8^th Clinical Microbiology Conference October 26-28, 2017 Paris, France

Juliana Chiruta has completed her PhD in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology and at the Department of Chemistry from The University of Adelaide. She is currently employed as a Senior Member of the professional staff in the Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. She is an Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (UK) and a member of Higher Education Research Network (QUT).

Practical learning is a critical component of skills development in all areas of clinical microbiology, however, there are some increasing challenges faced by tertiary institution in the management of teaching laboratories to balance increasing demands on space, resources, and health and safety practices with sound pedagogy and authentic practical activities that prepare students for the real world. Hearing and Lu (2014) reported that “inappropriate utilization of laboratory tests and errors in laboratory medicine are major concerns” that can lead to poor patient diagnostics, high costs of health care and inadequate treatments. Clinical microbiology laboratories serve as first line defense for patient diagnosis, detection and tracking of emerging antibiotic resistance, outbreaks of foodborne infections, and possible bioterrorism events. Poorly performing laboratories have been associated with increased healthcare costs, and poor patient diagnosis and treatment with associated malpractice claims. Published studies identified that maintaining high-quality test accuracy and accurate interpretation and diagnostics are critical tools for patient care outcomes. Literature also supports the vital importance of authentic educational studies in the higher education sector that correlates students’ scientific knowledge and practical skills with critical thinking and analytical skills, interpretation and evaluation of data and communication of information to achieve a specific outcome. Further managing this within the new landscape of a multidisciplinary laboratory environment offers new challenges to academics, technical staff and students alike. This communication presents the relevance and efficiency with which technical, virtual and human resources and infrastructure are blended and adjusted against an authentic laboratory design to enable students to transition from disciplinary knowledge to professional practice.

Laura Andrea Barrero-Guevara has completed her undergraduate studies in Microbiology and Biology from Universidad de los Andes and she is pursuing her master studies in Biological Sciences in Universidad de los Andes in 2016.

Multi-resistant S. aureus is the principal cause for skin and soft tissue infections, but the deficiency in treatment can allow the microorganism to infect other tissues and even cause death. The increase in the lack of options for therapeutic treatments for this infection is a major concern worldwide that needs to be addressed with the search for new antimicrobial agents and therapeutic approaches. The objective of this ongoing study is to determine the antimicrobial and immunomodulatory potential of new peptides individually and in combination in the search for a therapeutic treatment against S. aureus skin infections. First, stability related features, described proteins and antimicrobial peptides with sequence similarities and immune related features of the 8 new peptides were analyzed with a broad repertoire of databases and bioinformatic tools. Secondly, cytotoxic activity was determined by MTT assays with the 3 cell lines: African green monkey fibroblast-like kidney cells (VERO), Human monocytic cell line (THP-1) and macrophages that were obtained exposing THP-1 cells with 150 nM PMA. Thirdly, to ascertain the integrity of S. aureus strains resistant profile, antibiotic sensitivity assays were developed with a qualitative and a quantitative method. Then, a reference strain, a nonresistant clinically isolated strain and 3 multi-resistant clinically isolated strains were challenged to the eight peptides individually and in combination in microdilution assays. Finally, after differentiating the THP-1 monocytes cell line to macrophages as mention previously, cells were exposed to the peptides and the concentration of 13 cytokines was determined with the LEGENDplexâ„¢ Human Inflammation Panel (BioLegend).

Patricia Gomez de Leon has completed her PhD from UNAM and two Postdoctoral Studies from Centers for Disease Control, USA, and CSIC/CIB, Madrid. She is a full Professor at the School of Medicine UNAM. She has published more than 28 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of recognized journals. She oversees evaluation and decisions of research designs for funding CONACYT, Mexico.

