In this study, it was aimed to determine the occurence of ampicillin and vancomycin resistant enterococci (ARE and VRE) species in dogs and cats, antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence genes (asa1, esp, gelE, hyl, cylA) of the isolates.Minimal inhibitor concentration (MIC) values of ampicillin and vancomycin were determined by macro dilution method and E-test, respectively.For this purpose, 531 rectal swabs collected from dogs (n=276) and cats (n=255) from three different cities (İstanbul, Ankara and Mersin) were examined.ARE was detected in 60 (21.7%) of dogs and in 47 (18.4%) of cats.VRE was detected in one dog and two cats.All ARE and VRE isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecium by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and showed multi-drug resistance (MDR) phenotype.A small number of AREfm isolates (4.7%) carried virulence gene.To the authors' knowledge, the study is first reporting vanA gene harboring VREfm in dogs in Turkey.The results indicated that both dogs and cats were frequent carriers of AREfm.Due to close contact with humans, dogs and cats may play an important role in the spread of these nosocomial pathogens in the community.Therefore, further molecular studies are needed to elucidate the possible role of animal originated AREfm and VREfm strains in human nosocomial infections.
Abstract INTRODUCTION: Nosocomial and community acquired urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most encountered infections in the world. METHODS: This study aimed to determine the antibiotic susceptibility, phylogeny, and virulence genes of 153 Escherichia coli strains isolated from UTIs. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates to different classes of antimicrobials was determined by the VITEK-2 automated system. Presence of virulence genes and phylogenetic groups were investigated by PCR. RESULTS: Regarding susceptibility to antimicrobials, ampicillin resistance was most abundant (67.3%), followed by amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (50.9%); least abundant was resistance to amikacin (1.3%) and nitrofurantoin (1.3%). Multi drug resistance (MDR) was observed in 34.6% of the isolates, and all isolates were found to be susceptible to imipenem, meropenem and fosfomycine. The majority of the isolates belonged to the phylogenetic group B23 (35.9%), followed by A1 (20.9%), D1 (18.9%), D2 (12.4%), A0 (%5.9), B1 (3.9%) and B2 (1.9%). Among E. coli strains examined, 49% had iucD, 32.7% papE-F, 26.1% papC, 15% cnf2, 11.1% sfa, 7.8% cnf1, 1.3% afaE, 1.3% afaD, 1.3% hlyA, 0.7% f17a-A, 0.7% clpG and 0.7% eaeA genes. CONCLUSIONS Our research demonstrated that virulence factors were distributed among different phylogroup/subgroups, which play a role in UTIs pathogenesis in humans. For this reason, complex and detailed studies are required to determine the relationship between virulence factors and specific E. coli strains that cause UTIs in humans.
The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of synbiotics and phytobiotics on performance, small intestine weight, pH and caecal coliform counts of broilers. The influences of synbiotics and phytobiotics on oxidant/antioxidant status in the blood of broilers were also assessed. A total of 200 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments, either fed a basal diet or the same diet supplemented with 1 g/kg synbiotic, 1 g/kg phytobiotic or 1 g/kg synbiotic plus 1 g/kg phytobiotic. The diet supplemented with both synbiotic and phytobiotic had no effect on body weight, body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency of broilers at the end of the study (p > 0.05). Neither small intestine weight nor pH was affected by any of the treatments. Supplementation of both synbiotic and phytobiotic to diet decreased the caecal coliform count (p < 0.01). Addition of synbiotics and phytobiotics in combination significantly increased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (p ≤ 0.05), whereasphytobiotic addition alone showed only a slight increase. Similarly, elevated nitric oxide (NO) level was recorded in the synbiotic- and phytobiotic-fed group and in the phytobiotic-fed group (p ≤ 0.001). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities did not differ between the groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of synbiotic and phytobiotic improved the gut health by decreasing the caecal total coliform count, but growth performance was not affected by the supplementations. Further investigations are needed to determine the effects of phytobiotics on oxidative/antioxidative metabolism as regards their compositional analysis.
Aim: This study aimed to investigate the superantigenic (SAg) toxin, exfoliative toxin (ET), hemolysin (HLY), leukotoxin (LUK) genes and accessory gene regulator (agr) types in Staphylococcus aureus isolates from various clinical materials. Material and Methods: A total of 190 S. aureus isolates were investigated for the presence of toxin genes, mecA gene and agr types using by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: mecA gene was detected in 87 (45.8%) isolates. Of the 190 S. aureus isolates examined, 83.7% (n=159) were found to be positive for SAg genes. The seg (41.1%) was determined to be the most common toxin gene, followed by sei (38.9%), selo (38.9%), selm (28.4%), sea (%25.8), and tst (18.4%) genes, respectively. Seventy one different SAg toxin profiles were identified. Type I νSaβ encoding seg, sei, selm, seln and selo was the most common mobile genetic element (MGE), which was detected in 37 isolates (19.5%). The hla, hlb, hld, hlg and hlg2 genes were detected in 92.6% (n=176), 1.6% (n=3), 98.9% (n=188), 1.1% (n=2) and 31.6% (n=60) of the isolates, respectively. The pvl gene was detected in 12.6% (n=11) of methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and 14.6% (n=15) of methicillin sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), respectively (p=0.701). While none of the isolates carried lukM gene, 67% (n=69) of MSSA and 69% (n=60) of MRSA isolates were found to be positive for lukED gene (p=0.519). Conclusion: High occurrence and diversity of toxin genes among S. aureus isolates could be explained by horizontal transmission of toxin genes through MGEs.
Background: Clinically, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) can be confused with granulomatous diseases and skin cancers, and it may lead to erroneous diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis based and histopathology can have some difficulties due to low number of parasites, especially in chronic CL cases. We aimed to emphasize the necessity of considering CL in the differential diagnosis for cases of granulomatous diseases and basal cell carcinoma, particularly in areas where CL is endemic. Methods: One hundred and seven paraffin-embedded tissue biopsy specimens were selected from the archive, as of 2002, of Pathology Department, School of Medicine, University of Hatay Mustafa Kemal in Hatay, Turkey. After DNA isolation, performed with the samples were used for PCR analysis with specific 13A, 13B primers targeting kinetoplastid DNA (kDNA) found in all Leishmania species. Another PCR was performed with LITSR and L5.8S primers targeting ITS-1 internal-transcribed-spacer-1 (ITS-1) region to subtype positive samples. Then these samples were further analyzed for subtyping with PCR-RFLP using HaeIII enzyme (BsuRI). Results: Ten out of 107 tissue specimens were positive via kDNA-PCR. Lupus vulgaris, sarcoidosis, skin lymphoma and Leishmania cutis appeared in 9 out of 10 positive specimens. One of the cases presented with a mass on the cheek and was pre-diagnosed with hemangioma, but leishmaniasis did not appear. All of 10 specimens were diagnosed as granulomatous dermatitis. Two out of 10 samples, found positive with kDNA-PCR, were analyzed with ITS-1-PCR and identified as L. infantum/donovani after RFLP. Conclusion: Molecular methods should be utilized in the differential diagnosis of CL to eliminate false diagnoses of granulomatous diseases and skin cancers.
