Treatment of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV co-infections is often complicated by drug-to-drug interactions between anti-mycobacterial and anti-retroviral agents. Rifabutin (RFB) is an alternative to rifampin (RIF) for TB regimens and is recommended for HIV patients concurrently receiving protease inhibitors because of reduced induction of CYP3A4. This study sought to determine the proportion of RFB...

1. Balcázar JL, Gallo-Bueno A, Planas M, Pintado J. Isolation of Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio splendidus from captive-bred seahorses with disease symptoms. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 2010;97:207–10. doi:10.1007/s10482-009-9398-4 2. Balcázar JL, Pintado J, Planas M. Bacillus galliciensis sp. nov., isolated from faeces of wild seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus). Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2010;6...

OBJECTIVE To determine the mechanism of rifampicin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in Taiwan. METHODS Rifampicin resistance was investigated with respect to the rpoB gene in 23 invasive S. pneumoniae isolates collected from 1996 to 2001. PCR and molecular typing were used for genetic and epidemiological analyses. Transformation was used to determine the functional gene for resistance. ...

Rifampicin resistance (Rifr) mutations in the RNA polymerase β subunit (rpoB) gene exhibit pleiotropic phenotypes as a result of their effects on the transcription machinery in prokaryotes. However, the differences in the effects of the mutations on the physiology and metabolism of the bacteria remain unknown. In this study, we isolated seven Rifr mutations in rpoB, including six single point m...

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency, location and type of rpoB mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients in Iran. 91 sputum were collected from suspected tuberculosis patients, 34 Rif-r isolates (87%) were identified as M. tuberculosis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and DNA sequencing methods were performed. 411 bp fragments of rpoB gene w...

OBJECTIVES Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a global problem that many countries are challenged with. Rapid and accurate detection of MDR-TB is critical for appropriate treatment and controlling of TB. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the TaqMan allelic discrimination without minor groove binder (MGB) as a rapid, efficient, and low-cost method for detection of drug resis...

A total of 2582 non-duplicate clinical Acinetobacter spp. isolates were collected to evaluate the performance of four identification methods because it is important to identify Acinetobacter spp. accurately and survey the species distribution to determine the appropriate antimicrobial treatment. Phenotyping (VITEK 2 and VITEK MS) and genotyping (16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequencing) methods were a...

The increasing incidence of Multi Drug Resistance Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and Extensively Drug Resistance TB (XDR-TB) worldwide highlight the urgent need to search for newer anti-tuberculosis compounds. It has been determined that pharmaceutical plant, hops (Humulus lupulus), possesses some antibacterial effect. In this study, the antimycobacterial effect of this plant on rifampin sensitive and r...

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential development of DNA microarray chips to detect rifampicin (RFP) and isoniazid (INH) resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), using samples from clinical tuberculosis (TB) patients in Soochow City, China. The sputum samples of 42 patients with TB in the Affiliated Hospital of Infectious Diseases of Soochow University (Soochow...

Molecular characterization of the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with different origins can generate information that is useful for developing molecular methods. These methods are widely applicable for rapid detection of drug resistance. A total of 166 rifampin (RIF)- and/or isoniazid (INH)-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis have been isolated from different parts of Vi...