NTHi is a cause of respiratory infections among adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Lines of evidence suggest that biofilm formation by NTHi play an important role in pathogenesis of COPD. Our objective was to assess the possible correlation between the antimicrobial susceptibility and the ability of NTHi to form biofilms. Forty NTHi strains from hospitalized adults with COPD (Mexico City) were evaluated for their biofilm formation ability by a crystal violet staining-based assay and optical density (OD) measurements. NTHi strains 2019 and siaB- mutant (E. Swords, USA) were included. The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns against nine antibiotics were determined by the Kirby-Bauer method. 90% of the strains showed varying ability to form biofilms. Biofilm-producing strains were categorized as strong (OD>1.7), moderate (OD between 0.862 and 1.7), weak (OD between 0.48 and 0.862) and null (OD<0.48). Frequencies were of 19.1%, 50%, 21.4% and 9.5% for strong, moderate, weak and null categories. Seven out of nine strong biofilm-producing strains showed antimicrobial susceptibility to all antibiotics tested. Heterogeneous antibiotic susceptibility was observed among moderate and weak biofilm-producing strains. Strains with null capacity showed resistance to two or more antibiotics and most of the NTHi isolates were able to form biofilms. Our results showed a high frequency of strains with moderate to strong biofilm-forming ability that were susceptible to most of the tested antimicrobial agents. Analysis of data concerning antimicrobial susceptibility and biofilm formation ability, may serve as a guide for surveillance and selection of antibiotic treatment in these patients.

Japanese encephalitis virus(JEV) is a mosquito-born flavivirus that causes public health problems in Asian countries. Until quite recently, the primary JE vaccine used worldwide has been the mouse brain-derived JE vaccine, which is now commonly replaced by cell culture-based JEV vaccines. The Vero cell derived inactivated JE(cJEV) vaccine has been licensed for routine use in Korea in 2013. Unlike chemical drugs, biologics such as vaccines and blood products are produced from organismorigin materials, it is difficult to maintain consistency and safety throughout the manufacturing processes. Also, the reference standard and material are indispensable for the consistent potency management of biologicals. Lately, the 1st national reference standard that has esbablished is now in progress with the enrollment as a Korea cJEV national reference standard for our National Lot Release Test for cJEV by plaque neutralization test(PRNT). In this study another 1st National reference candidate materials, challenge virus(CV) and positive control sera(PCS) required for the cJEV PRNT were manufactured at GMP facility, respectively. The candidate CV contents and the candidate PCS neutralization titers were determined by multi-laboratory collaborative study including NCL by cJEV PRNT-based test. After statistical assesment of the collaborative test results, the candidate CV and PCS titers would be set and expected to be used as a national reference material for our national lot release tests with the realtime stability monitoring data. This study results are thought to be helpful for procuring the consistent and reliable national vaccine quality management.

Sanjay Biswas has completed his MD in Microbiology from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, India and presently working as a Microbiologist in Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai since 2000. He has published more than 15 papers in national and international reputed journals.

Introduction: The increased morbidity and mortality associated with nosocomial infections in the ICU is a matter of serious concern today. It has been reported that the incidence of nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit (ICU) is about 2 to 5 times higher than in the general in-patient hospital population. ICU-acquired infections account for substantial morbidity, mortality, and expense. Infections and sepsis are the leading cause of death in ICU’s. Objectives: This retrospective study was undertaken to determine the incidence of nosocomial infection, distribution of causative pathogens and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Materials & Methods: A total of 9024 samples were received from 2667 patients admitted in the ICU between January 2015 and July 2017. All the samples were processed as per routine microbiological procedures and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed as per CLSI guidelines. Results: Out of the total 9024 samples received, blood was the commonest sample followed by NDBAL, sputum, BAL, wound swab and bile. 3845 samples showed growth of one or more pathogens. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most commonest isolate followed by E. coli, P. aeruginosa, Acinetobacter spp, Candida spp, Enterococci spp, S. aureus and Enterobacter spp. Colistin was found to be most susceptible antibiotic for gram negative organisms followed by tigecycline, amikacin, tobramycin, gentamicin, cefoperazone-sulbactam and piperacillin-tazobactam. For gram positive pathogens, linezolid was the most susceptible antimicrobial followed by vancomycin, teicoplanin and clindamycin. Discussion: The prevention of ICU acquired infections demands knowledge of the infection rates and of the sources, the pathogens involved as well as the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Intensive care unit acquired infections have been reported to be associated with increased length of ICU and hospital stays. Good hand hygiene compliance, contact precautions and minimizing unnecessary interventions are critical for preventing infection and the spread of resistant organisms in the ICU.