Yields from blood cultures of patients with suspected paratyphoid fever A

The yield and speed of detection of Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A from the blood of patients with suspected paratyphoid fever A in 13 500 paired aerobic and anaerobic bottles (AEB, ANB) that were each filled with 5 ml of blood by the BacT/ALERT 3D system were compared, and the blood bacterial counts of 1 000 probable patients were estimated by pour plate method. A total of 4 060 isolates were recovered, of these, 3 149 were recovered from both AEB and ANB, 461 from the AEB only, and 450 from the ANB only. The estimating median bacterial count in blood from 400 patients was 0.5 CFU/ml. The research findings demonstrate that the blood volume drawn is an important factor determining the yields from blood cultures. Growth of significantly more isolates was detected earlier in AEB.

Clonal expansion and genetic diversity of nalidixic acid-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A in Yuxi city, China / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To understand the elonal expansion and genetic diversity of Salmonella en-terica semtype Paratyphi A (SPA) and to construct a typing method to determine the epidemic clones of the isolates. Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed with 3980 SPA isolates by the cen-trolled Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique on Muller-Hinton agar plates. A total of 15 SPA with nalidixie acid resistance for mutations in gyrA, gyrB, gyrC and gyrE genes within the quinolone-resistant determina-tion region (QRDR) were examined. Subtyping of 121 isolates of SPA from seven counties in Yuxi were studied using pulsed-field gel eleetrophoresis (PFGE) analysis following digestion of chromosomal DNA with restriction endanucleases Spe Ⅰ and Xba Ⅰ. PFGE patterns were analyzed by duster analysis. Results The nalidixic acid-susceptible isolates predominated in 1999 but was replaced by nalidixic acid -resistant (NAR) isolates after 2000. Amplification by PCR and sequencing of the genes with subsets of 15 NAR strains re-vealed that the resistance mechanisms had resulted from single point mutations in the gyrA gene. Spe Ⅰ and Xba Ⅰ digestion of 121 isolates gave five and four different PFGE patterns with the predominance of the Spe Ⅰ 01 and Spe Ⅰ 02 (or the Xba Ⅰ 01) epidemic patterns, respectively. Spe Ⅰ 01 and Spe Ⅰ 02 consisted of 37.2% and 57.9% of isolates, respectively, or Xba Ⅰ 01 consisted of 95.0% of isolates. Conclusion The incidence of resistance to nalidixic acid of the isolates increased during the study period. PFGE patterns Spe Ⅰ 01 and Spe Ⅰ 02 (or Xba Ⅰ 01), the main clones of the epidemics, are highly prevalent in Yuxi. PFGE with Spe Ⅰ and Xba Ⅰ is a useful technique to differentiate SPA.