current microbiology

Norovirus (NoV) and Hepatitis A virus (HAV) are the most important viral hazards associated with human illness following consumption of contaminated bivalve molluscs. The effectiveness of the current EU criteria for heat processing of bivalve molluscs (i.e. raising the temperature of the internal mollusc flesh to at least 90°C for a minimum of 90 seconds) was evaluated using predictive microbiology. A HAV thermal inactivation model was developed based on literature data in mollusc matrices during isothermal heat treatment...

The Tara Oceans Expedition has provided large, publicly-accessible microbial metagenomic datasets from a circumnavigation of the globe. Utilizing several size fractions from the samples originating in the Mediterranean Sea, we have used current assembly and binning techniques to reconstruct 290 putative draft metagenome-assembled bacterial and archaeal genomes, with an estimated completion of ≥50%, and an additional 2,786 bins, with estimated completion of 0-50%. We have submitted our results, including initial taxonomic and phylogenetic assignments, for the putative draft genomes to open-access repositories for the scientific community to use in ongoing research...

The in-bottle fermentation of sparkling wines is currently triggered by few commercialized Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. This lack of diversity in tirage yeast cultures leads to a prevalent uniformity in sensory profiles of the end products. The aim of this study has been to exploit the natural multiplicity of yeast populations in order to introduce variability in sparkling wines throughout the re-fermentation step. A collection of 133 S. cerevisiae strains were screened on the basis of technological criteria (fermenting power and vigor, SO2 tolerance, alcohol tolerance, flocculence) and qualitative features (acetic acid, glycerol and H2S productions)...

Taking into account the limits of current genotyping methodologies, we have established a versatile direct PCR method on intact microtissue samples without prior DNA isolation. A simple and standard protocol was developed and validated on a wide range of living organisms including bacterial and fungal strains, plant species and human samples. This allows reliable amplification of target genomic DNA fragment directly from source material using minimal amount of tissue which makes DNA purification irrelevant for a number of biological applications...

Bloodstream nontyphoidal salmonella (NTS) infection is rare, but its associated characteristics and microbiological features in immunocompromised patients are worth paying attention to, particularly for those receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). No studies so far have analyzed post-transplant bloodstream NTS infection. Therefore, we reviewed 423 adult patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic SCT from 2003 to 2014. Nine out of four hundred twenty-three patients (2.13%) developed post-transplant bloodstream NTS infection, including two patients who had subsequent or combined metastatic infections...

Steroid modifications by selected wild-type and engineered strains of microorganisms became an effective tool for the production of high-valued steroidal drugs and their precursors for the pharmaceutical industry. Some microorganisms are effective at the performance of sterol side-chain degradation, oxyfunctionalization of steroid core, and redox reactions at different positions of the steroid molecule. A number of bioprocesses using steroid-transforming microbial strains are well established on an industrial level...

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a serious complication that may occur after native joint replacement leading to a severe health and economic burden. Currently, due to several confounding factors, PJI is difficult to diagnose. Today, a multidisciplinary approach is indispensable to correctly define a periprosthetic joint infection; indeed, tissue histology, microbiology cultures and clinical findings are used together to achieve this goal. Analysis of α-defensin is commonly used for PJI diagnosis, as it allows the rapid detection of α-defensin present in the synovial fluid following a microbial infection...

With the rapid diffusion of Full Laboratory Automation systems, Clinical Microbiology is currently experiencing a new digital revolution. The ability to capture and process large amounts of visual data from microbiological specimen processing enables the definition of completely new objectives. These include the direct identification of pathogens growing on culturing plates, with expected improvements in rapid definition of the right treatment for patients affected by bacterial infections. In this framework, the synergies between light spectroscopy and image analysis, offered by hyperspectral imaging, are of prominent interest...

