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- Stark, Lisa
(författare)
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Staphylococcus aureus : aspects of pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Staphylococcus aureus is a human commensal colonizing about 30 per cent of the population. Besides, it is a frequent cause of infections such as skin, wound and deep tissue infections and also more life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia, endocarditis and septicaemia. S. aureus may also cause different toxicoses. Moreover, this bacterium is one of the most common causes of nosocomial infections worldwide and an increase in antibiotic resistance, especially against methicillin, is seen. This underlines the importance to prevent and control outbreaks of S. aureus. The aims of this thesis were to increase the knowledge of S. aureus virulence and pathogenesis as well as to understand pattern of colonization and transmission.Various virulence factors operate together in the pathogenic process of S. aureus. The virulence of S. aureus was studied by the interaction with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) as a model. In paper I, we found that one bacterial isolate survived intracellularly and that 156 genes were differentially regulated in microarray analysis of HUVEC. The major part of these genes coded for proteins involved in innate immunity. In paper II, we wanted to explore possible differences in global gene expression patterns in HUVEC induced by invasive compared to colonizing isolates of S. aureus. We also used microarray to investigate possible differences in the presence of virulence genes between the two groups. The main finding was that virulent and commensal S. aureus did not differ in interaction with HUVEC and in the presence of virulence genes. All isolates survived intracellularly for days.Since no obvious differences in virulence between the two groups of isolates were found, we focused on epidemiology and transmission patterns. Colonization with S. aureus is an important risk factor for subsequent S. aureus infection. In paper III, we investigated S. aureus colonization and transmission among nursing home residents in three regions in the south of Sweden and used staphylococcal protein A (spa) typing as an epidemiological tool. A diverse distribution of different spa types was found and a majority of types were unique to one individual. Interestingly, we found a local accumulation of one spa type in one nursing home. Also common spa types were equally distributed in the different regions. We also noted that some individuals were colonized with two different spa types of S. aureus and in five of these cases there was one resistant and one non-resistant strain.The issue of multiclonal colonization and infection is highly important and clinical diagnostic laboratories do not routinely address this problem. Therefore, in paper IV a novel method to assess multiclonality of S. aureus was developed. It was based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis with the amplification of the spa gene. The method simultaneously separated eight different spa types. It also detected two spa types in an outbreak.In conclusion, we found no differences in virulence genes and in the interaction with HUVEC between commensal and invasive isolates. This indicates that any isolate of S. aureus might have a pathogenic potential. We also confirmed that some spa types are more successful colonizers with a potential to nosocomial spread. The method for detection of multiclonality of S. aureus is of importance in future epidemiological and clinical studies.
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| 2. |
- Lager, Malin, 1975-
(författare)
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Molecular and serological tools for clinical diagnostics of Lyme borreliosis - can the laboratory analysis be improved?
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lyme borreliosis (LB) is caused by spirochetes within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex and is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the northern hemisphere. The transmission of the spirochetes to humans in Europe is done by the Ixodes ricinus ticks, which can also transmit the relapsing fever species Borrelia miyamotoi. LB may cause clinical manifestations in the skin, in the central nervous system, in joints, and in the heart. Diagnosis of LB is mainly based on the patient´s medical history, self-described symptoms, and clinical signs in combination with the detection of Borrelia-specific antibodies (serological methods). In some cases/issues, detection of Borrelia-specific deoxyribonucleic acid (molecular methods) may be used as a complement to serology. All diagnosed LB infections are treated with antibiotics to prevent disease progression, and most patients fully recover without further sequelae. The overall aims of this thesis were to evaluate molecular and serological tools for laboratory diagnosis of LB, with a special focus on Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), and to identify potential improvements.The results presented in this thesis showed that the immunoglobulin (Ig) G assays, currently in use in northern Europe for detection of antibodies in serum, had high diagnostic sensitivity (88 %) together with comparable results both between and within assays. For the IgM assays, the diagnostic sensitivity was lower (59 %) with more heterogeneous results. Small variations in diagnostic performance for IgM and IgG were mainly presented for samples within the borderline zone. These results support the theory that separate testing of IgM antibodies in serum has low diagnostic value. However, simultaneous detection in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for both IgM and IgG antibodies was essential for the diagnosis of LNB, at least for certain assays.So far (to our knowledge), no systematic evaluation and optimisation of the pre-analytical handling of CSF samples before molecular testing has been performed. By use of the precipitate concentrated by moderate centrifugation, extraction of total nucleic acid followed by reversetranscription to complementary deoxyribonucleic acid, in combination with the absence of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibitors, detection of Borrelia garinii, Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, and B. miyamotoi was possible. These four species are all known to be pathogenic to humans. The results revealed a high analytical sensitivity and specificity for the optimised pre-analytical conditions. The thesis also presents results showing that the real-time PCR protocols currently used in Scandinavia have high analytical sensitivity, specificity, and concordance. This indicates that the low diagnostic sensitivity for detection of Borrelia in CSF was not a result of poorly designed and