War on terror cells: killing the host that harbours ‘superbugs’ is an infection control strategy in our fight against infectious diseases

References

• Khan NA. Acanthamoeba: biology and pathogenesis. Norfolk: Caister Academic Press; 2009.
   Google Scholar
• Siddiqui R, Khan NA. Infection control strategy by killing drug-resistant bacteria. Pathog Glob Health. 2013;107:215–6.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nordmann P, Naas T, Fortineau N, Poirel L. Superbugs in the coming new decade; multidrug resistance and prospects for treatment of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 2010. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2007;10:436–40.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Alanis AJ. Resistance to antibiotics: are we in the post-antibiotic era? Arch Med Res. 2005;36:697–705.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Blondeau J. Gram-negative superbugs: inappropriate antimicrobial therapy and mortality. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2013;6:347–9.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• CDC. Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States, 2013. Atlanta (GA): CDC; 2013. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/ (accessed 22 May 2013).
   Google Scholar
• Yong D, Toleman MA, Giske CG, Cho HS, Sundman K, Lee K, et al. Characterization of a new metallo-beta-lactamase gene, bla(NDM-1), and a novel erythromycin esterase gene carried on a unique genetic structure in Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 14 from India. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009;53:5046–54.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Oberoi L, Singh N, Sharma P, Aggarwal A. ESBL, MBL and Ampc β lactamases producing superbugs — havoc in the intensive care units of Punjab India. J Clin Diagn Res. 2013;7:70–3.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Trivedi TH, Sabnis GR. Superbugs in ICU: is there any hope for solution? J Assoc Physicians India. 2009;57:623–5.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Appelbaum PC. 2012 and beyond: potential for the start of a second pre-antibiotic era? J Antimicrob Chemother. 2012;67:2062–8.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Barbosa TM, Levy SB. The impact of antibiotic use on resistance development and persistence. Drug Resist Updat. 2000;3:303–11.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Marshall BM, Levy SB. Food Animals and Antimicrobials: Impacts on Human Health. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2011;24:718–33.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Levy SB. The 2000 Garrod lecture. Factors impacting on the problem of antibiotic resistance. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2002;49:25–30.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Klein E, Smith DL, Laxminarayan R. Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in outpatients, United States, 1999–2006. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15:1925–30.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlanta (GA): CDC. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ (accessed 6 June 2013).
   Google Scholar
• McCormick D, Thorn S, Milne D, Evans C, Stevenson J, Llano M, et al.; Incident Management Team. Public health response to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, June 2012. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(28):pii:20216.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• WHO. Use of antimicrobials outside human medicine and resultant antimicrobial resistance in humans. Geneva: WHO; 2002. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs268/en/index.html (accessed 6 June 2013).
   Google Scholar
• Snitkin ES, Zelazny AM, Thomas PJ, Stock F; NISC Comparative Sequencing Program Group, Henderson DK, Palmore TN, Segre JA. Tracking a hospital outbreak of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae with whole-genome sequencing. Sci Transl Med. 2012;4:148.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Levy SB. The challenge of antibiotic resistance. Sci Am. 1998;278:46–53.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Madeo M. Cleaning the hospital environment — a focus on Difficil-S. Br J Nurs. 2011;20:688,690–93.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Eckstein BC, Adams DA, Eckstein EC, Rao A, Sethi AK, Yadavalli GK, et al. Reduction of Clostridium difficile and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus contamination of environmental surfaces after an intervention to improve cleaning methods. BMC Infect Dis. 2007;7:61.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Coulon C, Collignon A, McDonnell G, Thomas V. Resistance of Acanthamoeba cysts to disinfection treatments used in health care settings. J Clin Microbiol. 2010;48:2689–97.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Briancesco R, Veschetti E, Ottaviani M, Bonadonna L. Peracetic acid and sodium hypochlorite effectiveness in reducing resistant stages of microorganisms. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2005;13:159–62.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Rowbotham TJ. Preliminary report on the pathogenicity of Legionella pneumophila for freshwater and soil amoebae. J Clin Pathol. 1980;33:1179–83.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lloyd D, Turner NA, Khunkitti W, Hann AC, Furr JR, Russell AD. Encystation in Acanthamoeba castellanii: development of biocide resistance. J Eukaryot Microbiol. 2001;48:11–6.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Turner NA, Russell AD, Furr JR, Lloyd D. Emergence of resistance to biocides during differentiation of Acanthamoeba castellanii. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2000;46:27–34.