D R Murdoch

..Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is an area of high incidence and the pediatric population appears to be at high risk of exposure and infection...

..Further work needs to focus on the development of urinary antigen tests assays that detect a wider range of pathogenic legionellae and on the development of standardized PCR assays...

..Further work is required to better characterize the role of molecular diagnostic tests for diagnosing lower respiratory tract infections, and to develop standard assays that can be readily adopted by routine diagnostic laboratories...

..Laboratories using the BacT/ALERT blood culture system should become familiar with these criteria so that S aureus bacteraemia can be identified rapidly...

..Agreement between the three methods was 99% when testing for high-level gentamicin resistance and 96% when testing for high-level streptomycin resistance...

..New approaches for respiratory pathogen detection are needed, and breath analysis is an exciting area with enormous potential...

..To correlate the incidence rate of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) with fluctuations in respiratory virus activity and environmental factors in Christchurch, New Zealand...

..Further work is required to better characterize the role of PCR versus the role of other tests for diagnosing pneumonia and to develop standard PCR assays that can be readily adopted by routine diagnostic laboratories...

..We conclude that the pneumolysin PCR assay adds little to existing diagnostic tests for S. pneumoniae and is unable to distinguish colonization from infection when respiratory samples are tested...

..The microbiological pattern of sepsis has also been influenced by the rise in prevalence of HIV infection in many regions...

..Concentration of urine prior to testing resulted in a small increase in yield. The NOW S. pneumoniae urinary antigen test should be a useful adjunct to culture for determining the etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in adults...

..Erythromycin and clindamycin are no longer reliable empirical alternatives to penicillin for the treatment and prevention of group B streptococcal infections...

..We sought to provide a contemporary picture of the presentation, etiology, and outcome of infective endocarditis (IE) in a large patient cohort from multiple locations worldwide...

..faecium isolates became proportionally more common over time. Our findings confirm the pattern of emerging antibiotic resistance among enterococci and highlight the increasing importance of E. faecium as a cause of bloodstream infection...

..We need to return to the original meaning of atypical pneumonia and restrict its use to describe pneumonia that is truly unusual in clinical presentation, epidemiology, or both...

..Given the lack of reliable clinical predictors, the development of cheap and accurate diagnostic tests are likely to be of great clinical utility in this setting...

..The aims of this study were to characterise the viral aetiology of CAP in adults by using an extensive array of viral diagnostic tests and to compare the characteristics of viral pneumonia with those of pneumococcal pneumonia...

..Prospective studies are warranted exploring the link between S. aureus bacteriuria and clinical outcome in patients with S. aureus bacteraemia...

..dumoffii DNA in positive samples. It appears that buffy coat may be a useful sample to test for Legionella DNA, but further study is required to determine the precise sensitivity and to make comparisons with other sample types...

..Instead, our data suggest that the presence of a PV and infection by E. faecalis are associated with an increased risk for IE...

..Few contemporary reports describe population-based incidence of Staphylcoccus aureus bloodstream infection (SABSI). Aim: To describe longitudinal incidence of SABSI in a region of New Zealand with low MRSA prevalence...

..There is an urgent need for improved diagnostic tests for pneumococcal disease--especially tests that are suitable for use in underresourced countries...

..Using a multinational collection of isolates from methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infective endocarditis (IE), we characterized patients with IE with and without hVISA, and we genotyped the infecting strains...

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..As 2-PF is not normally found in human breath its presence may reflect the active metabolism of A. fumigatus in the airways and form the basis of a new diagnostic breath test for Aspergillus infection...

..lari prosthetic joint infection and bacteremia in an 81-year-old immunocompetent man. The infection was associated with septic shock and fatal outcome. C. lari may cause severe disease, even in an immunocompetent host...

..Campylobacter fetus has been isolated as an infrequent cause of abscesses. We report a case of Campylobacter fetus epidural abscess and bacteremia in a debilitated elderly man who had a fatal outcome...

..To describe the use and outcomes of outpatient antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) for infective endocarditis (IE) within the Canterbury region of New Zealand over an 8 year period...

..Sequence analysis showed that these strains had base-pair mismatches over the probe binding sites. An alternative assay is required to type such atypical isolates...

..Streptococci cause up to 20% of prosthetic joint infections but this has received little attention in the published literature...

..The Mycoplasma Duo test showed a significantly higher detection rate than did culture, although many of the culture-negative results may have been due to the presence of bacterial overgrowth...

..05). These results suggest incorporating SIFT-MS detection of microbial VOCs as a sensitive method for bacterial detection, identification, and determination of antibiotic susceptibility in a conventional blood culture system...

..67 to 20.11) or exacerbation of COPD (OR, 6.5; 95% CI, 2.61 to 16.20). Further research is needed to better characterize the epidemiology of S. pseudopneumoniae colonization and the role of S. pseudopneumoniae in COPD and other diseases...

..Schistosomiasis may not be suspected, resulting in delays in diagnosis and treatment. We present two cases which illustrate the diverse nature of this condition...

..goodfellowii sp. nov. Both cases were identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Review of the English literature revealed only two other cases of Leptotrichia sp. endocarditis...

..6%) bottles at 24 h. We conclude that SIFT-MS is a sensitive method for the detection of microbial VOCs. Furthermore, profiles of the VOCs detected may allow simultaneous identification of infecting organisms...

..To confirm the presence of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) in New Zealand and establish its prevalence in selected paediatric patient groups...

..The inclusion of PCR into diagnostic testing strategies is needed to broaden our understanding of the natural ecology of respiratory viruses and the significance of multiple infections...

..Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Neisseria meningitidis growth and trace gas patterns were detected from 10 colony forming units after 6 h...

..Corynebacterium accolens is a rare human pathogen. We encountered a case of C. accolens isolated from a thigh collection in a man with osteomyelitis of the adjacent pubic symphysis...

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..These results suggest that the hemi-nested assay is more sensitive than the real-time assay for detecting B. pertussis...

..The hierarchy of sequence data was often discordant, underscoring the importance of establishing biological relevance for finer phylogenetic distinctions...

..In contrast, only 21 (36%) of the 58 S. Typhi isolates exhibited a common genotype, which is consistent with endemic disease from multiple sources...

..Carriage of pathogenic enterococci may be prolonged, although re-infection with novel strains is more commonly seen...

..Laboratories in areas where Campylobacter enteritis is common and/or with limited resources for Campylobacter culture should consider adopting this as a routine method...

..The clinical course is characterized by complications such as valvular dehiscence, cardiac abscesses and congestive heart failure. Treatment may require a combination of medical and surgical therapy...

..Clinically significant infections caused by members of the genus Fusobacterium are rare. We sought to describe the spectrum of clinical disease and epidemiology of these conditions presenting to an acute hospital over a five year period...

..in endotracheal aspirates from 60 premature neonates. The overall agreement between the two tests was 96%. The Mycoplasma Duo assay is a useful alternative to culture and PCR for detection of neonatal Ureaplasma infection...

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..Further evaluation of PCR assays for the diagnosis of IA and other invasive fungal infections is warranted...

..Of patients with murine typhus, 64% were women, 86% were residents of Kathmandu, and 90% were unwell during the winter. No characteristics clearly distinguished typhus patients from those with blood culture-positive enteric fever...

..In particular, rpoB sequence data demonstrated unique genetic signatures with the potential to serve as an important tool for global surveillance...

..To characterize a new type of resistance to clindamycin in Streptococcus agalactiae...