Project description:This study aims to determine the epidemiology of Enterobacteriaceae resistant to antibiotics of last resort in pregnant women in labour at a tertiary hospital, Pretoria, South Africa. Rectal swabs shall be used to screen for colonisation with CRE and colistin-resistant Enterobacteriales in pregnant women during labour. Carbapenem and colistin-resistant Enterobacterales can cause the following infections: bacteraemia; nosocomial pneumonia; urinary tract infections, and intra-abdominal infections. Due to limited treatment options, infections caused by these multidrug-resistant organisms are associated with a mortality rate of 40-50%. Screening for colonisation of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae will help implement infection and prevention measures to limit the spread of these multidrug-resistant organisms.
Project description:Comparison of the whole genome gene expression level of an amoxicillin resistant E. coli strain with the wildtype it was derived from. The process of amoxicillin adaptation of E. coli MG1655 wildtype cells is further descibed in van der Horst, M, J.M. Schuurmans, M. C. Smid, B. B. Koenders, and B. H. ter Kuile (2011) in Microb. Drug Resist. 17:141-147. Resistance to amoxicillin was induced in E. coli by growth in the presence of stepwise increasing antibiotic concentrations. To investigate consequences of the aquisition of amoxicillin resistance the transcriptomic profile of sensitive and resistant cells was compared in the absence and presence of sub-inhibitory (0.25xMIC) amoxicillin concentrations was compared.
