Relevant increase of CTX-M-producing Escherichia coli carriage in school-aged children from rural areas of the Bolivian Chaco in a three-year period.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to perform two cross-sectional surveys on the fecal carriage of CTX-M-producing Enterobacterales in school-aged children from rural areas of the Bolivian Chaco (2016 vs 2019).

Methods: A total of 757 fecal samples were collected from school-aged children living in nine indigenous communities (n=337, 2016; n=420, 2019). After a first passage onto MacConkey agar (MCA), samples were plated onto MCA plus cefotaxime 2 µg/mL (MCA-CTX), and a loopful of the bacterial growth was used as a template for the detection of group 1, 2, 8/25, and 9 bla variants by multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction .

Antimicrobial susceptibility and emerging resistance determinants (blaCTX-M, rmtB, fosA3) in clinical isolates from urinary tract infections in the Bolivian Chaco.

Background: Bolivia is among the lowest-resourced South American countries, with very few data available on antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. The phenotypic and molecular characterization of bacterial isolates responsible for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in the Bolivian Chaco are reported here.

Methods: All clinical isolates from UTIs collected in the Hospital Basico Villa Montes between June 2010 and January 2014 were analyzed (N=213).

Characterization of IncI1 sequence type 71 epidemic plasmid lineage responsible for the recent dissemination of CTX-M-65 extended-spectrum β-lactamase in the Bolivian Chaco region.

During the last decade, a significant diffusion of CTX-M-type extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) was observed in commensal Escherichia coli from healthy children in the Bolivian Chaco region, with initial dissemination of CTX-M-2, which was then replaced by CTX-M-15 and CTX-M-65. In this work, we demonstrate that the widespread dissemination of CTX-M-65 observed in this context was related to the polyclonal spreading of an IncI1 sequence type 71 (ST71) epidemic plasmid lineage. The structure of the epidemic plasmid population was characterized by complete sequencing of four representatives and PCR mapping of the remainder (n = 16).

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospitalized patients from the Bolivian Chaco.

Objectives: Information is lacking on the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clonal lineages circulating in Bolivia. We investigated the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of S. aureus colonization in hospitalized patients from the Bolivian Chaco, and compared their features with those of the few clinical isolates available from that setting.

Seroincidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in a cohort of rural Bolivian children: acquisition and analysis of possible risk factors.

High seroprevalence rates for Helicobacter pylori are reported in developing countries, yet few seroincidence studies exist that determine age of initial acquisition and risk factors for H. pylori seroconversion. Two H.