Antibiotics

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Francesca Pica

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Guest Editor

Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier, 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: microbiology; epidemiology and control of healthcare-associated infections; immunosuppression and immunomodulators; natural and syntetic compounds with antimicrobial and antitumor activity; biofilm

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As reported by the WHO, national, supranational and global plans are ongoing for the control and prevention of infectious diseases, which still fall among the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Particular attention in this area is paid to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In fact, AMR microorganisms can cause severe diseases, especially in frail and hospitalized individuals, leading to a prolonged length of hospital stay and increased mortality or long-term disability, with a relevant impact on the individual quality of life and on the financial aspects of health management. The extensive and incorrect use of antimicrobials exerts a selective pressure, favouring the emergence and spread of microbial strains often resistant to multiple drugs at the same time, i.e., the multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. The new technologies strongly support microbiological diagnostics, allowing the identification of these new microbial strains and mutations that have occurred in them; however, sometime the discordance between genotypic and phenotypic methods makes the interpretation of results difficult. In this context, it seems urgent to strengthen a synergistic interaction among epidemiologists, microbiologists, basic researchers and clinicians to successfully counteract possibly life-threating infections in our real world, actually characterized by increasing conflicts and social inequalities. The aim of this Special Issue is to collect the most recent experiences in the field by all the professionals involved in this area.

Dr. Francesca Pica
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

microbes and antimicrobials
bacteria, fungi and viruses
antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals
antimicrobial resistance
rapid diagnostics
genotypic and phenotypic resistance
epidemiology
public health
infectious diseases
hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)
community infections
natural and synthetic antimicrobial compounds

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

8 pages, 595 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Whooping Cough Cases Increase in Central Italy after COVID-19 Pandemic

by Giulia Linardos, Luana Coltella, Stefania Ranno, Velia Chiara Di Maio, Luna Colagrossi, Elisabetta Pandolfi, Maria Beatrice Chiarini Testa, Leonardo Genuini, Francesca Stoppa, Matteo Di Nardo, Annalisa Grandin, Renato Cutrera, Corrado Cecchetti, Alberto Villani, Massimiliano Raponi, Paola Bernaschi, Cristina Russo, Carlo Federico Perno and Rossana Scutari

Antibiotics 2024, 13(5), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics13050464 - 19 May 2024

Viewed by 666

Abstract

Pertussis continues to be a highly contagious respiratory infection, especially in children, with cyclical peaks of disease spread every three to five years. Here, we report relevant cases of B. pertussis infection between August 2023 and January 2024, and compare them with B. pertussis prevalence in pediatric patients admitted to the Reference Italian Pediatric Hospital, located in Rome, from January 2015 to July 2023. A total of 5464 tests for B. pertussis were performed during the study period, and 6.9% were positive. At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp decrease in the presence of B. pertussis, which reappeared only in August 2023, recording five new cases. All five children presented with paroxysmal cough 5 to 10 days before admission. Four patients had other mild respiratory symptoms and moderate B. pertussis DNA levels (Ct mean: 26). Only one child, with very high B. pertussis DNA levels (Ct: 9), presented with severe respiratory failure. The patients with mild/moderate infection achieved clinical recovery while the patient with the severe manifestation died of cardiac arrest. These observations highlight the reemergence of pertussis even in vaccinated countries and its association with morbidity and mortality especially in young children. This emphasizes the importance of rapid diagnosis to immediately implement appropriate treatment and monitoring of immune status. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiology, Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Therapy: A Shared Effort against Infectious Diseases)

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