Background: Different serological tests are used in serologic diagnosis of brucellosis. The most widely used of these are Standard Tube Agglutination and Coombs anti-brucella tests. Whereas ELISA Ig M and Ig G tests have been in use for a long time, immuncapture agglutination test has been recently introduced and used in serological diagnosis. The aim of this study was to compare diagnostic values of ELISA Ig M and Ig G and immuncapture agglutination tests with Coombs anti-brucella test.Methods: Sera from 200 patients with presumptive diagnosis of brucellosis were included into the study. Coombs anti-brucella test, ELISA Ig M and Ig G tests and Immuncapture test were investigated in these sera. Then, sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive and positive predictive values were calculated.Results: Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive and positive predictive values were found to be 90,6 %, 76,3 %, 94,2 %, and 65,9 % respectively for the Immuncapture test, whereas they were found to be 73,7 %, 58,9 %, 84,2 %, and 42,8 % for Ig G and 72,2 %, 67,8 %, 85,2 %, and 48,7 % for Ig M. The Immuncapture test was found to be compatible with ELISA Ig M and Ig G tests but it was statistically incompatible with Coombs anti-brucella test.Conclusions: Immuncapture agglutination test yields similar results to those of Coombs anti-brucella test. This test is a useful test by virtue of the fact that it determines blocking antibodies in the diagnosis and follow-up of brucellosis.

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Enterococci, particularly vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), are important nosocomial pathogens with limited treatment options. Enterococci have low-level resistance to penicillins and aminoglycosides and are intrinsically resistant to cephalosporins. In addition, they can acquire high-level resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides and glycopeptides. The aim of this study was to determine glycopeptide resistance mechanisms and genetic relationships of vancomycin-resistant E.faecium strains isolated from blood cultures between 2003-2009 years by molecular epidemiologic methods. A total of 38 VRE strains isolated from blood cultures were included in this study. The isolates were identified by conventional methods and Phoenix 100 BD automated system (Becton Dickinson Diagnostic Systems, USA) and confirmed by sequence analysis of 16S rRNA amplicons. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method accor-ding to the CLSI standards. MIC values of vancomycin were determined in vancomycin resistant strains by E-test (AB Biodisk, Sweden) method. Vancomycin resistance genes included vanA, vanB, vanC, and vanD were investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Clonal relationship between strains was determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Sequence analysis was performed for examples selected for multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of each pulsotype and subtype. Thirty eight strains of enterococci isolated from blood cultures were defined as E.faecium by phenotypic methods and confirmed by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Vancomycin MIC values of strains were determined as > 256 µg/ml by E test. The vanA gene was detected in all isolates. Clonal relationship of 38 isolates E.faecium carrying the vanA gene was determined by PFGE and MLST methods. PFGE detected four pulsotypes (A-D) and one sporadic isolate. Twenty nine strains belonged to A pulsotype, three strains belonged to B pulsotype, two strains belonged to C pulsotype and three strains belonged to D pulsotype. Out of 29 isolates, eight strains were type A1, nine strains were type A2, six strains were type A3, two strains were type A4 and four strains were type A5. MLST identified four different sequence types (STs). Twenty nine A pulsotype and its subtypes belonged to ST117 (76.3%), three B pulsotype belonged to ST280 (7.9%), two C pulsotype belonged to ST18 (5.2%) and three D pulsotype belonged to ST17 (7.9%). In conclusion, bloodstream infections caused by VRE in our hospital arose from a dominant strain belonged to ST117. However, presence of different pulsotypes of this strain indicated that the strain had been present in the hospital for a long time and had accumulated genetic variations. In addition, infections caused by minor pulsotypes were also detected. Therefore for prevention and control of the spread of nosocomial infections caused by VRE, it is crucial to identify resistance patterns and clonal relationship of these organisms.

