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Review Article
- Plazomicin—a New Aminoglycoside—for Treating Complicated Urinary Tract Infections
- Mohammad Saydur Rahman, Gazi Mohammad Al Amin, Shah Mohammad Anwar, Mohammad Ferdaus Azam, Fatema Akhter, Mohammad Rabiul Islam, Young-Sang Koh
- Plazomicin belongs to a new class of semisynthetic aminoglycosides that suppress bacterial protein synthesis. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved …
- Plazomicin belongs to a new class of semisynthetic aminoglycosides that suppress bacterial protein synthesis. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved this antibacterial drug for use in adult patients with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs), such as pyelonephritis. The worldwide emergence of multidrug- resistant (MDR) organisms has become a significant health issue. It is a promising alternative to carbapenems or β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors for treating cUTIs caused by MDR Enterobacterales. Plazomicin is primarily designed to overcome the common resistance mechanisms of pathogens. It has also demonstrated good in vitro efficacy against various resistant gram-negative pathogens. Plazomicin inhibits bacterial protein synthesis and exhibits rapid bactericidal efficacy against numerous extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing, aminoglycoside- resistant, and carbapenem-resistant bacterial isolates. Similar to other aminoglycosides, plazomicin inhibits bacterial protein synthesis by attaching to the 30S ribosomal subunit of bacteria. Plazomicin also demonstrated a favorable minimum inhibitory concentration value compared to other aminoglycosides such as gentamicin, amikacin, and tobramycin. The commonly observed adverse effects of plazomicin include headache, hypertension, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and hypotension. In this review, we discuss the likelihood of using plazomicin to treat bacterial infections, focusing on its chemistry, mode of action pharmacokinetics, indications for treatment, adverse reactions, and safety profile. - COLLAPSE
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Original Article
- Trends in Norovirus Distribution among the Children of Childcare Center
- Eun-Seon Hur, Il-Hyung Jeong, Sun-Mok Kwon, Min-Sung Kang, So-Jung Park, Yoon-Hee Lee, Hui-Su Pyeon, Bum-Ho Kim, Yong-Bae Park
- Noroviruses are pathogens as being the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) across all age groups, especially among vulnerable population, less than …
- Noroviruses are pathogens as being the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) across all age groups, especially among vulnerable population, less than 5 years old. This study examined a total of 994 specimens collected from 58 cases of the kindergartens populations in Gyeonggi-Do from 2019 to 2021 to estimate the incidence of viral enteropathogens and analyze molecular genetic characteristics. Noroviruses were the most common viral pathogen causing among these population with acute gastroenteritis (n=55, 94.8% of cases tested). We found that norovirus outbreak of kindergarten exhibited a seasonality from the winter to summer with a peak in April. In particular, genotype GII noroviruses were particularly prevalent in the kindergarten population, with GII-4/2012 being highly detected in 119 specimens, followed by GII-3 and GII-2 as pathogenic agents causing AGE. Samples from workers or environment (toilet, doorknob, toy) were positive for a same genetic norovirus (GII-4/2012). Our results suggest that special attention needs to be paid to any possible contamination with noroviruses. Furthermore, a regular monitoring system can help prevent the norovirus outbreaks. - COLLAPSE
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Original Article
- Distribution and Transmission of Enterobacteriaceae Clinical Isolates Co-resistant to Colistin and Carbapenem in Gangwon Province, South Korea
- Eun Jeong Ryu, Jong Gil Choi, In Hee Park, Eun Mi Ko, Ju-mi Jeon, Seuk Hyun Ko, Eun Joo Lim
- The emergence of Enterobacteriaceae strains resistant to both colistin and carbapenem, which harbor the mobile colistin resistance (mcr) gene, has …
- The emergence of Enterobacteriaceae strains resistant to both colistin and carbapenem, which harbor the mobile colistin resistance (mcr) gene, has become a significant clinical and public health concern. The aim of this study was to identify strains with co-resistance to carbapenem and colistin and gain further understanding of the antimicrobial characteristics of these strains in South Korea. Bacterial identification was performed using MALDI Biotyper and Vitek2 compact, antibiotic susceptibility was tested using broth microdilution and agar disk diffusion, and the antimicrobial resistance genes were detected using polymerase chain reaction. