Intestinal mycobiome dysbiosis plays an important role in the advancement of HIV- and HCV-infected patients. Co-infection with HCV is an important risk factor for exacerbating immune activation in HIV-infected patients, and gut fungal microbial dysbiosis plays an important role. However, no systematic study has been conducted on the intestinal fungal microbiome of HIV/HCV co-infected patients to date. Patients infected with HIV and HCV, either alone or in combination, and healthy volunteers were included. Stool samples were collected for fungal ITS sequencing and for further mycobiome statistical analysis. We found that the abundance of fungal species significantly decreased in the HIV/HCV co-infection group compared to in the healthy control group, while no significant differences were found in the mono-infection groups. Low-CD4 + T-cell patients in the HIV group and high-ALT-level patients in the HCV group were discovered to have a more chaotic fungal community. Furthermore, the opportunistic pathogenic fungal profiles and fungal inter-correlations in the co-infection group became less characteristic but more complicated than those in the mono-infection groups. Intestinal fungal dysregulation occurs in HIV- and HCV-infected patients, and this dysregulation is further complicated in HIV/HCV co-infected patients.

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the main pathogens causing nosocomial and community-acquired infections. Tigecycline is an important antibiotic for the treatment of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections, but strains resistant to tigecycline have also emerged. There are still many unclear questions concerning the mechanism of tigecycline resistance in A. baumannii. In this study, tigecycline-susceptible and tigecycline-intermediate strains were gradually cultured with sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations of tigecycline to select for tigecycline-resistant mutants, and a tigecycline-resistant strain was cultured under 42 °C to select for tigecycline-susceptible mutants. We found that the acquisition of tigecycline resistance affected the susceptibility of the strains to other antibiotics. Resistance to ampicillin–sulbactam is negatively correlated with tigecycline resistance. The strains will experience fitness costs along with the acquisition of tigecycline resistance. Tigecycline resistance in the strains was not related to 16S rRNA target variation or outer membrane integrity alteration. By constructing a transposon mutation library, we found that transposon insertion of the adeL gene reduced the sensitivity of A. baumannii to tigecycline. This study provides important clues for understanding the mechanism of tigecycline resistance in A. baumannii.

Escherichia coli is a significant pathogen capable of inducing a variety of infections in both human and animal hosts. Despite its clinical significance, there is a lack of longitudinal research aimed at elucidating the genomic attributes that facilitate antimicrobial resistance and clonal dissemination in this bacterium. In this study, we investigated the genetic dynamics of antibiotic resistance and virulence factors within a collection of 137 E. coli isolates retrieved from a Chinese hospital over a 12-year period. Notably, a substantial increase in resistance to various antibiotics, including broad-spectrum β-lactams, aminoglycosides, and quinolones, was observed. Additionally, our study revealed the acquisition of diverse antibiotic resistance and virulence genes across different sequence types (STs). Among the STs, ST131 emerged as the most prevalent, exhibiting a high level of multidrug resistance. In contrast, ST73 and ST12 demonstrated a higher prevalence of virulence genes, suggestive of a potential trade-off between antibiotic resistance and virulence. What’s more, we identified significant intra-clonal diversification and convergence of antibiotic resistance and virulence traits within the dominant ST131 group. These findings underscore the importance of longitudinal studies in understanding the evolution of bacterial pathogens and the necessity for ongoing research to inform public health strategies.