Staphylococcus species are one of the major causes of bacterial bloodstream infections. Multi-resistant staphylococci infections are major therapeutic problems. This study was aimed to detect methicillin, linezolid and vancomycin susceptibilities of Staphylococcus isolates. A total of 870 Staphylococcus strains isolated from blood cultures of hospitalized patients with BSI. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of methicillin, linezolid and vancomycin were detected according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). A total of 771 (88.6%) isolates were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). 700 (80.5%) isolates were methicillin-resistant (MR) and 170 (19.5%) were methicillin-susceptible (MS). All the MS isolates were also susceptible to linezolid. However 15 (1.7%) of MR strains were resistant to linezolid. The minimum inhibitory concentration range for the linezolid-resistant isolates by Etest was 6–32 μg/mL. The difference between linezolid susceptibilities for MS and MR staphylococci was not quite statistically significant (p = 0.052). There was no statistically significant difference between S. aureus and CoNS isolates for linezolid susceptibility. All of the isolates were susceptible to vancomycin. In conclusion, linezolid is currently an efficient option for the treatment of methicillin-resistant staphylococci infections.

Staphylococcus aureus causes serious hospital-acquired (HA) and community-acquired (CA) infections. Skin and soft-tissue infections especially are sometimes caused by strains harbouring Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). PVL belongs to a family of bi-component leukocidal toxins produced by staphylococci. It is a pore-forming toxin encoded by lukF-PV and lukS-PV. A total of 70 S. aureus strains: 38 (54%) methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and 32 (46%) methicillin-susceptible (MSSA), were isolated from patients admitted to Dicle University Hospital (Turkey). Identification of S. aureus and antibiotics-susceptibility testing were performed with PHOENIX 100. PVL genes and mecA genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction. Of the 70 studied strains, 36 ones (51%) were community acquired and 34 ones (49%) were hospital acquired . A total of 38 (54%) strains were positive for mecA (mecA +), of which 32 ones (84%) were HA. Of the mecA − strains, 30 (94%) were CA. Of the 70 studied strains, 12 (17%) strains were PVL+: 8 (22%) of the 36 CA strains and 4 (12%) of the 34 HA strains. Of the 12 PVL+ strains, 4 strains were mecA +. The PVL positivity rate was 25% in MSSA, whereas 10.5% in MRSA. Of the overall PVL+ strains, seven strains were obtained from wounds; four ones from skin abscess; and one from blood culture. Taken together, the obtained results showed a substantial level of PVL genes in the studied region. Although PVL is known as a common virulence factor of CA MRSA, HA MRSA isolates in our study showed a considerable rate of PVL positivity.

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Background and Purpose: Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are life-threatening and can be seen in immuno-compromised patients with malignancy, those who undergo chemotherapy, or transplant recipients. The Candida and Aspergillus species are the most common IFI agents; however, infections can also be caused by rare fungal species. This case report is about a bloodstream infection due to Saprochaete clavata (formerly known as Geotrichum clavatum) in a woman with multiple myeloma. Case report: A 59-years-old woman suffered from fever, widespread rashes, and diarrhea after an autologous bone marrow transplantation. Peripheral blood cultures were taken from the patient and sent to the microbiology laboratory. Cultures grew white to cream-colored cottony colonies. Moreover, septate and branched hyphae and arthroconidia were seen under a microscope by lactophenol blue staining. The fungi colonies were identified by Maldi Biotyper 3. 1. (manufactured by Bruker Daltonics, USA) as S. clavata (G. clavatum) with a reliable score. Antifungal susceptibility test was carried out by the concentration gradient strip Etest method. Minimal inhibitory concentrations of Amphotericin B, fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and anidulafungin were determined as 4, 3, 0.125, 0.125, and > 32 mg/dL, respectively. Despite amphotericin B treatment, the patient died three days after the identification of the fungi. Conclusion: The IFIs are serious conditions that have high mortality rates. In the current case report, we aimed to draw attention to S. clavata which is a rare fungal agent.

Introduction: This study aims to research the effects of hematological and inflammatory parameters on the prognosis of COVID-19 disease and hospitalization duration. Methodology: One hundred and eighty-six patients with COVID-19 and a control group consisting of 187 healthy individuals were included in the study. Hematological variables and inflammatory parameters of the patients were recorded on the first and the fifth days of hospitalization. Results: White blood cell count, lymphocyte count, and platelet count were statistically lower, and mean platelet volume (MPV), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) levels were higher in the patient group compared to the control group. It was observed that the neutrophil count and MPV level were lower, and the platelet count and ferritin level were statistically higher on the fifth day of follow-up compared to the admission day. In contrast, there was a significantly positive correlation between the duration of hospitalization and the fifth day D-dimer (r = 0.546, p < 0.001) and ferritin (r = 0.568, p < 0.001); in addition, there was a negative correlation between the duration of hospitalization and admission day lymphocyte count and the fifth-day lymphocyte count. Conclusions: Increased levels of ferritin and D-dimer, and decreased count of lymphocytes are among the important factors affecting the duration of hospitalization for COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, we think that neutrophil count and MPV levels are low, and platelet count and ferritin levels are high during the disease. Therefore, these parameters can be used as prognostic indicators of the disease.

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Background/aim: Enterobacter species often colonise human gastrointestinal tract, causing various opportunistic infections. Enterobacter cloacae and Enterobacter asburiae are the most frequently isolated Enterobacter species. The aim of this research was to investigate antimicrobial resistance among Enterobacter spp. strains isolated from patients in a tertiary hospital of Southeastern Turkey. There are few publications on antibiotic resistance of Enterobacter species. Materials and methods:This retrospective study included Enterobacter spp. strains isolated from clinical specimen sent from Dicle University Hospital clinics from 2015 to 2017. The isolates to be considered as infection agents were identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) was carried out by semiautomated microbiology system and evaluated according to EUCAST v.8.0 criteria.

Background Serratia spp., especially Serratia marcescens, have become one of the main drug-resistant causes of hospital infections in the last five decades.1 There are a limited number of publications on Serratia spp., which cause sporadic infections or outbreaks in ICU patients, especially paediatric patients.2  S. marcescens was reported to have intrinsic resistance to many β-lactam antibiotics, tetracyclines and polymyxins.3–5 Objectives To investigate the antibiotic resistance profiles of the Serratia spp. and detection rates among blood cultures. Materials and methods This retrospective study was approved by Dicle University Medicine Faculty Non-Invasive Clinical Research Committee (no: 361, 1 September 2021). Blood culture samples sent from Dicle University Hospital clinics and ICUs between 2015 and 2020 were included. Blood culture samples were incubated in the BD BACTEC FX (Becton Dickinson, USA) system, and the isolates were identified at genus and/or species level by MS using the MALDI Biotyper 3 (Bruker Daltonics, USA). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests (AST) of the isolates were performed with the BD Phoenix 100 (Becton Dickinson, USA) automated system. AST results were interpreted according to the EUCAST criteria.6 Results Among 9730 agents isolated from blood cultures over a 6 year period, 69 (0.7%) were identified as Serratia spp., 56 of them being S. marcescens (Table 1). Of patients from whom Serratia spp. were isolated, 37 (54%) were paediatric and 47 (68%) were ICU patients (Table 2). A total of 20 isolates (29%) were resistant to at least one of the carbapenems tested. The most effective antibiotics against Serratia spp. were found to be trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin and amikacin, with resistance rates of 3%, 4% and 7%, respectively (Table 3). Conclusions Serratia species were isolated from blood cultures at a rate of 0.7% in a 6 year period, and increased carbapenem resistance among isolates was noteworthy.