Participant centred safety surveillance of health care workers receiving influenza vaccination.

Following the introduction of mandatory influenza vaccination for staff working in high risk clinical areas in 2018, we conducted active surveillance for adverse events following immunisation utilising an automated online survey to vaccine recipients at three and 42 days post immunisation. Most participants 2285 (92%) agreed to participate; 515 (32%) staff reported any symptom and eight (1.6%) sought medical attention. The odds of having a reaction decreased with age by approximately 2% per year. The system was acceptable to staff, and the data demonstrated rates of reported symptoms within expected rates for influenza vaccines from clinical trials. Rates of medical attendance were similar to previous surveillance. Participant centred real-time safety surveillance proved useful in this staff influenza vaccination context, providing reassurance with expected rates and profile of common adverse events following staff influenza vaccination.

Use of genotypic identification by sodA sequencing in a prospective study to examine the distribution of coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species among strains recovered during septic orthopedic surgery and evaluate their significance.

A total of 212 coagulase-negative Staphylococcus strains recovered prospectively during 119 surgeries for proven or suspected bone and joint infection (BJI) were identified by sodA sequencing. These strains were identified as 151 Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, 15 S. warneri isolates, 14 S. capitis isolates, 9 S. hominis isolates, 6 S. lugdunensis isolates, 5 S. haemolyticus isolates, 4 S. caprae isolates, 4 S. pasteuri isolates, 3 S. simulans isolates, and 1 S. cohnii isolate. Only S. epidermidis, S. lugdunensis, S. capitis, and S. caprae were found to be infecting organisms and were involved, respectively, in 35 (81.4%), 3 (7.0%), 3 (7.0%), and 2 (4.6%) cases of BJI.

Use of sodA sequencing for the identification of clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci.

This study evaluated the possible advantages provided by a genotypic method over commercially available biochemical systems for the identification of clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). Partial sequencing of the sodA gene was performed for 168 coagulase-negative clinical isolates of staphylococci identified previously with the ID32 STAPH system. Of these, 101 (60.1%) were identified to the species level with ID32 STAPH, while 67 (39.9%) were misidentified or not identified with certainty. Sequencing of sodA proved useful for resolving all ambiguities or inconclusive identifications generated by the commercially available biochemical identification system.