Background:Sepsis is a commonly encountered and potentially life-threatening problem in neonatal intensive care units, blood culture of neonatal sepsis helps in either optimizing treatment or terminating antibiotics.Materials and Methods:We determined the causative agent, time to positivity (TTP), and antibiogram of neonatal blood cultures collected in a tertiary care center, to investigate difference between early- and late-onset neonatal sepsis and to establish the time at which a blood culture could safely be considered negative, using the BacT/ALERT® 3D 60. A total of 826 clinically suspected neonates suffering from sepsis and admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital, Alexandria, Egypt were included in this study.Results:Eighty-five (10.29%) showed positive results. The overall TTP median was 21.1 h. Out of the 85 positive cultures, 57 (67.06%) were Gram-positive, 15 (17.65%) were Gram-negative, and 13 (15.29%) were fungi (all Candida). Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the predominant organism (41.18%). All the Gram-positive pathogenic isolates were sensitive to vancomycin and tigecycline. Among the Gram-negative isolates, maximum antibiotic sensitivity was observed for levofloxacin.Conclusion:We conclude that more than 3 days of incubation may not be required when using the BacT/ALERT® 3D 60 system.

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a nosocomial pathogen in outbreaks of hospital infections. It is one of the major factors for morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients especially those infected with colistin-resistant pathogens. Many plant essential oils have antimicrobial activities and have been investigated as natural sources to combat multiple antibiotic resistances. Moreover, recent advances in phytonanotechnology have created exciting opportunities for the management of many infections. Objective: This study aims at investigating the antimicrobial and antibiofilm effect of rosemary and ginger essential oil-based nano-sized formulations on colistin resistant K. pneumonia clinical isolates. Methods: Isolation and identification of 30 K. pneumonia isolates from different human samples were done followed by antibiotic susceptibility testing and detection of biofilm gene (mrkD). Examination of the activity of the tested essential oils and their chitosan nanoparticle formulations against the selected isolates was made by determination of their MICs using broth microdilution method followed by biofilm inhibition test and quantitative real-time PCR for the expression of mrkD gene in the presence of the oils and nanoparticles formulations compared to untreated bacterial isolates. Results: Our results showed that the minimum inhibitory concentration of rosemary and ginger oils was 1250 μg/ml, that of nanostructured lipid carrier-rosemary oil and nanostructured lipid carrier-ginger oil was 625 μg/ml and rosemary oil loaded chitosan nanoparticles and ginger oil loaded chitosan nanoparticles possessed minimum inhibitory concentration of 156 μg/ml. Results also revealed complete (100%) inhibition for mrkD gene expression when compared to untreated K. pneumonia. Conclusion: Oil loaded chitosan nanoparticles showed the highest antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity.

Introduction. Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a recently discovered parvovirus; it has been shown to be a common cause of respiratory infections and gastroenteritis in children. Since its identification, HBoV has been detected worldwide in nasopharyngeal swabs, serum and stool samples particularly those obtained from young children suffering from respiratory or gastrointestinal tract infections. Aim. The aim of this work was to determine HBoV prevalence among children with acute respiratory tract infection in Egypt, to detect the most prevalent HBoV genotype and to compare PCR and ELISA as diagnostic techniques for HBoV infection. Methods. Nasopharyngeal swabs and blood samples were obtained within the first day of admission from 75 children diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infection in El-Shatby University Hospital for Children in Alexandria, Egypt from October 2018 to March 2019. Conventional PCR was used to detect HBoV DNA, ELISA was used to detect HBoV IgM antibodies and sequencing of the VP1/2 genes was used for genotyping. Results. Seven (9.3%) of the 75 nasopharyngeal swabs obtained from patients with acute respiratory tract infection were positive for HBoV by PCR, while 5 (6.7 %) of the 75 serum samples were positive for HBoV IgM antibodies using ELISA. The correlation between PCR and ELISA results showed a highly significant association between PCR and ELISA techniques (X 2=52.041, P<0.01) and a highly significant agreement between the two methods (Kappa=81.9 %, P<0.01). Phylogenetic analysis showed that all positive samples were related to the HBoV-1 genotype. Conclusion. Human bocavirus was detected at 9.3 % prevalence in nasopharyngeal swabs obtained from children with acute respiratory tract infection. The HBoV-1 genotype was the only genotype detected, suggesting that a single genetic lineage of HBoV is circulating in Egypt. PCR and ELISA are two reliable methods for detection and diagnosis of HBoV.

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Klebsiella pneumoniae is a highly drug-resistant human pathogen responsible for a variety of serious infections. Integrons, mobile genetic elements capable of integrating antibiotic resistance genes, and the capsule are important virulence factors that increase bacteria resistance to phagocytosis and antimicrobial agents. Molecular typing is an effective tool for identifying the likely etiology of infection. This study aimed to investigate the presence of the rmpA, wcaG, intI1, intI2, and intI3 virulence genes in clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates, and explore their molecular genotypes by using ERIC-PCR. Fifty Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were isolated from various specimens. Antimicrobial resistance was evaluated by using the disc diffusion method. Five genes were amplified by conventional PCR. Genotyping was performed molecularly by using ERIC-PCR. Forty-seven isolates were multi-drug resistant. In all, 18%, 36%, and 98% of the 50 K. pneumoniae isolates were positive for rmpA, wcaG, and intI1 genes, respectively; however, all isolates were negative for intI2 and intI3 genes. Dendogram analysis of the ERIC-PCR results showed 49 distinct patterns, arranged in five clusters. Our study demonstrates high levels of antibiotic resistance and virulence among clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae. Such resistance reflects a growing problem for public health. Further, the presence of integrons increases the horizontal spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes among bacterial isolates. The ERIC-PCR technique is an effective method for molecular typing and epidemiological studies of hospital-acquired infections.