Acta Microbiologica Bulgarica

77-82

Authors: Ionescu, G., Nășcuțiu, A-M.

The External Quality Assessment (EQA) is mandatory for the accreditation of medical laboratories. In Romania, this is a requirement of the National Insurance House based on the 1301/2007 Order of the Ministry of Health. Besides, the EQA providers must be accredited according to the specific standard ISO 17043:2010. Some issues can be considered as pitfalls when referring to the full and correct implementation of EQA requirements. It is important to acknowledge them and to know how to overcome them. Some of these pitfalls are presented and the ways in which they can be solved are discussed, as follows: the selection and the monitoring of the EQA provider; the real needs of the laboratory in terms of frequency, type of scheme, number of samples; the way in which the performance of the total testing process is assessed and the means of presentation of the results of the assessment. For microbiology EQA, additional important aspects are isolation or identification of the microorganisms with or without clinical significance, inhomogeneity and short stability of the samples, testing of appropriate antimicrobials, detection of the antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, detection of critical or borderline levels of antibodies, antigens or nucleic acids. Laboratory types (for inpatients or outpatients, for infectious diseases, general hospitals, for public health surveillance or for reference activities) should be taken into account when comparing the performance of each laboratory with overall performance. The EQA is a useful tool for continuous quality improvement, knowledge and experience playing a major role.

89-94

Authors: Milashka, M., Milashki, S., Popova, R., Borisova, B., Bonovska, M.

The aim of this study was to determine the most appropriate method for identification of Helicobacter pylori following isolation from gastric mucosal biopsy of patients with clinical signs of gastritis or duodenitis. Microbiological analysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were found to be the most appropriate and highly reliable in diagnosing the presence of H. pylori in the gastrointestinal mucosa in patients with clinical symptoms of gastritis or ulcer. The microbiological analysis of 41 gastric mucosal biopsy specimens from patients with clinical symptoms of gastritis or ulcer revealed H. pylori in 36 patients (87.80%), mixed H. pylori and С. jejuni culture in four patients (9.75%) and presence of lactic acid bacteria in just one patient (2.45% of cases).

100-105

Authors: Özcan, N., Bulut, Z. K., Evinç, E., Yiğitalp, G., Özekinci, T., Ceylan, A.

Women suffer much from wars and forced migrations. In 2014, Ezidians (Yazidis) living in Iraq migrated to Syria and then to Turkey due to civil war. Tetanus is a bacterial infection caused by Clostridium tetani spores getting into the body. Hepatitis B is an infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. Both hepatitis B and tetanus are vaccine-preventable diseases. We aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of tetanus and hepatitis B among Yazidi women who had fled to our country and have been living in a tent city. This study was conducted in Diyarbakır province, located in Southeastern Turkey, between July 2015 and February 2016. A total of 245 Yazidi women aged between 15 and 49 years, living in a tent city, were included. HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBcIgG were studied by ELISA method with Cobas e 601 (Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland) system autoanalyzer. Antibodies to tetanus toxin were tested by ELISA method with the Virotech ELISA tetanus (Virotech, Germany). Of the 245 women, 38 (15.5%) had vaccine-induced immunity, while 11 (4.5%) had antibodies against hepatitis B due to previous exposure. Two women (0.8%) had isolated anti-HBcIgG positivity. Among 245 women, 96 (39.2%) had anti- tetanus antibodies. This population was notably susceptible to both tetanus and hepatitis B. Vaccination of this sensitive population was important for the well-being of the women, their spouses and children to be born.

111-115

Authors: Torun, M. M., Berk, S., Arslan, U., Yokuş, B., Erden, A., Cayıt, B., Onlen, B. B., Mestanoglu, M., Saglam, F. Y., Aktepe, O. C.

Nasal carriage of MRSA plays a key role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of staphylococcal infections. The aim of this study is to examine nasal MRSA carriage among healthy pre-clinical and clinical medical students at School of Medicine in Istanbul (Turkey). We also evaluate the antimicrobial resistance patterns of MRSA strains. In this study, involving 118 medical students, both pre-clinical (n:78) and clinical (n:40) at Bahçeşehir University, School of Medicine was conducted from October 2016 to June 2017. The volunteer students were screened for nasal carriage of S. aureus by streaking both anterior nares with sterile moistened cotton swabs. Then all nasal swabs and clinical specimens inoculated onto Chromagar MRSA and blood agar plate media and incubated at 35-37°C for 48 hours. The isolates were identified as S. aureus by standard coventional procedures. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined using by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method, according to the EUCAST panels. MRSA carriage among pre-clinical and clinical students were 7.6 % (6/78) and 7.5% (3/40) respectively. There was no statistical significant different between the two groups. Also all MRSA strains isolated from pre-clinical medical students were susceptible to chloramphenicol and tigecycline, whereas numbers of susceptible strain to tetracycline, ciprofloxacin and erythromycin were 5, 4 and 3, respectively. All isolates from clinical medical students also found susceptible to ciprofloxacine, tigecycline and chloramphenicol, only two strains were susceptible to both tetracycline and erythromycin. In conclusion, under the light of these preliminary findings of the study, focused MRSA surveillance to medical students like other health care workers as a potential sources for that pathogen must be in a consideration. There is no statistical significance between both groups, in term of nasal carriage of MRSA and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Therefore , this trial would be continued with the same student groups till to their internship period which they will be fully practice in the hospital.

121-125

Authors: Nedyalkova, K., Petkova, G., Atanassova, I., Banov, M., Ivanov, P.

Soil hydrophobicity causes reduced water infiltration rate and has a negative impact on plant growth. Reports on hydrophobicity of Technosols are limited, and in Bulgaria studies have been initiated only recently. The present work aimed to monitor two Technosols (non-vegetated and afforested with Pinus nigra) located near Obruchishte (Maritsa-Iztok coal mines) for hydrophobicity level and to assess their microbiological status. In total, 24 soil samples from 12 sampling points and two soil depths (0-10 сm and 10-20 сm) were analyzed for hydrophobicity, moisture content, numbers of cultivable microorganisms, basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon. The hydrophobicity was measured by water-drop-penetration-time (WDPT) test. Microbial numbers were determined by plate counts technique. Sample incubation in closed vials was used to determine basal respiration and microbial biomass carbon. Among the studied samples, 42% possessed severe hydrophobicity, 37% were strongly hydrophobic and 21% were non-hydrophobic (hydrophilic). Both soils were characterized with low numbers of bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi (102 CFU/g), and low levels of basal respiration rate (0.13-6.54 mg CO2-C/100g/24h) and microbial biomass carbon (1.57-18.86 mg C/100g). Values widely differed among sampling points and layer depths because of the high heterogeneity of the soil substratum. The hydrophobic samples contained a relatively higher amount of saprotrophic fungi than hydrophilic ones..