Estudio clínico y microbiológico de la enfermedad periodontal del adulto / Clinical and microbiological study of adult periodontal disease

The aim of this study was to carry out a microbiological evaluation of sites with and without clinical evidence of moderate and severe periodontitis and their correlation with clinical parameters. A total of 52 disease sites and 10 healthy sites were selected according to clinical criteria. The following clinical indexes were measured for all the sites: plaque index, gingival index, blood on probing, depth on probing and insertion level. Samples of subgingival plaque were collected for culture and for differential counts of microbial morphotypes. In disease sites the most frequently isolated were: Prevotella intermedia/nigrescens (65), Porphyromonas gingivalis (23), Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (23), Fusobacterium nucleatum (10) and Peptostreptococcus sp. (31). The aerobic gram-positive microflora was predominant in healthy sites. Significant differences were observed in microbial morphotypes between healthy and disease sites: cocci 18.71 and 78.90, motile rods 46.12 and 16.70, total spirochetes 26.48 and 2.80, respectively. The presence of motile rods, spirochetes and P. intermedia/nigrescens were the parameters with most sensitivity to suspect periodontal disease. There were significant differences in the subgingival microflora between healthy and disease sites in patients with moderate and severe periodontitis.

Estudio clínico y microbiológico de la enfermedad periodontal del adulto / Clinical and microbiological study of adult periodontal disease

The aim of this study was to carry out a microbiological evaluation of sites with and without clinical evidence of moderate and severe periodontitis and their correlation with clinical parameters. A total of 52 disease sites and 10 healthy sites were selected according to clinical criteria. The following clinical indexes were measured for all the sites: plaque index, gingival index, blood on probing, depth on probing and insertion level. Samples of subgingival plaque were collected for culture and for differential counts of microbial morphotypes. In disease sites the most frequently isolated were: Prevotella intermedia/nigrescens (65), Porphyromonas gingivalis (23), Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (23), Fusobacterium nucleatum (10) and Peptostreptococcus sp. (31). The aerobic gram-positive microflora was predominant in healthy sites. Significant differences were observed in microbial morphotypes between healthy and disease sites: cocci 18.71 and 78.90, motile rods 46.12 and 16.70, total spirochetes 26.48 and 2.80, respectively. The presence of motile rods, spirochetes and P. intermedia/nigrescens were the parameters with most sensitivity to suspect periodontal disease. There were significant differences in the subgingival microflora between healthy and disease sites in patients with moderate and severe periodontitis.(AU)

Vaginal microflora associated with bacterial vaginosis in nonpregnant women: reliability of sialidase detection.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of Gardnerella vaginalis, anaerobic bacteria and Mycoplasma hominis in vaginal specimens of women with and without bacterial vaginosis (BV) as well as to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the direct sialidase assay of vaginal fluid as a rapid test for diagnosing this syndrome. METHODS: Vaginal cultures were obtained from 109 nonpregnant women (mean age 33 +/- 7.1 years), 47 of them with clinical signs of BV (BV+) and 62 of them without BV (BV-). In addition, we determined the vaginal sialidase activity in both groups, which may serve as a feature of this syndrome. RESULTS: Anaerobic bacteria were isolated in 91% and 18% of the BV+ and BV- groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Peptostreptococcus spp., Prevotella bivia and Porphyromonas spp. were strongly associated with BV. P. bivia and Prevotella spp. represented 44% of all the anaerobes isolated in the BV+ group. All the isolated P. bivia strains presented sialidase activity. G. vaginalis and M. hominis were isolated in 76% and 42% of the BV+ and 1% and 0% of the BV- women, respectively (p < 0.001). Mobiluncus morphotypes were observed in 34% of the BV+ and 0% of BV- women. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of sialidase activity were 81%, 94%, 90% and 86%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate a strong association between G. vaginalis, M. hominis, and P. bivia and BV. Sialidase activity and Gram stain of vaginal fluid represent accurate methods for diagnosing BV.

Comparison of several methods to determine methicillin-resistance in Staphylococcus aureus with focus on borderline strains.

We compared the performance of several phenotypic tests to detect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, with special focus on borderline strains. The reliability of the agar screen oxacillin and BBL Crystal tests was asserted for all methicillin-susceptible (n = 25), -resistant (n = 29) and borderline beta-lactamase-hyperproducer (n = 10) strains. Whereas these tests failed to detect 4 of 5 rare borderline strains containing few cells with high-level methicillin resistance (i.e., a frequency of 10(-7)-10(-8)), a "two-temperature" disk diffusion method, performed simultaneously at 35 and 42 degrees C, detected all of such strains.

Broth disk elution method for anaerobic bacteria: a collaborative study to assess its reliability for clinical purposes.

A collaborative study involving seven laboratories was undertaken to evaluate the reproducibility and the reliability of the broth disk elution test against anaerobic bacteria by comparing with the reference agar dilution method. A two breakpoint broth test was also evaluated. Assays were performed using the same testing conditions (i.e. medium, temperature, atmosphere and incubation time). One hundred Gram-negative and Gram-positive clinical isolates were initially studied. Overall agreement of 98.5% and 97.5%, were found for disk elution and the two breakpoint tests, respectively. In order to assess the reliability of the disk elution test, two different lots (LOT1 and LOT2) of disks of piperacillin and clindamycin were selected, to obtain two final concentrations after dilution (10 and 60 mg/mL; 1 and 4 mg/mL, respectively). Two hundred and eighty assays were performed against one strain of both Bacteroides fragilis(piperacillin MIC, 8.0 mg/mL; clindamycin MIC, <0.5 mg/mL) and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron(piperacillin MIC, 16.0 mg/mL; clindamycin MIC, <0.5 mg/mL). With LOT 1, considering both species and both antibiotics, the agreement among six laboratories ranged from 85% to 100% (P > 0.05) with the higher concentration. Overall agreement among all laboratories was 91%. No optimal agreement (>90%) for clindamycin-Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron using the LOT1 (77%) was found. Since this finding was not observed with LOT2 (100% agreement), discrepancies were attributed to variation between lots. Overall agreement with LOT2 was 100% for all centres. The present study indicates that the broth disk elution method proved to be a reliable and suitable alternative for routine susceptibility testing for anaerobic bacteria, as a resistance screening method for clinical purposes.