Aims: Biocontrol of fungal plant pathogens using beneficial microorganisms is a safer alternative over synthetic fungicides. PHP12 is a bacterial strain isolated from healthy oil palm rhizosphere and is closely related to the recently described Burkholderia stagnalis, a member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. This study aimed to characterize the antifungal activity spectrum of PHP12 and identify the antifungal compounds produced by the strain. Methodology and results: The antifungal activity of PHP12 was characterized by growing fungal strains in the presence and absence of PHP12 and measuring the radius of the antifungal zone. PHP12 inhibited the growth of fungal pathogens including Ganoderma boninense, Curvularia oryzae, Phellinus noxius and Colletotrichum capsici. However, PHP12 did not inhibit the growth of Trichoderma asperellum, a known fungal biocontrol agent. The antifungal compounds of PHP12 were precipitated using ammonium sulfate and further purified with HPLC followed by identification using Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometric (LC/ESI-MS). The LC/ESI-MS analysis showed the presence of an oligopeptide with a molecular weight of 1210.63 Da. The peptide consists of heavily modified amino acids that are linked by a hexose residue. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Although characteristics of the antifungal compounds are similar to other antifungal peptides from Burkholderia such as occidiofungin, there have been no reports of antifungal peptides from B. stagnalis with the corresponding molecular weight or fragmentation profile. The novelty of the compound, as well as its antifungal spectrum, makes PHP12 an interesting strain to be investigated further as a biocontrol agent.
Fungicides, Industrial ; Burkholderia cepacia complex--pathogenicity

PURPOSE: Hospital-acquired Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia) infection are not commonly recorded in patients without underlying lung disease, such as cystic fibrosis and chronic granulomatous disease. However, in 2014, B. cepacia appeared more frequently in pediatric blood samples than in any other year. In order to access this situation, we analyzed the clinical characteristics of B. cepacia infections in pediatric patients at our hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of blood isolates of B. cepacia taken at our hospital between January 2004 and December 2014. Patient clinical data were obtained by retrospective review of electronic medical records. We constructed a dendrogram for B. cepacia isolates from two children and five adult patients. RESULTS: A total of 14 pediatric patients and 69 adult patients were identified as having B. cepacia bacteremia. In 2014, higher rates of B. cepacia bacteremia were observed in children. Most of them required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) care (12/14). In eleven children, sputum cultures were examined, and five of these children had the same strain of B. cepacia that grew out from their blood samples. Antibiotics were administered based on antibiotic sensitivity results. Four children expired despite treatment. Compared to children, there were no demonstrative differences in adults, except for history of ICU care. CONCLUSION: Although there were not many pediatric cases at our hospital, awareness of colonization through hospital-acquired infection and effective therapy for infection of B. cepacia is needed, as it can cause mortality and morbidity.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Bacteremia/drug therapy/*epidemiology ; Burkholderia Infections/blood/drug therapy/*epidemiology ; Burkholderia cepacia/drug effects/*isolation & purification ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cross Infection/blood/*diagnosis/drug therapy/mortality ; Disease Outbreaks ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; *Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Middle Aged ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Aims: Potassium is an essential macronutrient for the growth and development of plants. Most of potassium in the soil presented in mineral forms or non-exchangeable forms which are not available for plants. The microbial activity facilitated to release of mineral forms or non-exchangeable potassium to the exchangeable or water-soluble. This study was aimed to isolate, select, and characterize of the selected potassium solubilizing bacteria from limestone mining area in Palimanan, Cirebon Quarry. Methodology and results: Isolation and selection of bacteria was done based on potassium dissolving index in Aleksandrov media containing feldspar, non-exchangeable potassium. Thirty seven isolates of potassium solubilizing bacteria were obtained in this study. Three isolates showed higher dissolution index, namely KQC.4B.1, KQC.5A.4, and KQC.5C.5. All of isolates were Gram negative bacteria, short-rod formed, and able to dissolve potassium concentration on 10th and 20th days. The three isolates showed 99.9% physiologically similar with Burkholderia cepacia. Futhermore by using 16S rRNA gene identification, isolate KQC.5C.5 closely related with B. cepacia with 99% identity. The application of isolate KQC.5C.5 on soil showed that the isolate was able to release the solution K formed after 10th day incubation. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Potassium solubilizing bacteria (B. cepacia) could use as a biological fertilizer for providing potassium which is available to plants grown on reclamation area of limestone quarry.
Potassium ; Burkholderia cepacia

