Pathogenic Microbiology Commons^™

Alternative Precautionary Measures Yielding Lower C. Diff Infection Rates In Healthcare Facilities, Matthew Kramer

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: An international healthcare concern is the persistent spread of Clostridium difficile, a Gram-positive spore forming bacterium that is responsible for the most common hospital-acquired infection, amongst patients.

Objective: A systematic review was performed to summarize evidence that the interventions utilized in healthcare facilities which indicate a patient’s precautionary status are insufficient, outdated, and commonly lead to infection in neighboring patient rooms. Databases such as PubMed, NCBI, Google Scholar, and APHA’s Medical Care were searched, covering the period from 2017-2022. Studies were included if their focus concentrated on C. diff and the precautionary measures taken by employees at healthcare …

Comparison Of The Humoral Immune Response Following Both Bacterial Challenge And Rnai Of Major Factors On Proliferation Of Bartonella Quintana In The Human Louse, Jake Zina

Masters Theses

Human body lice, Pediculus humanus humanus, and head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, have been hematophagous ectoparasites of humans for thousands of years. Despite being ecotypes, only body lice are known to transmit bacterial diseases to humans, and it appears that lower humoral and cellular immune responses allow body lice to possess a higher vector competence. We previously observed that the transcription level of the defensin 1 gene was up-regulated only in head lice following oral challenge of Bartonella quintana, a causative agent of trench fever, and also that body lice excreted more viable B. quintana in their …

Tetr Family Regulator Farr Variation Controls Antimicrobial Fatty Acid Efflux In Staphylococcus Aureus, Camryn M. Bonn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To colonize human skin and survive within abscesses, Staphylococcus aureus has evolved mechanisms to evade host innate defenses. USA300 has become the predominate community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) clone, which can be in part attributed to detoxification of unsaturated free fatty acids (uFFA) found in sebum and the nares. Our lab has previously identified the TetR family regulator FarR responsible for induction of the resistance-nodulation-division (RND) superfamily efflux pump FarE to promote efflux of toxic uFFA. However, RND family efflux pumps remain poorly characterized in Gram-positive species and the mechanism by which FarR regulates FarE has yet to be determined. …

Resolving The Repression Pathway Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lon Chubiz Phd, Brenda Pratte, Lauren Daugherty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Salmonella is a relatively abundant, virulent species of bacteria that is most known for spreading gastrointestinal diseases through food. These illnesses result in approximately 1.35 million infections, including over 25,000 hospitalizations each year, in the U.S. alone (CDC.gov). As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly urgent public health problem, the importance of developing alternative treatment methods is only becoming more crucial. One of the genes responsible for this virulence is known as hilA. HilA is the main transcriptional regulator of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 gene (UniProt). SPI-1 plays an important role in the invasion of Salmonella into epithelial cells. The proteins encoded …

Eskape Pathogens: The Clinical Prevalence And Molecular Mechanisms Of Antibiotic Resistance, Anusha Attre

Honors Scholar Theses

The ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) are the leading cause of all nosocomial, or healthcare-associated (HAI), infections (Navidinia, 2016). The purpose of this research study is to determine the burden of ESKAPE infections on healthcare and study the antibiotic resistance in these high-risk pathogens to provide direction for researchers to develop new antimicrobial innovations to reduce ESKAPE infectivity and improve patient outcomes. To study the burden of ESKAPE infections, this review analyzes the current statistics explaining the clinical prevalence of each pathogen in causing HAIs. Additionally, each pathogen is …