scholarly journals Bacteriophage Therapy Rescues Mice Bacteremic from a Clinical Isolate of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium

2002 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biswajit Biswas ◽  
Sankar Adhya ◽  
Paul Washart ◽  
Brian Paul ◽  
Andrei N. Trostel ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) has become endemic in many hospitals and nursing homes in the United States. Such colonization predisposes the individual to VRE bacteremia and/or endocarditis, and immunocompromised patients are at particular risk for these conditions. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains requires the exploration of alternative antibacterial therapies, which led our group to study the ability of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages, or phages) to rescue mice with VRE bacteremia. The phage strain used in this study has lytic activity against a wide range of clinical isolates of VRE. One of these VRE strains was used to induce bacteremia in mice by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 109 CFU. The resulting bacteremia was fatal within 48 h. A single i.p. injection of 3 × 108 PFU of the phage strain, administered 45 min after the bacterial challenge, was sufficient to rescue 100% of the animals. Even when treatment was delayed to the point where all animals were moribund, approximately 50% of them were rescued by a single injection of this phage preparation. The ability of this phage to rescue bacteremic mice was demonstrated to be due to the functional capabilities of the phage and not to a nonspecific immune effect. The rescue of bacteremic mice could be effected only by phage strains able to grow in vitro on the bacterial host used to infect the animals, and when such strains are heat inactivated they lose their ability to rescue the infected mice.

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1088-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Eliopoulos ◽  
C. B. Wennersten ◽  
H. S. Gold ◽  
T. Schülin ◽  
M. Souli ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In the course of clinical studies with the investigational streptogramin antimicrobial dalfopristin-quinupristin, isolates of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium were referred to our laboratory from across the United States. Seventy-two percent of the strains were of the VanA type, phenotypically and genotypically, while 28% were of the VanB type. High-level resistance to streptomycin or gentamicin was observed in 86 and 81%, respectively, of the VanA strains but in only 69 and 66%, respectively, of the VanB strains. These enterococci were resistant to ampicillin (MIC for 50% of the isolates tested [MIC50] and MIC90, 128 and 256 μg/ml, respectively) and to the other approved agents tested, with the exception of chloramphenicol (MIC90, 8 μg/ml) and novobiocin (MIC90, 1 μg/ml). Considering all of the isolates submitted, dalfopristin-quinupristin inhibited 86.4% of them at concentrations of ≤1 μg/ml and 95.1% of them at ≤2 μg/ml. However, for the data set comprised of only the first isolate submitted for each patient, 94.3% of the strains were inhibited at concentrations of ≤1 μg/ml and 98.9% were inhibited at concentrations of ≤2 μg/ml. Multiple drug resistance was very common among these isolates of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium, while dalfopristin-quinupristin inhibited the majority at concentrations that are likely to be clinically relevant.


2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1349-1351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hanrahan ◽  
Claudia Hoyen ◽  
Louis B. Rice

ABSTRACT In several clonally unrelated VanB-type vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus faecium strains, we demonstrated a common physical relationship between pbp5 and Tn5382as well as common mutations within pbp5. The majority of these strains transferred vancomycin and ampicillin resistance toE. faecium in vitro, suggesting the dissemination of similar transferable pbp5-vanB-containing mobile elements throughout the United States.


Author(s):  
Cecilia G. Carvalhaes ◽  
Helio S. Sader ◽  
Jennifer M. Streit ◽  
Mariana Castanheira ◽  
Rodrigo E. Mendes

Oritavancin displayed potent and stable activity (MIC 90 range, 0.06-0.5 mg/L) over time (2010-2019) against Gram-positive pathogens causing bloodstream infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and resistant subsets of Enterococcus spp. Daptomycin and linezolid were also active against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus . Only oritavancin and linezolid remained active against Enterococcus faecium isolates displaying an elevated daptomycin MIC (i.e., 2-4 mg/L). Proportions of methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus within the respective S. aureus and enterococcal populations decreased over this period.


2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Paul MacLennan

In the winter of 2015, as this review is being written, the price of gasoline is plummeting in the United States and what this will mean for the individual, community, and country for the immediate future but also in years to come is unknown. There are a wide range of implications in politics, economics, and international relations as well as effects on what the individual pays for everyday groceries. It is therefore important that libraries provide their communities with the resources that include information and discussion on how energy and its monetary value interact with society.


