A5020274273- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens research
- Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus
- Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiology
- Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Helicobacter pylori-related gastroenterology studies
- Microscopic Colitis
- Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing
- Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Gut microbiota and health
- Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Insect and Pesticide Research
- Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
- Aquaculture disease management and microbiota
- Food Safety and Hygiene
- Plant Pathogenic Bacteria Studies
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Toxin Mechanisms and Immunotoxins
- Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Infection Control in Healthcare
- Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Nuclear Receptors and Signaling
- CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
- Streptococcal Infections and Treatments
- Nosocomial Infections in ICU
- Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Management
Universidad de Costa Rica
2016-2025
Universidad de Salamanca
2022
Universidad del Rosario
2020
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
2010-2020
Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón
2019
Costa Rican Department of Social Security
2010-2013
Complejo Hospitalario de Salamanca
2011
Osnabrück University
2006-2007
Universidad Metropolitana
2007
Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains an urgent global One Health threat. The genetic heterogeneity seen across C. underscores its wide ecological versatility and has driven the significant changes in CDI epidemiology last 20 years. We analysed international collection of over 12,000 genomes spanning eight currently defined phylogenetic clades. Through whole-genome average nucleotide identity, pangenomic Bayesian analyses, we identified major taxonomic incoherence with clear...
The prevalence of Clostridium difficile infections has increased due to the emergence epidemic variants from diverse genetic lineages. Here we describe a novel variant during an outbreak in Costa Rican hospital that was associated with severe clinical presentations. This C. elicited higher white blood cell counts and caused disease younger patients than did other strains isolated outbreak. Furthermore, it had recurrence rate, 30-day attributable severity as great those strain NAP1....
ABSTRACT In this work, we isolated and characterized 14 bacteriophages that infect Rhizobium etli . They were obtained from rhizosphere soil of bean plants agricultural lands in Mexico using an enrichment method. The host range these phages was narrow but variable within a collection 48 R. strains. We the complete genome sequence nine phages. Four resistant to several restriction enzymes vivo cloning, probably due nucleotide modifications. size sequenced varied 43 kb 115 kb, with median ∼45...
Abstract Genotyping methods and genome sequencing are indispensable to reveal genomic structure of bacterial species displaying high level plasticity. However, reconstruction or assembly is not straightforward due data complexity, including repeats, mobile accessory genetic elements genomes. Moreover, since the solution this problem strongly influenced by technology, bioinformatics pipelines, selection criteria assess assemblers, there no systematic way select a priori optimal assembler...
Cfr is a radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) enzyme that confers cross-resistance to antibiotics targeting the 23S rRNA through hypermethylation of nucleotide A2503. Three cfr-like genes implicated in antibiotic resistance have been described, two which, cfr(B) and cfr(C), sporadically detected Clostridium difficile However, methylase activity Cfr(C) has not confirmed. We found cfr(B), gene shows only 51 58% protein sequence identity Cfr-like enzymes clinical C. isolates recovered across...
Abstract Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) cause almost 300,000 hospitalizations per year of which ∼15-30% are the result recurring infections. The prevalence and persistence CDI in hospital settings has resulted an extensive collection C. clinical isolates their classification, typically by ribotype. While much current literature focuses on one or two prominent ribotypes ( e.g ., RT027), recent years have seen several other dominate landscape e.g. , RT106 RT078). Some associated...
Among the five MLST clades encompassing known global population of bacterial pathogen Clostridioides difficile, strains from Clade 2 have been given special attention due to worldwide spread, disease presentation, and prevalence in hospital settings ST01 strains. We aimed compare multiple phenotypic properties clinical non-ST01 ST41, ST47, ST67, ST154, ST638 identify factors contributing higher virulence epidemic potential that has historically attributed former group did not find...
