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Importance: Infective endocarditis (IE) caused by Staphylococcus aureus is associated with high mortality, approximately 20% to 30%, mostly in the first month, with no improvement in recent decades. Current opinion is that antistaphylococcal penicillin and cefazolin are equally effective in treating methicillin-susceptible S aureus (MSSA) IE, and both are recommended as possible first-line treatments. Most MSSA strains carry the β-lactamase blaZ gene, and some blaZ-positive strains exhibit an inoculum effect, meaning increased minimum inhibitory concentrations at high inoculum. This reduced susceptibility to an antibiotic at high bacterial inoculum may be particularly relevant in IE, where vegetations have very high bacterial densities., Objective: To evaluate the association between phenotypic characteristics of S aureus isolates, β-lactam used, and outcome in patients with MSSA IE., Design, Settings, and Participants: This retrospective case series included MSSA cases treated at 3 French university hospitals between February 2016 and February 2022. The study included patients who had clinical isolates available and had definite or possible S aureus IE that involved native or prosthetic valves. Data were analyzed from July 2023 to June 2024., Main Outcomes and Measures: MSSA isolates were tested for the presence of blaZ and for inoculum effects to cefazolin and oxacillin. The association between first-month mortality and the β-lactam used, the presence of blaZ, and the presence of an inoculum effect to the treatment received was evaluated., Results: This study included 216 patients with MSSA IE (median [IQR] age, 65 [49-73] years; 152 [70.4%] male) who were treated with antistaphylococcal penicillin (139 [64.4%]) or cefazolin (77 [35.6%]). One-month mortality of left-sided IE was 44 of 180 patients (24.4%), with no overall difference between patients treated with antistaphylococcal penicillin or cefazolin. However, 1-month mortality was higher in patients infected with blaZ-positive strains than with blaZ-negative strains (38 of 129 [29.5%] vs 6 of 51 [11.8%]; P = .01), and with strains with an inoculum effect to the β-lactam received than with strains without an inoculum effect (25 of 62 [40.3%] vs 13 of 67 [19.4%]; P = .005). On multivariable analysis, the presence of an inoculum effect was independently associated with first-month mortality (HR, 2.84; 95% CI, 1.28-6.30; P = .01)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this case series of MSSA IE, the presence of an inoculum effect to the β-lactam received was a risk factor for death in the first month. Phenotyping MSSA isolates for inoculum effect may guide β-lactam choice and improve outcomes.

Objectives: Performance evaluation of routine laboratory methods to determine the susceptibility of Enterobacterales urinary isolates to fosfomycin (oral administration) and mecillinam., Methods: We collected 347 Enterobacterales isolates from monomicrobial midstream urine samples from women with significant bacteriuria and leukocyturia. Mostly non-Escherichia coli isolates (i.e. Klebsiella spp., Citrobacter koseri, Enterobacter cloacae complex and Proteus mirabilis) were included (n = 298). Performance of VITEK®2, ETEST®, and disc diffusion to determine fosfomycin and mecillinam susceptibility was evaluated following International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20776-2:2021 (or 20776-2:2007 for disc diffusion) in comparison with the agar dilution reference method., Results: For fosfomycin testing, VITEK®2 and ETEST® were close to reaching ISO requirements (essential agreement  ≥ 90%; bias  ±30%) for C. koseri, E. coli and P. mirabilis. Categorical agreement (CA) and major error rates were acceptable for disc diffusion. Fosfomycin displayed lower activity against E. cloacae complex and Klebsiella spp., with MIC50 (minimum inhibitory concentration required to inhibit the growth of 50% of tested isolates) equal to the E. coli EUCAST breakpoint (8 mg/L). For these species, the three alternative techniques overestimated MICs and resistance, and did not meet performance criteria. For mecillinam testing of Enterobacterales isolates, apart from P. mirabilis, ETEST® nearly fulfilled ISO requirements, and CA rates were acceptable for disc diffusion. ISO criteria were reached for C. koseri and E. coli testing with VITEK®2, apart from too high rates of very major errors. For P. mirabilis, performances were unacceptable, whatever the routine method used., Conclusions: Commercially available tests may serve as alternatives to agar dilution to assess fosfomycin (oral) and mecillinam susceptibility of Enterobacterales urinary isolates, with important interspecies variabilities. Additional studies comprising more fosfomycin- and mecillinam-resistant isolates are needed to strengthen our conclusions., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.)