PURPOSE: Burkholderia cepacia is an aerobic, glucose-non-fermenting, gramnegative bacillus that mainly affects immunocompromised and hospitalized patients. Burkholderia cepacia has high levels of resistance to many antimicrobial agents, and therapeutic options are limited. The authors sought to analyze the incidence, clinical manifestation, risk factors, antimicrobial sensitivity and outcomes of B. cepacia urinary tract infection (UTI) in pediatric patients. METHODS: Pediatric patients with urine culture-proven B. cepacia UTI between January 2000 and December 2014 at Samsung Medical Center, a tertiary referral hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea, were included in a retrospective analysis of medical records. RESULTS: Over 14 years, 14 patients (male-to-female ratio of 1:1) were diagnosed with B. cepacia UTI. Of 14 patients with UTI, 11 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit, and a bladder catheter was present in 9 patients when urine culture was positive for B. cepacia. Patients had multiple predisposing factors for UTI, including double-J catheter insertion (14.2%), vesico-ureteral reflux (28. 6%), congenital heart disease (28.6%), or malignancy (21.4%). Burkholderia cepacia isolates were sensitive to piperacillin-tazobactam and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and resistant to amikacin and colistin. Treatment with parenteral or oral antimicrobial agents including piperacillin-tazobactam, ceftazidime, meropenem, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim resulted in complete recovery from UTI. CONCLUSION: Burkholderia cepacia may be a causative pathogen for nosocomial UTI in pediatric patients with predisposing factors, and appropriate selection of antimicrobial therapy is necessary because of high levels of resistance to empirical therapy, including aminoglycosides.
Amikacin ; Aminoglycosides ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Bacillus ; Burkholderia cepacia* ; Burkholderia* ; Catheters ; Causality ; Ceftazidime ; Child* ; Colistin ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Humans ; Incidence ; Intensive Care Units ; Medical Records ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Seoul ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Tract Infections* ; Urinary Tract* ; Vesico-Ureteral Reflux

Annual proficiency surveys were performed in March, June and September 2014 by clinical microbiology division of The Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Laboratory. Parasitology part has been newly incorporated in this survey. For each trial, three sets which were composed of different combinations of five bacteria and yeast were distributed for gram stain, culture, identification, and antimicrobial susceptibility tests of general bacteriology and five fixed sputum smear on slides were distributed for acid fast bacilli stain. Two advanced bacteriology survey materials for culture and identification of anaerobic bacteria and mold were distributed to the voluntary participants in every trial and five mycobacterial culture and identification specimens, five anti-tuberculosis susceptibility testing specimens, and two Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains for rapid detection of rifampin and isoniazid resistance were distributed to the voluntary participants in March and June trials. Five virtual microscopic slides for stool parasite examination were open for the registered participants in June trial. A total of 340 laboratories were enrolled and 330 (97.0%), 331 (97.4%), and 331 (97.4%) returned the results on trial I, II, and III, respectively. For bacterial identification, the percent acceptable identification of Burkholderia cepacia, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus agalactiae, Plesiomonas shigelloides, and Enterococcus faecalis were greater than 95%. Group C and group D Salmonella species challenged as the different sets of M1422 resulted in the acceptable rate lower than 95% because nine participants reported the identification of different sets. Surveillance cultures for methicillin-resistant S. aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci were correctly determined by 89.6% and 69.0% of the respondents, respectively. Correct identification to species level of Candida albicans, Candida auris, Candida glabrata, and Candida parapsilosis were 86.1%, 1.6%, 48.1%, and 83.8%. Vancomycin disk diffusion test in S. aureus, missing oxacillin screen or penicillin susceptibility test in S. pneumoniae and lack of reliable methods of quinolone resistance detection in Salmonella species caused unacceptable results in antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Advanced bacteriology trials revealed low performance in species identification of mold. Mycobacterial culture, identification and susceptibility test performance was kept in excellence. The performance of identification of stool parasites was acceptable >90% for detection of helminth eggs and amebic cysts but 28.6% false positive responses resulted from negative specimens. In conclusion, species-level identification of fungi of both candida species and mold were challenging to clinical microbiology laboratories. Vancomycin disk diffusion method for S. aureus and lack of proper penicillin susceptibility test for S. pneumoniae were still common cause of inaccurate results. Virtual microscopic survey has been successfully introduced in parasitology.
Bacteria ; Bacteria, Anaerobic ; Bacteriology ; Burkholderia cepacia ; Candida ; Candida albicans ; Candida glabrata ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Diffusion ; Eggs ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Fungi ; Helminths ; Isoniazid ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Korea* ; Methicillin Resistance ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Ovum ; Oxacillin ; Parasites ; Parasitology ; Penicillins ; Plesiomonas ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Rifampin ; Salmonella ; Sputum ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; Vancomycin ; Yeasts

No abstract available.
Burkholderia cepacia* ; Skin*

OBJECTIVEIn May 2013, an abnormal increase of surgical-site infection among post cesarean section patients was reported at one hospital in Zhongshan. An investigation was conducted to identify the risk factors and related control measures.

