Bartonella bacilliformis is the etiological agent of Carrion’s disease, a neglected tropical poverty-linked illness. This infection is endemic of Andean regions and it is estimated that approximately 1.7 million of South Americans are at risk. This bacterium is a fastidious slow growing microorganism, which is difficult and cumbersome to isolate from clinical sources, thereby hindering the availability of phylogenetic relationship of clinical samples. The aim of this study was to perform Multi Locus Sequence Typing of B. bacilliformis directly in blood from patients diagnosed with Oroya fever during an outbreak in Northern Peru.

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 ...

Bartonella bacilliformis is a facultative, intracellular, aerobic, Gram-negative coccobacillus causing the so-called Carrión's disease, a human infection endemic to specific areas mainly inhabited by low-income communities of Peru but also present in other Andean communities. It is considered a truly neglected tropical disease and is transmitted through the bite of female sandflies of the genus Lutzomyia.

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].

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is a cytoplasmic enzyme with an important function in cell oxidative damage prevention. Erythrocytes have a predisposition towards oxidized environments due to their lack of mitochondria, giving G6PD a major role in its stability. G6PD deficiency (G6PDd) is the most common enzyme deficiency in humans; it affects approximately 400 million individuals worldwide. The overall G6PDd allele frequency across malaria endemic countries is estimated to be 8%, corresponding to approximately 220 million males and 133 million females. However, there are no reports on the prevalence of G6PDd in Andean communities where bartonellosis is prevalent.

JR was supported by Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica (FONDECYT - Perú) within the “Proyecto de Mejoramiento y Ampliación de los Servicios del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica" [contract: 08-2019-FONDECYT-BM-INC-INV"].

En el presente estudio, se analizaron los mecanismos de resistencia a nitrofuranos en 18 muestras cárnicas con Salmonella enterica (15 de pollo, 2 de ternera y 1 de cerdo) de mercados de Lima (Perú). Determinaron los serotipos de los aislamientos y la sensibilidad a furazolidona y nitrofurantoina (con y sin el inhibidor de bombas de expulsión Phenyl-Arginine-β-Naphthylamide [PAβN]), las mutaciones en los genes snrA y cnr por PCR y la transferabilidad de la resistencia por conjugación. Se identificaron 15 muestras con S. infantis (13 muestras de pollo), 2 con S. enteritidis y 1 con S. anatum. Todos los aislamientos, excepto S. anatum, fueron resistentes a ambos nitrofuranos (concentración mínima inhibidora [CMI] a furazolidona: 32-64 μg/mL, CMI a nitrofurantoina: 128-256 μg/mL), sin diferencias al adicionarse PAβN. Todos los aislamientos resistentes a nitrofuranos presentaron s...

This study was supported by Fondo Nacio-nal de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica (FONDECYT–Perú) within the ‘‘Proyecto de Mejoramiento y Ampliación de los Servicios del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica’’ [contract: 08-2019-FONDE-CYT-BM-INC-INV’’], and by the Programa Nacional de Innovación en Pesca y Acuicul-tura and the Universidad Científica del Sur through the project ‘‘Aves Marinas como Centinelas del Mar: Uso de video-cámaras/ GPS en piqueros para monitorear actividades pesqueras ilícitas en el Perú (PNIPA-PES-SIADE-PP-000169)’’.

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...

The objective of the present study was to characterize Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis isolated from chicken meat determining their clonal relationships with S. Infantis isolated from children with diarrhea. Fifteen meat-recovered S. Infantis were analyzed. Susceptibility levels to 14 antibacterial agents, the presence of ESBL and that of inducible plasmid-mediated AmpC (i-pAmpC) were determined by phenotypical methods. The presence of ESBL and pAmpC was confirmed by PCR, and detected ESBL-encoding genes were sequenced and their transferability tested by conjugation. The presence of gyrA mutations as well as Class 1 integrons was determined by PCR. Clonal relationships were established by REP-PCR and RAPD. In addition, 25 clinical isolates of S. Infantis were included in clonality studies. All meat-recovered S. Infantis were MDR, showing resistance to ampicillin, nitrofurans and qui...

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is the top-ranked pathogen in the World Health Organization priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It emerged as a global pathogen due to the successful expansion of a few epidemic lineages, or international clones (ICs), producing acquired class D carbapenemases (OXA-type). During the past decade, however, reports regarding IC-I isolates in Latin America are scarce and are non-existent for IC-II and IC-III isolates. This study evaluates the molecular mechanisms of carbapenem resistance and the epidemiology of 80 non-duplicate clinical samples of A. baumannii collected from February 2014 through April 2016 at two tertiary care hospitals in Lima. Almost all isolates were carbapenem-resistant (97.5%), and susceptibility only remained high for colistin (95%). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed two main clusters spread between both h...

Escherichia coli ST131 has emerged as a globally disseminated multi-drug resistant clone associated with extra-intestinal infections acquired in the community or hospital. In Manhiça district, E. coli is among the top five leading bloodstream pathogens in children. We characterized E. coli strains causing bacteremia in young children in a rural hospital of Mozambique, providing novel information on the occurrence of a new subclone of ST131 harboring both ExPEC and EAEC related genes and belonging to commonly reported O25:H4 and other serotypes. These data suggest the need for further understanding of pathogenesis and clinical impact of this new entity to inform prompt recognition and appropriate treatment.