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The aim of this study was to perform the molecular characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus haemolyticus (MRSH) from clinical specimens of patients in a Chinese hospital. One hundred and thirty-three strains of S. haemolyticus collected from April 2002 to April 2003 were analyzed. Antimicrobial susceptibility to 15 antimicrobial agents was determined by the broth microdilution method. The resistant rates to penicillin G and oxacillin were higher than 90%. There were no isolates resistant to linezolid or vancomycin, and only 6.0% of the strains were resistant to teicoplanin. The positivity rate for mecA genes was 90.2% by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Ninety MRSH (isolated from inpatients and mecA-gene-positive) were genotyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after SmaI digestion. Twenty-five different PFGE patterns (A∼Y) were found and a major clone (type A; n = 36) with five subtypes was identified. Clone A was detected during a 1-year period. Identical PFGE types were found in different wards and patients. The results of this study suggest the clonal spread of MRSH within our hospital. This emphasizes the need for control and prevention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study analyzes the prevalence of hospital and community-acquired infections caused by Escherichia coli. Patients and Methods: The antibiotic resistance pattern was used to characterize the isolates, and a retrospective observational study was performed to assess the relationship between antimicrobial use and bacterial resistance. The study was conducted during a 1 year and 7-month period in a 1,500-bed tertiary care hospital in Anhui, China. Results: An E. coli infection was diagnosed in 1.4% of patients (519/36,179) admitted to the hospital between March 1, 1999 and August 31, 2000. Of the 519 isolates, 489 (94.2%) were resistant to at least one antimicrobial; 86% were resistant to ampicillin, 85% to cephalothin, 83% to piperacillin, 77% to ampicillin/sulbactam, 72% to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ), 70% to ciprofloxacin, 61% to cefoperazone, 58% to tobramycin, 56% to gentamicin, 48% to ticarcillin-clavulanate, 44% to cefazolin, 43% to cefuroxime, 36% to cefoxitin, 32% to cefepime, 29% to aztreonam, cefetaxime and ceftriaxone, 28% to ceftazidime, 19% to piperacillin/tazobactam, 10% to amikacin, while all strains tested were susceptible to imipenem. Conclusion: Prior receipt of amtimicrobial therapy was significantly associated with infection caused by a resistant organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mtDNA hypervariable segment I sequences (HVS I) were sequenced in 64 Shuis from Guizhou Province. 73 sites were polymorphic in the 495 bp fragment that sequenced, identified 48 different haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis of the haplotypes suggested that there were some ancestral haplotypes in current Shuis, and these haplotypes were also present in Eurasia populations as well as in other ethnic groups. Demographic analysis of the Shuis demonstrated a unimodal distribution that is typical for a population undergone expansion in the past and with a high Tau value, which suggested that the Shui group might be a ancestral population. Combined with the analysis of the reported data, the Shui ethnic group showed a generally similar genetic component with the Zhuang from Guangxi, but it is also different from these typical south populations as Zhuang, Cantonese.