Zygomycosis in Italy: A survey of FIMUA-ECMM (Federazione Italiana di Micopatologia Umana ed Animale and European Confederation of Medical Mycology)

Abstract The aims of the study were to analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and treatments for patients who developed zygomycosis enrolled in Italy during the European Confederation of Medical Mycology of medical mycology survey. This prospective multicenter study was performed between 2004 and 2007 at 49 italian Departments. 60 cases of zygomycosis were enrolled: the median age was 59.5 years (range 1-87), with a prevalence of males (70%). The majority of cases were immunocompromised patients (42 cases, 70%), mainly hematological malignancies (37). Among non-immunocompromised (18 cases, 30%), the main category was represented by patients with penetrating trauma (7/18, 3…

Molecular Typing Reveals Frequent Clustering among Human Isolates of Listeria monocytogenes in Italy

In Italy, the annual incidence of reported cases of listeriosis amounts in recent years (2004 to 2006) to 0.8 cases per million inhabitants. Our study is a subtyping analysis by serotyping, ribotyping, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of 44 human isolates from apparently sporadic cases of infection in the Lombardy region and in the Province of Florence, Italy, in the years 1996 to 2007. Based on the results of the different subtyping methods, 10 occasions were detected when strains of L. monocytogenes with the same subtype were isolated from more than one listeriosis case. A total of 28 (66.7%) out of 44 isolates were attributed to molecular subtype clusters. Our data support t…

Predominance of the fimH30 Subclone Among Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains Belonging to Sequence Type 131 in Italy

Multiclonal emergence of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Tuscany, Italy

Characterization of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from human listeriosis cases in Italy.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to characterize by serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and PCR amplification of virulence genes and markers of epidemic clones I, II, and III (ECI, ECII, and ECIII) 54 human isolates from apparently sporadic cases of infection occurring in the Lombardy region and in the province of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, in the years 1996 to 2007. Listeria monocytogenes isolates were provided by the clinical microbiology laboratories of the Lombardy region and the “Careggi” Hospital of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. Serotyping, PFGE after digestion with the AscI and ApaI enzymes, and PCR amplification for the inlA , inlC , and inlJ genes and ECI, ECII,…