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We report Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi strains with a nonclassical quinolone resistance phenotype (i.e., decreased susceptibility to ciprofloxacin but with susceptibility to nalidixic acid) associated with a nonsynonymous mutation at codon 464 of the gyrB gene. These strains, not detected by the nalidixic acid disk screening test, can result in fluoroquinolone treatment failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica serotype Newport strain that produces CMY-2 beta-lactamase (Newport MDR-AmpC) was the source of sporadic cases and outbreaks in humans in France during 2000-2005. Because this strain was not detected in food animals, it was most likely introduced into France through imported food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the January 17, 2002 catastrophic eruption of the Nyiragongo Volcano (Democratic Republic of Congo) located in the western branch of the East African Rift, a great effort has been devoted to the seismic surveillance of this volcanic area. The 2002 eruption destroyed one/tenth of the city of Goma, leaving more than 100,000 homeless. In order to correctly monitor the seismic activity at Nyiragongo volcano for both scientific and civil defence purposes, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in cooperation with GVO (Goma Volcanological Observatory), between November 2003 and May 2004 installed a new telemetered seismic network consisting of seven digital stations. The network is operational and seismic signals are continuously recorded at the GVO. In this study, we focus mainly on two aspects: (1) the deployment, in the field, of this new digital seismic network and the related real-time data acquisition system, and (2) the first results from a preliminary data analysis based on 6-month seismic recordings. Based on the waveforms and spectral analysis, long-period and very long period events (both, tectonic and volcanic-tectonic earthquakes), have been detected. Furthermore, we succeeded in locating more than 100 earthquakes. These results should strongly encourage the use of such a network data for seismotectonic studies of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Together with plague, smallpox and typhus, epidemics of dysentery have been a major scourge of human populations for centuries(1). A previous genomic study concluded that Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (Sd1), the epidemic dysentery bacillus, emerged and spread worldwide after the First World War, with no clear pattern of transmission(2). This is not consistent with the massive cyclic dysentery epidemics reported in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries(1,3,4) and the first isolation of Sd1 in Japan in 1897(5). Here, we report a whole-genome analysis of 331 Sd1 isolates from around the world, collected between 1915 and 2011, providing us with unprecedented insight into the historical spread of this pathogen. We show here that Sd1 has existed since at least the eighteenth century and that it swept the globe at the end of the nineteenth century, diversifying into distinct lineages associated with the First World War, Second World War and various conflicts or natural disasters across Africa, Asia and Central America. We also provide a unique historical perspective on the evolution of antibiotic resistance over a 100-year period, beginning decades before the antibiotic era, and identify a prevalent multiple antibiotic-resistant lineage in South Asia that was transmitted in several waves to Africa, where it caused severe outbreaks of disease.

We report a food-related outbreak of salmonellosis in humans caused by a nonmotile variant of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium in France in 2009. This nonmotile variant had been circulating in laying hens but was not considered as Typhimurium and consequently escaped European poultry flock regulations.

Laboratory surveillance systems for salmonellosis should ideally be based on the rapid serotyping and subtyping of isolates. However, current typing methods are limited in both speed and precision. Using 783 strains and isolates belonging to 130 serotypes, we show here that a new family of DNA repeats named CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is highly polymorphic in Salmonella. We found that CRISPR polymorphism was strongly correlated with both serotype and multilocus sequence type. Furthermore, spacer microevolution discriminated between subtypes within prevalent serotypes, making it possible to carry out typing and subtyping in a single step. We developed a high-throughput subtyping assay for the most prevalent serotype, Typhimurium. An open web-accessible database was set up, providing a serotype/spacer dictionary and an international tool for strain tracking based on this innovative, powerful typing and subtyping tool.