evaluated PCR protocols, but was possibly due to the low number of spirochetes in the samples. However, to further evaluate the diagnostic performance for detection of Borrelia in CSF by PCR, clinical samples need to be evaluated based on our new recommendations for the pre-analytical handling of CSF samples.In conclusion, this thesis presents results revealing that both molecular and serological tools for detection of Borrelia have, in general high sensitivity and specificity with results comparable between different protocols and different laboratories. It also presents recommendations for pre-analytical handling of CSF samples before PCR-analysis, and shows the benefits in diagnostic performance by simultaneous detection of IgM and IgG antibodies in serum and CSF for accurate diagnosis of LNB. Even though the techniques mentioned above have high analytical performance, the ability to discriminate an active infection from a previous one is limited and further studies need to be carried out. These studies need to focus on finding diagnostic tools that can help physicians to determine ongoing infection to ensure adequate treatment. It is also desirable to improve the standardisation of the diagnostic tools and to find methods that can discriminate between different Borrelia species.
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| 3. |
- Nordgren, Johan, 1980-
(författare)
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Norovirus Epidemiology : Prevalence, transmission, and determinants of disease susceptibility
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Norovirus (NoV) is today recognized as the most important agent of acute human gastroenteritis, causing a high number of diarrheal episodes in both adults and children. Outbreaks in hospitals, nursing homes, day-care centers, and from consumption of contaminated food and drinking water are common. Wastewater can be a source of NoV dissemination, e.g. when used for irrigation of crops, or due to shellfish cultivation near the outlet of wastewater treatment plants. Today, at least 25 different genotypes of NoV belonging to two major genogroups (GG) have been observed in humans. These genotypes are associated with different transmission patterns and disease severity in humans. Also host genetic factors, such as presence of ABO antigens and mutations in the FUT2 gene affect susceptibility, and can even render complete resistance to symptomatic infections, but only the most common NoV genotypes have been studied regarding this.In this thesis, we wanted to find prevention strategies for NoV disease through four studies of NoV epidemiology: Development of a sensitive real-time PCR assay for detection and quantification of human NoVs, characterization of NoV in children with diarrhea in Nicaragua, investigation of the prevalence and parameters influencing NoV concentration in a wastewater treatment plant in Gothenburg, Sweden, and studying host susceptibility factors in a foodborne NoV outbreak in Jönköping, Sweden.First we developed a real-time PCR assay which can detect and quantify NoV in various settings, both in stool samples of patients, and in wastewater samples from which virus was first concentrated using ultracentrifugation. This assay was found to be more sensitive than commercial immunological assays and conventional PCR methods. The assay is furthermore able to differentiate between the two major human genogroups of NoV using melting curve analysis, which provides valuable information about the circulating NoV strains.The survey of NoV in pediatric diarrhea in Nicaragua revealed a large impact of NoV, both in community and hospital based settings, with 15% of the severe diarrhea cases attributed to NoV. Peaks of clinically diagnosed NoV gastroenteritis were associated with emerging variants of genotype GGII.4, largely replacing the many different NoV genotypes circulating before the peak of diarrheal cases. Children infected with the GGII.4 genotype were found to shed more virus compared to children infected with other genotypes, which could partly explain the high transmission of GGII.4.At the wastewater treatment plant in Gothenburg, both NoV GGI and GGII were detected during a whole year, not only during the winter season when clinical cases are common. This indicates that NoV infections are frequently occurring at clinical and/or sub-clinical levels in the community. During winter, GGII was present in high concentrations, whereas GGI concentration increased to higher levels than GGII in summer, possibly due to the emergence of new genotypes following the winter outbreaks. The levels of NoV GGI were stable during the year, and hence incoming concentrations were affected by dilution factors such as rain. Primary treatment and treatment in a conventional, non-nitrifying activated sludge system reduced the NoV concentration by a factor of about 30. The detection of NoV in outgoing water, together with the low reduction and lack of correlation to indicator bacteria, suggest that better monitoring tools for virus in wastewater are warranted to reduce environmental contamination.A foodborne NoV outbreak in Jönköping in October 2007, by a NoV GGI.3 strain, revealed a surprising pattern of host susceptibility. In contrast to previous findings, this strain infected individuals irrespective of secretor status and Lewis (Le) phenotype, with non-secretors and Lea+bindividuals having a higher risk of disease. Individuals with blood group B had a partial protection to symptomatic infection, but none of the host factors investigated mediated complete resistance. Furthermore, we observed differences in susceptibility regarding homozygosity and heterozygosity in the FUT2 gene, with heterozygous secretor-positive individuals being more susceptible to symptomatic NoV infection than homozygous secretors.In summary, the developed LUX real-time PCR assay was successfully used in all studies in this thesis, which yielded important information about the prevalence and transmission of NoV. We observed the emergence of GGII.4 variants, causing the majority of diarrheal cases in children, largely replacing the other circulating genotypes, possibly due to better replication leading to a higher viral shedding. After the peak of NoV-induced diarrheal episodes, the incidence of GGII.4 decrease and other strains emerge which can infect people not previously exposed. This was observed in the foodborne outbreak in Jönköping, where individuals expected to be resistant to NoV were infected, and indeed had a higher risk of developing disease. A similar seasonal pattern was also indirectly observed in wastewater, with high levels of GGII in winter, which subsequently declined, followed by an increase of GGI in summer. Taken together, these results provide a better insight into the epidemiology of the virus, which hopefully can lead to better preventive measures for NoV gastroenteritis.
