Seroprevalences of antibodies against ToRCH infectious pathogens in women of childbearing age residing in Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Poland, Turkey and China

Determination of antibodies against ToRCH antigens at the beginning of pregnancy allows assessment of both the maternal immune status and the risks to an adverse pregnancy outcome. Age-standardised seroprevalences were determined in sera from 1009 women of childbearing age residing in Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Turkey or China using a multiparametric immunoblot containing antigen substrates for antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex viruses (HSV-1, HSV-2), Bordetella pertussis, Chlamydia trachomatis, parvovirus B19, Treponema pallidum and varicella zoster virus (VZV). Seroprevalences for antibodies against HSV-1 were >90% in samples from Brazil and Turkey, whereas the other four countries showed lower mean age-adjusted seroprevalences (range: 62.5-87.9%). Samples from Brazilian women showed elevated seroprevalences of antibodies against HSV-2 (40.1%), C. trachomatis (46.8%) and B. pertussis (56.6%) compared to the other five countries. Seroprevalences of anti-T. gondii antibodies (0.5%) and anti-parvovirus B19 antibodies (7.5%) were low in samples from Chinese women, compared to the other five countries. Samples from German women revealed a low age-standardised seroprevalence of anti-CMV antibodies (28.8%) compared to the other five countries. These global differences in immune status of women in childbearing age advocate country-specific prophylaxis strategies to avoid infection with ToRCH pathogens.

Molecular epidemiology of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains isolated from haematological malignancy patients in a research hospital in Turkey

Infections and outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) still appear to be rare in Turkey. In the present study, VRE strains isolated during an outbreak in a haematology unit of a training and research hospital in Turkey were typed and their antimicrobial-resistance patterns were characterized by molecular methods. Twelve vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains isolated from patients with haematological malignancies were investigated by PCR for the presence of genes encoding resistance to vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin and erythromycin. Their clonal relationship was evaluated by PFGE and multilocus sequence typing. All strains were resistant to vancomycin and erythromycin, and had the vanA and ermB genes, respectively. PFGE was used to determine the presence of two pulsotypes and determine their subtypes. Pulsotype A belonged to sequence type (ST) 17 and pulsotype B belonged to ST 78. All strains with the vanA gene were not the same clone, indicating multiple acquisitions of resistant isolates, even over such a short time period.