a microbiology newsletter - july, 2022
A newsletter of, by, and for microbiologists. Copyright 2022, rights reserved
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Another respiratory virus of concern.
Common, yet underdiagnosed...
Human Metapneumovirus
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Human Metapneumovirus
Every year we anticipate the rounds of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, and now Covid-19; but there is a lesser-known culprit of seasonal respiratory infections.
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a negative-sense single-stranded virus from the family Pneumoviridae and the second most common cause of lower respiratory infection in young children, after RSV.(1) HMPV is a newly discovered virus, first detected in 2001 by scientists in the Netherlands.(2) Genetic analysis shows that HMPV is most similar to type C of avian metapneumovirus. Based on Bayesian estimates, human metapneumovirus may have emerged 119-133 years ago, diverting from avian metapneumovirus around 1800.(1)
Human metapneumovirus follows a seasonal pattern similar to RSV and influenza, occurring during late winter through spring. Serologic studies indicate that worldwide, all children are exposed to HMPV by the age of five.(1) The risk of severe disease is highest in immunocompromised individuals, premature infants, and adults older than 65. The virus does its damage by infecting airway epithelial cells. Symptoms of HMPV include cough, nasal congestion, fever, and shortness of breath. These symptoms can progress to pneumonia or bronchitis in severe cases. HMPV infections can be confirmed with PCR assays or detection of viral antigens in respiratory secretions using immunofluorescence or enzyme immunoassay.(3)
There is currently no treatment for human metapneumovirus other than supportive care for symptoms, but the illness usually clears up on its own in healthy individuals. Over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and decongestants may be used for any fever or discomfort. Inhaled corticosteroids may be prescribed to patients with severe cases of HMPV.(2) Moderna is currently in Phase 1 of clinical trials for an HMPV vaccine. Early results show that the vaccine is well tolerated at all dose levels after two months, and that the vaccine provokes an immune response that boosts production of neutralizing antibodies.(4)
The spread of HMPV is facilitated by close personal contact, coughing, sneezing, or touching of the mouth, eyes, or nose after contact with a contaminated surface. The CDC recommends washing hands often, avoiding touching the face, and avoiding contact with sick individuals. Those experiencing symptoms should cover their mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, avoid sharing cups and utensils with others, wash their hands frequently, and stay home.(3) Lastly, during winter and spring, healthcare professionals should consider the likelihood of an HMPV infection and test accordingly.
By Alexandra Lopez
Business development associate
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What is Hardy Diagnostics all about? |
Watch a two minute video about how your media is made...
Read a short article in Company Week that explains what makes Hardy Diagnostics different...
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Stop by our booth at the Chicago AACC on July 24 to 28.
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Did you know that Hardy Diagnostics was the first to introduce Chromogenic Media to America in 1996?
Chromogenic media allows the microbiologist to make identifications based on colony color. The principle involves a carbohydrate molecule in the media that is bound to a colorless chromogen. When a specific bacterial enzyme cleaves the bond, the chromogen turns color, thus creating color throughout the bacterial colony.
Want to see the complete list? Just type "HardyCHROM" in the search bar here.
Interested in trying out any of our HardyCHROM plates? Contact your account rep here for free evaluation samples. |
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HardyCHROM Plates...
Make Micro Easy!
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This petri plate, photographed in 1928, was hailed as “the single greatest victory ever achieved over disease.”
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Phraseology
"High Tail it Outa here"
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This phrase, meaning to leave quickly or run at maximum speed, has its origin in the American Old West dating back to about 1890.
Many animals such as rabbits, deer, horses, or cattle lift their tails up high while running at top speed to escape a predator.
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As a free service to all microbiologists, Hardy has produced a series of instructional videos to help you train new technologists. Here is our list...
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The Rising Resistance of
Group B Strep and Group A Strep
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Upgraded to "Concerning"...
Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is the most common bacterial cause of pharyngitis, often referred to as strep throat. GAS can also cause severe invasive infections. People who are elderly, have skin breakdown (when the skin is deprived of blood flow, the skin can become damaged or develop ulcers), or have chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, are at increased risk. Each year in the United States, GAS causes approximately one to 2.6 million cases of strep throat, 12,500 to 20,000 invasive infections, and 1,250 to 1,900 deaths.