Background: Performance of externally paced rhythmic movements requires brain and behavioral integration of sensory stimuli with motor commands. The underlying brain mechanisms to elaborate beat-synchronized rhythm and polyrhythms that musicians readily perform may differ. Given known roles in perceiving time and repetitive movements, we hypothesized that basal ganglia and cerebellar structures would have greater activation for polyrhythms than for on-the-beat rhythms., Methodology/principal Findings: Using functional MRI methods, we investigated brain networks for performing rhythmic movements paced by auditory cues. Musically trained participants performed rhythmic movements at 2 and 3 Hz either at a 1:1 on-the-beat or with a 3:2 or a 2:3 stimulus-movement structure. Due to their prior musical experience, participants performed the 3:2 or 2:3 rhythmic movements automatically. Both the isorhythmic 1:1 and the polyrhythmic 3:2 or 2:3 movements yielded the expected activation in contralateral primary motor cortex and related motor areas and ipsilateral cerebellum. Direct comparison of functional MRI signals obtained during 3:2 or 2:3 and on-the-beat rhythms indicated activation differences bilaterally in the supplementary motor area, ipsilaterally in the supramarginal gyrus and caudate-putamen and contralaterally in the cerebellum., Conclusions/significance: The activated brain areas suggest the existence of an interconnected brain network specific for complex sensory-motor rhythmic integration that might have specificity for elaboration of musical abilities.

Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (Sd1) represents a particular threat in developing countries because of the severity of the infection and its epidemic potential. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and molecular subtyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and plasmid profiling (PP) of Sd1 isolates collected during two dysentery outbreaks (2013 and 445 cases of bloody diarrhoea) in Central African Republic (CAR) during the period 2003-2004 were reported. Eleven Sd1 comparison strains (CS) acquired by travellers or residents of Africa (n=10) or Asia (n=1) between 1993 and 2003 were also analysed. The 19 Sd1 isolates recovered from CAR outbreaks were multidrug resistant, although susceptible to quinolones and fluoroquinolones. Molecular subtyping by PFGE was more discriminatory than PP. The PFGE using XbaI and NotI restriction enzymes indicated that the two outbreaks were due to two different clones and also revealed a genetic diversity among the CS recovered from outbreak or sporadic cases between 1993 and 2003. This study was the result of a fruitful collaboration between field physicians and microbiologists. The data collected will serve as the basis for establishing long-term monitoring of Sd1 in CAR.

We report a new Salmonella genomic island 1 variant antibiotic resistance gene cluster called SGI1-L in a Salmonella enterica serovar Newport isolate containing a dfrA15 gene cassette conferring resistance to trimethoprim. The isolate carried another class 1 integron containing the aacC5 and aadA7 gene cassettes conferring resistance to gentamicin and streptomycin/spectinomycin, respectively.

The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes (R types), the phage types and XbaI-pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) types, the genes coding for resistance to beta-lactams and to quinolones, and the class 1 integrons among a representative sample of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium isolates collected from humans in 2002 through the French National Reference Center for Salmonella (NRC-Salm) network. The trends in the evolution of antimicrobial resistance of serotype Typhimurium were reviewed by using NRC-Salm data from 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2003. In 2002, 3,998 isolates of serotype Typhimurium were registered at the NRC-Salm among 11,775 serotyped S. enterica isolates (34%). The most common multiple antibiotic resistance pattern was resistance to amoxicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin and spectinomycin, sulfonamides, and tetracycline (ACSSpSuTe R type), with 156 isolates (48.8%). One isolate resistant to extended-spectrum cephalosporins due to the production of TEM-52 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase was detected (0.3%), and one multidrug-resistant isolate was highly resistant to ciprofloxacin (MIC > 32 mg/liter). We found that 57.2% of the isolates tested belonged to the DT104 clone. The main resistance pattern of DT104 isolates was R type ACSSpSuTe (83.2%). However, evolutionary changes have occurred within DT104, involving both loss (variants of Salmonella genomic island 1) and acquisition of genes for drug resistance to trimethoprim or to quinolones. PFGE profile X1 was the most prevalent (74.5%) among DT104 isolates, indicating the need to use a more discriminatory subtyping method for such isolates. Global data from the NRC-Salm suggested that DT104 was the main cause of multidrug resistance in serotype Typhimurium from humans from at least 1997 to 2003, with a roughly stable prevalence during this period.

