Multi-locus sequence typing of Escherichia coli isolated from clinical samples in Jordan.

INTRODUCTION: Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the major cause of extraintestinal infections in the urinary tracts and bloodstream in humans in the community and health care institutions. Several studies on the genetic characterization of E. coli among clinical and environmental isolates were performed and revealed a wide diversity of sequence types (STs). In Jordan, phenotypic and genetic features of E. coli were extensively studied but there is still a need to identify the STs that inhabit the community. METHODOLOGY: In this study, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) was performed on archived clinical E. coli isolates collected from different hospitals in Jordan and the identified STs were extensively analyzed. RESULTS: Genotyping of 92 E. coli isolates revealed 34 STs and 9 clonal complexes. The frequencies of STs ranged between 1 to 23 observations. The most frequent STs among E. coli isolates were ST131 (n = 23), ST69 (n = 19), ST998 (n = 7), ST2083 (n = 5), and ST540 (n = 4). These five ST accounted for up to 60% of the 92 E. coli isolates. Based on the MLST database, the STs reported in this work were world widely recognized in humans, animals, and in the environment. CONCLUSIONS: This study has elaborated more knowledge about the genotypes of E. coli in Jordan, with recommendations for future studies to correlate its genotypes with virulence and resistance genes.

Attitudes and perceptions of Jordanian pharmacy students toward deprescribing: a cross-sectional study

Objective: Pharmacists are in a unique position to identify medications that should be deprescribed. Including deprescribing as part of medical and pharmacy curriculum has been proposed as a substantial change to increase the practice of deprescribing. The aims of this study were to evaluate if pharmacy students were exposed to the term of deprescribing in their classes and how they were taught about it (e.g., lecture, case problems, experiential). We also aimed to assess the deprescribing knowledge, attitudes, abilities, and confidence of pharmacy students in Jordan. Methods: Both paper-based and online questionnaires surveys were distributed to third year pharmacy students and above at 12 schools of pharmacy in addition to graduated student (bachelors and diploma). The survey included three sections, including (i) demographics and questions on their exposure to deprescribing and other experiences within their curriculum; (ii) questions regarding their attitudes, ability, and confidence regarding deprescribing, and (iii) questions to assess the factors that may influence the deprescribing process from the students’ perspectives. Study responses were extracted from Google Form® as an Excel sheet and exported into Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24.0 (SPSS Inc., Armonk, NY: IBM Corp, USA) for statistical analyses. Descriptive statistics, including frequency and proportions, were calculated and reported appropriately. Results: Around half of the participating students (n=202, 49.5%) were familiar with the term “Deprescribing,” and only 74 (18.1%) students reported exposure to deprescribing instruction through required coursework. Less than half (n=193, 47.3%) reported exposure during elective courses, and fewer (n=47, 11.5%) reported exposure in both required and elective courses. (AU)

Assessment of Jordanian health care professionals' perception towards new COVID-19 variants of concern.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare professionals working at the frontline, dealing with COVID-19 patients or their samples, should know about variants of concern (VOCs) and their transmissibility, disease severity, and vaccine efficacy. Healthcare professionals' (HCPs) perceptions towards new VOCs affect their practice and attitudes towards their patients. Moreover, these perceptions might significantly impact their patients' perceptions of new COVID-19 variants and public vaccine acceptability. METHODS: Online and paper-based questionnaires were distributed among Healthcare professionals in Jordan between August 2021 and October 2021. RESULTS: Among 423 HCPs who participated in this study, a majority believe that when viruses mutate, they become more transmissible (77.8%), more deadly (61.7%), and pathogenic (64.8%). In addition, half of the respondents, perceived current treatments as partially effective against VOCs and current diagnostics to be efficient. However, all VOCs were perceived as more transmissible, more virulent, and related to higher mortality rates when compared to the original strain. Regarding immunity against VOCs, (57.4%) of respondents believe in partial immunity against re-infection, and most respondents were either unsure about the current vaccines' efficacy or agreed that available vaccines would be ineffective. However, respondents (44.4%) still believe that people previously infected should get vaccinated. Respondents referred to the Ministry of Health as the most reliable source of information (45.6%) and the party responsible for educating the public about COVID-19 VOCs (57.9%). Travel was not a source of worry among respondents. However, they were worried about their families getting the new COVID-19 VOCs from their work. Similar proportions agreed/disagreed on the efficacy of the precautions and infection control measures currently applied by the government for preventing the spread of the new COVID-19 VOCs. CONCLUSION: Campaigns, workshops, and webinars targeting vaccines are highly recommended among HCPs to increase public acceptance of the vaccine and further booster shots.