Search

Background: Candidemia is a widespread threat that can lead to significant complications in healthcare settings., Objectives: Our study aimed to identify isolates of Candida isolated from blood culture bottles of patients with candidemia and assess their antifungal susceptibility profiles., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at Cairo University tertiary care hospitals over 16 months including 90 patients. Candida isolates were collected from blood culture bottles, and identified using MALDI-TOF MS technology of VITEK MS PRIME (bioMérieux) with the corresponding database VITEK IVD Database 3.2. followed by antifungal susceptibility testing using VITEK 2 Compact system., Results: Candida albicans was the most common species isolated from both pediatric and adult patients with percentages of 47.3% and 36.4% respectively, followed by Candida parapsilosis with percentages of 32.6% and 25.0% respectively. Voriconazole showed the highest antifungal activity at 90.9% of isolates in adults and 95.7% in pediatrics, followed by caspofungin and micafungin. The mean hospital stays for adults ranged from 8 to 30 days and from 10 to 42 days in the pediatric group., Conclusions: C. albicans remains the predominant species isolated from both pediatric and adult candidemia patients, despite a notable increase in other species. C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis are considered the most common non-albicans Candida (NAC) species. The rise in Candida species other than albicans highlights the urgent need for effective antifungal stewardship programs. Voriconazole exhibited the higher antifungal activity followed by caspofungin and micafungin., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bacteria are seriously affecting broiler chickens and the poultry industry in many countries, as well as in Egypt. Both pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacterial species have been reported in broiler chickens. The present study aimed to isolate and identify the most common bacteria recovered from apparently healthy broiler chickens by conventional methods and the VITEK system. Samples were taken from 30 broiler chickens of different ages (3 - 5 weeks) from different retail markets in Cairo during the period from January to August 2019. Bacteriological examination of the samples showed both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well. Lysinibacillus sphaericus (n=7), Escherichia coli (n = 5), Proteus species (n = 4), Bacillus cereus (n = 3), with isolation rates of 23.3 %, 16.6 %, 13.3 % and 10 %, were identified. In addition to its pathogenicity and hazardous action, some strains of Lysinibacillus sphaericus have a larvicide effect on some species of mosquitoes. So, further studies and investigations will be conducted to test Lysinibacillus sphaericus and Bacillus cereus isolates for their biological control activity and/or their potency to remove, control, or reduce petroleum hydrocarbon soil contaminants in different localities. It will be used as an alternative control agent for numerous synthetic commercial formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]