Listeriosis and the COVID-19 pandemic

Listeriosis is a saprozoonotic infection that occurs when eating foods contaminated with Listeria. Invasive forms of listeriosis can have extremely severe consequences. Respiratory viral diseases predispose to the occurrence of combined viral-bacterial infections. With a mixed infection of listeriosis and COVID-19, a severe course of the disease is observed, which has a serious prognosis. The aim of the study was to analyze the frequency of various variants of invasive listeriosis and their outcomes in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and against the background of its development, as well as to determine the genetic diversity of L. monocytogenes isolates. Material and methods. We analyzed 55 cases of invasive listeriosis in patients observed in 2018-2021 in various medical organizations in Moscow. The diagnosis was established on the basis of epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data, listeriosis was confirmed by bacteriological and molecular genetic methods, COVID-19 was confirmed by the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in an oropharyngeal swab using real-time RT-PCR, as well as computed tomography of the lungs. Results. During the current COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), the incidence of listeriosis in pregnant women and invasive listeriosis occurring in the form of sepsis and/or lesions of the central nervous system did not differ significantly from similar indicators registered in 2018-2019. Listeria sepsis and/or meningitis/meningoencephalitis in association with severe SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus infection are at high risk of death. During the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the diversity and range of L. monocytogenes genotypes in invasive listeriosis changed, new genotypes appeared that were not previously characteristic of the Russian Federation. Conclusion. The likelihood of developing listeriosis sepsis and/or meningitis/meningoencephalitis against the background of a severe course of COVID-19, and a high risk of an adverse outcome, require increased awareness of medical workers in the field of diagnosis and treatment of invasive listeriosis in order to conduct the earliest and most adequate antibiotic therapy.Copyright © 2022 Geotar Media Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.

Insights on the methodology for indoor microbial aerosol studies

Covid-19 has highlighted the need for reliable methods for airborne microbe control. Different microbes are suitable for different purposes, and the microbes are sensitive to collection methods used. We identified three safe-to-use microbes suitable for airborne microbial studies: MS2-bacteriophage virus, Staphylococcus simulans and Bacillus atrophaeus bacterial spores. We found that the sensitive microbes (MS2 and S. simulans) survive better, when collected directly in a liquid media. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.

Medicine Is War: The Martial Metaphor in Victorian Literature and Culture by Lorenzo Servitje (review)

Set in the twenty-first century, The Last Man was an apocalyptic story of a pandemic spreading around the world, causing the near elimination of the human population, almost literally to the last person standing. The links between public health and military medicine at this time are well-known and exemplified by Edmund Parkes's Manual of Practical Hygiene (1864). The claim that such literature had a "broader reach” in spreading the martial metaphor in medicine is questionable, without more evidence of impact.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2 co-infections: The knowns and unknowns.

Health impacts of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and SARS-CoV-2 co-infections are not fully understood. Both pathogens modulate host responses and induce immunopathology with extensive lung damage. With a quarter of the world's population harboring latent TB, exploring the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and its effect on the transition of Mtb from latent to active form is paramount to control this pathogen. The effects of active Mtb infection on establishment and severity of COVID-19 are also unknown, despite the ability of TB to orchestrate profound long-lasting immunopathologies in the lungs. Absence of mechanistic studies and co-infection models hinder the development of effective interventions to reduce the health impacts of SARS-CoV-2 and Mtb co-infection. Here, we highlight dysregulated immune responses induced by SARS-CoV-2 and Mtb, their potential interplay, and implications for co-infection in the lungs. As both pathogens master immunomodulation, we discuss relevant converging and diverging immune-related pathways underlying SARS-CoV-2 and Mtb co-infections.

Impact of COVID 19 on bacterial respiratory isolates (2018-2021) from a UK tertiary cardio-thoracic ICU

Aim: To study the impact of COVID-19 admissions during 1st and 2nd surges on bacteriology of ICU respiratory isolates. Method(s): Retrospective time trend analysis of bacterial respiratory isolates from a single centre, tertiary cardiothoracic ICU (CT-ICU) from patients admitted from Jan 2018- June 2021. We compared pre-COVID-19 (January 2018- March 2020) and COVID-19 periods (April 2020- June 2021) and surge periods (surge 1: March 2020- June 2020, surge 2: January- March 2021) to similar time frames in previous years. Chi-square test used to compare proportions. Result(s): 4974 respiratory isolates (Sputum-4230, BAL-563, ET secretions-181) included. During surge 2, culture positivity and gram-negative rates tripled from baseline (20% to 75%;p<0.05). Comparing the pre- pandemic to pandemic period, rates of Klebsiella sp, Acinetobacter sp and Stenotrophomonas sp increased from 12% to 21.3%, 2.4% to 6.2% and 10.5% to 14.3% respectively, while Pseudomonas sp dropped from 30.7% to 23.1% (all p<0.05). MDR Pseudomonas increased significantly from 38.9% to 47.9% (p<0.05), with a non-significant increase in MRSA (5.2% to 9.3%;p=0.34) and MDR enterobacterales (22.6% to 23%;p=0.48). Conclusion(s): This is the first report from a UK CTICU showing a marked epidemiological shift in the bacteriology of respiratory isolates in terms of organism profile, increase in culture positivity and MDR Pseudomonas rates during the pandemic. Analyzing trends on longevity of the findings will help guide changes to infection control and antibiotic policies. This emphasizes the importance of unit specific ecology in choosing appropriate timely antimicrobial therapy and therefore improving patient outcome.

Super effective antimicrobial silver-sputtered coatings on poly(lactic acid) against bacteria and omicron SARS-CoV-2

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a biopolymer with properties potentially suitable for fabricating packaging, medical devices, and healthcare products in a more friendly environmental way because this polymer presents biodegradability, compostability, low carbon footprint, and recyclability. However, PLA does not present intrinsic antimicrobial properties. Antimicrobial materials are highly desirable for manufacturing smart packaging and personal protective equipment to secure food and health professionals against pathogenic microorganisms. In this work, we evaluated the antimicrobial performance of (Ag)-coated PLA against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Omicron severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). PLA was rapidly coated with metallic Ag by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering (pDCMS) for 5, 10, and 20 s. Atomic force microscopy indicates that the Ag coating grows predominantly on the PLA surface via a bulk diffusion mechanism. According to bactericidal and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays, Ag-coated PLA was capable of inhibiting bacterial biofilm formation and disrupting the genetic material of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2. X-ray high-resolution photoelectron and nuclear magnetic resonance results suggest no polymer chain scission in the PLA bulk due to plasma thermal stress effects during Ag sputtering. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE

An introduction is presented in which author discusses articles on topics including focuses on bacteriology and epidemiology studies related to the death of the Martians and viral invasions, such as COVID-19 and the ethics of space travel and colonizing other planets in face of climate emergency.

Prussian Blue@Zeolitic imidazolate framework composite toward solar-triggered biodecontamination

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) featuring composition and bandstructure diversity, are an emerging class of photoresponsive disinfectants. In this study, we demonstrated the superiority of core–shell arranged photoactive MOFs (prussian blue (PB) and zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8)) for pathogen inactivation in terms of biocidal efficiency and broad-spectrum sensitivity. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was significantly promoted after the integration of PB due to the photosensitization effect and initiation of in situ Fenton reaction. Favorably, another inactivation channel was also opened owing to the unique photothermal effect of PB. Attributed to the facilitated ROS intracellular penetration by heat, the composite outperforms not only individual component but anatase TiO2 in pathogen elimination. Specifically, the Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) inactivation efficiency of the composite (6.6 log) is 2, 1.8 and 5.1 times higher than that of PB (3.3 log), ZIF-8 (3.7 log) and TiO2 (1.3 log) over 45 min of simulated sunlight illumination. Significantly, the infectivity of Bacillus anthracis and murine coronavirus in droplets on composite-coated filter surface could be greatly reduced (approximately 3 log reduction in colony number/coronavirus titer) within few minutes of solar exposure, indicative of the great potential of MOF composites toward life-threatening microbial infection prevention. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Host biomarker-based quantitative rapid tests for detection and treatment monitoring of tuberculosis and COVID-19.

Diagnostic services for tuberculosis (TB) are not sufficiently accessible in low-resource settings, where most cases occur, which was aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Early diagnosis of pulmonary TB can reduce transmission. Current TB-diagnostics rely on detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in sputum requiring costly, time-consuming methods, and trained staff. In this study, quantitative lateral flow (LF) assays were used to measure levels of seven host proteins in sera from pre-COVID-19 TB patients diagnosed in Europe and latently Mtb-infected individuals (LTBI), and from COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. Analysis of host proteins showed significantly lower levels in LTBI versus TB (AUC:0 · 94) and discriminated healthy individuals from COVID-19 patients (0 · 99) and severe COVID-19 from TB. Importantly, these host proteins allowed treatment monitoring of both respiratory diseases. This study demonstrates the potential of non-sputum LF assays as adjunct diagnostics and treatment monitoring for COVID-19 and TB based on quantitative detection of multiple host biomarkers.

Automatic Identification of Single Bacterial Colonies Using Deep and Transfer Learning

Bacterial classification is a vital step in medical diagnosis. This procedure normally has several stages. An early stage involves inspecting the morphology of the bacterial colonies. Traditionally, a bacterial colony expert inspects the sample to determine the type of bacteria through visual inspection or molecular biology techniques. With advances in image processing, specifically, the use of deep and transfer learning techniques, and the wide availability of cameras, we applied deep and transfer learning techniques to address this task without requiring expert knowledge or sample shipping. We used a convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify different bacterial colonies based on their appearance in images captured by cell phone cameras. In this paper, we collected a dataset that contains images of different bacteria taken by cell phone cameras with various settings. Thus, images of two classes of bacterial colonies were obtained in King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. The dataset contains 8,043 images. The experimental results show that our application has high accuracy without requiring expert inspections. Author

Evaluation of student engagement through knowledge elaboration and the use of comics in Microbiology education.

Despite the many challenges faced by the sudden adaptation of the teaching-learning processes during the emergency remote teaching (ERT) imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this period allowed the exploration of innovative educational methods. Here, we report the description and evaluation of a didactic activity designed to foster an active learning environment among Veterinary Medicine undergraduate students enrolling in Microbiology classes during the ERT period at the University of Minas Gerais. The activity consisted of initial expositive classes, followed by students' active search for information, and the execution of a report and short comics covering the topic. The activity was evaluated by a voluntary postquestionnaire. The results suggest that the students had good emotional and educational perception toward the task, and that they noticed the elaboration of the comics as the most valuable tool aiding in the retention of microbiological concepts. We conclude that the proposed strategy, specially by the incorporation of the comics, helped the meaningful learning of microbiology.

THE Pacific WAY

Angela the PPTC's newly appointed Microbiology Specialist and Programme Support Medical Laboratory Scientist commenced employment with the PPTC on the 26th April 2022. Since February 2018, Angela has been employed as a Medical Laboratory Scientist in Microbiology at Canterbury Health Laboratories. PPTC consultancy staff 2022 Philip Wakem NZCS, DipMLS, MMLSc (Otago, NZ), MNZIMLS Chief Executive Officer and Haematology Specialist Navin Karan BMLSc (Otago,NZ) PGDipPH (Massey,NZ) MNZIMLS * Microbiology/Molecular Diagnostics Specialist * Programme Manager For COVID 19 and Infectious Disease * Contract Management * Centre based Courses * Molecular Diagnostics * COVID 19 EQA Filipo Faiga BSc, DipMLS, MNZIMLS * Biochemistry Specialist * Programme Manager * For PPTC External Quality Assessment * Health And Safety * Biochemistry Contracts Russell Cole NZCS, DipMLS, MNZIMLS * Microbiology Specialist * Programme Manager for Laboratory Quality Management * Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science * Microbiology Contracts Angela Lewis BSc, GradDipSci, MNZIMLS * Medical Laboratory Scientist * Microbiology Specialist and Programme Support. * Assistance in Molecular diagnostic platforms and Contacts New PPTC consultants who have joined the PPTC EQA programme Donna Mitchell, NZCS, DipMLS, DipMktg Donna has recently taken over the role of Serology Quality Assurance Consultant for the PPTC's Serology REQA Programme. While at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Canterbury Health Laboratories and later at SCL from 1991, Donna was involved in a variety of work including routine clinical work, research, and evaluation and implementation of Ligase Chain Reaction assays for Chlamydia and M. tuberculosis, and latterly the introduction of the ProbeTec Strand Displacement Assay for both Chlamydia and M. tuberculosis. [...]of the LCR work Donna was asked by Abbott Diagnostics Ltd to introduce the technology to laboratories in both Sydney and Melbourne.

Design and Feature Analysis of a Thermally Coupled Corona Discharge Air Disinfection Device

The COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus is still spreading globally, and blocking its airborne transmission route is of great significance to control the pandemic. The conventional plasma air disinfection devices show advantages in their dynamic and rapid capabilities, but the disinfection performance is limited by a single method, besides, there exists the risk of secondary infection during maintenance. In this work, according to the physiological characteristics of the novel coronavirus, an air disinfection device based on thermally coupled corona discharge was proposed for the improvement of conventional plasma air disinfection technology, which adopted the wire-plate array electrode structure to initiate corona discharge, and utilized heating wires embedded in the collection plate to achieve centralized heating. The discharge para-meters were measured, and a discharge power at stable operation was discovered to be as high as 5.6 W, for which the discharge law was found to obey the Townsend relationship. Measurement and simulation of the thermal parameters showed that, compared with the overall air heating, the efficiency of centralized heating was increased by 17 times, with minimal impact on the ambient temperature. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis bacteriophages were used as model bacteria and virus to verify the disinfection performance. Results demonstrate that the killing performance is effectively enhanced via thermally coupled corona discharge, with a removal rate of residual virus on the collection plate increasing by 99.97%, thereby reducing the risk of secondary infection. This work lays a device foundation for killing the airborne novel coronavirus, and also provides a technical reference for cutting its airborne transmission. © 2022, High Voltage Engineering Editorial Department of CEPRI. All right reserved.