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Turner NA, Russell AD, Furr JR, Lloyd D. Resistance, biguanide sorption and biguanide-induced pentose leakage during encystment of Acanthamoeba castellanii. J Appl Microbiol. 2004;96:1287–95.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Connell C, Rutter A, Hill B, Suller M, Lloyd D. Encystation of Acanthamoeba castellanii: dye uptake for assessment by flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy. J Appl Microbiol. 2001;90:706–12.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Martinez AJ, Visvesvara GS. Free-living, amphizoic and opportunistic amebas. Brain Pathol. 1997;7:583–98.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Marciano-Cabral F, Cabral G. Acanthamoeba spp. as agents of disease in humans. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2003;16:273–307.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Khan NA. Acanthamoeba: biology and increasing importance in human health. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2006;30:564–95.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Visvesvara GS, Moura H, Schuster FL. Pathogenic and opportunistic free-living amoebae: Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mandrillaris, Naegleria fowleri, and Sappinia diploidea. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 2007;50:1–26.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• La Scola B, Audic S, Robert C, Jungang L, de Lamballerie X, Drancourt M, et al. A giant virus in amoebae. Science. 2003;299:2033.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Greub G, Raoult D. Microorganisms resistant to free-living amoebae. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2004;17:413–33.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mazur T, Hadaś E, Iwanicka I. The duration of the cyst stage and the viability and virulence of Acanthamoeba isolates. Trop Med Parasitol. 1995;46:106–8.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Sriram R, Shoff M, Booton G, Fuerst P, Visvesvara GS. Survival of Acanthamoeba cysts after desiccation for more than 20 years. J Clin Microbiol. 2008;46:4045–8.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rodriguez-Zaragoza S, Magana-Becerra A. Prevalence of pathogenic Acanthamoeba (Protozoa: Amoebidae) in the atmosphere of the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Toxicol Ind Health. 1997;13:519–26.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Borazjani RN, Kilvington S. Efficacy of multipurpose solutions against Acanthamoeba species. Cont Lens Anterior Eye. 2005;28:169–75.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Buck SL, Rosenthal RA, Schlech BA. Methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of contact lens care solutions and other compounds against Acanthamoeba: a review of the literature. CLAO J. 2000;26:72–84.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Kobayashi T, Gibbon L, Mito T, Shiraishi A, Uno T, Ohashi Y. Efficacy of commercial soft contact lens disinfectant solutions against Acanthamoeba. Jpn J Ophthalmol. 2011;55:547–7.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Johnston SP, Sriram R, Qvarnstrom Y, Roy S, Verani J, Yoder J, et al. Resistance of Acanthamoeba cysts to disinfection in multiple contact lens solution. J Clin Microbiol. 2009;47:2040–5.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Shoff ME, Joslin CE, Tu EY, Kubatko L, Fuerst PA. Efficacy of contact lens systems against recent clinical and tap water Acanthamoeba isolates. Cornea. 2008;27:713–9.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Verani JR, Lorick SA, Yoder JS, Beach MJ, Braden CR, Roberts JM, et al.; Acanthamoeba Keratitis Investigation Team. National outbreak of Acanthamoeba keratitis associated with use of a contact lens solution, United States. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15:1236–42.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Doan L, Forrest H, Fakis A, Craig J, Claxton L, Khare M. Clinical and cost effectiveness of eight disinfection methods for terminal disinfection of hospital isolation rooms contaminated with Clostridium difficile 027. J Hosp Infect. 2012;82:114–21.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Passaretti CL, Otter JA, Reich NG, Myers J, Shepard J, Ross T, et al. An evaluation of environmental decontamination with hydrogen peroxide vapor for reducing the risk of patient acquisition of multidrug-resistant organisms. Clin Infect Dis. 2013;56:27–35.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zoutman D, Shannon M, Mandel A. Effectiveness of a novel ozone-based system for the rapid high-level disinfection of health care spaces and surfaces. Am J Infect Control. 2011;39:873–9.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gatti S, Cevini C, Bruno A, Penso G, Rama P, Scaglia M. In vitro effectiveness of povidone-iodine on Acanthamoeba isolates from human cornea. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1998;42:2232–4.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Huws SA, Smith AW, Enright MC, Wood PJ, Brown MR. Amoebae promote persistence of epidemic strains of MRSA. Environ Microbiol. 2006;8:1130–3.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tomlinson G, Jones EA. Isolation of cellulose from the cyst wall of a soil amoeba. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1962;63:194–200.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Neff RJ, Neff RH. The biochemistry of amoebic encystment. Symp Soc Exp Biol. 1969;23:51–81.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Hirukawa Y, Nakato H, Izumi S, Tsuruhara T, Tomino S. Structure and expression of a cyst specific protein of Acanthamoeba castellanii. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998;1398:47–56.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dudley R, Jarroll EL, Khan NA. Carbohydrate analysis of Acanthamoeba castellanii. Exp Parasitol. 2009;122:338–343.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar