A study to compare the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test with the cell culture method in diagnosing urogenital Chiamydia trachomatis infections was performed. From 497 patients (212 women, 285 men) attending an outpatient clinic for sexually transmitted diseases, a total of 814 samples (female patients, cervix and urethra; male patients, urethra) were collected. This total included follow-up samples from 35 women and 35 men positive for C. trachomatis by cell culture and/or PCR test, which were collected 2 weeks after treatment with doxycycline (two 100-mg doses per day for 7 days). The PCR test was performed directly on clinical samples without performing phenol-chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation of DNA. The prevalence of C. trachomatis as measured by positive cell culture was 64 of 497 (12.9%,) for all patients, 31 of 212 (14.6%) for women, and 33 of 285 (11.6%) for men. The prevalences as measured by positive PCR test were 71 of 497 (14.3%), 36 of 212 (17.0%/o), and 35 of 285 (12.3%), respectively. The sensitivities of the cell culture and the PCR test compared with that of true-positive samples were 77.5 to 78.4% and 99.0 to 100.0%/z, respectively. Discrepancies between cell culture and the PCR test were found for 23 of 497 patients (4.9%), 19 of 212 females (9.0,%), and 4 of 285 males (1.4%). Nineteen pretreatment samples from 19 patients (4 female endocervical, 13 female urethral, and 2 male urethral samples) were cell culture negative and PCR test positive, while 1 pretreatment female endocervical sample was cell culture positive and PCR test negative. The posttreatment samples from all patients were cell culture negative, but the PCR test remained positive for 3 of 70 patients (1 female endocervical and 2 male urethral samples). One of these samples became spontaneously negative in three more weeks. The medical history of the individual patient and the negative PCR tests after treatment for nearly all patients support our hypothesis that the positive PCR test results were clinically relevant for the cell culture-negative but PCR test-positive patients of the population studied. Chlamydia trachomatis is the most frequent cause of sexually transmitted disease in the Western world. Every year, an estimated 4 million cases occur in the United States

Health care of severe burn patients is highly specialized and may require international patient transfer. Burn patients have an increased risk of developing infections. Patients that have been hospitalized in countries where carbapenemase-producing microorganisms (CPMO) are endemic may develop infections that are difficult to treat. In addition, there is a risk on outbreaks with CPMOs in burn centers. This study underlines that burn patients may extensively be colonized with CPMOs, and it provides best practice recommendations regarding clinical microbiology and infection control. We evaluated CPMO-carriage and wound colonization in a burn patient initially treated in Romania, and transported to the Netherlands. The sequence types and acquired beta-lactamase genes of highly-resistant microorganisms were derived from next generation sequencing data. Next, we searched literature for reports on CPMOs in burn patients. Five different carbapenemase-producing isolates were cultured: two unrelated OXA-48-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates, OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumanii, OXA-48-producing Enterobacter cloacae, and NDM-1-producing Providencia stuartii. Also, multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were detected. Among the sampling sites, there was high variety in CPMOs. We found 46 reports on CPMOs in burn patients. We listed the epidemiology of CPMOs by country of initial treatment, and summarized recommendations for care of these patients based on these reports and our study.

We observed an increase in resistance among ICU and urology isolates and an increased prevalence of ESBLs among ICU isolates. Carbapenemase production was not demonstrated. A regular update of empirical treatment protocols based on actual surveillance data is justified.

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