Journal of clinical microbiology
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jan 2012
Prevalence and sequence variation of panton-valentine leukocidin in methicillin-resistant and methicillin-susceptible staphylococcus aureus strains in the United States.
Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), encoded by the lukSF-PV genes, is a putative virulence factor and marker for community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Here we report the prevalence of PVL among a representative sample of 1,055 S. aureus infection isolates from the United States and describe the sequence variation of the lukSF-PV genes. We performed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) on all isolates and sequenced fragments of the lukSF-PV genes from a sample of 86 isolates. ⋯ Within CC8, all 38 MRSA (USA300) and all 28 MSSA isolates harbored the R variant. Of the 20 isolates from blood and the lower respiratory tract, 19 (95%) harbored the R variant. While the R variant had been linked primarily to USA300 MRSA, we found that all CC8 MSSA isolates also contained the R variant, suggesting that some strains of USA300 may have lost methicillin resistance as an adaptation in the community.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jan 2012
Case ReportsA longitudinal case series description of meningitis due to Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus in infants.
Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus, previously known as Streptococcus bovis biotype II.2, is known to cause multiple infectious complications, including bacterial meningitis, in adults. Only sporadic individual case reports have identified this pathogen as a cause of meningitis in infants. ⋯ The 16S rRNA gene sequences of all 4 isolates were identical, and further were identical to 3 central nervous system (CNS) strains (two adults and one child) reported in existing literature. S. gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus is an increasingly recognized cause of meningitis and bacteremia in the newborn period, and it merits further study with respect to etiology of infection.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jan 2012
Case ReportsCapnocytophaga lung abscess in a patient with metastatic neuroendocrine tumor.
Capnocytophaga species are known commensals of the oral cavity of humans and animals (mainly dogs and cats) and are a rare cause of respiratory tract infections. We report a case of cavitary lung abscess caused by a Capnocytophaga species in a patient with a metastatic neuroendocrine tumor.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Dec 2011
Comparative StudyEvaluation of the impact of direct plating, broth enrichment, and specimen source on recovery and diversity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates among HIV-infected outpatients.
We compared recovery of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) from nasal and groin swab specimens of 600 HIV-infected outpatients by selective and nonselective direct plating and broth enrichment. Swabs were collected at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month visits and cultured by direct plating to mannitol salt agar (MSA) and CHROMagar MRSA (CM) and overnight broth enrichment with subculture to MSA (broth). MRSA isolates were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing, and PCR for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin. ⋯ Broth enrichment had a greater impact on recovery of MRSA from the groin than from the nose compared to both CM (P ≤ 0.001) and MSA (P ≤ 0.001). Overall, 19% of MRSA-colonized patients would have been missed with nasal swab specimen culture only. USA500/Iberian and USA300 were the most common MRSA strains recovered, and USA300 was more likely than other strain types to be recovered from the groin than from the nose (P = 0.05).
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Dec 2011
Galactomannan antigenemia after infusion of gluconate-containing Plasma-Lyte.
We demonstrated that sodium gluconate was the factor causing false-positive galactomannan (GM) antigenemia of Plasma-Lyte hydration solution. Infusion of sodium gluconate-containing solution but not gluconate-free Plasma-Lyte resulted in positive serum GM antigenemia. Serum GM concentrations also correlated with the volume and in vitro concentrations of GM within gluconate-containing solutions of infused Plasma-Lyte.