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to compare and identify strains with co-resistance to carbapenem and colistin. In this study, a total of 66 (9.9%) clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were obtained, all of which exhibited concurrent resistance to both carbapenem and colistin. Among these isolates, seven carried the mcr-8 (n=1), mcr-9 (n=5), and mcr-10 (n=1) genes, respectively. Notably, five clinical isolates with an identical pulsotype of Enterobacter cloacae complex were obtained from patients at the same hospital, while 11 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae were obtained from patients at the same or different hospitals in Gangwon Province, South Korea. Fortunately, none of the Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates that were transmitted carried the mcr gene. To the best of our knowledge, this is the confirmation of the transmission and circulation of carbapenem- and colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae strains in a nosocomial and/or local community setting in South Korea. These results underscore the importance of implementing effective infection control measures and continuously monitoring resistant bacteria. - COLLAPSE
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Original Article
- Antiviral Activity of Flavonoids Against Non-polio Enteroviruses
- Hwa-Jung Choi
- Flavonoids are natural phytochemicals with effective antiviral activity. These natural phytochemicals could act on various viral life cycles. Enterovirus causes aseptic meningitis, …
- Flavonoids are natural phytochemicals with effective antiviral activity. These natural phytochemicals could act on various viral life cycles. Enterovirus causes aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD), and myocarditis in infants, children, and immunodeficiency patients. However, there are no approved antiviral drugs for enterovirus yet. We reviewed the antiviral activity and molecular mechanism of flavonoids against coxsackieviruses, rhinoviruses, and enterovirus-A71 that contribute to severe neurological and cardiomyopathy, colds, and asthma among viruses in Enterovirus. - COLLAPSE
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Original Article
- Isolation and Biomolecular Analysis of Canine Parvovirus 2a from Korean Dogs
- Lee-Sang Hyeon, Dong-Kun Yang, Eun-Ju Kim, Yu-Ri Park, Hye Jeong Lee, Bang-Hun Hyun
- Canine parvovirus (CPV) is highly contagious and causes acute hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in puppies. Four variants of CPV-2 are widely distributed worldwide: CPV-2, …
- Canine parvovirus (CPV) is highly contagious and causes acute hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in puppies. Four variants of CPV-2 are widely distributed worldwide: CPV-2, CPV-2a, CPV-2b, and CPV-2c. However, there have been few molecular characterization studies of CPV-2a circulating in dog populations in South Korea. Here, we isolated and characterized two CPVs: the CPV2101 and CPV2102 isolates. They were confirmed to be CPVs based on their cytopathic effects, indirect fluorescence assays, electron microscopy, real-time PCR, and sequence analysis. Both isolates showed hemagglutination activity with pig erythrocytes and had viral titers ranging from 106.5 to 105.5 FAID50/mL in A72 cells. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of VP2 of the isolates were compared with reported CPV strains. The sequence alignment showed that they had 100% nucleotide sequence similarity with each other and grouped with CPV-2a. They had mutations at positions 267, 322, 324, and 440 in the VP2 gene compared to the original CPV-2a strains. A phylogenetic analysis of the VP2 gene of the isolates revealed that they were closely related to the K01708-01 strain reported from South Korea. The two isolates will serve as useful antigens for developing new CPV vaccines. - COLLAPSE
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Original Article
- Intestinal Organoid as a Research Platform for the Virus-host Interaction
- Jieun Lee, Subin Lee, Hyungjun Jeon, Garyung Kim, Seyoung Kim, Jihoon Kim
- Viral pathogens utilize various human organs for infection, and the gut is one of the primary entry sites for the viral pathogen. …
- Viral pathogens utilize various human organs for infection, and the gut is one of the primary entry sites for the viral pathogen. The gut epithelium is tightly maintained since multiple harmful substances, including viral pathogens, attack it. The outbreak of new viruses or strains often poses a massive threat to human life, so we need to understand how they develop and how to prevent them by inventing new therapeutic approaches, including new drugs and vaccines. Therefore, biology society is always eager to invent a better way to investigate viral pathogens, including infection mechanism, life cycle, drug response, etc. Therefore, the advances of new research platforms were always critical bottlenecks to researchers. The recent development of the organoid culture system widely opened new opportunities for human diseases related to viral pathogens. In particular, the organoid culture system was quickly applied to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 research, providing massive information about the virus and potential therapeutics such as cellular tropism, drug response, and crucial genes involved in viral replication and infection. This review provides a comprehensive summary of recent advances in intestinal organoid culture systems for viral pathogen research. - COLLAPSE