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (15) ◽  
pp. 4969-4976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Engelhardt ◽  
Kristin F. Degnes ◽  
Michael Kemmler ◽  
Harald Bredholt ◽  
Espen Fj�rvik ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Twenty-seven marine sediment- and sponge-derived actinomycetes with a preference for or dependence on seawater for growth were classified at the genus level using molecular taxonomy. Their potential to produce bioactive secondary metabolites was analyzed by PCR screening for genes involved in polyketide and nonribosomal peptide antibiotic synthesis. Using microwell cultures, conditions for the production of antibacterial and antifungal compounds were identified for 15 of the 27 isolates subjected to this screening. Nine of the 15 active extracts were also active against multiresistant Gram-positive bacterial and/or fungal indicator organisms, including vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and multidrug-resistant Candida albicans. Activity-guided fractionation of fermentation extracts of isolate TFS65-07, showing strong antibacterial activity and classified as a Nocardiopsis species, allowed the identification and purification of the active compound. Structure elucidation revealed this compound to be a new thiopeptide antibiotic with a rare aminoacetone moiety. The in vitro antibacterial activity of this thiopeptide, designated TP-1161, against a panel of bacterial strains was determined.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Anwarul Haque ◽  
Ashish Kumar Sarker ◽  
Mohammad Sayful Islam ◽  
Md Ajijur Rahman ◽  
Md Akter Uzzaman Chouduri ◽  
...  

The marine soil and sediment samples were collected from different locations of mangrove forest Sundarbans, Bangladesh the largest tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. A total of twenty nine Actinomycete strains (AIAH-1 to AIAH-29) were isolated by serial dilution method using isolation media. Among twenty nine strains, AIAH-10 was selected for further study due to its potent antibacterial activity against a wide range of pathogenic bacterial strains. On the basis of morphological, cultural and biochemical studies, the strain AIAH-10 was assigned to Streptomyces sp. The present study was designed to investigate the in vitro insecticidal and time-kill profile of ethyl acetate extracts of marine Streptomyces sp. A dose dependent mortality was observed against the larvae of Sitophilus oryzae. The larval mortality was recorded as 100% in the concentration of 80 mg/ml and higher concentrations, LC50 was found as 11.48 mg/ml. The minimum inhibitory concentration was recorded as 8 to 32 mg/ml against six different pathogenic bacterial strains. Average Log10 reductions in viable cell counts for the extracts ranged from 1.91 Log10 and 2.86 Log10 cfu/mL after 3 h interaction and 2.10 Log10 and 2.93 Log10 after 6 h interaction at MIC, 2 × MIC, 3 × MIC and 4 × MIC concentrations. This investigation reveals that the Streptomyces species isolated from Sundarbans, Bangladesh may be interesting source for the isolation of potent bioactive compounds. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bpj.v17i2.22332 Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 17(2): 151-156, 2014


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1934578X1601100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Pesavento ◽  
Valentina Maggini ◽  
Isabel Maida ◽  
Antonella Lo Nostro ◽  
Carmela Calonico ◽  
...  

Essential oils (EOs) are known to inhibit the growth of a wide range of microorganisms. Particularly interesting is the possible use of EOs to treat multidrug-resistant cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogens. We tested the essential oil (EO) from Origanum vulgare for in vitro antimicrobial activity, against three of the major human opportunistic pathogens responsible for respiratory infections in CF patients; these are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Achromobacter xylosoxidans. Antibiotic susceptibility of each strain was previously tested by the standard disk diffusion method. Most strains were resistant to multiple antibiotics and could be defined as multi-drug-resistant (MDR). The antibacterial activity of O. vulgare EO (OEO) against a panel of 59 bacterial strains was evaluated, with MIC and MBC determined at 24, 48 and 72 hours by a microdilution method. The OEO was effective against all tested strains, although to a different extent. The MBC and MIC of OEO for S. aureus strains were either lower or equal to 0.50%, v/v, for A. xylosoxidans strains were lower or equal to 1% and 0.50%, v/v, respectively; and for S. maltophilia strains were lower or equal to 0.25%, v/v. The results from this study suggest that OEO might exert a role as an antimicrobial in the treatment of CF infections.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-63
Author(s):  
Anna Su