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| 4. |
- Mernelius, Sara, 1981-
(författare)
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Infection control of Staphylococcus aureus : spa typing to elucidate transmission
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal of the human flora, primarily colonizing the anterior nares and throat, but it may also cause infections ranging from mild skin and soft tissue infections to severe diseases such as endocarditis and septicemia. S. aureus is also a major nosocomial problem increasing with the worldwide dissemination of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The main vector for bacterial cross-transmission in healthcare settings is the hands of healthcare workers (HCWs). No S. aureus was detected in the air in this thesis demonstrating that transmission through air is not important. Despite the fact that good compliance with hand hygiene is essential to prevent cross-transmission the compliance is generally less than 50 %. Gold standard to track bacterial transmission in healthcare settings has for long been pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), a method that is labor- intensive, lacks consensus protocol and relies on semi-subjective analysis. Molecular typing by sequencing of the hypervariable part of the S. aureus protein A gene (spa typing) has overcome these problems and has shown promising results in epidemiological investigations.The aims of this thesis were to study bacterial transmission with S. aureus colonization of newborn infants as a model and to evaluate spa typing as a molecular tool. Additionally, the influence of compliance with hygiene guidelines on S. aureus transmission was assessed.Analysis of 280 MRSA isolates by spa typing revealed excellent typeability and epidemiological concordance and satisfactory discriminatory power. Additionally, spa typing was considered superior to PFGE thanks to its accessibility, ease of use and rapidity. Also, spa typing results are registered in a global database, facilitating inter-laboratory comparison.The prevalence of S. aureus ranged from 41 % to 66 % in the populations studied and males had the highest colonization rate. Throat was the premier colonization site for adults and transmission from individuals colonized in the throat only was documented, suggesting that throat cultures should be included in S. aureus screening programs. The umbilicus was the premier colonization site for newborn infants. Incubating the swabs in enrichment broth prior to plating increased the prevalence of S. aureus positive samples by 46 %, resulting in prevalence ranging from 51 % to 70 % in the populations studied. Thus enrichment prior to plating is necessary to determine more truthful S. aureus colonization rates. There were no indications of an institutional flora, as the colonization rates, spa type distribution and antibiotic resistance prevalence were similar among parents and HCWs.Direct observations and self-reporting by HCWs were both validated as tools for monitoring compliance with hygiene guidelines. The compliance with hygiene guidelines was significantly higher following a 10-point hygiene intervention as compared to baseline. The compliance was also higher three years after the intervention in three of four participating departments. These data show that it is possible to markedly improve the compliance with hygiene guidelines, but to achieve a long-term effect, continuous and varied reminders seems necessary.Both at baseline and following the intervention almost 60 % of the colonized infants were colonized with an S. aureus of the same spa type as isolated from their own family. At baseline approximately 25 % of the colonized infants received their S. aureus from non-family individuals, indicating transmission directly or indirectly from HCWs. Despite the improvement in compliance with barrier precautions from 41 % at baseline to 86 % following the hygiene intervention, the transmission from non-family did not decrease. This indicates that other factors may have a prominent impact on bacterial transmission. One factor might be the quality of hand hygiene technique which therefore needs to be studied further. However, to ensure patient safety it is still recommended that all HCWs comply with hygiene guidelines at all time.
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