Antimicrobial insights

Background: Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a multidrug resistant organism that threatens the continued effectiveness of antibiotics worldwide and causes a threat almost exclusively in hospitals and long-term care settings. The samples were cultured on Mannitol salt agar at 37°C for 17- 24 hours and the colonies were tested and confirmed as S. aureus using API staph testing kit. MRSA susceptibility was performed by the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion on MHA for the following antibiotics: Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin, Imipenem, Trimethoprim – sulfamethoxazole, Levofloxacin and Gentamycin. Majority (54%) of the MRSA isolates were highly sensitive to Gentamycin and Levofloxacin but highly resistant to Ceftriaxone (100%), Imipenem (100%), Trimethoprim – sulfamethoxazole (85%), and Erythromycin (67%).

Lauren Rash, MD1, Luay Boulahouache2, Nathaniel Giles2, Robert Atmar2, 1Baylor College of Medine, TX, Houston, 2Baylor College of Medicine, Background: Murine typhus, a flea-borne rickettsial disease traditionally found in warm, humid climates, is increasingly reported in non-endemic regions due to factors such as climate change and urbanization. 7 patients were excluded if they were outpatient, had an incomplete chart to review, were diagnosed and cared for outside of Harris Health, had too low of titers to make the diagnosis, or diagnosis was not consistent with murine typhus. Demographics, clinic and admission dates, length of stay, comorbidities and medications, animal exposures, symptoms, vitals, physical exams, labs, imaging, treatment course, illness complications, timing and antibiotic selection, whether infectious disease was consulted, and fever clearance time was documented. Infectious Disease team was consulted 57% of the time with an average day of consult on day 3 and Infectious Disease team consulted resulted in doxycycline being started 100% of the time.

By sequencing the complete DNA of each bacterial strain, the team was able to examine global patterns in the biology of E. coli associated with diabetic foot disease. By analysing how the strains are related and identifying the resistance mechanisms and virulence traits (the features or tools that make a microbe more harmful) they carry, the research helps explain why some diabetic foot infections are particularly difficult to treat or can progress rapidly to severe illness. By identifying which E. coli strains are most common and which antibiotics they are likely to resist, clinicians can choose therapies that are more likely to work, helping to reduce prolonged infection, hospitalisation, and the risk of amputation. Victor Ajumobi, a second-year PhD student at King's College London and the University of Westminster, and first author of the paper, added: "This information will be particularly valuable in low-resource settings, where E. coli infections of diabetic foot ulcers are more common and where rapid diagnostic tools for antimicrobial resistance are not always readily available.""