ABSTRACTReligious accommodation analysis often takes the form of a tripartite test. One of the factors in such a test is the presence of burden, the current judicial understandings of which have been inadequate to capture a wide range of impact that government regulations have on the individual or community practice of religion. This article considers and compares the jurisprudence of the high courts of the United States and Canada and the European Court of Human Rights and argues for an expansive understanding of the burden requirement in the evaluation of religious accommodation claims, namely to consider burden as (1) coercion, (2) impact, and (3) ratification. I argue that it is imperative to acknowledge different kinds of burden before proceeding to determine its gravity. This approach takes religion more seriously than prevailing approaches and provides for a more equitable distribution of the burden of proof in religious accommodation claims.


2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 2383-2388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah C. Draghi ◽  
Bret M. Benton ◽  
Kevin M. Krause ◽  
Clyde Thornsberry ◽  
Chris Pillar ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Telavancin is an investigational, rapidly bactericidal lipoglycopeptide antibiotic that is being developed to treat serious infections caused by gram-positive bacteria. A baseline prospective surveillance study was conducted to assess telavancin activity, in comparison with other agents, against contemporary clinical isolates collected from 2004 to 2005 from across the United States. Nearly 4,000 isolates were collected, including staphylococci, enterococci, and streptococci (pneumococci, beta-hemolytic, and viridans). Telavancin had potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (MIC range, 0.03 to 1.0 μg/ml), independent of resistance to methicillin or to multiple agents. Telavancin activity was particularly potent against all streptococcal groups (MIC90s, 0.03 to 0.12 μg/ml). Telavancin had excellent activity against vancomycin-susceptible enterococci (MIC90, 1 μg/ml) and was active against VanB strains of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (MIC90, 2 μg/ml) but less active against VanA strains (MIC90, 8 to 16 μg/ml). Telavancin also demonstrated activity against vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strains (MICs, 0.5 μg/ml to 1.0 μg/ml and 1.0 μg/ml to 4.0 μg/ml, respectively). These data may support the efficacy of telavancin for treatment of serious infections with a wide range of gram-positive organisms.


2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna E. T. Stearne ◽  
Clarissa Kooi ◽  
Wil H. F. Goessens ◽  
Irma A. J. M. Bakker-Woudenberg ◽  
Inge C. Gyssens

ABSTRACT To determine the efficacy of trovafloxacin as a possible treatment for intra-abdominal abscesses, we have developed an anaerobic time-kill technique using different inocula to study the in vitro killing ofBacteroides fragilis in pure culture or in mixed culture with either Escherichia coli or a vancomycin-resistant strain of Enterococcus faecium (VREF). With inocula of 5 × 105 CFU/ml and trovafloxacin concentrations of ≤2 μg/ml, a maximum observed effect (E max) of ≥6.1 (log10 CFU/ml) was attained with all pure and mixed cultures within 24 h. With inocula of 108CFU/ml, a similar E max and a similar concentration to produce 50% of E max(EC50) for B. fragilis were found in both pure cultures and mixed cultures with E. coli. However, to produce a similar killing of B. fragilis in the mixed cultures with VREF, a 14-fold increase in the concentration of trovafloxacin was required. A vancomycin-susceptible strain of E. faecium and a trovafloxacin-resistant strain of E. coli were also found to confer a similar “protective” effect on B. fragilis against the activity of trovafloxacin. Using inocula of 109 CFU/ml, the activity of trovafloxacin was retained for E. coli and B. fragilis and was negligible against VREF. We conclude that this is a useful technique to study the anaerobic killing of mixed cultures in vitro and may be of value in predicting the killing of mixed infections in vivo. The importance of using mixed cultures and not pure cultures is clearly shown by the difference in the killing of B. fragilis in the mixed cultures tested. Trovafloxacin will probably be ineffective in the treatment of infections involving large numbers of enterococci. However, due to its ability to retain activity against large cultures of B. fragilis and E. coli, trovafloxacin could be beneficial in the treatment of intra-abdominal abscesses.


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