Online-Only Abstracts: Population-based burden of bloodstream infections in Finland

Medical residents are particularly exposed to the risk of occupational infection. We aimed to determine the vaccination coverage in residents with an anonymous self-reporting electronic questionnaire. A total of 250 residents took part in this survey. Vaccination rates were particularly high for mandatory vaccinations (diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B virus and tuberculosis). Regarding recommended vaccinations (influenza, 45.6%; pertussis, 65.2%; measles, 62.8%; varicella, 62.8%), rates were insufficient to prevent hospital epidemics, but higher than those reported in other healthcare workers. Further immunization programmes should target residents, and not only senior healthcare workers, with a critical role for occupational medicine departments.

Prolonged and mixed non-O157 Escherichia coli infection in an Australian household

M. Staples, R. M. A. Graham, C. J. Doyle, H. V. Smith, A. V. JennisonPublic Health Microbiology, Communicable Disease, Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, Brisbane, Qld, AustraliaOriginal Submission: 28 November 2011; Revised Submission: 16 January 2012; Accepted: 24 January 2012Editor: P. TassiosArticle published online: 1 February 201210.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03790.x

AbstractAn Australian family was identified through a Public Health follow up on a Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) positive bloody diarrhoea case, with three of the four family members experiencing either symptomatic or asymptomatic STEC shedding. Bacterial isolates were submitted to stx sequence sub-typing, multi-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA), multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and binary typing. The analysis revealed that there were multiple strains of STEC being shed by the family members, with similar virulence gene profiles and the same serogroup but differing in their MLVA and MLST profiles. This study illustrates the potentially complicated nature of non-O157 STEC infections and the importance of molecular epidemiology in understanding disease clusters.

NDM-1, OXA-48 and OXA-181 carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Sultanate of Oman

L. Dortet¹, L. Poirel¹, F. Al Yaqoubi², P. Nordmann¹1) Service de Bactériologie-Virologie, INSERM U914 ‘Emerging Resistance to Antibiotics', Hôpital de Bicětre, Assistance Publique/Hôpitaux de Paris, Faculté de Médecine Paris Sud, Le Kremlin-Bicětre Cedex, France and 2) Department of Microbiology, Royal Hospital, Sultanate of Oman, Muscat, OmanOriginal Submission: 17 January 2012; Revised Submission: 16 February 2012; Accepted: 30 January 2012Editor: R. CantónArticle published online: 3 February 201210.1111/j.1469-0691.2012.03796.x

AbstractTwenty-two carbapenem-resistant enterobacterial isolates were recovered from patients hospitalized between October 2010 and March 2011 at the Royal Hospital of Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. Eleven NDM-1, five OXA-48 and one NDM-1 plus OXA-181 producers of diverse ST types were recovered from clinical samples. All carbapenemase genes were located on self-conjugative plasmids and were nearly always associated with other resistance determinants, including extended-spectrum β-lactamases and the ArmA methylase encoding resistance to aminoglycosides. This work highlights the dissemination of NDM-1 and OXA-48-type producers in the Middle East.