Metagenomics revolutionized the understanding of the relations among the human microbiome, health and diseases, but generated a countless number of sequences that have not been assigned to a known ...microorganism
. The pure culture of prokaryotes, neglected in recent decades, remains essential to elucidating the role of these organisms
. We recently introduced microbial culturomics, a culturing approach that uses multiple culture conditions and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight and 16S rRNA for identification
. Here, we have selected the best culture conditions to increase the number of studied samples and have applied new protocols (fresh-sample inoculation; detection of microcolonies and specific cultures of Proteobacteria and microaerophilic and halophilic prokaryotes) to address the weaknesses of the previous studies
. We identified 1,057 prokaryotic species, thereby adding 531 species to the human gut repertoire: 146 bacteria known in humans but not in the gut, 187 bacteria and 1 archaea not previously isolated in humans, and 197 potentially new species. Genome sequencing was performed on the new species. By comparing the results of the metagenomic and culturomic analyses, we show that the use of culturomics allows the culture of organisms corresponding to sequences previously not assigned. Altogether, culturomics doubles the number of species isolated at least once from the human gut.
Disseminated histoplasmosis, a disease that often resembles and is mistaken for tuberculosis, is a major cause of death in patients with advanced HIV disease. Histoplasma antigen detection tests are ...an important addition to the diagnostic arsenal for patients with advanced HIV disease and should be considered for inclusion on the World Health Organization Essential Diagnostics List.
Our objective was to systematically review the literature to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Histoplasma antigen tests in the context of advanced HIV disease, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
A systematic review of the published literature extracted data on comparator groups, type of histoplasmosis, HIV status, performance results, patient numbers, whether patients were consecutively enrolled or if the study used biobank samples. PubMed, Scopus, Lilacs and Scielo databases were searched for published articles between 1981 and 2018. There was no language restriction.
Of 1327 screened abstracts we included a total of 16 studies in humans for further analysis. Most studies included used a heterogeneousgroup of patients, often without HIV or mixing HIV and non HIV patients, with disseminated or non-disseminated forms of histoplasmosis. Six studies did not systematically use mycologically confirmed cases as a gold standard but compared antigen detection tests against another antigen detection test. Patient numbers were generally small (19-65) in individual studies and, in most (7/10), no confidence intervals were given. The post test probability of a positive or negative test were good suggesting that this non invasive diagnostic tool would be very useful for HIV care givers at the level of reference hospitals or hospitals with the infrastructure to perform ELISA tests. The first results evaluating point of care antigen detection tests using a lateral flow assay were promising with high sensitivity and specificity.
Antigen detection tests are promising tools to improve detection of and ultimately reduce the burden of histoplasmosis mortality in patients with advanced HIV disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections (ICU-BSI) are frequent and are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. We conducted this study to describe the epidemiology and the ...prognosis of ICU-BSI in our ICU and to search for factors associated with mortality at 28 days. For this, we retrospectively studied ICU-BSI in the ICU of the Cayenne General Hospital, from January 2013 to June 2019. Intensive care unit-acquired bloodstream infections were diagnosed in 9.5% of admissions (10.3 ICU-BSI/1,000 days). The median delay to the first ICU-BSI was 9 days. The ICU-BSI was primitive in 44% of cases and secondary to ventilator-acquired pneumonia in 25% of cases. The main isolated microorganisms were Enterobacteriaceae in 67.7% of patients. They were extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producers in 27.6% of cases. Initial antibiotic therapy was appropriate in 65.1% of cases. Factors independently associated with ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) as the causative microorganism of ICU-BSI were ESBL-PE carriage before ICU-BSI (odds ratio OR: 7.273; 95% CI: 2.876-18.392;
< 0.000) and prior exposure to fluoroquinolones (OR: 4.327; 95% CI: 1.120-16.728;
= 0.034). The sensitivity of ESBL-PE carriage to predict ESBL-PE as the causative microorganism of ICU-BSI was 64.9% and specificity was 81.2%. Mortality at 28 days was 20.6% in the general population. Factors independently associated with mortality at day 28 from the occurrence of ICU-BSI were traumatic category of admission (OR: 0.346; 95% CI: 0.134-0.894;
= 0.028) and septic shock on the day of ICU-BSI (OR: 3.317; 95% CI: 1.561-7.050;
= 0.002). Mortality rate was independent of the causative organism.
