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Shellfish are natural reservoirs for enteric pathogens and are an important food source for some coastal communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Little is known about the food safety of shellfish in PNG. Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholerae are common enteric pathogens known to cause moderate to severe gastrointestinal illnesses in humans, and there is a lack of information on the prevalence of these important bacterial pathogens in shellfish in PNG. The aim of this study was to gain preliminary data on the prevalence of these enteric pathogens in edible shellfish. A total of 400 shellfish samples were collected in estuarine habitats of Madang Province and screened for Salmonella spp. and V. cholerae by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), yielding 0/400 (0%) and 17/400 (4.25%) positives, respectively. Further testing revealed that none of the V. cholerae detected in this study was a toxigenic strain, however the result does not necessarily indicate that there is no risk of cholera infections. Further investigation is warranted. This study provides the first detection of V. cholerae in shellfish in PNG and highlights the potential public health concerns of these natural reservoirs for enteric pathogens.

However, analysing these same data by school Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (a measure of school-level advantage that accounts for school location, parent education and percentage of Indigenous students) revealed worrying inequities. Students from schools in low-income communities did not suffer significant "learning loss" during the pandemic years of 2020-2021, but instead improved in certain areas of study. [Extracted from the article]

•High rates of dense pneumococcal carriage begin soon after birth in Papua New Guinea.•Highly diverse range of pneumococcal serotypes is carried in the first month of life.•Early 7vPCV schedules have limited impact on pneumococcal vaccine type carriage in PNG.

It all starts with fermentation Alcoholic beverages are produced via microbes, mostcommonly yeasts, which convert sugars to ethanol(alcohol) in the process of fermentation. We're getting really good at making alcohol-free beer and wine. Although most yeast strains are likely to be commerciallyavailable and previously described, some breweries are stillsecretive about the exact strain they useto produce low-alcohol beers. [Extracted from the article]

ABSTRACTSulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) plus azithromycin (AZ) (SPAZ) has the potential for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp), but its use could increase circulation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria associated with severe pediatric infections. We evaluated the effect of monthly SPAZ-IPTp compared to a single course of SP plus chloroquine (SPCQ) on maternal nasopharyngeal carriage and antibiotic susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Staphylococcus aureusat delivery among 854 women participating in a randomized controlled trial in Papua New Guinea. Serotyping was performed, and antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated by disk diffusion and Etest. Potential risk factors for carriage were examined. Nasopharyngeal carriage at delivery of S. pneumoniae(SPAZ, 7.2% [30/418], versus SPCQ, 19.3% [84/436]; P< 0.001) and H. influenzae(2.9% [12/418] versus 6.0% [26/436], P= 0.028), but not S. aureus, was significantly reduced among women who had received SPAZ-IPTp. The number of macrolide-resistant pneumococcal isolates was small but increased in the SPAZ group (13.3% [4/30], versus SPCQ, 2.2% [2/91]; P= 0.033). The proportions of isolates with serotypes covered by the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine were similar (SPAZ, 10.3% [3/29], versus SPCQ, 17.6% [16/91]; P= 0.352). Although macrolide-resistant isolates were rare, they were more commonly detected in women who had received SPAZ-IPTp, despite the significant reduction of maternal carriage of S. pneumoniaeand H. influenzaeobserved in this group. Future studies on SPAZ-IPTp should evaluate carriage and persistence of macrolide-resistant S. pneumoniaeand other pathogenic bacteria in both mothers and infants and assess the clinical significance of their circulation.

ABSTRACTTyphoid fever remains a major global health problem. A major impediment to improving outcomes is the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools, which have not significantly improved in low-income settings for 100 years. We evaluated two commercially available rapid diagnostic tests (Tubex and TyphiDot), a prototype (TyphiRapid TR-02), and the commonly used single-serum Widal test in a previously reported high-burden area of Papua New Guinea. Samples were collected from 530 outpatients with axillary temperatures of =37.5°C, and analysis was conducted on all malaria-negative samples (n= 500). A composite reference standard of blood culture and PCR was used, by which 47 participants (9.4%) were considered typhoid fever positive. The sensitivity and specificity of the Tubex (51.1% and 88.3%, respectively) and TyphiDot (70.0% and 80.1%, respectively) tests were not high enough to warrant their ongoing use in this setting; however, the sensitivity and specificity for the TR-02 prototype were promising (89.4% and 85.0%, respectively). An axillary temperature of =38.5°C correlated with typhoid fever (P= 0.014). With an appropriate diagnostic test, conducting typhoid fever diagnosis only on patients with high-grade fever could dramatically decrease the costs associated with diagnosis while having no detrimental impact on the ability to accurately diagnose the illness.

Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is an important tool for the global surveillance of bacterial pathogens that is performed by comparing the sequences of designated housekeeping genes. We developed and tested a novel mass spectrometry-based method for MLST of Streptococcus pneumoniae. PCR amplicons were subjected to in vitro transcription and base-specific cleavage, followed by analysis of the resultant fragments by using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Comparison of the cleavage fragment peak patterns to a reference sequence set permitted automated identification of alleles. Validation experiments using 29 isolates of S. pneumoniae revealed that the results of MALDI-TOF MS MLST matched those obtained by traditional sequence-based MLST for 99% of alleles and that the MALDI-TOF MS method accurately identified two single-nucleotide variations. The MADLI-TOF MS method was then used for MLST analysis of 43 S. pneumoniae isolates from Papua New Guinean children. The majority of the isolates present in this population were not clonal and contained seven new alleles and 30 previously unreported sequence types.

The clinical utility and interpretation of laboratory tests available to the pediatrician in the evaluation of renal function are discussed, as well as some aspects of growth and development which differentiate the evaluation of renal diseases in children from their evaluation in adults.

ABSTRACTIn Papua New Guinean (PNG) children with acute bacterial meningitis (ABM), all Haemophilus influenzaeisolates were resistant to chloramphenicol. Although Streptococcus pneumoniaeisolates had a median chloramphenicol MIC of 3 μg/ml, it was ≥4 μg/ml in 42.8%, and the likelihood of an area under the 24-hour concentration-time curve/MIC ratio of >100 h at a MIC of ≥4 μg/ml was approximately 50%. All isolates were ceftriaxone sensitive. These data support ceftriaxone rather than conventional chloramphenicol for all PNG children with suspected ABM.

As COVID-19 spreads through the world, most cases to date are in middle- and high-income nations. The impact on resource-poor nations remains unknown. Amongst many factors likely to affect the impact of COVID-19 in these areas, co-infections need to be considered. Here, we discuss whether the immunomodulatory effects of helminth infections may affect COVID-19 severity.

Urine samples were collected from 200 subjects undergoing intravenous pyelography. The urine histamine levels were compared with those of 132 normal control subjects, 11 subjects with systemic mastocytosis, six subjects with idiopathic anaphylaxis, and ten subjects experiencing mild anaphylactic reactions during allergy immunotherapy. Compared with normal controls, as a group, all subjects receiving intravenous contrast media had increased urine histamine (P<0.05 by Student's t-test) while those subjects experiencing adverse reactions had considerably larger increases. The urine histamine levels in the subjects experiencing systemic reactions were in the same range as those observed in patients having mild anaphylactic reactions to immunotherapy and somewhat lower than those found in idiopathic anaphylaxis or systemic mastocytosis. These data suggest that some histamine release accompanies infusions of contrast media in all subjects and that larger amounts of histamine release are associated with adverse reactions.