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ObjectiveHepatitis C virus (HCV) is responsible for 20% of acute hepatitis and 70% of chronic hepatitis. Determination of HCV genotype is important in the regulation of treatment and the followup of clinical course. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the results of test performed in the Central Laboratory of İstanbul Northern Anatolian Association of Public Hospitals to determine the genotype distribution of hepatitis C patients in our region.Materials and Methods:HCV genotypes were determined by real time polymerase chain reaction (Qiagen, Germany) and reverse hybridization line probe assay (Nlm srl, Italy) methods.Results:Among HCV RNA-positive 554 patients, 312 (56.5%) patients had genotype 1b, 127 (23.1%) - genotype 1a, and 94 (17.3%) patients had genotype 3a. A total of 10 samples were identified to be mixed genotype; 3 (0.5%) - genotype 4c/d, 3 (0.5%) - genotype 2a/c, 3 (0.5%) - genotype 1a/1b, and 1 (0.2%) - genotype 1b/4.Conclusion:HCV genotype 1b is the most common genotype in our region similar to country-wide results. However, the rates are lower in our country than in the previous years. Probably the difference in this genotype distribution may depend on globalization, developments in technology, changes in human movements and social behaviors. Genotype determination is important for the regulation of treatment and prognosis of HCV infection.

Background The resistance related with production of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) is an important problem that we face when we are treating infections caused by enterobacteriaceae. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of ESBL production in E. coli strains and the rate of antibiotic resistance isolated from in our microbiology laboratory. Method E. coli strains isolated from various clinical specimens between January 2010 – December 2011 were assessed retrospectively. Resistances to ESBL-producing and non-producing E. coli and the rate of ESBL production according to the years were investigated. The results were compared with statistical analysis. Results The rate of ESBL producing E. coli was 21.9% in 2010, and 25% in 2011. There was no resistance to imipenem, meropenem, ertapenem and tigecycline in all strains. The resistance to antibiotics other than amikacin was statistically significant in ESBL producing E. coli compared to ESBL non-producing E.coli (p

Objective: Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram negative, antimicrobial-resistant bacilli difficult to control and treat. This pathogen has became more important in the last decades due to multidrug-resistant nasocomial infections. The aim of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance rates of A.baumannii isolated from various clinical specimens of intensive care unit (ICU) patients between November 2010 and December 2011. Material and Methods: A total of 172 A.baumannii strains were isolated. Identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed by VITEC 2 (bioMerieux, France) system. Results: A. baumannii strains were isolated 44% from tracheal aspirate, 25% from wounds, 24% from blood, and 7% from urine, consecutively. Although there were no resistant strains detected to colistin and tygecycline, resistance rates of the other antibiotics were found to be 64% for amicacin, 67% for gentamicin, %73 for levosoxacin, 76% for ciprosoxacin, %79 for cefoperazone/sulbactam, 84% for piperacillin/tazobactam, and 92% for imipenem and meropenem, consecutively. Conclusion: In conclusion, no resistant strains were detected to colistin and tygecycline and they were found to be the preferred empirical treatment for A. baumannii infections.

Diagnosis of brucellosis basically depends on blood and/or bone marrow culture and demonstration of high titer specific antibody or seroconversion in serum. In routine serological diagnosis of the disease, after screening with Rose Bengal test, the positive samples are studied with standart tube agglutination (STA) test with serial dilutions. However false negative results can be seen in STA test due to the existence of blocking antibodies, this test should be verified with Coombs anti-Brucella (CAB) or immunocapture agglutination (ICA) tests. In recent years Brucella Coombs gel test (ODAK Brucella Coombs Gel Test, Toprak Medikal, Turkey) developed in our country, was available as a new and rapid agglutination based method. The test is performed in vials that contain Coombs antibodies within gel matrix and results are evaluated visually within two hours.The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Brucella Coombs gel test (BCGT) with STA, CAB and ICA methods in serological diagnosis of brucellosis. A total of 100 serum samples with suspected brucellosis sent to our laboratory between January 2012-August 2013 in which 31 high positive (≥ 1/160), 23 low positive (≤ 1/80) and 46 negative samples diagnosed with CAB test (Seromed, Turkey) were included in the study. All the samples were studied using titrations with STA (Seromed, Turkey), ICA (Vircell, Spain) and BCGT (Islab, Turkey) methods. With STA, CAB and BCGT tests ≥ 1/160, with ICA test ≥ 1/320 were accepted as positive titers. The correlation between the tests were evaluated with Cohen's kappa (κ) analysis. In our study, seven of the samples yielded positive results with STA, 30 with ICA, and 32 with BCGT. The number of the sera which yielded positive results with all three methods was 28. Two samples positive with CAB and BCGT resulted low titer/negative with ICA, one sample positive with ICA and BCGT resulted low titer/negative with CAB, and one low titer/negative sample with CAB and BCGT yielded positive with ICA test. STA test was not included in the statistical evaluation due to its very low positivity rate. According to the kappa analysis, almost perfect agreement was detected between the other methods (κ= 0.887 for CAB and ICA, κ= 0.977 for CAB and BCGT, κ= 0.907 for ICA and BCGT). In conclusion, BCGT method showed excellent correlation with both CAB and ICA tests; the application of the test was practical; resulted in a short time such as two hours and visually evaluation was determined to be practical compared to other methods. Although BCGT can be recommended for routine diagnostics, evaluation of specificity and sensitivity with comprehensive studies including a greater number of cases and control samples should be considered.