Burkholderia thailandensis infection in humans is uncommon. We describe a case of B. thailandensis infection in a person in China, a location heretofore unknown for B. thailandensis. We identified the specific virulence factors of B. thailandensis, which may indicate a transition to a new virulent form.

In order to explore the possibility to identify common wound infection bacteria in mixed culture with gas chromatograph-ion migration spectroscopy (GC-IMS), the headspace gas of single and mixed cultures of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected and analyzed by GC-IMS system. The bacteria were cultured in thioglycolate medium tubes then transferred to the sampling bottles (indirect method), or directly cultured in the sampling bottles (direct method) to allow accumulation of volatile compounds and facilitate automation. The specific microorganism volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) of the three bacteria were obtained. Some of them have been known to certain substance, for example, ethanol, isoamyl acetate, Phenylacetaldehyde, 2-heptanone etc., while others have not. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that a higher separability can be achieved with direct method than indirect method. This work indicated that it is possible to identify compound bacteria by detecting specific mVOCs with GC-IMS, and the specific mVOCs should be medium-dependent.

Burkholderia pseudomallei is an important infectious disease pathogen that can cause melioidosis. Melioidosis is mainly prevalent in Thailand, northern Australia and southern China and has become a global public health problem. Early identification of B. pseudomallei is of great significance for the diagnosis and prognosis of melioidosis. In this study, a simple and visual device combined with lateral flow strip-based recombinase polymerase amplification (LF-RPA) was developed, and the utility of the LF-RPA assay for identifying B. pseudomallei was evaluated. In order to screen out the optimal primer probe, a total of 16 pairs of specific primers targeting the orf2 gene of B. pseudomallei type III secretion system (T3SS) cluster genes were designed for screening, and F1/R3 was selected as an optimal set of primers for the identification of B. pseudomallei, and parameters for LF-RPA were optimized. The LF-RPA can be amplified at 30-45°C and complete the entire reaction in 5-30 min. This reaction does not cross-amplify the DNA of other non-B. pseudomallei species. The limit of detection (LOD) of this assay for B. pseudomallei genomic DNA was as low as 30 femtograms (fg), which was comparable to the results of real-time PCR. Moreover, 21 clinical B. pseudomallei isolates identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing were retrospectively confirmed by the newly developed LF-RPA system. Our results showed that the newly developed LF-RPA system has a simple and short time of operation and has good application prospect in the identification of B. pseudomallei.

The increasing frequency of class A KPC enzymes, class B metallo‐β‐lactamases (MBLs) and class D OXA‐48 enzymes in Enterobacteriaceae makes their early identification urgent. A simple commercial MASTDISCS combi Carba plus disc system (MAST‐Carba plus) was designed for the identification of MBLs, KPC and OXA‐48 carbapenemase genes in Enterobacteriaceae. To validate the MAST‐Carba plus, a total of 77 isolates of carbapenemase‐producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) and 84 isolates of non‐carbapenemase producing Enterobacteriaceae (non‐CPE) were selected for differentiation of the genes of Enterobacteriaceae by MAST‐Carba plus. Meanwhile, the carbapenemase genes such as bla_KPC, bla_IMP, bla_VIM, bla_NDM‐1 and bla_OXA‐48 were detected by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Thus, when considered on the basis of PCR results, the sensitivity of MAST‐Carba plus detection of KPC strains is 82.3%, the specificity is 100.0%, the positive predictive value is 100.0%, and the negative predictive value is 92.4%. For MBLs strains, the sensitivity is 100.0%, the specificity is 97.1%, the positive predictive value is 84.6%, and the negative predictive value is 100.0%. For OXA‐48 strains, the sensitivity is 100.0%, the specificity is 99.4%, the positive predictive value is 80.0%, and the negative predictive value is 100.0%. Our findings suggest that MAST‐Carba plus is a rapid and promising method for identifying the MBLs, KPC and OXA‐48 carbapenemase genes in Enterobacteriaceae, which could be exploited in basic microbiology laboratory to prevent the transmission of CPE.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a significant pathogen causing infectious diseases, including pneumonia, otitis media, septicemia, and meningitis. The introduction of multivalent vaccines has coincided with a remarkable decrease in the number of pneumococcal-related deaths. Despite this, pneumococcal infection remains a significant cause of death among children under 5 years old and adults aged 65 or older at a global level. Therefore, early detection of S. pneumoniae infection is crucial for prognosis of pneumococcal infection patients. In this study, we evaluated the utility of a real-time multienzyme isothermal rapid amplification (MIRA) assay for detecting S. pneumoniae and other non-S. pneumoniae bacterial species. A primer–probe set targeting the S. pneumoniae lytA gene was designed, followed by optimization of parameters for the MIRA assay. At the same time, we validated the real-time MIRA assay for detecting S. pneumoniae using 79 clinical isolates identified by VITEK MS. The results showed a detection sensitivity and specificity of 100%. These results demonstrate that the designed real-time MIRA assay is a promising, rapid, simple, and reliable method for detecting S. pneumoniae infection in resource-limited areas. It has great potential for application in detecting not only S. pneumoniae but also other non-S. pneumoniae bacterial species.