METHODSAll the reported surgical-site infection records among post cesarean section patients were checked. A review of cesarean section schedules of health workers was also performed. An 1 : 2 case-control study was conducted among surgical-site infection cases in May 2013. Microbiologic cultures were performed on 2 surgical site secretion samples and 12 samples from the environment. All the positive isolates were molecular typed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

RESULTSIn May 2013, 4 post cesarean section patients who developed surgical-site infection symptom at one hospital in Zhongshan were reported, with an attack rate as 10.3% (4/39). The emergence time of symptom was 2-3 days after operation. All of the 4 cases underwent an emergency operation. The median time interval for cases from admission to operation was 7.2 hours (ranged from 2 to 9 hours), lower than that seen in the controls, with a median time of 20.8 hours (Z = 5.50, P = 0.03). Two of the 4 cases took type-B ultrasonic inspection 1.4 h and 8.4 h before the operation, and the other two cases took continuous fetal heart monitoring 2 hours before the operation. Skin of the operation area on the 4 cases had been exposed to ultrasonic couplant, without a thorough clean. The proportion of type-B ultrasonic inspection or continuous fetal heart monitoring was much higher in cases than in controls (χ² = 5.19, P = 0.01). Burkholderia cepacia (BC) isolates were discovered from:one surgical site secretion, 2 type-B ultrasonic probe samples, one ultrasonic couplant in use and one ultrasonic couplant unopened. All the isolates were identified as 100% identical by PFGE.

CONCLUSIONThe skin of operation area of cesarean section patients had been exposed to BC contaminated ultrasonic couplant without thorough cleaning, which seemed to be related to the outbreak of surgical-site infection, in our case.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Burkholderia cepacia ; Case-Control Studies ; Cesarean Section ; Cross Infection ; etiology ; Equipment Contamination ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Surgical Wound Infection ; etiology ; Young Adult

Burkholderia cepacia is an important nosocomial pathogen in hospitalized patients, particularly those with prior antimicrobial therapy. B. cepacia causes various clinically significant infections such as bacteremia, pneumonia, and urinary tract and surgical site infections. However, osteomyelitis caused by B. cepacia is very rare. We present a case of B. cepacia vertebral osteomyelitis with review of the literature.
Acupuncture* ; Aged* ; Bacteremia ; Burkholderia cepacia* ; Humans ; Osteomyelitis* ; Pneumonia ; Spine ; Spondylitis ; Urinary Tract

Burkholderia cepacia is a highly virulent pathogen known to cause opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. It accelerates lung disease and causes necrotizing pneumonia with associated severe sepsis, known as cepacia syndrome. In particular, lung transplant recipients infected with Burkholderia cepacia show higher mortality after lung transplantation than those who are not infected with this organism. Due to broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance, a combination therapy should be used according to the results of the susceptibility test. This bacterial infection is rare in Korea, and no case was reported in lung transplant recipients. However, we report a case of pneumonia caused by Burkholderia cepacia after lung transplantation. As Burkholderia cepacia was grown from a sputum culture, the patient was treated initially with a combination of meropenem and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and then ceftazidime and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole as a result of leukopenia. After antibiotics treatment for 20 days, sputum cultures became negative for Burkholderia cepacia and the patient successfully recovered.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Burkholderia ; Burkholderia cepacia ; Ceftazidime ; Cystic Fibrosis ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Korea ; Leukopenia ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Lung Transplantation ; Opportunistic Infections ; Pneumonia ; Sepsis ; Sputum ; Thienamycins

Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia) infection is rarely reported in an immunocompetent host. It is a well known occurence in patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic granulomatous disease where it increases both morbidity and mortality. It has also been included in the list of organisms causing nosocomial infections in an immunocompetent host, most of them transmitted from the immunocompromised patient in which this organism harbors. We report a rare case of isolation of B. cepacia from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of an immunocompetent agriculturist who presented with productive cough and fever associated with a pyopneumothorax. This is the first case of community acquired infection reported in an immunocompetent person in India.
Adult ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Azithromycin ; therapeutic use ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; microbiology ; Burkholderia Infections ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; transmission ; Burkholderia cepacia ; drug effects ; isolation & purification ; Ceftazidime ; therapeutic use ; Ceftizoxime ; therapeutic use ; Community-Acquired Infections ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial ; Humans ; Immunocompetence ; India ; Male ; Pneumothorax ; complications