Cross-transmission of Acinetobacter junii carrying blaOXA-58 in a neonatal ICU.

BACKGROUND: Nasal colonization of two preterm infants in our neonatal ICU by Acinetobacter junii carrying the blaOXA-58 carbapenem resistance gene was demonstrated. OBJECTIVES: To study whether the two isolates were identical and to investigate the hypotheses of cross-transmission. METHODS: Antibiotic susceptibility tests of the two isolates were performed by standard diffusion and the MICs of carbapenems determined by the MIC-gradient strip method. The blaOXA-58 gene was detected by PCR. Isolates were compared using SNP analysis performed after WGS. The timelines of the two cases were determined based on the investigations and the study of the patients' records. RESULTS: The two isolates corresponded to the same strain, with case 1 being the index case, demonstrating cross-transmission to case 2. CONCLUSIONS: Acquisition of the strain was likely due to the recent carbapenem treatment of case 1 and cross-transmission due to the high amount of care administered to the two preterm infants. This is the first description of cross-transmission of A. junii carrying the blaOXA-58 gene.

Evaluation of the Reveal® rapid AST system to assess the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from blood cultures.

This study was set up to assess the performance of the Reveal® rapid AST system to determine the drug susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains directly from blood cultures. Two hundred fully sequenced clinical P. aeruginosa strains were selected for the evaluation, of which 26.5% (n = 53) produced transferable ß-lactamases, and 2.0 to 33.0% had susceptibility levels close to the EUCAST 2021 breakpoints of 11 commonly used antipseudomonal antibiotics. The Reveal® AST system was run with a commercial MIC microplate designed for fast-growing Gram-negative bacilli (Microscan Neg MDR MIC 1), and was compared to the manually operated GN6F MIC microdilution panel from Thermo Fisher, as a comparator method. The Reveal® AST system provided MIC results for the 11 antipseudomonal antibiotics tested within a mean time to result of 6 h 22 min. By comparison with the GN6F panel, the overall rates of categorical agreement (CA), very major errors (VME), major errors (ME), and minor errors (mE for meropenem only) were 96.1%, 1.6%, 4.2%, and 0.6%, respectively. The Specific Reveal® AST system appears to be a reliable and fast technology to determine the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to antibiotics, including those with resistance levels near categorical breakpoints, directly from blood cultures.

[Impact of a positive coronavirus diagnostic test on the radiotherapy patient journey at Gustave-Roussy institute]. / Impact d'un test de diagnostic du coronavirus positif sur le parcours du patient en radiothérapie à l'institut Gustave-Roussy.

PURPOSE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic continues to spread exponentially around the world. Cancer patients have a higher risk of commorbidity than the rest of the population. Radiotherapy departments are actively involved in the management of these patients, whether they have COVID or not, and it is recognized that the time taken to take charge and the continuity of treatment have a prognostic impact. The main objective was to assess the impact of the coronavirus on the treatment times of patients undergoing radiotherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in the radiotherapy department of Gustave-Roussy institute (France) during the period from March 3, 2020 to January 12, 2021. Organizational changes, patient care times between the day of the scan and the last radiotherapy session as well as the time taken to take charge of patients between the first session and the last radiotherapy session has been studied. RESULTS: A total of 1183 patients were included, among which 60 had COVID-19. Patients were divided into four categories. Treatment times of patients who did not have COVID-19 and those of patients who did were not statistically significantly different. CONCLUSION: The organization of the radiotherapy department at the Gustave-Roussy institute is based on several points: carrying out preventive screening tests, protecting staff and patients and reorganizing the patient circuit. Thanks to the performance of diagnostic tests and the implementation of a specific workflow for patients with COVID, we ensure the continuity of patient treatment in complete safety without impacting treatment times.

[Implementation of "never events" checklists in a radiotherapy information system]. / Mise en œuvre de listes de contrôle « never events ¼ dans le système d'information en radiothérapie.

In order to reduce the incidence of major accidents during external radiotherapy treatment, "never events" checklists have been incorporated into the "record and verify" system. This article details this process. Prospects for improvement are also proposed, including a peer-to-peer audit on the use of checklists and the availability of the radiotherapy information system manufacturer to collaborate in this process to secure the patients' journey.

[Comparative study of survival Vibrio parahaemolyticus with Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium in seawater]. / Etude comparative de la survie en eau de mer de Vibrio parahaemolyicus avec Escherichia coli et Salmonella typhimurium.