Morbidity ratio associated with Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) and intramural microbiological quality in a home located in Tausa

This study was carried out in order to determine the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms in the air of a home located in the municipality of Tausa and its possible relationship with ARIs (Acute Respiratory Infections), for which a microbiological analysis was carried out in order to identify bacteria that are possibly causing respiratory illnesses in the household. The sampling consisted of the use of a suction equipment (MAS100 Eco), during different time bands and spaces inside and outside the house. Later the respective analysis was carried out in the laboratory and 6 different mesophilic microorganisms were identified, which were: Salmonella tiphy, Bacillus subtilis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Kingella kingae. In addition, each of these bacteria were individually analyzed to understand the dynamics of the pollutant load in the home. Finally, the identified mesophilic microorganisms correspond to bacteria with some degree of pathogenicity and/or health effects, in the same way the morbidity data from the Tausa medical center were analyzed. Here we found that the population under 13 years old is the most affected by ARI, and that the bacteria present more easily affect this type of population, generating a wider perspective on the possibilities of having more patients diagnosed with ARI, as found in the home. The data presented here were affected and biased due to the health emergency caused by COVID19. © 2021 IEEE.

Biomedical Applications of Terahertz Near-field Imaging

We demonstrate the THz near-field nano-imaging of Bacillus cereus and Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) spike fake virus utilizing THz scattering near-field optical microscopy (SNOM). Here, it shows that bacteria and virus can be distinguished from other substances by THz near-field imaging. And we can use the THz time-domain spectrometer (TDS) scattering near field microscope(s-SNOM) to obtain the spectrum of different substances (bacteria and their substrate), then analyzing the differences between them from their specific responses in THz. This is of great significance to development of the terahertz near-field biology. © 2021 European Union

Protocol for a three-phase prospective study to develop educational resource of antimicrobial resistance and stewardship for medical programme.

INTRODUCTION: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the critical medical issues of the 21st century. Medical professionals are the primary prescribers of antimicrobials; their undergraduate education of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is considered one of the fundamental approaches in combating the issue of AMR. This education level provides a platform to bridge any gaps in their knowledge and competency in AMS. This study aims to develop an educational resource on microbes, hygiene and prudent antimicrobial use for the undergraduate medical programme. The guideline produced will then be assimilated into the existing curriculum which will help to improve the quality of education which in turn will improve rationale as the use of antimicrobials in the future. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A three-step approach consensus approach will be adopted for this study for the development of a validated medical curriculum guideline on AMR. A preliminary curriculum for the programme will be drafted from reviews of published literature including syllabi as well as national and international guidelines. A total of 26 potential sources were found to be relevant, and selected for this study. Subsequently, the drafted curriculum will be subjected for validation via online surveys by various infectious disease experts. Finally, a Delphi technique will be employed to obtain consensus on heterogeneous findings to the revised curriculum. The quantitative and qualitative responses will be analysed and discussed among the panel of researchers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study protocol has been approved by the Institute of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (Reference: UBD/PAPRSBIHSREC/2020/124). Informed consent declaration will be collected prior to data collections as indication of agreement of participation in the study. Results will be made available to medical educators and also researchers on AMR and stewardship. The results also will be disseminated at feedback sessions to officers at Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, Brunei Darussalam.

Medicine is War: The Martial Metaphor in Victorian Literature and Culture by Lorenzo Servitje (review)

Drawing on the familiar ideas of Michel Foucault, he argues that war imagery “worked as a tool of biopolitical governance: a mechanism to regulate populations and foster the self-fashioning of individuals, which together mitigated the biological obstacles to expanded urbanization, industrialization, colonization, and the consequential risk of disease” (15). [...]in another familiar turn, Servitje suggests that literature’s reproduction of the martial ideology is necessarily uneven and, while medicine as war was too seductive an image for writers of fiction to pass up, fictional plots highlight the fictive nature of the metaphor, thus “disavowing any material connection to the military as an institution or its violence” (18). While the Crew of Light and their campaign against vampires and less-overt, sexual assault on womanhood reproduce prejudices written into xenophobic and misogynistic enterprises like the Contagious Diseases Act (1864, 1866, 1869), “Stoker’s articulation of the use of force in a medical and juridical capacity” reveals how “the violence of the ancien régime was never really gone but remained an underlying logic of public health’s relation to the state, latently supported by thinking of medicine as war” (112).

