The rapid increase in CIPNS E. coli causing bacteraemia was closely related to the increase in resistance to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, production of ESBLs and resistance to aminoglycosides. Community use of fluoroquinolones (mainly moxifloxacin and levofloxacin) and of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid represents a significant driver in the progression of fluoroquinolone resistance in bacteraemic E. coli.

The long-term effects of bisphosphonate treatment in children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) are unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether treatment with bisphosphonates interferes with the healing of fractures in a group of children with OI. Seven subjects (6 boys), aged 11.4 +/- 5.95 years, were followed for 2.5 +/- 0.84 years after the start of treatment with intravenous pamidronate (9 mg/kg/y) and/or oral alendronate (5 or 10 mg/d). Orthopaedic surgery of 24 bones was performed after 2.33 +/- 4.14 months of treatment, with 1.6 +/- 0.84 osteotomies per bone. Ambulation was started after 26.1 +/- 32.28 days. Reoperation was required in 8% of the bones due to fracture below primary fixation. Pseudoarthrosis was seen in one fracture, an osteotomy of the proximal femur (14% of the patients, as expected in an OI population). These results suggest that treatment with bisphosphonates at the administered doses does not interfere with fracture healing. Larger and longer studies are warranted.

Drug resistance mutations in HIV-2 are selected at the same positions as in HIV-1, although with different frequency. Polymorphisms in the RT and PR associated with drug resistance in HIV-1 as compensatory changes are common in untreated HIV-2 subjects. These findings highlight the need for specific guidelines for interpreting genotypic resistance patterns in HIV-2 infection.

The Brazilian NAT HIV, HCV, and HBV kit is an automated NAT system suitable for routine blood donor screening in a completely traceable process. The analytical sensitivity as well as the diagnostic sensitivity fulfilled all requirements set by the health ministry for blood donor screening. A significant number of transmission cases were prevented by the implementation of this important program.

Background Malaria can be transmitted by blood transfusion through donations collected from asymptomatic donors. Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) poses a great risk to blood services worldwide. A good screening tool for Plasmodium spp. detection in blood banks must have a high sensitivity for prevention of TTM. However, in Brazilian blood banks, screening for malaria still relies on microscopy. Methods In Brazil, screening for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV), RNA/DNA for hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV) viruses is mandatory for every blood donation and uses nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of an assay for malaria to identify Plasmodium sp. from total nucleic acid (TNA; DNA/RNA) by targeting the 18S rRNA gene of the parasite. Results Considering the limitations of microscopy and the wide availability of the Brazilian NAT platform in the screening of blood units for HIV, HCV, and HBV, a molecular diagnostic tool was validated for detection of Plasmodium sp. in blood banks; a pilot study showed that using this novel NAT assay could reduce the risk of TTM. Conclusion The prototype HIV/HCV/HBV/malaria NAT assay was effective in detecting infected candidate donors and has good prospects to be applied in routine screening for preventing TTM.