While Latin America has been heavily affected by the pandemic, only a few seroprevalence studies have been conducted there during the first epidemic wave in the first half of 2020.
A cross-sectional ...survey was performed between 15 July 2020 and 23 July 2020 among individuals who visited 4 medical laboratories or 5 health centers for routine screening or clinical management, with the exception of symptomatic suggestive cases of covid-19. Samples were screened for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG directed against domain S1 of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using the anti-SARS-CoV-2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from Euroimmun.
The overall seroprevalence was 15.4% 9.3%-24.4% among 480 participants, ranging from 4.0% to 25.5% across the different municipalities. The seroprevalence did not differ according to gender (p = 0.19) or age (p = 0.51). Among SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals, we found that 24.6% 11.5%-45.2% reported symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Our findings revealed high levels of infection across the territory but a low number of resulting deaths, which can be explained by French Guiana's young population structure.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Outbreak of Oropouche Virus in French Guiana Gaillet, Mélanie; Pichard, Clara; Restrepo, Johana ...
Emerging infectious diseases,
10/2021, Letnik:
27, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Oropouche fever is a zoonotic dengue-like syndrome caused by Oropouche virus. In August-September 2020, dengue-like syndrome developed in 41 patients in a remote rainforest village in French Guiana. ...By PCR or microneutralization, 23 (82.1%) of 28 tested patients were positive for Oropouche virus, documenting its emergence in French Guiana.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background. Well-documented outbreaks of human toxoplasmosis infection are infrequently reported. Here, we describe a community outbreak of multivisceral toxoplasmosis that occurred in Patam, a ...Surinamese village near the French Guianan border. Methods. From the end of December 2003 through the middle of January 2004, 5 adult patients in Patam, including 2 pregnant women, were initially hospitalized for multivisceral toxoplasmosis. A French-Surinamese epidemiological investigation was conducted in the village; inquiries and clinical examinations were performed, and blood and environmental samples were obtained. For all serologically confirmed cases of toxoplasmosis, molecular analysis and mouse inoculations were performed for diagnosis and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii. Results. The hospitalized patients, who did not have any immunodeficiencies, presented with an infectious disease with multivisceral involvement. Serological examination confirmed acute toxoplasmosis. One adult died, and a neonate and a fetus with congenital toxoplasmosis also died. During the investigation, 4 additional acute cases of toxoplasmosis were diagnosed among the 33 villagers. Only 3 inhabitants had serological evidence of previous T. gondii infection. In total, we reported 11 cases of toxoplasmosis: 8 multivisceral cases in immunocompetent adults, resulting in 1 death; 2 cases of lethal congenital toxoplasmosis in a neonate and a fetus; and 1 symptomatic case in a child. Molecular analysis demonstrated that identical isolates of only 1 atypical strain were responsible for at least 5 of the 11 cases of toxoplasmosis in the outbreak. No epidemiological sources could be linked to this severe community-wide outbreak of toxoplasmosis. Conclusion. This report is in agreement with the particular features of toxoplasmosis involving atypical strains that were recently described in French Guiana.
Plasmodium falciparum is an apicomplexan parasite responsible for lethal cases of malaria. According to WHO recommendations, P falciparum cases are treated with artemisinin-based combination therapy ...including dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine. However, the emergence of resistant parasites against dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine was reported in southeast Asia in 2008 and, a few years later, suspected in South America.
To characterise resistance emergence, a treatment efficacy study was performed on the reported patients infected with P falciparum and treated with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in French Guiana (n=6, 2016-18). Contemporary isolates collected in French Guiana were genotyped for P falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (pfCRT; n=845) and pfpm2 and pfpm3 copy number (n=231), phenotyped using the in vitro piperaquine survival assay (n=86), and analysed through genomic studies (n=50). Additional samples from five Amazonian countries and one outside the region were genotyped (n=1440).
In field isolates, 40 (47%) of 86 (95% CI 35·9-57·1) were resistant to piperaquine in vitro; these phenotypes were more associated with pfCRT
(ie, Cys350Arg) and pfpm2 and pfpm3 amplifications (Dunn test, p<0·001). Those markers were also associated with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine treatment failure (n=3 50% of 6). A high prevalence of piperaquine resistance markers was observed in Suriname in 19 (83%) of 35 isolates and in Guyana in 579 (73%) of 791 isolates. The pfCRT
mutation emerged before pfpm2 and pfpm3 amplification in a temporal sequence different from southeast Asia, and in the absence of artemisinin partial resistance, suggesting a geographically distinctive epistatic relationship between these genetic markers.
