Clinical and Epidemiologic Characteristics and Therapeutic Management of Patients with Vibrio Infections, Bay of Biscay, France, 2001-2019.

Noncholera vibriosis is a rare, opportunistic bacterial infection caused by Vibrio spp. other than V. cholerae O1/O139 and diagnosed mainly during the hot summer months in patients after seaside activities. Detailed knowledge of circulating pathogenic strains and heterogeneities in infection outcomes and disease dynamics may help in patient management. We conducted a multicenter case-series study documenting Vibrio infections in 67 patients from 8 hospitals in the Bay of Biscay, France, over a 19-year period. Infections were mainly caused by V. alginolyticus (34%), V. parahaemolyticus (30%), non-O1/O139 V. cholerae (15%), and V. vulnificus (10%). Drug-susceptibility testing revealed intermediate and resistant strains to penicillins and first-generation cephalosporins. The acute infections (e.g., those involving digestive disorder, cellulitis, osteitis, pneumonia, and endocarditis) led to a life-threatening event (septic shock), amputation, or death in 36% of patients. Physicians may need to add vibriosis to their list of infections to assess in patients with associated risk factors.

Relating Phage Genomes to Helicobacter pylori Population Structure: General Steps Using Whole-Genome Sequencing Data.

The review uses the Helicobacter pylori, the gastric bacterium that colonizes the human stomach, to address how to obtain information from bacterial genomes about prophage biology. In a time of continuous growing number of genomes available, this review provides tools to explore genomes for prophage presence, or other mobile genetic elements and virulence factors. The review starts by covering the genetic diversity of H. pylori and then moves to the biologic basis and the bioinformatics approaches used for studding the H. pylori phage biology from their genomes and how this is related with the bacterial population structure. Aspects concerning H. pylori prophage biology, evolution and phylogeography are discussed.

Molecular Detection of Helicobacter pylori and its Antimicrobial Resistance in Brazzaville, Congo.

BACK GROUND: Helicobacter pylori infection is involved in several gastroduodenal diseases which can be cured by antimicrobial treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its bacterial resistance to clarithromycin, fluoroquinolones, and tetracycline in Brazzaville, Congo, by using molecular methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross- sectional study was carried out between September 2013 and April 2014. Biopsy specimens were obtained from patients scheduled for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and were sent to the French National Reference Center for Campylobacters and Helicobacters where they were tested by molecular methods for detection of H. pylori and clarithromycin resistance by real-time PCR using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-melting curve analysis (FRET-MCA) protocol, for detection of tetracycline resistance by real-time PCR on 16S rRNA genes (rrnA and rrnB), for detection of point mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDR) of H. pylori gyrA gene, associated with resistance to quinolones, by PCR and sequencing. RESULTS: This study showed a high H. pylori prevalence (89%), low rates of clarithromycin and tetracycline resistance (1.7% and 2.5%, respectively), and a high rate of quinolone resistance (50%). CONCLUSION: Therefore, the use of standard clarithromycin-based triple therapy is still possible as an empiric first-line treatment as well as prescription of bismuth-based quadruple therapy, which includes tetracycline, but not a levofloxacin-based triple therapy because of the high rate of resistance to fluoroquinolones.