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Introduction: Maternal anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibodies can cross the placenta during pregnancy, and neonates born to infected mothers have acquired antibodies at birth. Few studies reported data on the histopathological changes of the placenta during infection and placental infection. SARS-CoV-2 infection may cause impaired development of the placenta, thus predisposing maternal and fetal unfavorable outcomes. The prospective study aims to evaluate the risk of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and placental passage of anti-Spike antibodies as well as the impact of clinical severity on placental structures., Methods: This is a prospective cohort study on 30 pregnant women infected by SARS-CoV-2 with their neonates. The demographic features and pregnancy outcomes were collected. Gross and microscopic examinations of the placentas were done. Maternal and umbilical cord sera were obtained at the time of delivery. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from neonates immediately after birth., Results: The concentrations of total anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibodies were higher in pregnant women with moderate to severe/critical disease. The maternal total anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike levels were correlated with those of neonatal levels. The rate of placental abnormalities is high in the mothers with severe disease, and those with positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM. All neonates had negative nasopharyngeal swabs for SARS- CoV-2 infections and all placentas were negative in immunohistochemical staining for Spike protein., Discussion: The maternally derived anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibody can transmit to neonates born to infected mothers regardless of gestational age. Our results indicated that the disease severity is associated with ischemic placental pathology which may result in adverse pregnancy outcomes., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We evaluated the usefulness of the Carba NP test for rapid detection of carbapenemase activity in Bacteroides spp. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for imipenem was determined with gradient test strips, and cfiA gene was investigated by polymerase chain reaction for 27 clinical Bacteroides spp. isolates. Carba NP test was performed according to recommendations of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Among three cfiA gene harboring clinical isolates, two imipenem resistant isolates were Carba NP test positive, while the imipenem intermediate isolate was negative. Our preliminary results suggest that the Carba NP test can be useful as a rapid test to detect carbapenemases in Bacteroides species.

Although Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi B is the less frequently isolated serotype worldwide and in Turkey, it is the most common serotype in our hospital, with a marked increase in 2007. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility and the extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) profile, and molecular epidemiology of S. Paratyphi B isolates detected in our hospital microbiology laboratory. Seventy isolates identified as S. Paratyphi B from 109 Salmonella isolates obtained from clinical specimens from different patients between October 2005 and December 2012, were included in the study. In addition to conventional methods, isolates were identified using the Phoenix automated microbiology system (Becton Dickinson, USA). Serotyping of the isolates was performed on the basis of slide agglutination and the Kauffmann-White scheme. The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates was determined using the BD Phoenix' automated system and disk diffusion test. ESBL enzymes were investigated using the combined disk test, isoelectric focusing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis. The molecular epidemiology of the 51 isolates obtained between October 2005 and August 2008 was examined with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using the XbaI enzyme. S. Paratyphi B isolates were obtained from 70 specimens (46 blood, 16 fecal, 4 bone marrow, 2 urine and 2 wound) each from different patients. Resistance to nalidixic acid was determined in 18.6%, resistance to ampicillin, cefotaxime and cefepime in 2.9% and to ceftazidime and co-trimoxazole in 1.4% of the isolates. ESBL production was detected only in two isolates; in one TEM-1 was accompanied by CTX-M-15 and in the other isolate CTX-M-3 was found. Forty-six of the 51 isolates (90%) were found to be genetically related by PFGE and were placed in cluster A. The distribution of the isolates in cluster A revealed six subtypes as A1 (n= 7), A2 (n= 11), A3 (n= 7), A4 (n= 18), A5 (n= 2) and A6 (n= 1). Three different patterns not related to the cluster A were determined in the remaining five isolates (two were B, one of each was C, D and E). In conclusion, although the rate of antibiotic resistance was low in the S. Paratyphi B isolates in our hospital, rare types of ESBLs such as CTX-M-3 and CTX-M-15 were detected in Salmonellae. As far as the current literature is considered, this is the first report in Turkey of blaCTX-M-15 in Salmonella spp. and blaCTX-M-3 genes in S. Paratyphi B. The results may indicate a possible future threat to the treatment of Salmonella infections. Since most of the isolates were genetically related, this might suggest an epidemic in our region.