Identifying the rise of multi drug resistant E. coli

 

Antibiotic resistance in E. coli has been steadily increasing since the early 2000s despite attempts to control it, a new study suggests. In the biggest genomic survey of E. coli to date, that took more than 16 years in Norway, researchers have successfully tracked the spread of antibiotic resistant genes and have shown that these genes are being transferred between E. coli strains.

 

Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Oslo have tracked multidrug resistance in Norway and compared this to a previous study from the UK. They found that resistant strains developed around the same time, but increased more rapidly in the UK population.

 

The results show that tracking these resistant strains is important in the surveillance and control of drug resistant E. coli, which poses a significant issue in hospitals where it can cause severe infection and mortality. In addition, understanding how these genes are transferred between strains, and what has caused them to acquire drug resistance can help prevent the growth of antibiotic resistance strains.

 

The bacterium, Escherichia coli is a common cause of bloodstream infections world-wide, which seem to be increasing over the last decade. E. coli is commonly found in the gut, where it does not cause harm, but if it gets into the bloodstream due to a weakened immune system it can cause severe and life threatening infections. As an added challenge for health care providers, multi-drug resistance (MDR) has become a frequent feature of such infections, and in a worrying number of cases the available treatment options are becoming limited.

 

In the largest study of its kind, and only the second systematic longitudinal genomic study of bacteraemia E. coli, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Oslo processed a nation-wide catalogue of samples from more than 3,200 patients to track antibiotic resistance over 16 years. By harnessing the power of large-scale DNA sequencing, they tracked the emergence of drug resistance and compared this to a similar study conducted in the UK.

 

The team found that MDR started to increase and show in more strains in the early 2000s due to antibiotic pressure, and now multiple MDR E. coli strains are present in Norway. However, MDR E. coli seems to be more widely present in the UK, despite similar policies in place around antibiotic use. The UK population however is considerably larger than Norway which could explain some of the differences. Further research is needed to allow for closer comparison and to identify the exact factors that cause rapid spread in some locations compared to others.

 

See:

 

Rebecca A Gladstone, et al Emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli causing bloodstream infections in Norway in 2002–17: a nationwide, longitudinal, microbial population genomic study. The Lancet Microbe, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00031-8

 

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)

Certain gut microbiota profile can predict mortality

 

The composition of the research subjects' gut microbiota was analysed from stool samples collected in 2002. The researchers had access to follow-up data on the subjects' mortality until 2017, i.e., close to the present day.

Human microbiota is highly individual and consists of a vast amount of different bacteria and other microorganisms. The bacteria predicting a shorter lifespan were discovered when the researchers compared health records and billions of DNA strands retrieved from the research subjects' microbiota.

 

Simply put, the gut microbiome refers to the colonies of trillions of bacteria present in the human intestinal tract. Though its primary function is to aid in digestion, an increasing body of research is showing that the microbiome’s function is far more extensive, impacting virtually every bodily system, from the immune system to the neurological system and practically everything in between.

Events taking place in the gut are known to play an important role health and disease, in terms of determining the development of metabolic diseases as well as other illnesses, centered on the pathophysiology of gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases. This is in terms of the balance and composition of the intestinal microbiota. In addition, the existence of bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain has been shown to influence both behavior and cognitive function. For these reasons, there is an interest in the gut microbiome and the composition of the gut microbiota. It is also of interest that an imbalance of certain pathogens can be off-set by tilting the balance towards beneficial bacteria. This imbalance is referred to as dysbiosis. This imbalance could be due to the gain or loss of community members or changes in relative abundance of microbes.

Many bacterial strains that are known to be harmful were among the enterobacteria predicting mortality, and our lifestyle choices can have an impact on their amount in the gut. By studying the composition of the gut microbiota, we could improve mortality prediction, even while taking into account other relevant risk factors, such as smoking and obesity. The data used in this research make it possible for the first time to study the long-term health impact of the human gut microbiota on a population level.

See:

Aaro Salosensaari, Ville Laitinen, Aki S. Havulinna, et al. Taxonomic signatures of cause-specific mortality risk in human gut microbiome. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22962-y

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)

Ionized Hydrogen Peroxide Decontamination Technology: A Solution For Decontamination In Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?

Ionized Hydrogen Peroxide (iHP) is a relatively new technology that is being applied for surface decontamination as an alternative to conventional vapor phase hydrogen peroxide and other agents used for bio-decontamination. There is considerable literature in support of conventional vapor phase hydrogen peroxide in terms of inactivation of bacteria (vegetative and endospores), fungi, prions, and viruses; whereas ionized hydrogen peroxide, at the time of writing, is a novel technology. Interest in the technology arises due to the lower concentration (and by inference, the smaller quantities of chemical required) and faster time (in that a shorter aeration period should be required). The price of ionized hydrogen peroxide systems are also typically lower. However, there are concerns that ionized hydrogen peroxide (also referred to as ‘activated’ hydrogen peroxide) sometimes fails to achieve the 6-log reduction limit, expected regulatory authorities, in the number of viable microorganisms.

 

Tim Sandle has written an article on this novel technoligy, see:

Sandle, T. (2021) Ionized Hydrogen Peroxide Decontamination Technology In The Vapor Form: A Solution For Decontamination In Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?, Journal of Validation Technology, 27 (1):   https://www.ivtnetwork.com/article/ionized-hydrogen-peroxide-decontamination-technology-vapor-form-solution-decontamination-pha

 Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)