Cohort profile: a migratory cohort study of US Marines who train in Australia.

PURPOSE: In 2012, US Marines and Sailors began annual deployments to Australia to participate in joint training exercises with the Australian Defence Force and other partners in the region. During their training, US service members are exposed to a variety of infectious disease threats not normally encountered by American citizens. This paper describes a cohort of US Marines and Sailors enrolled during five rotations to Australia between 2016 and 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Study participation is strictly voluntary. Group informational sessions are held prior to deployment to describe the study structure and goals, as well as the infectious disease threats that participants may encounter while in Australia. All participants provided written informed consent. Consented participants complete a pre-deployment questionnaire to collect data including basic demographic information, military occupational specialty, travel history, family history, basic health status and personal habits such as alcohol consumption. Blood is collected for serum, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) processing. Data and specimen collection is repeated up to three times: before, during and after deployment. FINDINGS TO DATE: From the five rotations that comprised the 2016-2020 Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, we enrolled 1289 volunteers. Enrolments during this period were overwhelmingly white male under the age of 24 years. Most of the enrollees were junior enlisted and non-commissioned officers, with a smaller number of staff non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, and minimal warrant officers. Over half of the enrollees had occupational specialty designations for infantry. FUTURE PLANS: In the future, we will screen samples for serological evidence of infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei, Coxiella burnetii, Ross River virus, SARS-CoV-2 and other operationally relevant pathogens endemic in Australia. Antigenic stimulation assays will be performed on PBMCs collected from seropositive individuals to characterise the immune response to these infections in this healthy American population.

Dietary fibre to reduce colon cancer risk in Alaska Native people: the Alaska FIRST randomised clinical trial protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Diet, shown to impact colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, is a modifiable environmental factor. Fibre foods fermented by gut microbiota produce metabolites that not only provide food for the colonic epithelium but also exert regulatory effects on colonic mucosal inflammation and proliferation. We describe methods used in a double-blinded, randomised, controlled trial with Alaska Native (AN) people to determine if dietary fibre supplementation can substantially reduce CRC risk among people with the highest reported CRC incidence worldwide. METHODS AND ANALYSES: Eligible patients undergoing routine screening colonoscopy consent to baseline assessments and specimen/data collection (blood, urine, stool, saliva, breath and colon mucosal biopsies) at the time of colonoscopy. Following an 8-week stabilisation period to re-establish normal gut microbiota post colonoscopy, study personnel randomise participants to either a high fibre supplement (resistant starch, n=30) or placebo (digestible starch, n=30) condition, repeating stool sample collection. During the 28-day supplement trial, each participant consumes their usual diet plus their supplement under direct observation. On day 29, participants undergo a flexible sigmoidoscopy to obtain mucosal biopsy samples to measure the effect of the supplement on inflammatory and proliferative biomarkers of cancer risk, with follow-up assessments and data/specimen collection similar to baseline. Secondary outcome measures include the impact of a high fibre supplement on the oral and colonic microbiome and biofluid metabolome. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Approvals were obtained from the Alaska Area and University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Boards and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation research review bodies. A data safety monitoring board, material transfer agreements and weekly study team meetings provide regular oversight throughout the study. Study findings will first be shared with AN tribal leaders, health administrators, providers and community members. Peer-reviewed journal articles and conference presentations will be forthcoming once approved by tribal review bodies. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03028831.

Identification of cGAS as an innate immune sensor of extracellular bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is reported essential for detecting intracellular bacteria. However, it remains to be determined whether and how cGAS is involved in extracellular bacterial infection. Here, we report that cGAS is essential for mediating type I interferon (IFN) production in infection by multiple extracellular pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the canonical cGAS-stimulator of interferon gene (STING)-IFN axis is required for protecting mice from P. aeruginosa-induced mouse acute pulmonary infection, confirmed in cGAS pathway-specific gene deficiency mouse models. cGAS -/- and STING -/- mice exhibited reduced type I IFNs production, excessive inflammatory response accompanied with decreased resistance to P. aeruginosa challenge. Unfolded protein response was also modulated by cGAS through IRF3 and type I IFNs under P. aeruginosa infection. Collectively, these findings uncover the importance of cGAS in initiating immune responses against extracellular bacterial infection.