In this work, survival tests are conducted in oligotrophic seawater using pathogenic bacterial strains: Escherichia coli entéroagrégative, Salmonella Typhimurium and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. After 26 days of incubation in seawater, the three bacterial strains are exposed to sunlight for nine hours. Bacterial cells of the three strains, recovered at the end of the experiment by centrifugation were tested for their sensitivity to antibiotics and their enzymatic and metabolic profile (API 20E and 20NE). The results showed a decline in the culturability of ascending chronological order: first enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (T90 = 7 days), followed by Salmonella Typhimurium (T90 = 12 days) and finally Vibrio parahaemolyticus (T90 = 43 days). Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain showed better survival under seawater conditions before and after exposure to sunlight compared to other strains tested. On the other hand, the most reduced survival time is observed for Escherichia coli, which then becomes inadequate to predict halophilic pathogenic bacteria. Also, we noted that the solar radiation in this study would be the most important factor affecting the survival of three bacterial strains incubated in oligotrophic seawater. Changes of the enzymatic and metabolic profile are more pronounced in Escherichia coli and Salmonella, which reflect a form of resistance and a response to the passage in a hostile environment. However, the rate of antibiotic susceptibility is more apparent in Vibrio (100%) compared to the wild type Escherichia coli (60%) although the latter has completely lost its power to cultivate. This result underlines the relationship between the antibiotics resistance power of VNC cells and the history of the bacterial strain.

Survival study of enterotoxigenic Escherichia colistrain in seawater and wastewater microcosms.

In order to survey osmotic and oligotrophic stress consequence on pathogenic enterobacteria discharged in marine areas, we examined enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and a reference (Ecoli O126:B16) strains during their survival (47 days) in wastewater microcosms, submerged in natural seawater and maintained in laboratory conditions. The results revealed that the survival time for the two strains was prolonged when bacterial cells were previously incubated in wastewater, with less cellular membrane damage. In addition, the wild clinical E. coli strain showed a better survival capacity than the reference E. coli strain one. For both, we noted some modifications in biochemical profiles relatively to the initial state, notably when they were previously incubated in wastewater microcosm.

Survival of Escherichia coli strains in Mediterranean brackish water in the Bizerte lagoon in northern Tunisia.

This study investigated survival and virulence of Escherichia coli strains exposed to natural conditions in brackish water. Two E. coli strains (O126:B16 and O55:B5) were incubated in water microcosms in the Bizerte lagoon in northern Tunisia and exposed for 12 days to natural sunlight in June (231 to 386 W/m2, 26 +/- 1 degrees C, 30 g/L) and in April (227 to 330 W/m2, 17 +/- 1 degrees C, 27 g/L) or maintained in darkness for 21 days (17 +/- 1 degrees C, 27 g/L). The results revealed that sunlight was the most significant inactivating factor (decrease of 3 Ulog within 48 hours for the two strains) compared to salinity and temperature (in darkness). Survival time of the strains was prolonged as they were maintained in darkness. Local strain (E. coli O55:B5) showed better survival capacity (T90 = 52 hours) than E. coli O126:B16 (T90 = 11 h). For both, modifications were noted only for some metabolic activities of carbohydrates hydrolysis. Cytotoxicity of the two strains, tested on Vero cell, was maintained during the period of survival.

Characterization of aerobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from Bizerte lagoon sediments, Tunisia.

AIMS: To characterize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading bacteria from sediments of the Bizerte lagoon, and to determine their ability to resist other pollutants such as antibiotics and heavy metals. METHODS AND RESULTS: More than 100 strains were isolated for their ability to use fluoranthene as the sole carbon and energy source. Most of them showed antibiotic and heavy metal resistance; 20 representative strains were selected for further analysis. 16S rRNA coding sequences analysis showed that the majority of the selected bacteria (75%) were affiliated to the Gammaproteobacteria. The selected strains also utilized high molecular weight PAHs containing up to four benzene rings and showed different profiles of PAH substrate usage suggesting different PAH degradation pathways. These results are consistent with the fact that nah-like genes and idoA-like genes, involved in PAH degradation, were detected in 6 and 1 strains respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The Bizerte lagoon, polluted by many human activities, leads to the co-selection of strains able to cope with multiple contaminants. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Polluted areas are often characterized by the concomitant presence of organic pollutants, heavy metals and antibiotics. This study is one of the first showing bacterial strains adapted to multiple contaminants, a promising potential for the development of bioremediation processes.

[Preliminary study of the environmental effect on Aeromonas hydrophila's survival]. / Etude préliminaire de l'effet des facteurs environnementaux sur la survie d'Aeromonas hydrophila.

A survival of A. hydrophila B3 has been conducted in different conditions (mineral water, seawater exposed or not to the sunlight). Also, unculturable forms have been detected by using epifluorescence microscopy. Thus, different kinds of microcosms were prepared using filtered and autoclaved marine water or mineral water, inoculated by A. hydrophila B3 and maintained or not in room light. Further, we tested the survival of A. hydrophila B3 incubated in seawater and exposed to sunlight. Our results revealed that the culturable count of A. hydrophila B3 incubated in different conditions declined. Nevertheless, no variations were obtained for the total bacterial cells. Morphological, biochemical and antimicrobial modifications were noted.