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Background: The prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in healthy newborns and the role of maternal transmission are scarcely discussed., Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of MSSA, MRSA, and ESBL among healthy newborns. Additionally, mother-to-newborn transmission rates were investigated as well as antibiotic susceptibility of MSSA, MRSA, and ESBL isolates., Methods: Swabs of 658 newborns and their mothers were collected to investigate the presence of MSSA, MRSA, and ESBL. Swabs were taken from the nose and umbilicus immediately after birth. Additional swabs were taken from the nose, perianal area, and umbilicus 3 days after birth. Samples were screened and further characterized using culture and molecular methods., Results: Prevalence of MSSA, MRSA, and ESBL colonization was 10.9, 0.5, and 2.6%, respectively. There was no association between the colonization status of the newborn and infections at any time point. Mother-to-newborn transmission rates (confirmed by PFGE) were 53.6% for MSSA/MRSA and 100% for ESBL. Maternal carriage of MSSA, MRSA, or ESBL was a risk factor for colonization of the newborn. Some isolates were resistant to the antibiotics recommended for therapy, including clindamycin and daptomycin for MSSA/MRSA isolates and ertapenem, fosfomycin, and tigecyclin for ESBL isolates., Conclusion: No association between infections and the newborns' colonization status could be detected. Maternal colonization played an important role in newborn colonization, but not every case of colonization could be explained by mother-to-newborn transmission. General screening of pregnant women and healthy newborns in the absence of other risk factors is not necessary. To prevent the possibility of transmission in the healthcare setting, professionals, pregnant women, parents, hospital visitors, and obstetricians should receive regular training on appropriate hygiene measures. With regard to the emergence of resistance to recommended antibiotics, an antibiogram should be conducted before treating MSSA/MRSA/ESBL infections to ensure the efficacy of the antibiotics.

Background: Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) are spreading worldwide in both hospital and community settings. In this study, the molecular epidemiology and the transmission modalities of ESBL-E in intensive care- and bone marrow transplant were investigated., Methods: All patients included in this study were screened for presence of ESBL-E on admission and weekly. Relevant β-lactamase genes were identified by PCR and sequencing., Results: A total of 669 patients were included in this study. On admission, ESBL-producing Escherichia coli were detected in 49 (7.3%) patients and ESBL-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in one patient. The most common ESBL types among E. coli isolates were CTX-M-15 (38.8%) and CTX-M-1 (38.8%). Furthermore, 12 of 49 (24.5%) ESBL-producing E. coli could be assigned to the epidemic clone ST131. A single patient acquired ESBL-producing E. coli during the hospital stay but cross-transmission could not be demonstrated. Among 1095 environmental samples none revealed ESBL., Conclusions: Our results suggest that early detection of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae and consequent implementation of basic hygiene measures and contact isolation may reduce the transmission rate during the hospital stay.

In this study we determined the prevalence of intestinal carriage, the antimicrobial susceptibility rates, and the genetic diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the community. From July 2010 to December 2011, a total of 2110 nonreplicate fecal samples from individuals living in Bavaria were collected. Samples were screened for P. aeruginosa by a selective medium and antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by disc diffusion technique. Genetic diversity was assessed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Intestinal colonization was detected in 31 of 2110 (1.47%) individuals. None of the isolates showed resistance to aztreonam, imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, amikacin or colistin. Twenty-five isolates could be assigned to 20 different sequence types (STs), whereas the remaining 6 could not be assigned. Interestingly, four isolates belonged to ST253. These data show that intestinal colonization by P. aeruginosa occurs in the community with high genetic diversity and low rates of antimicrobial resistance.

The objective of this study was to determine the in vitro activity of ampicillin, third-generation cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, co-trimoxazole and azithromycin against Salmonella enterica isolates. None of the isolates tested showed resistance to third-generation cephalosporins or azithromycin. The rates of resistance to ampicillin, co-trimoxazole and ciprofloxacin were 16.8%, 3.2% and 0.8%, respectively. Moreover, 7.2% of the isolates showed reduced ciprofloxacin susceptibility, but none of them harboured qnr genes. To conclude, our data show that resistance to fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins in clinical isolates found in Germany still represents a rare circumstance.

Tobramycin and colistin represent 2 standard antimicrobial agents in the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients who are chronically colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study, we determined the rate of resistance to tobramycin and colistin in 1844 isolates of P. aeruginosa obtained from 22 CF patients under alternate therapy with inhaled tobramycin and colistin. Resistance to tobramycin was observed in 27.5% of isolates. In contrast, all isolates were susceptible to colistin. Molecular typing of selected isolates suggested that only 1 clone occurred over time in each patient. To conclude, resistance to tobramycin in P. aeruginosa isolates from CF patients under antimicrobial therapy may occur while colistin resistance remains uncommon.

A total of 113 clinical Campylobacter strains (105 C. jejuni, 7 C. coli, 1 C. lari) were collected between 2006 and 2008 and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline and meropenem. Of all the Campylobacter isolates, 52.2% were resistant to ciprofloxacin and 38.0% to doxycycline. None of them was resistant to erythromycin or meropenem. However, 51.3% of all Campylobacter isolates were intermediate susceptible to erythromycin (minimum inhibitory concentration 1-4 mg/l). These data confirm the value of macrolides as the drugs of choice for the treatment of severe Campylobacter infections.