We report on a carbapenemase-producing hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (CP-hvKP) isolate collected from a U.S. patient at an outpatient clinic. The isolate was identified as K. pneumoniae serotype K1 sequence type 23 and included both a hypervirulence (with rmpA, rmpA2 iroBCDN, peg-344, and iucABCD-iutA genes) and a carbapenemase-encoding (bla KPC-2 ) plasmid. The emergence of CP-hvKP underscores the importance of clinical awareness of this pathotype and the need for continued monitoring of CP-hvKP in the United States.

These results demonstrate that broad PCR screening followed by MLST is a powerful surveillance tool for uncovering the spectrum of disease-causing Borrelia species, understanding their geographic distribution, and investigating the correlation between B. burgdorferi STs and joint involvement. Detection of Candidatus B. johnsonii in a patient with suspected tickborne disease suggests this species may be a previously undetected cause of illness in humans exposed to bat ticks.

Emerging carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli, including sequence type 131 (ST131), the leading cause of extra-intestinal E. coli infections globally, threatens therapeutic efficacy. Accordingly, we determined broth microdilution MICs for three distinctive newer agents, i.e., cefiderocol (CFDC), ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA), and eravacycline (ERV), plus 11 comparators, against 343 carbapenem-resistant (CR) clinical E. coli isolates, then compared susceptibility results with bacterial characteristics and region. The collection comprised 203 U.S. isolates (2002-2017) and 141 isolates from 17 countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-West Pacific region (2003-2017). Isolates were characterized for phylogenetic group, resistance-associated sequence types (STs) and subsets thereof, and relevant beta-lactamase-encoding genes. CFDC, CZA, and ERV exhibited the highest percent susceptible (82%-98%) after TGC (99%); avibactam improved CZA's activity over that of CAZ (11% susceptible). Percent susceptible varied by phylogroup and ST for CFDC and CZA (greatest in phylogroups B2, D, and F, and in ST131, ST405, and ST648). Susceptibility also varied by resistance genotype, being higher with the Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) for CZA, lower with metallo-beta-lactamases for CFDC and CZA, and higher with CTX-M for ERV. Percent susceptible also varied by global region for CZA (Asia-Pacific lower) and by U.S. region for ERV (South and South-east U.S. lower). Although resistance to comparators often predicted reduced susceptibility to a primary agent (especially CFDC and CZA), even among comparator-resistant isolates the primary-agent-susceptible fraction usually exceeded 50%. These findings clarify the likely utility of CFDC, CZA, and ERV against CR E. coli in relation to multiple bacterial characteristics and geographical region.

The rRNA genes of () are unusually organized; the spirochete has a single 16S rRNA gene that is more than 3 kb from a tandem pair of 23S-5S rRNA operons. We generated an null mutant in that exhibits a pleiotropic phenotype, including decreased growth rate and increased cell length. Here, we demonstrate that endoribonuclease III (RNase III) is, as expected, involved in processing the 23S rRNA in The 5' and 3' ends of the three rRNAs were determined in the wild type and mutants; the results suggest that RNase III in is required for the full maturation of the 23S rRNA but not for the 5S rRNA nor, curiously, for the 16S rRNA. Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne zoonosis in the Northern Hemisphere, is caused by the bacterium () , a member of the deeply branching spirochete phylum. carries a limited suite of ribonucleases, enzymes that cleave RNA during processing and degradation. Several ribonucleases, including RNase III, are involved in the production of ribosomes, which catalyze translation and are a major target of antibiotics. This is the first study to dissect the role of an RNase in any spirochete. We demonstrate that an RNase III mutant is viable but has altered processing of rRNA.

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