In this study, we report an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Livingstone resistant to extended-spectrum cephalosporins that occurred in a neonatal ward of the maternity department of Farhat Hached Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia, in 2002. A total of 16 isolates were recovered from 16 babies hospitalized in the ward during the period 1 to 16 July. All these babies developed diarrhea, and three of them developed septicemia. All the isolates demonstrated resistance to ceftriaxone and ceftazidime due to the production of an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL). The isolates were also resistant to aminoglycosides (kanamycin, tobramycin, netilmicin, gentamicin, and amikacin) and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. DNA profiles were determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis using the XbaI and SpeI endonucleases and by ribotyping with PstI digestion. They yielded the same patterns, showing that the outbreak was caused by a single clone. The ESBL was identified as CTX-M-27 by sequencing of PCR products and by isoelectric focusing. The ESBL resistance was transferred by a 40-kb conjugative plasmid. The mobile insertion sequence ISEcp1 was found to be located upstream of bla(CTX-M-27) in the same position as that known for a bla(CTX-M-14) sequence. A new gene named dfrA21, encoding resistance to trimethoprim and carried by a 90-kb plasmid, was characterized. The dfrA21 gene was inserted as a single resistance cassette in a class I integron. The babies were treated with colistin, and all except two recovered. The outbreak came to an end when appropriate actions were taken: patient isolation, hand washing, and disinfection of the ward.

Three clinical isolates of Salmonella enterica recovered between 2000 and 2003 in France and Senegal were found to produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamase CTX-M-15. The two isolates from Senegal were recovered from stool of a hospitalized patient with gastroenteritis in 2000 and from an urine specimen of an out-patient with urinary tract infection in 2001. These S. enterica isolates belonged to serotype Kentucky and were clonally related as determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and automated ribotyping. The third isolate of serotype Typhimurium was recovered from a patient hospitalized in France for an acute gastroenteritis acquired in Lebanon. The bla(CTX-M-15) gene was located on two different transferable plasmids, one of which also carried bla(TEM-1), bla(OXA-30), aminoglycoside-, tetracycline-, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim resistance genes. ISEcp1 element was found to be located upstream of bla(CTX-M-15) in the same position as reported previously in CTX-M-15-producing Escherichia coli from India and Turkey. This is the first report of bla(CTX-M-15) in the genus Salmonella.

From 2002 to 2003, four isolates of Salmonella enterica serotypes Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Blockley, and Panama, isolated in France from patients with gastroenteritis, were found to produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamase TEM-52. The study showed the bla(TEM-52) gene to be located in a Tn3-like structure and carried by 100- or 32-kb conjugative plasmids.

From December 2002 to June 2003, 14 cultures of Salmonella enterica serotype Babelsberg and 6 cultures of serotype Enteritidis, isolated in France from internationally adopted children, were identified at the French National Reference Center for Salmonella. All serotype Babelsberg isolates were related, as determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and all serotype Enteritidis strains displayed the same phage type. All serotype Enteritidis and seven serotype Babelsberg isolates produced an SHV-12-like extended-spectrum beta-lactamase as determined by sequencing of PCR products and by isoelectrofocusing. Some serotype Enteritidis isolates exhibited additional antimicrobial resistance (aminoglycosides, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, sulfonamides, and trimethoprim). Our investigation indicated that these Salmonella isolates were certainly acquired in the same orphanage in Bamako, Mali, before the children were adopted by French families. An inappropriate use of ceftriaxone was probably the cause of the emergence of such strains. There is an urgent need to determine the origin of the contamination and to introduce adequate antibiotic protocols into this orphanage to prevent further transmission and dissemination. Screening for infections and follow-up, adapted to the origin of the internationally adopted children, should be recommended.