Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter spp.: A review of the literature.

Campylobacter spp. are commensal organisms in the intestinal tract of food producing and companion animals. There is an increasing trend of human campylobacteriosis worldwide, including complicated cases that request treatment by antibiotics. Prevalence of resistance continually increases, especially to fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines. There are many reports on multiresistant strains of Campylobacter spp.In this work we present the available information about the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter spp. worldwide, as well as studies from Serbia published in last two decades. Campylobacter strains isolated from animal samples in Serbia showed increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance to all clinically relevant antibiotics. Preliminary data (2014-2019) from Reference laboratory for Campylobacter and Helicobacter at the Institute of Public Health of Nis, Serbia show high resistance rates to ciprofloxacin (90%) and to tetracycline (50%) but low resistance to erythromycin (<5%) in human Campylobacter isolates.

Preparation of combined extract of cell wall and cytosol antigens of Candida albicans for immunoblot analysis.

Immunoblot analysis is not in wide use for diagnosis of invasive candidiasis, mostly because the procedure is not standardized and hence not reliable. This work describes a standardized method for C. albicans antigen extract preparation and immunochemical detection. The major improvement of the method is the preparation of combined antigen extract -- consisting of the cell wall and cytosol antigens. The fungal cells and lysis buffer were mixed at a 1:3 ratio and disintegrated by ultrasound for six cycles of one minute each. After centrifugation, cytosol antigens were obtained in the supernatant and cell wall antigens were in the precipitate. Precipitate was dissolved in lysis buffer with 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and boiled at 100 degrees C for 2 min. After centrifugation, the supernatant was combined with the previous one, so the extract of the combined antigens was obtained in the mixture. With those combined antigen extracts and with sera of three different groups of patients, immunoblot analysis showed sensitivity of 90.2%, specificity of 84.4%, and accuracy of 88.0%.

Schizophyllum commune associated with bronchogenous cyst.

Previous TBC lesions, diabetes and use of corticosteroids are recognised as risk factors for developing long-standing disease caused by Schizophyllum commune. In the case report presented in this work, S. commune was isolated from an inflamed bronchogenous cyst of previously immunocompetent patient. The isolated mould failed to sporulate and identification was achieved by nucleotide sequencing.

Great toenail onychomycosis caused by Syncephalastrum racemosum.

Nondermatophyte molds are fungi found in soil and decaying plant debris and are generally considered to be uncommon or secondary pathogens of diseased nails. Prevalence rates of onychomycoses caused by nondermatophyte molds range between 1.45 percent and 17.60 percent. The most common nondermatophyte molds associated with nail disease are Scopulariopsis, Scytalidium, Fusarium, Aspergillus and Onychocola canadensis. Syncephalastrum racemosum, a nondermatophyte mold, belongs to the class Zygomycetae. Only one well-documented case of human disease attributed to this organism has been described. We describe a 45-year-old man with culture proven toenail onychomycosis due to Syncephalstrum racemosum.

Semi-quantitative adsorption for detection of antibodies to Candida albicans germ tubes by indirect immunofluorescence test.

Adsorption of antibodies against antigens expressed on the Candida albicans blastoconidia cell walls was standardized for the detection of antibodies to germ tubes by an indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT). Sera from rabbits immunized with C. albicans bearing germ tubes, were diluted by two-fold serial dilutions to obtain specimens 1 : 640-1 : 20 positive by IIFT. Different volumes of specimens were adsorbed with different amounts of whole, heat-inactivated C. albicans blastoconidia. It was found that a 1 : 640 titre serum should be adsorbed at 30 microl by 50 mg cells, down to a 1 : 20 titre serum at 110 microl by 12.5 mg cells. Accurate detection of anti-germ tube antibodies by IIFT depends on the semi-quantitative relation between the positive titre of the specimen and the amount of blastoconidia used in adsorption.