Background: Community acquired infections due to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) had been increased. The fecal flora of children in the community represents a huge potential reservoir for ESBLs which are located on highly transmissible plasmids. This study examined the prevalence of ESBL-PE fecal carriage, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, possible risk factors, and characterized the genes encoding these ESBL enzymes in Lebanese children community. Methods:A total of 125 rectal swabs were taken from healthy children aged from 1 to 5 years. Detection of ESBLs was carried out using combination-disc method test and multiplex PCR. A questionnaire concerning child's lifestyle and risk factors for ESBL carriage was illustrated.Results: Thirty-one of 125 participants (24.8 %) carried ESBL-PE. Regular consumption of meat, and chicken were significantly associated with high carriage rate of ESBL-PE, while dairy products (milk, yogurt, cheese) association was non-significant. Intimate hygiene habits were found also affecting the carriage rate. Multiple bla genes were the most common, 48.4 % (15/31) of ESBL-PE carried both bla CTX-M and bla TEM , and 22.6 % (7/31) carried bla CTX-M , bla SHV , and bla TEM , 29 % (9) carried bla CTX-M only. Concerning CTX-M-types, CTX-M-9 was the most predominant (24/31) and mostly in combination with CTX-M-15 type. Conclusion:High rate of colonization in healthy children with ESBL-PE was observed, regular consumption of dietary products from animal source (meat or chicken) were associated with this colonization in the community in non-hospitalized children. To our best knowledge it is the first study about regular consumption of dairy product as a risk factor for ESBL-PE community carriage, the first data about the carriage rate of ESBL-PE in community children in Lebanon and Middle East, and for the wide dissemination of CTX-M-9 type in this population.

Introduction: Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) infections are a growing threat to children, and the treatment of these infections becomes more and more challenging. A huge reservoir for ESBLs in the community is the fecal flora of children. This study investigates the rectal colonization, associated risk factors, antimicrobial susceptibility, and molecular characterization of ESBL-PE in Lebanese community infants. Methodology: A total of 117 rectal swabs were taken from healthy infants between 1 and 12 months of age. Detection of ESBLs was carried out using the double-disk synergy test, combination-disk method, and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A questionnaire about the infant's history and risk factors for carrying ESBL-PE was administered. Results: In total, 58 (49.6%) of 117 participants were ESBL-PE carriers. Some significant important risk factors for colonization in this study were male gender, hospital birth, caesarean delivery, and being formula-fed. Observed decrease in colonization rate was associated with intimate hygiene habits. Carriers of multiple bla genes were the most common. CTX-M type was the major harbored, gene and CTX-M-9 was the most predominant, followed by CTX-M-15 type. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first available data about the carriage rate of ESBL-PE in community infants in Lebanon and the Middle East, the first study showing that birth in hospital, caesarean delivery, and being formula-fed are all significantly associated risk factors for the high colonization rates in community -not hospitalized -infants, and showing the dominance of multiple resistance gene carriage and wide dissemination of CTX-M-9 ESBL.

The aim of the work was to identify Actinomycetes strains that are able to produce high levels of anti-MRSA metabolites with a potential use in curing resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. Twenty-six endophytic Actinomycetes strains were isolated from various marine invertebrates living in two different marine ecosystems (the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea). Among them, Streptomyces sp. RS-9 (obtained from the soft coral Sarcophyton sp. from the Red Sea) and Streptomyces sp. MS-26 (obtained from the jellyfish derived from the Mediterranean Sea) demonstrated the highest antagonistic activity against 18 isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 2 isolates of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci (MRCoNS). The optimization of culture conditions, which includes the time course (at the 6 th and the 3 rd day of growth), the incubation temperature (27.5EC), pH (8.0 and 6.0), nutritional requirements comprising different metals, carbon (glucose and glycerol, respectively), and nitrogen (mixture of valine with peanut and a mixture of soybean with methionine and asparagines, respectively) sources for RS-9 and MS-26 strains, respectively, resulted in a 2.2-fold and 2.5-fold increase in the productivity of anti-MRSA metabolites. The GC/MS analysis proved the presence of different bioactive compounds in Streptomyces sp. RS-9 and Streptomyces sp. MS-26 extracts. Two pure compounds, A) 1-Methyl-2-acetyl-6-acetoxy-7-methoxy-(1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline) and B)-4-(dimethylamino)-1,4,4d,5,12,12a-hexahydro-3,10,11,12a-tetrahydroxy-6-methyl-1,12-dioxo-,[4S-(4-α,4a,al]-(2-naphthacene carboxamide, which is a well-known antibiotic called anhydrotetracycline), were isolated from Streptomyces sp. MS-26. Those compounds possessed potent anti-MRSA activity against all the tested clinical MRSA and MRCoNS isolates. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the above two compounds ranged from 16 to 1024 μgml !1 and 4 to 128 μgml !1 , respectively. The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) ranged from 16 to 1024 μgml !1 and 8 to 128 μgml !1 , respectively with anticancer activity against colon cancer (HCT-16), liver cancer (HepG-2), and lung cancer (A-549) cell lines.

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a common cause of infections in pregnant females and non-pregnant adults with chronic diseases (such as diabetes and cancer), also it is the main reason of septicaemia and meningitis in infants. The aim of this study was to figure out how common GBS is in pregnant women, the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of the isolated GBS colonies and check the presence of scpB and rib virulence genes in these isolates. We screened 203 pregnant women attending the Maternity Hospital of Ain Shams University using vaginal sampling. Isolation was done on CHROMagarTM Strep B & sheep blood agar plates then identified via colony characters, Gram stain, test for catalase production, Christie–Atkins–Munch-Petersen (CAMP) test, test for hippurate hydrolysis and latex agglutination test. This was followed by an antibiotic susceptibility test. Finally, Detection of scpB and rib virulence genes by conventional PCR was done. Our study detected that the prevalence rate of GBS in involved pregnant women was 11.33%. A statistically significant association between colonization and history of spontaneous abortion and preterm labor was observed. CHROMagar™ StrepB showed the same sensitivity of sheep blood agar with extensive effort to isolate suspected GBS colonies from blood agar. GBS was 100% sensitive to levofloxacin, linezolid, cefepime, ceftaroline and ceftriaxone. Also, it was highly sensitive to vancomycin (91.3%). Sensitivity to clindamycin, azithromycin, penicillin and ampicillin was (21.70%, 21.70%,47.80%, 47.80%) respectively. The least sensitivity of GBS was to erythromycin ( 8.7%). All isolates possessed the scpB gene (100%) while only 18 isolates (78.26%) had the rib gene.

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