Introduction: The ESCPM group (Enterobacter species including Klebsiella aerogenes - formerly Enterobacter aerogenes, Serratia species, Citrobacter freundii complex, Providencia species and Morganella morganii) has not yet been incorporated into systematic surveillance programs., Methods: We conducted a multicentre retrospective observational study analysing all ESCPM strains isolated from blood cultures in 27 European hospitals over a 3-year period (2020-2022). Diagnostic approach, epidemiology, and antimicrobial susceptibility were investigated., Results: Our study comprised 6,774 ESCPM isolates. MALDI-TOF coupled to mass spectrometry was the predominant technique for bacterial identification. Susceptibility to new β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations and confirmation of AmpC overproduction were routinely tested in 33.3% and 29.6% of the centres, respectively. The most prevalent species were E. cloacae complex (44.8%) and S. marcescens (22.7%). Overall, third-generation cephalosporins (3GC), combined third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins (3GC + 4GC) and carbapenems resistance phenotypes were observed in 15.7%, 4.6%, and 9.5% of the isolates, respectively. AmpC overproduction was the most prevalent resistance mechanism detected (15.8%). Among carbapenemase-producers, carbapenemase type was provided in 44.4% of the isolates, VIM- (22.9%) and OXA-48-enzyme (16%) being the most frequently detected. E. cloacae complex, K. aerogenes and Providencia species exhibited the most notable cumulative antimicrobial resistance profiles, with the former displaying 3GC, combined 3GC + 4GC and carbapenems resistance phenotypes in 15.2%, 7.4%, and 12.8% of the isolates, respectively. K. aerogenes showed the highest rate of both 3GC resistant phenotype (29.8%) and AmpC overproduction (32.1%), while Providencia species those of both carbapenems resistance phenotype (42.7%) and carbapenemase production (29.4%). ESCPM isolates exhibiting both 3GC and combined 3GC + 4GC resistance phenotypes displayed high susceptibility to ceftazidime/avibactam (98.2% and 95.7%, respectively) and colistin (90.3% and 90.7%, respectively). Colistin emerged as the most active drug against ESCPM species (except those intrinsically resistant) displaying both carbapenems resistance phenotype (85.8%) and carbapenemase production (97.8%)., Conclusions: This study presented a current analysis of ESCPM species epidemiology in Europe, providing insights to inform current antibiotic treatments and guide strategies for antimicrobial stewardship and diagnostics., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Legionnaires' disease is a severe pneumonia mainly caused by Legionella pneumophila that is treated by antibiotics. The purpose of this study was to describe the susceptibility of clinical strains of L. pneumophila to eight antibiotics used for treatment of legionellosis. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 109 well-characterised clinical strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 were determined by the broth microdilution method without charcoal and were compared with antibiotic-resistant strains selected in vitro. All strains were inhibited by low concentrations of fluoroquinolones, macrolides and rifampicin. The epidemiological cut-off values (ECOFFs) were 0.064 mg/L for ciprofloxacin, 0.064 mg/L for moxifloxacin, 0.032 mg/L for levofloxacin, 1 mg/L for erythromycin, 2 mg/L for azithromycin, 0.064 mg/L for clarithromycin, 2 mg/L for doxycycline and 0.001 mg/L for rifampicin. However, MIC distributions revealed a subpopulation of strains displaying reduced susceptibility to some macrolides (especially azithromycin), which correlated with the presence of the lpeAB genes encoding a macrolide efflux pump found specifically in sequence type (ST) ST1, ST701 and closely related STs. Thus, all isolates could be considered susceptible to the tested antibiotics, although macrolides were less active against some strains harbouring a specific efflux system., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: A previous study on 12 in vitro -selected azithromycin-resistant Legionella pneumophila lineages showed that ribosomal mutations were major macrolide resistance determinants. In addition to these mechanisms that have been well described in many species, mutations upstream of lpeAB operon, homologous to acrAB in Escherichia coli , were identified in two lineages. In this study, we investigated the role of LpeAB and of these mutations in macrolide resistance of L. pneumophila ., Methods: The role of LpeAB was studied by testing the antibiotic susceptibility of WT, deleted and complemented L. pneumophila Paris strains. Translational fusion experiments using GFP as a reporter were conducted to investigate the consequences of the mutations observed in the upstream sequence of lpeAB operon., Results: We demonstrated the involvement of LpeAB in an efflux pump responsible for a macrolide-specific reduced susceptibility of L. pneumophila Paris strain. Mutations in the upstream sequence of lpeAB operon were associated with an increased protein expression. Increased expression was also observed under sub-inhibitory macrolide concentrations in strains with both mutated and WT promoting regions., Conclusions: LpeAB are components of an efflux pump, which is a macrolide resistance determinant in L. pneumophila Paris strain. Mutations observed in the upstream sequence of lpeAB operon in resistant lineages led to an overexpression of this efflux pump. Sub-inhibitory concentrations of macrolides themselves participated in upregulating this efflux and could constitute a first step in the acquisition of a high macrolide resistance level., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)