Clinical Science and Epidemiology
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyVersatility of Biofilm Matrix Molecules in Staphylococcus epidermidis Clinical Isolates and Importance of Polysaccharide Intercellular Adhesin Expression during High Shear StressStaphylococcus epidermidis is a leading cause of infections related to biomaterials, mostly due to their ability to form biofilm. Biofilm accumulation mechanisms vary, including those that are dependent on specific proteins, environmental DNA (eDNA), or polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA). We found that those isolates obtained from high-shear environments, such...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyEnvironmentally Endemic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains with Mutations in lasR Are Associated with Increased Disease Severity in Corneal UlcersThe LasR transcription factor is an important regulator of quorum sensing in P. aeruginosa and positively controls multiple virulence-associated pathways. The emergence of strains with lasR loss-of-function alleles in chronic disease is well described and is thought to represent a specific adaptation to the host environment. However, the prevalence and...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyComparative Pathogenicity of United Kingdom Isolates of the Emerging Pathogen Candida auris and Other Key Pathogenic Candida SpeciesThe incidence of invasive candidiasis, which includes candidemia and deep tissue infections, continues to rise and is associated with considerable mortality rates. Candida albicans remains the most common cause of invasive candidiasis, although the prevalence of non-albicans species has increased over recent years. Since its first description in 2009, ...
Observation | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyA Phenotypically Silent vanB2 Operon Carried on a Tn1549-Like Element in Clostridium difficileIn an era when the development of new antimicrobial drugs is slow, vancomycin remains the preferred antimicrobial therapy for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), the most important health care-related infection in the world today. The emergence of resistance to vancomycin would have significant consequences in relation to treating patients with CDI. In this paper,...
Editor's Pick Observation | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyFirst Detection of Bat White-Nose Syndrome in Western North AmericaWhite-nose syndrome (WNS) represents one of the most consequential wildlife diseases of modern times. Since it was first documented in New York in 2006, the disease has killed millions of bats and threatens several formerly abundant species with extirpation or extinction. The spread of WNS in eastern North America has been relatively gradual, inducing optimism that disease mitigation strategies could be established in time to conserve...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyPopulation Genomics of Reduced Vancomycin Susceptibility in Staphylococcus aureusThe emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens are two of the gravest threats to public health facing the world today. We report the development and application of a novel population genomic technique aimed at uncovering the evolutionary dynamics and genetic determinants of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. This method was...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologySeparate F-Type Plasmids Have Shaped the Evolution of the H30 Subclone of Escherichia coli Sequence Type 131A clonal lineage of Escherichia coli known as ST131 has emerged as a dominating strain type causing extraintestinal infections in humans. The evolutionary history of ST131 E. coli is now well understood. However, the role of plasmids in ST131’s evolutionary history is poorly defined. This study...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyPhylogenomic Analysis Reveals an Asian Origin for African Burkholderia pseudomallei and Further Supports Melioidosis Endemicity in AfricaSporadic melioidosis cases have been reported in the African mainland and Indian Ocean islands, but until recently, these regions were not considered areas where B. pseudomallei is endemic. Given the high mortality rate of melioidosis, it is crucial that this disease be recognized and suspected in all regions of endemicity. Previous work has shown that...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologyNew Monoclonal Antibodies against a Novel Subtype of Shiga Toxin 1 Produced by Enterobacter cloacae and Their Use in Analysis of Human SerumStxs are among the most clinically important virulence factors of Shigella and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. There are many varieties of Stx, and although Stx1a and Stx2a are the most common and widely distributed types of Stx, new variants of Stx are continually emerging. These new variants of Stx can be challenging to detect, since most Stx detection...
Research Article | Clinical Science and EpidemiologySSTAR, a Stand-Alone Easy-To-Use Antimicrobial Resistance Gene PredictorWhole-genome sequencing (WGS) is quickly becoming a routine method for identifying genes associated with antimicrobial resistance (AR). However, for many microbiologists, the use and analysis of WGS data present a substantial challenge. We developed SSTAR, software with a graphical user interface that enables the identification of known AR genes from WGS and has the unique capacity to easily detect new variants of known AR genes,...