The objective of this study was to determine the detection limit of three PCR approaches both from blood samples as well as from filter papers. Furthermore, the specificity was also accessed. We found that the best PCR approach studied was the amplification of the 16S rRNA from blood samples with a detection limit of 5 CFU/μL, the same when using dry blood in filter paper, although the obtained bands were not so evident. Present results highlight the need to develop more sensitive techniques able to be used both in rural areas and in the detection of asymptomatic carriers. From the tested PCRs, the 16S rRNA PCR-approach is the best to be used in the direct blood detection of acute cases of Carrion’s disease.

From its introduction in 1952 onwards, the clinical use of macrolides has been steadily increasing, both in human and veterinary medicine. Although initially designed to the treatment of Gram-positive microorganisms, this antimicrobial family has also been used to treat specific Gram-negative bacteria. Some of them, as azithromycin, are considered in the armamentarium against Enterobacteriaceae infections. However, the facility that this bacterial genus has to gain or develop mechanisms of antibiotic resistance may compromise the future usefulness of these antibiotics to fight against Enterobacteriaceae infections. The present review is focused on the mechanisms of macrolide resistance, currently described in Enterobacteriaceae.

The study was supported by the Programa Nacional de Innovaci?n para la Competitividad y Productividad (Inn?vate Per?), under the contract 117-PNICP-PIAP-2015. J.R. had a fellowship from the program I3, of the ISCIII [grant number: CES11/012]. C.G. had a PhD fellowship of the ISCIII [FI12/00561] and was recipient of a Canon Foundation Fellowship and a Small Grant from the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene [grant reference 000584]. MJP had a postdoctoral fellowship from CONCYTEC/FONDECYT [grant number: CG05-2013-FONDECYT].

The objective was to develop and characterise in vitro Bartonella bacilliformis antibiotic resistant mutants. Three B. bacilliformis strains were plated 35 or 40 times with azithromycin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin or rifampicin discs. Resistance-stability was assessed performing 5 serial passages without antibiotic pressure.

This study aimed to identify new B. bacilliformis antigenic candidates that could lead to a new diagnostic tool able to be implemented in endemic rural areas. RT-PCR and the high levels of positivity for specific ELISAs demonstrate high levels of B. bacilliformis exposure and asymptomatic carriers among inhabitants. The new antigens identified might be used as a new rapid diagnostic tool to diagnose acute Carrion’s disease and identify asymptomatic carriers.

Carrion’s disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, a vector-borne pathogen restricted to the Andean valleys of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Carrion’s disease is a biphasic illness; in the acute phase the case-fatality rate can be as high as 88 %, related to high parasitemia, arriving to almost all erythrocytes,and secondary bacterial infections close related with the development of transient immunosuppression in the earlier illness phases. In addition, there are an undefined number of asymptomatic carriers that are reservoirs of the etiological agent of Carrion’s disease in endemic areas, they make take into account due to they are the perpetuators of this disease. The actual scenario of Carrion’s disease, in which the illness is arriving to new areas, due to the expansion of the vector’s distribution, suggests that now may be a crucial time to...

Bartonella bacilliformis is the etiological agent of Carrion’s disease, which is a neglected disease linked to people in low-socioeconomic populations in Andean valleys. An outbreak of B. bacilliformis was reported in a rural area of the Peruvian Amazon region. The aim of this study was to characterize this outbreak using molecular techniques.

To characterize two Achromobacter xylosoxidans recovered from 2 patients diagnosed with pertussis during a Bordetella pertussis surveillance program.

ObjetivosCaracterizar los niveles y mecanismos de resistencia a β-lactámicos, quinolonas y macrólidos en 62 aislamientos de Escherichia coli causantes de bacteriemia en niños peruanos.MétodosSe determinaron las concentraciones inhibitorias mínimas (CIM) de ciprofloxacino, ácido nalidíxico (NAL) y azitromicina en presencia y ausencia de Phe-Arg-β-naftilamida. También se estableció la susceptibilidad a otros 14 agentes antimicrobianos. Se identificaron las β-lactamasas de espectro extendido (ESBL) y se determinaron las mutaciones en gyrA y parC, así como la presencia de mecanismos transferibles de resistencia a quinolonas (TMQR) y macrólidos (TMMR).ResultadosCincuenta aislados (80,6%) eran multirresistentes. Se observaron altas proporciones de resistencia a la ampicilina (93,5%), al NAL (66,1%) y al trimetoprim/sulfametoxazol (66,1%). Ningún aislado mostró resistencia a los...

Analysis of immune responses in Bartonella bacilliformis carriers are needed to understand acquisition of immunity to Carrion’s disease and may allow identifying biomarkers associated with bacterial infection and disease phases. Serum samples from 144 healthy subjects from 5 villages in the North of Peru collected in 2014 were analyzed. Four villages had a Carrion’s disease outbreak in 2013, and the other is a traditionally endemic area. Thirty cytokines, chemokines and growth factors were determined in sera by fluorescent bead-based quantitative suspension array technology, and analyzed in relation to available data on bacteremia quantified by RT-PCR, and IgM and IgG levels measured by ELISA against B. bacilliformis lysates. The presence of bacteremia was associated with low concentrations of HGF (p = 0.005), IL-15 (p = 0.002), IL-6 (p = 0.05), IP-10 (p = 0.008), MIG (p = 0.03) and ...

Antibiotic resistance is increasing worldwide, being of special concern in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility and mechanisms of resistance in 205 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) isolates from two cohort studies in children <24 months in Lima, Peru.