Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging bat-borne pathogen. It was first identified 20 years ago in Malaysia and has since caused outbreaks in other parts of South and Southeast Asia. It causes severe neurological and respiratory disease which is highly lethal. It is highly infectious and spreads in the community through infected animals or other infected people. Different strains of the virus show differing clinical and epidemiological features. Rapid diagnosis and implementation of infection control measures are essential to contain outbreaks. A number of serological and molecular diagnostic techniques have been developed for diagnosis and surveillance. Difficulties in diagnosis and management arise when a new area is affected. The high mortality associated with infection and the possibility of spread to new areas has underscored the need for effective management and control. However, no effective treatment or prophylaxis is readily available, though several approaches show promise. Given the common chains of transmission from bats to humans, a One Health approach is necessary for the prevention and control of NiV infection.

BackgroundAcinetobacter has gained importance as a multi-drug resistant and hence a difficult to treat pathogen. This study was done to characterize our isolates with respect to drug resistance and presence of beta-lactamases which is a major mechanism of resistance and to type using RAPD and MLST so that comparison of our clones can be made with the existing international clones.Methods100 isolates recovered from clinical samples from two hospitals in Delhi were tested for their susceptibility against major groups of antimicrobials. The resistant isolates were screened and confirmed phenotypically for presence of ESBL, MBL and AmpC and MBLs also by PCR. The isolates were typed by RAPD and MLST.ResultsOut of the 100 isolates, 91, 78 and 2 % were MDR, XDR and PDR respectively. 97, 100 and 85 were screen positive for ESBL, AmpC and MBL respectively. Of these, 38.1 % were confirmed phenotypically to produce ESBL, 99 % produced AmpC and 29.4 % produced MBL comprising of GIM, VIM, SIM and IMP. MLST showed known STs 110, 188, 146, 69, 103, 108 and 194. Eight new STs were encountered. The RAPD showed a high degree of genetic variability among the isolates.ConclusionMajority of our isolates were MDR, producing one or more types of beta-lactamases. We encountered drug resistant international clones by MLST which are found in other continents there by confirming their spread to Indian sub continent. No data on ST types of other Indian isolates is available in the MLST database and hence comparison is not possible.

Little is known about the molecular basis of antibiotic resistance among uropathogens in Southeast Nigeria. The aim of the study was to characterize enterobacterial uropathogens with respect to drug resistance. One hundred (100) enterobacterial uropathogens were studied. Their antibiotic susceptibility patterns were evaluated using disk diffusion, screened, and confirmed phenotypically for the presence of β-lactamases: ESBL, AmpC, carbapenemase, and MBLs. Screen positives were further tested for various β-lactamase genes by PCR. Our isolates showed variable resistance to most drugs tested. Out of the 58 ESBL screen positive E. coli, 35 were confirmed positive with PCR. The predominant ESBL gene was blaTEM while blaSPM was the most prevalent among MBL genes. Forty-six percentage of the screen positive Salmonella isolates coharbored blaTEM + SHV genes. Nine of the 10 ESBL screen positive K. pneumoniae were phenotypically and PCR positive. Three isolates of K. pneumoniae were positive for MBL genes. All the 10 C. freundii were positive for ESBL genes. The study showed high prevalence of drug-resistant genes among the enterobacterial uropathogens. Majority of the uropathogens harbored >1 antibiotic-resistant gene, and the most predominant gene was ESBL (blaTEM) followed by the MBL (SPM) gene.

Studying respiratory illness-specific microbial signatures and their interaction with other micro-residents could provide a better understanding of lung microbial ecology. Each respiratory illness has a specific disease etiology, however, so far no study has revealed disease—specific microbial markers. The present study was designed to determine disease-specific microbial features and their interactions with other residents in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (stable and exacerbated), sarcoidosis, and interstitial lung diseases. Broncho-alveolar lavage samples (n = 43) were analyzed by SSU rRNA gene sequencing to study the alveolar microbiome in these diseases. A predominance of Proteobacteria followed by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Fusobacteria was observed in all the disease subsets. Shannon diversity was significantly higher in stable COPD when compared to exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (ECOPD) (p = 0.0061), and ILD patient samples (p = 0.037). The lung microbiome of the patients with stable COPD was more diverse in comparison to ECOPD and ILD patients (p < 0.001). Lefse analysis identified 40 disease—differentiating microbial features (LDA score (log10) > 4). Species network analysis indicated a significant correlation (p < 0.05) of diseases specific microbial signature with other lung microbiome members. The current study strengthens the proposed hypothesis that each respiratory illness has unique microbial signatures. These microbial signatures could be used as diagnostic markers to differentiate among various respiratory illnesses.

Introduction: Corynebacterium spp. are primarily considered normal flora and dismissed when isolated from clinical specimens. In recent years, Corynebacterium striatum has emerged as a multi-drug resistant human pathogen which can cause nosocomial outbreaks. The organism has infrequently been noted to cause respiratory infections. A retrospective study was conducted to identify the clinical and microbiological features of respiratory infection by Corynebacterium striatum. Methodology: C. striatum isolates from clinical and surveillance samples were tested for susceptibility to antimicrobials and typed by Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Clinical data was obtained through a retrospective review of records. Results: 15 isolates from clinical and surveillance samples of 11 hospitalised patients were included. The patients suffered from either an exacerbation of COPD (n = 9) or pneumonia (n = 2). The isolates were all multi-drug resistant. RAPD typing found no evidence of an outbreak/ transmission between patients. Conclusions: Corynebacterium spp. must be considered potential pathogens. Suspicious isolates should be identified to the species level since Corynebacterium striatum is often multi-drug resistant.