Plasmid profile analysis and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella strains from clinical isolates in Cluj-Napoca.

Resistance patterns, plasmid profiles and the genetic resistance determinants were investigated in 38 isolates of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium and 19 isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis derived from children hospitalized in two clinics in Cluj-Napoca, during the period of 1995-1997. Incidence of plasmid and antibiotic resistance was very high in Salmonella typhimurium isolates. All strains were resistant to almost all antibiotics tested but susceptible to the third generation cephalosporines and fluoroquinolones. We identified three resistance patterns and six plasmid profiles. Each plasmid profile was characterized by the presence of two large plasmids of 150-180 Kbp. Approximately 60% of strains harbored three or four small plasmids of 1.3 to 9.5 Kbp. The plasmids of 8.5 Kbp encoded resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and were non-conjugative. The other small plasmids were cryptic and also non-conjugative. Salmonella enteritidis isolates were susceptible to many antibiotics, except Tetracycline and Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole. We identified three different resistance patterns but nine plasmid profiles. All plasmid profiles were characterized by the presence of a large plasmid (> 100 Kbp). The number and the diversity of small plasmids were higher than in S. typhimurium strains. There was no parallelism between resistance and plasmid profile: for the same resistance pattern a number of two or three plasmid profiles were found. Our conclusions are that Salmonella typhimurium strains were multiresistant to antibiotics and that many genetically different strains of Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enteritidis were responsible for gastroenteritis in children from Cluj County. The increasing antibiotic resistance highlights the need for more refined methods in genetic and epidemiological characterization of bacteria involved in gastrointestinal infections.

Helicobacter-like organisms in gastroduodenal diseases.

The incidence of the Helicobacter-like organisms (HLO) was investigated on biopsy specimens of antral gastric mucosa, stained by the Wayson technique, in 509 patients with various gastric and duodenal diseases. The incidence of HLO was: 72.8 percent in gastric ulcer, 69.6 percent in duodenal ulcer, 69.2 percent in bulbitis, 61.0. percent in chronic gastritis, 37.5 percent in the postoperative stomach, 50 percent in gastric cancer, and 34.3 percent on healthy controls. The HLO were present over the whole year, with a peak in March. Sex and age had little influence on the HLO incidence. The Wayson staining technique proved to be a good technique of detection of HLO on gastric mucosa smears.

[Campylobacter pylori infection in chronic gastritis and gastric cancer]. / Infectii cu Campylobacter pylori in gastrita cronica si cancerul gastric.

The present paper analyses, in correlation with histologic lesions, the incidence of infection with Campylobacter pylori (CP) in patients with chronic gastritis, operated stomach, gastric neoplasm and healthy subjects. In chronic gastritis, incidence of infection with CP is 71.6%, significantly increased in comparison with the controls, in whom the positive percentage is 37.5. The most of the patients in this group suffered from superficial chronic gastritis. In the group with operated stomach, the CP infection included 48% of the patients studied; all had superficial chronic gastritis. In gastric cancer, CP bacteria appeared in 50% of cases. CP may represent a pathogenetic ring that starts the gastric process.

Campylobacter pylori infection in gastric and duodenal ulcer.

The incidence of infection with Campylobacter pylori (CP) in gastric ulcer (GU) and duodenal ulcer (DU) and its correlation with the gastritis lesions associated to the two diseases, was investigated. In GU the incidence of CP infection was 76.3%, close to that in DU (71.4), but different from controls (33.3%). Chronic gastritis associated to gastric or duodenal ulcer is of variable severity, CP infection being the more often encountered the higher the severity of gastritis. Presence of CP was also observed in 75% of the cases associated also with intestinal metaplasia from UG. The diameter of CP-positive GU was significantly increased as compared with that in CP-negative GU. Type I GU was associated with CP infection in 81.8% of the cases. The results obtained allowed the conclusion that in GU and DU the incidence of CP infection is significantly higher as compared with that in controls but the pathogenetic relationship ulcer-bacterium is not yet elucidated.

[Serological studies of the role of the respiratory syncytial virus in acute respiratory diseases in children]. / Investigatii serologice privind participarea virusului respirator sincitial în îmbolnavirile respiratorii acute la copii

The presence of the syncytial respiratory virus was determined by CF in 281 children admitted with acute respiratory diseases between 15 Sept. 1971 and 30 Dec. 1973, using the Long antigen prepared in the "St. Nicolau" Institute of Virology, Bucharest. In 38 children (13.5%) a serologic diagnosis of infection with the syncytial virus was established; in the other cases of respiratory infection of different etiology, antibodies to the syncytial virus were found in low but constant titers in both serum samples. The presence of these antibodies in a high proportion of the children points to the wide circulation of the syncytial virus in the infantile population, with all its clinico-epidemiologic implications.