The high prevalence of piperaquine resistance markers in parasite populations of the Guianas, and the risk of associated therapeutic failures calls for caution on dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine use in the region. Furthermore, greater attention should be given to potential differences in genotype to phenotype mapping across genetically distinct parasite populations from different continents.
Pan American Health Organization and WHO, French Ministry for Research, European Commission, Santé publique France, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas, Ministry of Health of Brazil, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and National Institutes of Health.
For the French and Portuguese translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.
Abstract
Background
French Guiana (FG) is a French overseas territory where malaria is endemic. The current incidence rate is 0.74‰ inhabitants, and
Plasmodium vivax
is widely predominating even ...though
Plasmodium falciparum
is still present due to imported cases mainly from Africa. In FG, rapid diagnostic test (SD Malaria Ag P.f/Pan®) is based on the detection of pan-pLDH, PfHRP2, and PfHRP3 antigens, while in South America, the share of deletion of PfHRP2 gene is significantly increasing. Accordingly, the study questions the reliability of RDTs in the Amazonian context.
Methods
The study is retrospective. It is conducted over 4 years and analysed 12,880 rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) compared to concomitant Blood Film Tests (BFTs) sampled for malaria diagnosis.
Results
The global assessment of the accuracy of SD Malaria Ag P.f/Pan® in the diagnostic of malaria shows both Positive and Negative Predictive Values (PPV and NPV) higher than 95%, except for PPV in the diagnosis of malaria to
P. falciparum
(88%). Overall, the concordance rate between RDT and BFT (positive/positive; negative/negative) was 99.5%. The PPV of the RDT in the follow-up of patients diagnosed with
P. falciparum
was the lowest during the first 28 days. The PPV of the RDT in the follow-up of patients diagnosed with
P. vivax
was the lowest during the first 21 days. The global sensitivity of SD Malaria Ag P.f/Pan® test was, on average, 96% (88.2–100) for
P. falciparum
and 93% (90.6–94.2) for
P. vivax
. The global specificity was 99.8% (99.5–100) for all included species.
Conclusion
SD Malaria Ag P.f/Pan® is a reliable rapid test used for the first-line diagnosis in remote healthcare centres. The test results should be interpreted in the light of patient’s recent medical history and the date of arrival to FG.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Despite scaling-up testing and antiretroviral treatment in Latin America, advanced HIV remains a significant public health problem. The objective of the present study was look for historical risk ...factors for death in French Guiana's HIV cohort taking into account the immunological status, the main opportunistic infections, and their treatment. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on data collected between 1992 and 2008 to identify factors associated with death in a cohort 2323 patients.
There were 370 deaths for a total 9608 patient-years. Being on tuberculosis treatment was associated with a greater hazard of death. The diagnosis of confirmed tuberculosis, of histoplasmosis, of toxoplasmosis, and pneumocystosis were independently associated with death. Interactions terms between cotrimoxazole treatment and pneumocystosis, or between confirmed tuberculosis and tuberculosis treatment showed a protective treatment-effect. All patients having received anti-tuberculosis treatment (n = 347) did not have a final diagnosis of tuberculosis (n = 93). For histoplasmosis, 199 patients received antifungal treatment while 141 were diagnosed as having histoplasmosis. The number of patients on anti-tuberculosis drugs was far greater that the number of patients with confirmed tuberculosis, and these patients on treatment without confirmed tuberculosis had a twofold greater risk of dying.
We describe the clinical, mycological, immunological, and genetic characteristics of six HIV-negative patients presenting with invasive cryptococcosis.
Patients with cryptococcosis without any of the ...classical risk factors, such as HIV infection, followed at Cayenne Hospital, were prospectively included. An immunologic and genetic assessment was performed.
Five male patients and one female patient, 5 adults and one child, were investigated. All presented a neuromeningeal localization.
var.
and
var.
were isolated in two and three patients, respectively, whereas one patient could not be investigated. Overall, we did not observe any global leukocyte defect. Two patients were found with high levels of circulating autoantibodies against Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and none had detectable levels of autoantibodies against Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) Sequencing of
exons and flanking regions performed for four patients was wild type.
To better understand cryptococcosis in patients with cryptococcosis but otherwise healthy, further explorations are needed with repeated immune checkups and strain virulence studies.