Multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Salmonella enterica serotype Newport have been described for many years. However, the recognition of Newport strains with resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics is more recent. Plasmid-mediated CMY-2 AmpC ␤-lactamases have been identified in Salmonella in the United States, and the bla CMY-2 gene has been shown to be present in Salmonella serotype Newport. This organism is currently undergoing epidemic spread in both animals and humans in the United States, and this is to our knowledge the first description of the molecular epidemiology of this Salmonella strain in animals. Forty-two isolates were included in this study. All isolates were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, plasmid analysis, and antibiogram. Four pulsed-field profiles with XbaI were observed. Plasmid analyses showed that although the majority of isolates harbored a single plasmid of 140 kb, this plasmid was not identical in all strains. All isolates showed the presence of the bla CMY gene by PCR. Integrons were detected in 16 of the 42 isolates; a fragment of approximately 1,000 bp, amplified with the intI-F and aadAI-R primers, confirmed the presence of the aadAI gene cassette within an integron in these 16 isolates. The potential for coselection of the bla CMY gene, if located on an MDR replicon, may not be dependent on any particular antibiotic but rather may be the result of more general antimicrobial use. If this replicon is mobile, it is to be expected that similar MDR strains of additional Salmonella serotypes will be recognized in due course.

Background While screening programs have reduced the risk of infectious disease transmission by donors in human and veterinary blood banking, bacterial contamination of blood products has emerged as a major complication in human medicine. Objectives To describe a Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf)-contaminated feline packed RBC (pRBC) unit and experimentally investigate Pf-contaminated canine pRBCs. Methods Canine pRBCs were inoculated with Pf-rich pRBCs from the sentinel feline unit and stored at 4°C or 20°C for 72 hours. Aliquots from the pRBCs were serially evaluated by microscopy, culture, and a eubacterial 16S rRNA real-time PCR assay. Results One Pf-contaminated feline unit turned black after 22 days of storage and was removed from the blood bank; a source was not found, and no other contaminated units were identified. Canine pRBCs spiked with 5 or 25 μL of the sentinel unit became culture- and/or 16S PCR-positive at ≥8 hours at 20°C and 48 hours at 4°C and developed a color change at ≥24 hours. Sensitivity studies indicated that without incubation, inoculation of ≥100 μL Pf-rich pRBCs was necessary for a positive 16S PCR test result. Conclusions P. fluorescens grows in stored pRBCs slowly at 4°C and rapidly at 20°C. Screening of blood products for color change, estimating bacterial concentration with microscopy, and 16S PCR testing are simple and fast ways to detect bacteria in stored blood. Aseptic collection, temperature-controlled storage, and regular visual monitoring of stored units is recommended. Discolored units should not be transfused, but examined for bacterial contamination or other blood product quality problems.

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The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore how career services administrators at U.S. institutions of higher education perceive and describe their experience of hiring career counselors who advise international students. The perceptions and experiences of eight administrators from a mix of private, non-profit and research- on job analysis and interview questions based on positions tasks using behavioral and scenario-based approaches, and c) using an interview rubric which integrates multicultural competencies such as the version developed from the results of this study in tandem with the multicultural competency-based theoretical framework which guided this research.

The objective of this study was to evaluate transmission of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains between heifers that originated from either a high- or low-prevalence S. aureus herd after commingling at a heifer-rearing facility. Three to four-month-old heifers from the University of Pennsylvania (UPa) and the University of Delaware (UDel) were transported on a bimonthly basis and raised commingled at Eutgers University. Preliminary work established unique baseline strains of S. aureus at both universities prior to commingling, and a high prevalence of S. aureus at the UPa (22.4%) and a low prevalence of S. aureus at the UDel (2,7%). Composite milk, samples were obtained for culture of S. aureus from both universities three times in 2006 and four times in 2007. Strain typing of S. aureus was performed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The predominant strain isolated at the UPa was not spread to the UDel when heifers were commingled. The prevalence of S. aureus at the first routine culture after parturition (3-124 days after parturition) in primiparous cows previously commingled was similar in both herds. Sixty percent of the S. aureus strains isolated from commingled primiparous cow from the UPa were strains that were also found in the lactating herd. The UPa had significantly more S. aureus infections acquired in later lactation or subsequent lactations in primiparous cows that had been previously commingled and negative at the first routine culture after parturition, and from cows previously not commingled, than the UDel. The predominant strain of S. aureus isolated in these cows was the same as the predominant strain isolated from the preliminary baseline cultures. In this study, three to four-month-old commingled heifers returned to their herd of origin two to seven months prior to parturition were more at risk of acquiring an endemic strain of S. aureus than strains they may have potentially been exposed to at a commercial heifer-rearing facility. In this study, low-prevalent strains not found in the lactating herd and isolated from primiparous cows at parturition were of minor importance, and the infected mammary gland of lactating cows was the major reservoir of S. aureus.