From susceptibility profiles achieved with in vitro testing, the fourth-generation fluoroquinolones may offer some advantages over the currently available fluoroquinolones; however, a combination of the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the drug, infection site, and the MIC is needed to predict the in vivo efficacy and best clinical applicability.

Forty-six S. maltophilia isolates obtained from hospital clinical specimens were studied for protease (caseinase and elastase) production, hemolytic activity, adhesion to HEp-2 cells, plastic and glass. Susceptibility to antimicrobial agents was also evaluated. The majority of isolates were obtained from respiratory tract secretions of patients using medical devices. All the isolates grown overnight were able to hydrolyze casein at 30ºC and 37ºC. After 72h, all the isolates hydrolyzed elastase at 30ºC and 40 isolates (87%) at 37ºC. Most of the isolates presented hemolytic activity after 96h of incubation at both temperatures. Rabbit blood showed the hightest hemolytic activity, after 96h 61% and 98% of tested isolates presented β-hemolysis at 30ºC and 37ºC, respectively. All isolates were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfametoxazole and were resistant to most β-lactams tested. By the dilution method, S. maltophilia showed a high susceptibility to ticarcillin-clavulanate and a lower susceptibility to ciprofloxacin than the agar diffusion. The isolates showed adhesion to HEp-2 cells, plastic and glass. The proteolytic activities and adhesion to inanimate surfaces detected in S. maltophilia can be related to the pathogenesis of this bacterium and/or medical device colonization which favors the development of nosocomial infections.

The objective of the present trial was to characterize genetically strains of Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni isolated from humans and several animal sources (bovines, swine, dogs, primates, wild boars and poultry). A total of 828 different animal samples (feces, carcass, aborted fetus and hysterectomized uterus) were analysed by means of routine bacteriological methods, and 36 C. jejuni strains were isolated. Thirty strains of human fecal origin were obtained in clinical analysis laboratories in the city of São Paulo. The 66 C. jejuni strains isolated were submitted to genetic characterization. Primers based on fla A gene were used in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and amplified a fragment of the 702 bp. PCR products were evaluated by means of sequencing and genealogic analysis. Genetic variability analysis of 66 strains showed 44 different subtypes of C. jejuni. One subtype was identical to a C. jejuni strain of human origin with the sequence in the GenBank (GENBANK -accession number AF050186). Subtyping analysis of C. jejuni strains based on sequencing of the fla A gene variable region and analysis of sequence alignment by the Maximum Parsimony method showed to be highly discriminatory, providing the best conditions to differentiate strains involved in outbreaks from those sporadically isolated. This is the first study of molecular subtyping analysis of human and animal C. jejuni strains using sequencing technique and genealogic analysis in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.

In the present study, we found that the E-test and the oxacillin salt agar screening test S (0.75 microg oxacillin per ml), when compared with polymerase chain reaction, were the most accurate currently available methods to phenotypically detect oxacillin resistance of coagulase negative Staphylococcus species. This study demonstrated that a good option for screening of ocular isolates for oxacillin resistance in the microbiology laboratory is the cefoxitin disk diffusion test and the automated Vitek system. We believe it is important to have available methods that accurately detect methicillin resistance of the less commonly encountered species, chiefly because of their increasing importance as opportunistic pathogens.

No abstract

The penetration of cefoxitin into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was studied in 25 patients with purulent meningitis treated with antibiotics other than cefoxitin. Each patient received three 2-g doses of cefoxitin at 6-h intervals. Blood and CSF samples were obtained before and at 2, 4, or 6 h after the first and third doses. CSF cefoxitin concentrations were found in all patients and varied between 1.2 and 22.0 ,tg/ml, with a majority of the concentrations falling within a range from 1.2 to 6.2 ,ug/ml. The concentrations tended to be higher in CSF samples drawn after the third cefoxitin dose than in those drawn after the first cefoxitin dose, indicating an accumulation of cefoxitin in CSF with repeated doses. Peak cefoxitin concentrations in CSF seemed to occur between 2 and 6 h after intravenous administration of the drug since the highest concentrations were found in patients from whom CSF samples were taken 4 h after the doses. In patients with bacterial meningitis, it should be possible to achieve therapeutic cefoxitin levels in CSF by using nontoxic doses of the antibiotic.Cefoxitin has been found to give concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which are similar to those obtained with ampicillin both in individuals with and in individuals without meningeal inflammation (3, 5). It has been used therapeutically in very few patients with meningitis, and published data (5) of two patients with gram-negative meningitis do not allow the conclusion that cefoxitin is effective in the treat-

No abstract

No abstract