Emergence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cross-infection in children with cystic fibrosis attending an Iranian referral pediatric center

This study was carried out with the objective of determining the genomic variability of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from patients suffering from cystic fibrosis or from environmental cultures collected from different locations in the unit they admitted. A total of 57 clinical and environmental P. aeruginosa isolates were genotyped by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR [ERIC-PCR], and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute method. One predominant ERIC profile [type A] was identified in 46 strains [81% of all typed isolates] which was responsible for thirty-nine of 44 clinical isolates [89%] and 7 of 13 environmental isolates [54%]. All clinical isolates were susceptible to piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime and cefepime followed by ticarcillin, aztreonam, amikacin and tobramycin [96.5%].In our country CF patients are not segregated from other patients, and transmission of bacteria between these patients and other patients might occur in the wards via personal contact or contaminated environment. Future evaluation for policy of patient segregation is necessary and the elimination of contaminated sources and control of environmental spread and recurrent contamination risk is needed.

Simultaneous and rapid differential diagnosis of Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum based on a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to simultaneously detect and differentiate Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum in female patients suffering from genital complications by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Materials and Methods : Genital swabs were taken from 210 patients. They were transported to the laboratory in phosphate-buffered saline. For PCR, samples were analysed with genus-specific MyUu-R and MyUu-F primers. This primer set, which was originally designed in our laboratory, amplified a 465 bp fragment (M. genitalium) and a 559 bp fragment (U. urealyticum). Samples containing a band of the expected sizes for the Mycoplasma strains were subjected to digestion with a restriction endonuclease enzyme of TaqI and Cac8I. Results: Of the 210 samples, a total of 100 (47.6%) samples were found to be positive for Mycoplasmas (seven M. genitalium isolates, 3.3%; and 89 U. urealyticum isolates, 42.4%), and coinfections with both species were detected in four samples (1.9%). The PCR-RFLP results showed that M. genitalium and U. urealyticum are different by enzyme patterns. Conclusion: PCR-RFLP offers a rapid and easily applicable protocol to simultaneous detection and differentiation of M. genitalium and U. urealyticum from clinical samples when specific primers and restriction enzymes are used.