Corynebacterium group D2 (CGD2) is involved in urinary tract infections in patients with underlying predisposing factors. This microorganism is highly resistant to a number of antimicrobial agents. We tested the activities of 79 antimicrobial agents against CGD2. (8-Lactams, aminoglycosides, and macrolides were ineffective. Fluorinated quinolones showed irregular activities, ofloxacin being the most active one. Doxycycline, rifampin, and mainly glycopeptides (vancomycin and teicoplanin) were the most active antibiotics against CGD2.Corynebacterium group D2 (CGD2) is involved in the etiology of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in patients with underlying predisposing factors, such as urinary tract instrumentation, surgery, or malignancy (1). CGD2 has also been involved in the origin of phosphate-encrusted cystitis (10, 11) and in sepsis in compromised hosts (3). This group has been shown to be resistant to most antibiotics used for the treatment of UTIs (9), the utilization of glycopeptides being frequently necessary.We studied the in vitro activities of 79 antimicrobial agents against CGD2 in order to find therapeutic alternatives useful for the treatment of UTIs caused by this microorganism.The antibiotics tested, kindly provided by their manufacturers, were penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, carbenicillin, ticarcillin, azlocillin, mezlocillin, piperacillin, cloxacillin, mecillinam, temocillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, sulbactam-ampicillin, piperacillin-tazobactam, ticarcillin-clavulanic acid, cefazolin, cefamandole, cefuroxime, cefotetan, cefonicid, cefaclor, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, cefsulodin, cefetamet, cefterame, latamoxef, ceftizoxime, cefoperazone, cefbuperazone, cefpirome, CGP-31608/WS (Ciba-Geigy), CGP-22495 (Ciba-Geigy), CGP-31523 (Ciba-Geigy), ICI-194008 lysed horse blood was used). The inoculum was prepared in Mueller-Hinton broth from a 48-h growth on Mueller-Hinton 5% sheep blood agar, adjusted to a turbidity equivalent to that of a 0.5 McFarland standard, and diluted 1:10. The inoculation of the agar plates was performed by using a Steer's replicator, the final inoculum on the media being approximately 104 CFU per spot. Plates were incubated for 48 h at 35°C in room air, since after 24 h of incubation, the control plates (the same strains inoculated on the same blood agar without antibiotics) occasionally showed very faint growth or had no visible growth. The growth on these plates after 48 h was always satisfactory. The MIC was defined as the lowest concentration of antibiotic that suppressed visible bacterial growth. Single colonies, faint hazes, and skip plates were disregarded.Results are shown in Table 1 and confirm the high resistance of CGD2 to a wide number of antimicrobial agents (6). CGD2 was resistant to all of the penicillins and combinations of penicillin and ,B-lactamase inhibitor tested. No strain was inhibited by any of these compounds and combinations at 128 ,ug/ml. To all of the cephalosporins, including the most recently developed ones and those active against other gram-...

The incidence and characteristics of urinary tract infections caused by Corynebacterium urealyticum were studied prospectively in 20,766 urine samples. Corynebacterium urealyticum was isolated from 67 samples (0.32%). Twenty-four percent of the patients from whom Corynebacterium urealyticum was isolated showed mild symptoms and had no risk factors other than prolonged hospitalization and previous antibiotic treatment. Sixty percent of the patients had urinary tract-related symptoms. The main risk factors were underlying urinary tract disease, antibiotic treatment, prolonged hospitalization and urological manipulation. Patients with antimicrobial treatment had a favourable clinical course, with the exception of two patients with encrusted cystitis.

The action of OXA-24/40 and OXA-58 β-lactamase-like enzymes represents the main mechanism underlying resistance to carbapenems in Spain in the last decade. AbkA/AbkB proteins in the toxin/antitoxin system may be involved in the successful dissemination of plasmids carrying the bla(OXA-24/40)-like gene, and probably also the bla(OXA-58)-like gene, thus contributing to the plasmid stability.

No abstract

Background Candida parapsilosis is a frequent cause of candidemia worldwide. Its incidence is associated with the use of medical implants, such as central venous catheters or parenteral nutrition. This species has reduced susceptibility to echinocandins and it is susceptible to polyenes and azoles. Multiple outbreaks caused by fluconazole non-susceptible strains have been reported recently. A similar trend has been observed among the C. parapsilosis isolates received in the last two years at the Spanish Mycology Reference Laboratory. Methods Yeast were identified by molecular biology and antifungal susceptibility testing was performed using EUCAST protocol. ERG11 gene was sequenced to identify resistance mechanisms, and strain typing was carried out by microsatellite analysis. Results We examined the susceptibility profile of 1,315 C. parapsilosis isolates available at our Reference Laboratory between 2000 and 2021, noticing an increase in the number of isolates with acquired resistance to fluconazole and voriconazole has increased in at least eight different Spanish hospitals in 2020-2021. From 121 recorded clones, 3 were identified as the most prevalent in Spain (clone 10 in Catalonia, and clone 96 in Castilla-Leon and Madrid, wereas clone 67 was found in two geographically unrelated regions, Cantabria and Balearic Islands). Conclusions Our data suggests that concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of fluconazole-resistant C. parapsilosis isolates has occurred in Spain, and the expansion of specific clones has been noted across centers. Further research is needed to determine the factors that underlie the successful expansion of these clones and their potential genetic relatedness.