Ting Xu

BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, the worldwide emergence of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae has become a severe public health issue. This meta-analysis aims to describe the epidemiology of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) during the years of 2000-2012 in Asian area. METHODS: PubMed and Embase databases were searched to identify the qualified papers. Random or fixed-effect model was used to deal with the data. RESULTS: Over all the 49 Asian countries (or regions), only 37.5% [19] of them contributed epidemiology data of CRE, and the rest ones provided either only case reports or no information at all. In Asia, the prevalence of CRE was still low during the study period with average resistance rates of 0.6% (95% CI, 0.6-0.8%, imipenem) and 0.9% (95% CI, 0.7-1.2%, meropenem). Resistance rates to imipenem and meropenem in Enterobacteriaceae exhibited stably escalating trend. Similar trend can also be observed among each Enterobacteriaceae genus, such as E. coli, Klebsiella spp. and Enterobacer spp. Klebsiella spp. accounted for the largest proportion among the isolates resistant to imipenem, and then followed by E. coli and Serratia. The rank order of resistance rates to imipenem among Enterobacteriaceae genus during the period of 2000-2012 was as follows: Serratia spp. (1.8%) > Proteus spp. (1.6%) > Klebsiella spp. (0.8%) = Citrobacter spp. (0.8%) > Enterobacer spp. (0.7%) > E. coli (0.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Given the fact that the prevalence of CRE was increasing during the past decade, it is urgent for us to establish regional surveillance worldwide, carry out more effective antibiotic stewardship and infection control measures to prevent further spread of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae.

Soil-borne diseases are often less severe in organic farms, possibly because of the recruitment of beneficial microorganisms by crops. Here, the suppressiveness of soils from organic, integrated, and conventional farming systems to pepper blight (Phytophthora capsici) were studied in growth chamber experiments. Disease incidence was 41.3% and 34.1% lower in the treatment with soil from the organic farming system than either from the integrated or conventional farming system, respectively. Beta-diversity of rhizospheric microbial communities differed among treatments, with enrichment of Bacillus, Sporosarcina, Acidobacteria Gp5, Gp6, Gp22, and Ignavibacterium by the organic soil. Cultivation-dependent analysis indicated that 50.3% of in vitro antagonists of P. capsici isolated from the rhizosphere of healthy peppers were affiliated to Bacillus. An integration of in vitro antagonists and metagenomic analysis indicated that Bacillus antagonists were higher in the rhizosphere of pepper treated by the organic soil. A microbial consortium of 18 in vitro Bacillus antagonists significantly increased the suppressiveness of soil from the integrated farming system against pepper blight. Overall, soil microbiome under the long-term organic farming system was more suppressive to pepper blight, possibly due to Bacillus antagonism in the rhizosphere. This study provided insights into microbiome management for disease suppressions under greenhouse conditions.