species does not affect either in vitro proliferation or in vivo infectivity in models of disease and that plasmids such as pRam18dRGA[AmTrCh] are valuable tools for the further genetic manipulation of pathogenic rickettsiae.