* Bu çalışma, 7. Ulusal Moleküler ve Tanısal Mikrobiyoloji Kongresi (5-8 Haziran 2012, Ankara)'nde poster olarak sunulmuştur. ÖZETStreptococcus pyogenes tonsillofarenjitin en yaygın bakteriyel etkeni olup, ayrıca otitis media, impetigo, nekrotizan fasiit, bakteriyemi, sepsis ve toksik şok benzeri sendrom gibi hastalıklara yol açabilmekte-dir. Bakterinin önemli virülans faktörü olan M proteini, emm geni tarafından kodlanmakta ve bu gen epidemiyolojik çalışmalarda genotiplendirme amacıyla kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, A grubu streptokok (AGS) suşlarında M proteininin emm gen dizi analiz yöntemiyle tiplendirilmesi, saptanan M tiplerinin geliştirilmekte olan aşı içeriği ile karşılaştırılması ve izolatların antibiyotik duyarlılıklarının belirlenmesi amaç-lanmıştır. Çalışmaya, laboratuvarımızda çeşitli klinik örneklerden izole edilen 35 AGS suşu dahil edilmiş-tir. Kan kültüründe üreyen suşlar invazif, boğaz ve apse kültüründe üreyen suşlar ise noninvazif olarak kabul edilmiştir. İzolatların tür düzeyinde tanımlanması konvansiyonel yöntemler ve 16S rRNA dizi analizi ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. S.pyogenes olarak tanımlanan suşların emm genotiplendirmesi CDC'nin önerdiği şekilde PCR yöntemiyle yapılmıştır. Çalışılan 35 izolatın 23'ünden amplikon elde edilmiş ve bunlara dizi analizi uygulanmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar CDC'nin emm dizi veri bankası ile karşılaştırılmıştır. İzolatların antibiyotik duyarlılık testleri agar dilüsyon yöntemiyle CLSI önerilerine göre yapılmış ve değerlendirilmiş-tir. Çalışmaya alınan 35 izolattan 23'ünün emm tiplendirmesi yapılmış ve 15 farklı emm genotipi saptanmıştır. En sık saptanan tipler sırasıyla emm1 (%22), emm89 (%13), emm18 (% 9) ve emm19 (%9) olarak

Objective Extraintestinal Escherichia coli isolates are the most common gram-negative pathogens in humans and cause urinary tract infections, sepsis, neonatal meningitis, and others. The aim of this study was to investigate the rates of antibiotic resistance and virulence factors (kpsM II, neuc K1, hlyF, fyuA, afa/draBC, sat, chuA, fimH, tsh, yfcv, ibeA, traT, iucD, usp, iutA, cnf1, hlyA, papC, sfa/focDE, and ompT) of E. coli strains isolated from blood and urine samples. Methods A total of 150 E. coli strains isolated from blood and urine samples sent to the Microbiology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Selcuk University were included in the study. The identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed with the VITEK 2 automated system. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the virulence genes. Results Although the highest antibiotic resistance rate found was against ampicillin (73.3%), the lowest rates were against ertapenem and meropenem (0.7%). Extended-spectrum β-lactamase positivity was 38% in E. coli blood isolates and 29% in urine. The highest rates of virulence genes were detected in fimH gene (92%). iutA gene was 91.3%, traT 76%, fyuA 50%, chuA 54.7%, iucD 46.7%, ompT 32.7%, yfcv 31.3%, hlyF 28.7%, sat 22%, papC and sfa/focDE 20%, kpsM II 19.3%, neuc K1 14.7%, tsh 13.3%, cnf1 6.7%, afa/draBC 6%, ibeA 5.3%, usp 4.7%, and hlyA 3.3%. kpsM II, tsh, hlyA, papC, sfa/focDE, and ompT genes were higher in blood isolates. Conclusion High antibiotic resistance rates and virulence genes were detected in E. coli strains in Konya, Turkey. This is the first study in Turkey where both a large number and a variety of virulence factors were investigated and compared. Multicenter studies are needed to better understand E. coli virulence.