Characteristics ofPseudomonas aeruginosa strains causing septicemia in a Spanish hospital 1981–1990

Abstract

The epidemiological and biochemical characteristics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains causing septicemia in a Spanish hospital over a ten-year period (1981-1990) were analyzed. A total of 207 episodes, corresponding to 0.7 episodes per 1,000 inpatients and 3.2% of the total number of episodes of septicemia, were registered. Males were more often affected than females (rate 3.2:1). The respiratory (24.6%) and urinary (21.2%) tracts were the main portals of entry, while haematologic and solid tumours (15.4%) were the most frequent underlying diseases. More than 86% of the strains were susceptible to ceftazidime, mezlocillin, piperacillin and amikacin. Seventy strains were subjected to typing and analysis of virulence factors. Serotypes O:6, O:11 and O:2 could be considered endemic (each present in more than 11.4% of strains). Pyocin typing, antibiotyping and resistotyping were preferred as secondary typing methods to phage typing and plasmid profile analysis. The combination of methods revealed a large diversity of strains although some clusters predominated. More than 80% of the strains produced several exoenzymes, possessed pyoverdin and showed haemolytic activity, and all except one showed serum resistance. All strains were susceptible to silver and more than 80% to mercury and boron, but all were resistant to iodine.

Preparation and Preclinical Evaluation of a Novel Liposomal Complete-Core Lipopolysaccharide Vaccine

“…The postimmunization serum showed particularly strong binding to K. pneumoniae serotype O1, which represented 39.2% of all isolates (36). Furthermore, the three serotypes of P. aeruginosa used in this study represented 85.7% of 207 clinical isolates from a series of hospitalized patients (38). The postimmunization serum showed particularly strong binding to P. aeruginosa FisherDevlin serotype 1, which accounted for 50% of bacteremic isolates in a previous study (38).…”

“…Furthermore, the three serotypes of P. aeruginosa used in this study represented 85.7% of 207 clinical isolates from a series of hospitalized patients (38). The postimmunization serum showed particularly strong binding to P. aeruginosa FisherDevlin serotype 1, which accounted for 50% of bacteremic isolates in a previous study (38). The E. coli serotypes and Bacteroides strains used to assess the postimmunization sera in our study also represent common clinical isolates for these organisms (11,23,31).…”

“…Our complete-core LPS vaccine elicited cross-reactive antibodies ( Fig. 3 and 4) to a broad panel of bacterial genera that, based on previous studies, appear to have a high likelihood of being pathogenic either as viable organisms (i.e., causing infection) or through toxicity of shed LPS, e.g., Escherichia (11,23,31), Klebsiella (35,36), Pseudomonas (38), and Bacteroides (2,7,13,14).…”

A clinical index predicting mortality with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia

“…aeruginosa bacteraemia accounted for 1.06 episodes per 1000 admissions at this institution from Jan. 1996 to Dec. 1998. This prevalence is lower than that published in previous series [2,3,5,6,8,9], with the exception of that reported by Vázquez and colleagues in which the incidence of pseudomonas bacteraemia was 0.7 episodes per 1000 admissions [17]. This differential may reflect, at least in part, a current trend of decreasing incidence of P. aeruginosa infection among selected categories of immunocompromised patients [1,11].…”

Surveillance of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> in Intensive Care Units: Clusters of Nosocomial Cross-Infection and Encounter of a Multiple-Antibiotic Resistant Strain

“…During the last 25 years, various investigators successively defined numerous virulence factors of P. aeruginosa, such as resistance to the bactericidal activity of serum [11], production of exotoxin A and exoenzyme S, cytotoxins, various proteases, such as elastase, phospholipases, neuraminidase, production of slime (alginate), capsular polysaccharides, lipopolysaccharides, and adhesion-mediating flagella [7,12,13], and elaboration of immunomodulating substances resulting in induction of various cytokines, such as interleukins 1 and 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha [14]. This microorganism was shown to immunomodulate and evade various mechanisms of innate and adaptive immunity [for additional references, see 7,12].…”