Carbapenems are administered as the final drug of choice for treating complicated nosocomial infections caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains. It is currently a worldwide issue that metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) as carbapenem-hydrolyzing enzymes are one of the major drug resistance mechanisms. This investigation is thus aimed to assess the prevalence and characterize the MBL-producing strains of A. baumannii both by phenotypic assays and by genotypic characterization. A total of 73 isolates of A. baumannii were phenotypically and genotypically characterized from patients (N = 1,000) with severe urinary tract infection. Tested strains were subjected to double disc synergy testing (DDST) by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method with imipenem (IMP) and IMP/EDTA combination discs. Plasmid DNA was molecularly screened for MBL-encoding bla IMP , bla VIM , bla GIM , and bla NDM genes by PCR for the genetic relatedness of the MBL genes with carbapenem resistance. Carbapenem resistance profile showed 100%, 45%, and 49% non-susceptibility against imipenem, doripenem, and meropenem, respectively. Altogether 42.46% (n = 31) of the isolates showed MBL production upon double disc phenotypic test with IMP and IMP/EDTA discs. The bla VIM and bla GIM were detected in 34.24% (n = 25) and 16.43% (n = 12) of the isolates, respectively, while the co-occurrence of bla VIM and bla GIM was 2.73% among the isolates. DDST-positive isolates showed 21.19% and 9.58% strains positive for bla VIM and bla GIM , respectively, whereas 1.36% of the strains for both genes. None of the strains yielded bla IMP and bla NDM genes. The findings of this study showed prevalence of carbapenem resistance among A. baumannii from urine samples and the frequency of bla VIM and bla GIM.

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Candida albicans is a benign member of the normal skin and mucosal flora. The "frenemy" can cause life-threatening illness in an immunocompromised host, hence termed an opportunistic pathogen. The spectrum of disease caused by Candida may range from a simple diaper rash seen in infants to systemic candidiasis in frail patients. Mortality rate of systemic candidiasis reported in different cases were found to be 30-50%. Candida albicans exhibit extreme morphological plasticity which is a vital factor for its virulence. The transition from pseudohyphae to hyphal forms promotes tissue invasion and penetration into tissues. Over the past several decades researchers have worked on several virulence factors of Candida albicans to dissect the mechanism of pathogenicity in the host. The proteome, transcriptome and the genomic analysis have provided insight into the fundamental mechanisms of Candida mediated virulence and pathogenicity. Now they have embarked on revealing the epigenetic tags, which has a profound effect on the virulence of Candida. Epigenetics marks do not involve DNA sequence rather they influence gene expression by modifying the proteins or factors involved in the regulatory process. Hence, this review will throw light on the epigenetic process associated with phase-switching in Candida albicans. The process of phase switching happens to be a novel and less debated mechanism, which forms the crux of this review. Although there are several reports on in vitro and in vivo studies on animal models related to phase switching, this review would principally focus on the process in connection with oral cutaneous candidiasis.