Toxin B (TcdB) is a major exotoxin responsible for diseases associated with Clostridioides difficile infection. Its sequence variations among clinical isolates may contribute to the difficulty in developing effective therapeutics. Here, we investigate receptor-binding specificity of TcdB subtypes (TcdB1 TcdB12). We find that representative members 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, and 12 do not recognize established host receptor, frizzled proteins (FZDs). Using genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9-mediated screen,...
ABSTRACT The present widespread use of antimicrobials in crop farming is based upon their successful application human medicine. However, recent evidence suggests that the massive anthropogenic release into biosphere has selected for resistant bacteria and facilitated transfer resistance genes among them. This work deals with examination iceberg lettuce collected at 10 farms from two regions Costa Rica. Farmers nine sampling sites regularly apply commercial formulations containing...
This study aimed to assess the molecular basis of resistance carbapenems in clinical isolates Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovered from a tertiary-level health facility San José, Costa Rica. A total 198 non-duplicated were evaluated for their susceptibility β-lactams, aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones. The production metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), presence MBL encoding genes (blaIMP, blaVIM blaGIM-1) occurrence these within class 1 integrons investigated. In addition, an ERIC2 PCR...
The population structure of Clostridium difficile currently comprises eight major genomic clades. For the highly divergent C-I clade, only two toxigenic strains have been reported, which lack tcdA and tcdC genes carry a complete locus for binary toxin (CDT) next to an atypical TcdB monotoxin pathogenicity (PaLoc). As part routine surveillance C. in stool samples from diarrheic human patients, we discovered three isolates that consistently gave negative results PCR-based screening tcdC....
Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) is a precise microbial typing approach at the intra-species level for epidemiologic and evolutionary purposes. It operates by assigning sequence type (ST) identifier to each specimen, based on combination of alleles multiple housekeeping genes included in defined scheme. The use MLST has multiplied due availability large numbers genomic sequences data public repositories. However, processing speed become problematic massive size modern datasets. Here, we...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) plays an important role in the pathogenesis and spread of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), leading healthcare-related gastrointestinal world. An association between AMR CDI outbreaks is well documented, however, data limited to a few ‘epidemic’ strains specific geographical regions. Here, through detailed analysis 10 330 publicly-available C. genomes from isolated worldwide (spanning 270 multilocus sequence types (STs) across all known evolutionary...
Clostridium perfringens is the causative agent of many enterotoxic diseases in humans and animals, it present diverse environments (soil, food, sewage, water). Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) have provided a general approach about genetic diversity C. ; however, those studies are limited to specific locations often include reduced number genomes. In this study, 372 genomes from multiple sources were used assess phylogenetic relatedness pathogen. silico MLST...
Although tetracyclines and macrolides are common additives for animal nutrition, methods their simultaneous determination in feeds nonexistent. By coupling an organic extraction solid-phase cleanup to a high-performance liquid chromatography separation nonaqueous postcolumn derivatization, we succeeded detecting from 0.2 24.0 μg kg(-1) of tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, doxycycline, tigecycline, 4-epitetracycline this complex heterogeneous matrix. Minocycline tylosin could...
ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile strains within the hypervirulent clade 2 are responsible for nosocomial outbreaks worldwide. The increased pathogenic potential of these has been attributed to several factors but is still poorly understood. During a C. outbreak, strain from this was found induce variant cytopathic effect (CPE), different canonical arborizing CPE. This (NAP1 V ) belongs NAP1 genotype ribotype epidemic NAP1/RT027 strain. and share some properties, including overproduction...
Clostridium difficile induces antibiotic-associated diarrhea due to the release of toxin A (TcdA) and B (TcdB), latter being its main virulence factor. The epidemic strain NAP1/027 has an increased attributed different factors. We compared cellular intoxication by TcdBNAP1 with that reference VPI 10463 (TcdBVPI). In a mouse ligated intestinal loop model, induced higher neutrophil recruitment, cytokine release, epithelial damage than TcdBVPI. Both toxins modified same panel small GTPases...