The accuracy of the HpSA test for the detection of H. pylori in human stool 4 weeks to 6 weeks after treatment is comparable with the accuracy of the culture results. The stool antigen (HpSA) test was found to be a useful method for posttreatment eradication testing of infection in children.

Since kidney transplant recipients are at enhanced risk for developing severe upper gastrointestinal disease and Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is an important pathogen in active gastritis and peptic ulcer, we performed gastroduodenoscopic examination, coupled with assessment of Hp colonization in 29 renal allograft recipients complaining of recurrent dyspepsia. Results were compared with those of 25 chronically hemodialyzed patients and 16 subjects free from renal disease, also suffering from upper gastrointestinal symptoms of similar severity. We found that while transplant recipients have had a high prevalence of Hp infection (62 vs. 34.6% in dialysis and 43.6% in control dyspeptic patients), active gastritis was clearly less frequently seen in these patients than in control subjects (transplant group: 6.9%, dialysis 3.8%, control 31.3%) and peptic ulceration was totally absent. Prevalence of Hp colonization was even higher in renal graft recipients on triple posttransplant immunosuppression (82%). In dyspeptic transplant and dialysis patients, colonization with Hp did not account for development of active inflammatory lesions, an association frequently seen in subjects free from renal disease and immunosuppressive therapy.

The consequence of excessive use of macrolides is a high occurrence of mechanisms responsible for resistance to these drugs. Of 97 erythromycinresistant bacterial strains gathered in the Wrocław area in Poland, 60% exhibited very high resistance, and those with the inducible MLS B (macrolidelincosamide-streptogramin B) resistance phenotype predominated. Direct genetic investigation revealed that the erm genes coding for ribosomal methylases are the most frequently occurring erythromycin resistance-determining genes. No genetic resistance determinant was detected in 13% of the erythromycin-resistant strains. The efflux mechanism occurs in strains isolated from the nasopharyngeal cavity twice as often as in those isolated from other material, where the mechanism connected with target site modification predominates. Measurements of radiolabelled antibiotic accumulation inside bacterial cells revealed that in highly resistant strains (MIC > 1024 g/ml), an important factor responsible for the resistance is the permeability barrier at the cell wall level. This would be a hitherto unknown mechanism of resistance to erythromycin in Staphylococcus aureus.

ceftobiprole exhibits in vitro activity against a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens, including multidrug-resistant strains. No changes in its known susceptibility profile were identified.

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Resistance to metronidazole (Met), clarithromycin (Cla) and amoxycillin (Amo) was examined using H. pylori isolates from child patients before and after treatment in the period 1997-2001. The rate of Met and Cla resistance before treatment was 35.2 and 8.6%, respectively. Six weeks after treatment 48.4% of the isolated strains were resistant to Met and 17.6% to Cla. The highest rate of resistance to both antibiotics was determined in 2001 (before treatment, 46 and 15%, respectively, and after treatment, 57.8 and 26.3%, respectively). All the strains were susceptible to Amo. Strains resistant to Met were detected more frequently in girls than in boys.

Several mechanisms mediate the adherence of bacteria to host tissues, but the physical and chemical properties of the bacterial surface play a key role. Little is known about the surface properties of Lactobacillus that mediate attachment to human epithelial cell surfaces. In this study, we looked at the speci c characteristics of the surface of Lactobacillus strains. These characteristics included the effect of Lactobacillus on the hemagglutination of rabbit, sheep, bovine, guinea pig and human erythrocytes, its surface hydrophobicity, slime production and the adherence of Lactobacillus to two different epithelial cell lines. These properties were compared by using electron microscopy on the cell surface. In a few Lactobacillus strains, surface properties such as hemagglutination of human OP 1 erythrocytes, the presence of extracellular slime material and their high degree of hydrophobicity appeared to be related to one another. The most surface-active strains of Lactobacillus adhered well to both enterocytes and to vaginal cells. These characteristics seem to be closely related; however, different adhesions and various mechanisms of attachment may play a role in the adherence of different Lactobacillus strains to epithelial surfaces.