Search results for "SMIS"
showing 10 items of 2316 documents
Origin of modern syphilis and emergence of a pandemic Treponema pallidum cluster
2016
The abrupt onslaught of the syphilis pandemic that started in the late fifteenth century established this devastating infectious disease as one of the most feared in human history1 . Surprisingly, despite the availability of effective antibiotic treatment since the mid-twentieth century, this bacterial infection, which is caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA), has been re-emerging globally in the last few decades with an estimated 10.6 million cases in 2008 (ref. 2). Although resistance to penicillin has not yet been identified, an increasing number of strains fail to respond to the secondline antibiotic azithromycin3. Little is known about the genetic patterns in current infec…
High-throughput sequencing (HTS) for the analysis of viral populations
2020
The development of High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) technologies is having a major impact on the genomic analysis of viral populations. Current HTS platforms can capture nucleic acid variation across millions of genes for both selected amplicons and full viral genomes. HTS has already facilitated the discovery of new viruses, hinted new taxonomic classifications and provided a deeper and broader understanding of their diversity, population and genetic structure. Hence, HTS has already replaced standard Sanger sequencing in basic and applied research fields, but the next step is its implementation as a routine technology for the analysis of viruses in clinical settings. The most likely appli…
Candida auris: An Overview of How to Screen, Detect, Test and Control This Emerging Pathogen
2020
The multidrug-resistant yeast Candida auris is associated with invasive infections in critically ill patients and has been isolated in different countries worldwide. Ease of spread, prolonged persistence in the environment and antifungal drug resistance pose a significant concern for the prevention of transmission and management of patients with C. auris infections. Early and correct identification of patients colonized with C. auris is critical in containing its spread. However, this may be complicated by C. auris strains being misidentified as other phylogenetically related pathogens. In this review, we offer a brief overview highlighting some of the critical aspects of sample collection,…
Evidence of increased circulation of Bordetella pertussis in the Italian adult population from seroprevalence data (2012–2013)
2016
Incidence data on pertussis cases in Italy do not show pertussis resurgence as recently described in other European countries. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to pertussis toxin (PT-IgG) in selected adult age groups, who can serve as a reservoir of Bordetella pertussis and be responsible for onward transmission to vulnerable infants. The seroprevalence of PT-IgG was studied in sera collected in 2012-2013 in three age groups: 20-29 years and 30-39 years (reproductive age), and ≥60 years. These data were compared to those from sera collected in similar age groups in 1996-1997. More than 80 % of the adult population analysed in the 2012-2013 group pr…
One year into the pandemic: Short-term evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and emergence of new lineages.
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared on March 11th, 2020. Since the very beginning, the spread of the virus has been tracked nearly in real-time by worldwide genome sequencing efforts. As of March 2021, more than 830,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been uploaded in GISAID and this wealth of data allowed researchers to study the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during this first pandemic year. In parallel, nomenclatures systems, often with poor consistency among each other, have been developed to designate emerging viral lineages. Despite general fears that the virus might mutate to become more virulent or transmissible, SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity has remained relatively low during the first ~…
Subtle genotypic changes can be observed soon after diagnosis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
2016
Clonal variants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) coexist in specific patients, although the dynamics of their emergence is unknown. We used MIRU-VNTR to detect microevolution leading to variants of MTB in 3 out of 19 patients (15%) soon after diagnosis (61-85 days). Most harbored SNPs and for some of them a potential functional role was suggested. Microevolution in tuberculosis seems to occur sooner and more often than expected and could affect tracking of transmission.
Genome-scale analysis of evolutionary rate and selection in a fast-expanding Spanish cluster of HIV-1 subtype F1.
2018
Abstract This work is aimed at assessing the presence of positive selection and/or shifts of the evolutionary rate in a fast-expanding HIV-1 subtype F1 transmission cluster affecting men who have sex with men in Spain. We applied Bayesian coalescent phylogenetics and selection analyses to 23 full-coding region sequences from patients belonging to that cluster, along with other 19 F1 epidemiologically-unrelated sequences. A shift in the overall evolutionary rate of the virus, explained by positively selected sites in the cluster, was detected. We also found one substitution in Nef (H89F) that was specific to the cluster and experienced positive selection. These results suggest that fast tran…
Aerobic growth of Rhodococcus aetherivorans BCP1 using selected naphthenic acids as the sole carbon and energy sources
2018
Naphthenic acids (NAs) are an important group of toxic organic compounds naturally occurring in hydrocarbon deposits. This work shows that Rhodococcus aetherivorans BCP1 cells not only utilize a mixture of eight different NAs (8XNAs) for growth but they are also capable of marked degradation of two model NAs, cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (CHCA) and cyclopentanecarboxylic acid (CPCA) when supplied at concentrations from 50 to 500 mgL−1 . The growth curves of BCP1 on 8XNAs, CHCA, and CPCA showed an initial lag phase not present in growth on glucose, which presumably was related to the toxic effects of NAs on the cell membrane permeability. BCP1 cell adaptation responses that allowed survi…
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Acquires Limited Genetic Diversity in Prolonged Infections, Reactivations and Transmissions Involving Multiple Hosts
2018
9 páginas, 5 figuras y material suplementario en: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.02661/full#supplementary-material
Influenza vaccination of healthcare workers in Italy: could mandatory vaccination be a solution to protect patients?
2019
Several studies have reported that influenza infections in healthcare workers (HCWs) can lead to nosocomial outbreaks. HCWs can potentially be infected with influenza every year, and may continue to work, encouraging the spread of the virus. Different strategies, such as informative interventions on influenza and influenza vaccination, ‘onsite’ vaccination weeks, communicative strategies through dedicated web and social media pages, and mandatory informed dissent form, were organized for HCWs working at the University Hospital of Palermo, during previous influenza seasons. However, the increased vaccination rates observed among HCWs still remain far from the 75% recommended by Public Healt…