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Abstract Background Training of infectious disease (ID) specialists is structured on classical clinical microbiology training in Turkey and ID specialists work as clinical microbiologists at the same time. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical skills and knowledge required by clinical microbiologists. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010 in 32 ID departments in Turkey. Only patients hospitalized and followed up in the ID departments between January-June 2010 who required consultation with other disciplines were included. Results A total of 605 patients undergoing 1343 consultations were included, with pulmonology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, dermatology, haematology, and endocrinology being the most frequent consultation specialties. The consultation patterns were quite similar and were not affected by either the nature of infections or the critical clinical status of ID patients. Conclusions The results of our study show that certain internal medicine subdisciplines such as pulmonology, neurology and dermatology appear to be the principal clinical requisites in the training of ID specialists, rather than internal medicine as a whole.

Abstract Background We studied the beta-lactamases of an E. aerogenes isolate recovered from the blood of a two-year-old patient. The isolate demonstrated a disk-diffusion phenotype typical for an AmpC-ESBL co-producer. Methods Microbiology studies were performed according to standard protocols. The resistance gene was identified by transconjugation and cloning experiments. Results By transconjugation only a narrow spectrum beta-lactamase (TEM-1) encoded on a small plasmid was transmitted. The ESBL was cloned and expressed in an E. coli host. Sequence analysis of the recombinant plasmid revealed blaSHV-12 associated to the insertion sequence, IS26. Conclusion This is the first study demonstrated the occurrence of SHV-12 in Nigeria.

Abstract Background We compared imipenem, meropenem and cefoperazone-sulbactam against hospital originated A. baumannii strains in terms of bactericidal efficacy and selection of resistant mutants during treatment in a rat thigh abscess model. Methods A total of 18 strains were inoculated in 54 animals (one strain for three animals). Randomly selected 10 among these 18 strains were inoculated in another 10 rats as the control group. Imipenem, meropenem and cefoperazone-sulbactam were the antibiotics compared. After four days of treatment, Wistar albino rats (200 to 250 g) were sacrificed and the abscess materials were processed for mean colony counts and for the presence of resistant mutants. Results The mean CFUs per gram (mean ± (std. deviation) [×104]) of the abscess were: 9,14 (25,24), 2,11 (3,78), 1,20 (1,70) in the imipenem (n = 17), meropenem (n = 18) and cefoperazone-sulbactam (n = 17) groups, respectively. The differences were not significant. On the other hand, no resistant mutant was detected in abscess materials. Conclusion This study indicated; first, cefoperazone-sulbactam is comparable to carbapenems in bactericidal efficacy in this particular abscess model and second, emergence of resistance due to spontaneous mutations is not at least a frequent phenomenon among A. baumannii.