The ability to predict the evolutionary trajectories of antibiotic resistance would be of great value in tailoring dosing regimens of antibiotics so as to maximize the duration of their usefulness. Useful prediction of resistance evolution requires information about (a) the mutation supply rate, (b) the level of resistance conferred by the resistance mechanism, (c) the fitness of the antibiotic-resistant mutant bacteria as a function of drug concentration, and (d) the strength of selective pressures. In addition, processes including epistatic interactions and compensatory evolution, coselection of drug resistances, and population bottlenecks and clonal interference can strongly influence resistance evolution and thereby complicate attempts at prediction...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Globalization of food networks increases opportunities for the spread of foodborne pathogens beyond borders and jurisdictions. High resolution whole-genome sequencing (WGS) subtyping of pathogens promises to vastly improve our ability to track and control foodborne disease, but to do so it must be combined with epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and other health care data (called "contextual data") to be meaningfully interpreted for regulatory and health interventions, outbreak investigation, and risk assessment...

Zika virus has recently emerged as new teratogenic agent. Research is drastically increasing to allow a better comprehension of the role of this emerging virus in the induction of fetal cerebral anomalies. Several epidemiological and microbiological aspects may explain a higher virulence of the current strain. Various animal models have been developed and confirm the materno-fetal transmission as well as the induction of cerebral development's disorders. In parallel, various companies are working to develop a vaccine and antiviral medicine against Zika virus...

The risk assessment of residues of veterinary drugs in food is a field that continues to evolve. The toxicological end-points to be considered are becoming more nuanced and in light of growing concern about the development of antimicrobial resistance, detailed analysis of the antimicrobial activity of the residues of veterinary drugs in food is increasingly incorporated in the assessment. In recent years, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has refined its approaches to provide a more comprehensive and fit-for-purpose risk assessment...

BACKGROUND: Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) has become increasingly recognized as a cause of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: It is not currently known if the clinical presentation of P. acnes varies depending on the joint being infected. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients infected with P. acnes after total hip, knee, and shoulder arthroplasty from two institutions. Patients were classified as having a PJI based on the Musculoskeletal Infection Society criteria and were excluded if they had a polymicrobial culture...

The surveillance of Clostridium difficile (CD) in Denmark consists of laboratory based data from Departments of Clinical Microbiology (DCMs) sent to the National Registry of Enteric Pathogens (NREP). We validated a new surveillance system for CD based on the Danish Microbiology Database (MiBa). MiBa automatically collects microbiological test results from all Danish DCMs. We built an algorithm to identify positive test results for CD recorded in MiBa. A CD case was defined as a person with a positive culture for CD or PCR detection of toxin A and/or B and/or binary toxin...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Current in vitro techniques for the culture of microorganisms, and particularly of delicate microbial biofilms, are still mostly limited to low-density plates and manual labor and are not amenable to automation and true high-throughput (HT) applications. We have developed a novel fully automated platform for the formation of mono- and polymicrobial biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans at the nanoscale level. The nBioChip is robotically printed, robustly handled, and scanned using a standard microarray reader...

Staphylococcus spp. accounts for up to two thirds of all microorganisms causing prosthetic joint infections, with Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis being the major cause. The present study describes a diagnostic model to detect staphylococci using a specific bacteriophage and bioluminescence detection, exploring the possibility of its use on sonicate fluid of orthopaedic artificial joints. Intracellular adenosine-5'-triphosphate release by bacteriophage mediated lysis of staphylococci was assessed to determine optimal parameters for detection...

In the past few years, Europe has experienced an enormous influx of refugees and migrants owing to the ongoing civil war in Syria as well as conflicts, violence and instability in other Asian and African countries. Available data suggest that refugees carry a significant burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms, which is attributed to the rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) rates in their countries of origin, both in healthcare settings and in the community. Transmission of MDR pathogens among refugees is facilitated by the collapsed housing, hygiene and healthcare infrastructures in several communities as well as poor hygiene conditions during their trip to destination countries...

Anaerobic digestion is a complicated microbiological process that involves a wide diversity of microorganisms. Acetate is one of the most important intermediates, and interactions between acetate-oxidizing bacteria and archaea could play an important role in the formation of methane in anoxic environments. Anaerobic digestion at thermophilic temperatures is known to increase methane production, but the effects on the microbial community are largely unknown. In the current study, stable isotope probing was used to characterize acetate- and lactate-oxidizing bacteria in thermophilic anaerobic digestion...