Use of antibiotics in food animals may contribute to development and spread of resistant organisms, particularly so in some countries. The aim of this study was two-fold; first, to establish the prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli in chicken production in a region within Romania. Second, to study the relatedness of ESBL-producing E. coli isolates recovered from broilers, abattoir workers where the chickens were slaughtered and from the human clinical specimens from two regional hospitals. The results indicated a very high (69%) rate of carriage of ESBL and AmpC-producing E. coli in chickens with 36% CTX-M producers. Sequencing showed that chickens in Romania have the highest worldwide prevalence (53%) of blaCTX-M-15 reported in poultry E. coli isolates. The majority (53%) of the extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant E. coli carried plasmid-mediated blaampC genes, mostly blaCMY-2 type, one of the highest prevalences reported in Europe. The predominant CTX-M type found in the human clinical E. coli isolates was blaCTX-M-15 and most isolates coharbored blaOXA-1, blaTEM, and aac(6')-ib-cr. The majority (60%) of the human clinical isolates belonged to the pandemic virulent clone B2-ST131. The clonal relationship between broiler and the human CTX-M-producing E. coli isolates was assessed by macrorestriction pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST), which indicated strain diversity with no common STs found between human and poultry isolates. Moreover, IncI1 was the most prevalent replicon found in broiler ESBL-producing E. coli isolates and also in transconjugants, indicating that plasmids and not clonal spread may play a role in the transfer of blaCTX-M genes. This study identifies a high prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli from broiler chickens in Romania with a high occurrence incidence of blaCTX-M-15, which reflects the main ESBL type found in human E. coli infections in this country.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of coriander essential oil and its major constituent, linalool, in combination with antibiotics against Gram‐positive (methicillin‐susceptible and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis) and Gram‐negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli). The chemical composition of coriander essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization and mass spectrometry detection. The antibacterial activity of coriander essential oil, linalool and their combinations with antibiotics were assessed by the broth microdilution and checkerboard assays respectively. Thirty‐four compounds were identified in coriander essential oil, linalool (70·11%) being predominant. Coriander essential oil and linalool showed synergistic interactions with antibiotics (oxacillin, amoxicillin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline) against both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. In these synergistic combinations, minimum inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics were markedly reduced; even antibiotic resistance reversal activity was recorded. These findings are very promising for the development of new therapeutic options for bacterial infections. Significance and Impact of the Study Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Gram‐negative bacteria are still major threats to human health and, therefore, identification of new antibacterial agents or combinations with high potency is needed. Our study found synergistic interactions between coriander essential oil/linalool and antibiotics against MRSA and other Gram‐positive bacteria (methicillin‐susceptible S. aureus, S. epidermidis), but also Gram‐negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli). Increase in antibiotic susceptibility and reversal of antibiotic resistance were also demonstrated. Combinations of coriander essential oil/linalool and antibiotics are thus very promising for the development of novel antibacterials.
Colistin is a last resort antibiotic used for the treatment of human infections associated with carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriales. Here, we evaluated the occurrence of mcr-1 and -2 plasmid-mediated colistin resistance in colistin and/or carbapenem resistant human clinical Enterobacteriales and other gram-negative bacteria (n = 543) as well as third generation cephalosporin-resistant (3GCR) Escherichia coli isolates from poultry abattoir workers (n = 15) and poultry fecal samples (n = 92) collected from two geographically separate abattoirs in Romania. which revealed that mcr-1 was present within four sequence types (STs): ST744 (n = 7), ST57 (n = 7), ST156 (n = 2), and ST10 (n = 1). Within STs, serotypes were conserved and, notably, all except one of the mcr-1-positive isolates were found to exhibit fluoroquinolone-resistance (FQR) associated SNPs in both gyrA and parC. While there were variations in genotypes, all isolates belonging to ST744, ST57, and ST156 were rich in resistance determinants, carrying aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes genes, sulfonamide resistance gene blaTEM–1 as well as blaCMY–2 AmpC β-lactamase resistance genes. They also exhibited high similarity in carriage of virulence genes; ST10, however, only carried the mcr-1 gene. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis also revealed that although the mcr-1 gene was identified in a diverse population of E. coli, two STs (ST57 and ST744) predominated and interestingly, were found in isolates across both abattoirs providing evidence for clonal transmission. Also, two main genomic contexts of mcr-1 isolates were revealed with all ST57 isolates harboring the mcr-1 gene between two copies of ISApl1 (or the Tn6330 transposon) whilst a common mcr-1 containing scaffold, highly similar to IncX type mcr-1-bearing plasmids (pWI2-mcr, Accession number: LT838201), was present among mcr-1 isolates of varying phylogenetic backgrounds (ST10, ST744 and ST156). The high prevalence of the mcr-1 gene in poultry E. coli isolates with co-resistance to cephalosporins and quinolones, in a country where antimicrobial use in food production species is poorly regulated, is concerning and the findings from this study should lead to better surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food-production animals in Romania.
The objective of this study was to investigate the airborne viable spore concentrations and identify the fungal species in all indoor spaces from the lending library at the Technical University ''Gheorghe Asachi'' Iaşi, Romania. Samples were collected using the settle plate method and swab samples from PC cooler fan grids as well as from the wall in it's vicinity and from paper/wood fragments. There were no air conditioning systems in the library rooms. The heating systems were standard with an environmental temperature of 20°C in winter, except for the storage area of old/rare books stacks II, where the temperature was below 15°C and the humidity was very high due to water infiltrations in the walls and poor maintenance. More than 296 fungal colonies from over 78 samples were identified, enumerated, and reported. Indoor airborne fungal spore deposition rates were within the range of 419-1,677 CFU/m 2 , with the predominance of genera being Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp., Alternaria spp. and Chaetomium spp. Approximately ten fungal colonies could not be identified. The PC fans move particles from the low levels (floor) to the air, and are thus responsible for maintaining a constant air velocity and contribute to fungal-spore aerosolization, transport, deposition and resuspension. Book paper and wood furniture are known to be suitable substrates for cellulose degrading fungi.
We report the emergence and analysis of a cluster of concurrent infections/colonisations with colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and OXA-23 carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. We describe the emergence of colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae harbouring blaCTX-M-15, blaSHV-11, blaOXA-1, blaTEM-1 beta-lactamases and aac(6')-Ib-cr fluoroquinolone resistance. Colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae infections (pneumonia, wound infection, urinary tract infections and bacteraemia) occurred in critically ill patients previously treated with colistin for post-surgery infections with carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and/or A. baumannii. Although the cause of death could not be directly attributed to a single pathogen, three patients co-infected/colonised with K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and/or A. baumannii died, whilst a fourth patient who had a mono-microbial infection with colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae only survived. The use of mobile intubation equipment in patients that shared the same ward, the clustering of cases over a short period of time, as well as the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) data all suggest cross-contamination between patients, either through equipment or by staff contact transmission. This report presents the 'worst-case scenario' where concurrent infection/colonisation with pathogens exhibiting resistance to different types of last-resort antimicrobials occurred in some of the most debilitated intensive care unit (ICU) patients.
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