UNLABELLED ABSBACKGROUND: Since the detection of MRSA CC398 in pigs in 2004, it has emerged in livestock worldwide. MRSA CC398 has been found in people in contact with livestock and thus has become a public health issue. Data from a large-scale longitudinal study in two Danish and four Dutch pig herds were used to quantify MRSA CC398 transmission rates within pig herds and to identify factors a...

In The Netherlands a new reservoir of MRSA has recently been identified in pigs and veal calves upon which the 'Dutch Working Party on Infection Prevention' modified the national MRSA guidelines. In June 2006 a new group at risk of MRSA carriage was included, consisting of patients that reported direct exposure to living pigs or veal calves. After the implementation of this modification in a tr...

T e a r t i c l e t i t l e d “ S u c c e s s f u l management of highly drug resistant Tuberculosis with individualized drug susceptibility testing” in this issue of the Journal deserves special attention. It brings forth an important issue of fallacies and benefits of TB treatment offered by private practitioners versus treatment offered by publ ic sector physicians under the revised national...

OBJECTIVES The emergence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has changed the epidemiology of MRSA infections worldwide. In contrast to hospital-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA), CA-MRSA more frequently affects healthy individuals, both with and without recent healthcare exposure. Despite obvious epidemiological differences, it is unknown whether differences in...

Despite reports of high colonization rates of ST398 livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) among pigs and pig farmers, the incidence of LA-MRSA infection in the general population in Canada appears to be rare in comparison to that in some European countries. In this study, the complete genome sequence of a Canadian representative LA-MRSA isolate (08BA02176) f...

Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) types and Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene carriage were compared among suspected community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA (CA-MRSA) and health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) isolates. CA-MRSA isolates carried the SCCmec type IV complex, and most were PVL positive. The HA-MRSA isolates carried the SCCmec type II ...

Molecular surveillance of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) was implemented in Europe as case reporting in 2005. For all new MDR TB cases detected from January 2003 through June 2007, countries reported case-based epidemiologic data and DNA fingerprint patterns of MDR TB strains when available. International clusters were detected and analyzed. From 2003 through mid-2007 in Europe, 2,49...

Wronkowska M., Soral-Śmietana M. (2012): Fermentation of native wheat, potato, and pea starches, and their preparations by Bifidobacterium – changes in resistant starch content. Czech J. Food Sci., 30: 9–14. The capability was studied of the selected Bifidobacterium strains to utilise the resistant starch fraction (RS) from native starches of the following origin: wheat, potato, and pea, and th...

Methicillin-resistant S. aureus emerged in recent decades to become a leading cause of infection worldwide. Colonization with MRSA predisposes to infection and facilitates transmission of the pathogen; however, available regimens are ineffective at preventing MRSA colonization. Studies of human nasal flora suggest that resident bacteria play a critical role in limiting S. aureus growth, and pro...

BACKGROUND The use of vancomycin has continued to expand because of the increasing number of patients infected or colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, causing an increase in the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). METHODS Review of the pertinent English language literature. RESULTS Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. are being identified more oft...