Strep throat is treated using antibiotics, typically penicillin and amoxicillin. (1) Currently, GAS is not resistant to penicillin or amoxicillin. However, doctors often use erythromycin and azithromycin to treat strep throat, particularly for people who are allergic to penicillin. Clindamycin, in combination with penicillin, is the recommended treatment for severe, life threatening GAS infections such as flesh-eating disease and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. However, GAS infections have developed increased resistance to erythromycin and other macrolides, as well as to clindamycin. In fact, the percent of invasive GAS infections that are resistant to erythromycin has nearly tripled in eight years. In the six years between the CDC’s first Antibiotic Resistance (AR) Threats Report in 2013 to the latest AR Threats Report in 2019, GAS infections increased by 4100 while deaths increased by 290. (2) Due to this rise in resistance, in 2019, the CDC raised the treatment level of GAS to “CONCERNING.”
Not only did the CDC add GAS to its list of 2019 AR Threats Report, but it has also added Group B Streptococcus (GBS) to the list, designating the bacteria also as “CONCERNING.” Overall, about 31,000 severe GBS infections occurred in 2016, causing 1,700 deaths. GBS causes severe illnesses—including bloodstream infections, pneumonia, meningitis, and skin infections—in people of all ages. In adults, GBS causes infections among pregnant women, older adults, and people with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes. About one in every four pregnant women carry GBS bacteria in their body. Mothers can pass GBS to their infants during labor, threatening newborns with sepsis during the first week of life. When indicated, practitioners give mothers antibiotics, often penicillin or ampicillin, during labor to protect their newborns from GBS disease. Clindamycin is recommended when a mother has a severe penicillin allergy. Clindamycin can also be used to treat adult GBS infections if the patient has a severe penicillin allergy. However, clindamycin-resistant GBS account for more than 40% of infections and resistance to erythromycin is even more common—more than 50%. This seriously limits options for GBS disease prevention and treatment. (2)
More than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. Antibiotic resistance disproportionately affects the most vulnerable—the young, elderly, and sick—who often receive medical care. While the development of new treatments is one of these key actions, the CDC, One World, and other infection prevention networks worldwide, urge new treatment options as well as the use of vaccines to prevent infections from occurring.
While these agencies work towards new options, Hardy Diagnostics continues to innovate and create quality products aimed toward the detection of the microorganisms causing such infections.
HardyCHROM Group A Strep Agar
Hardy Diagnostics recently released its HardyCHROM™ Group A Strep agar (Cat. No. G337, 15x100mm plate, pack/10), a chromogenic medium recommended for the selective cultivation and differentiation of Group A Streptococcus from clinical specimens. Identification can be made based on colony color. The medium will display red-brown or red-orange colonies when Streptococcus pyogenes is present; non-Group A Streptococcus isolates will appear as blue, clear, or white colonies (shown in photo below). Detection is enhanced by the white background.
Carrot Broth, One Step
Hardy Diagnostic’s breakthrough patented Carrot Broth™ One Step (Cat. No. z40, 13x100mm tubes, pack/20), with its unique chromogenic reaction, turns orange when positive for beta-hemolytic GBS. Positive results do not require additional work ups. Hardy Diagnostics GBS Detect™ plate can be used in combination with Carrot Broth to identify all strains of GBC, hemolytic and non-hemolytic. Any negatives in Carrot Broth can be sub-cultured to GBS Detect and non-hemolytic GBC will be able to be identified on the plate.
By Megan Roesner
Clinical marketing Coordinator
Works Cited: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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Covid Supplies and Test Kits |
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Rapid Covid Antibody Test Kit
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Hardy announces a rapid test kit for the detection of Covid antibodies (both IgM for current infection and IgG for long term immunity) from any blood specimen. Read out in only 10 minutes. No equipment required. |
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AloeSafe, a better way
Hardy's hand sanitizing gel guards against drying of your skin with Vitamin E, soothes with Aloe Vera, and has a pleasant scent with lavender oil. No harmful ingredients (such as parabens and propylene glycol) as with the cheap drug store variety! Don't your hands deserve the very best?
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DisCide Wipes
With Hardy's DisCide Ultra you get 160 towelettes that are soaked with two powerful killing agents, isopropyl alcohol and quaternary ammonium. Effective against bacteria and viruses.
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Hardy's viral specimen transport is ideal for COVID-19 antigen testing. The shelf life has been increased to 365 days at room temperature. Swabs are sold separately. |
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Candida gets
resistance with sex
Most Candida strains reproduce by asexual means. However, these researchers found that C. auris has the ability to exchange genetic information among different strains by sexual means. This explains why this organism has developed multiple drug resistance at such an alarming rate.
Lead researcher, Jianping Xu stated, "That may sound frightening, but it’s a double-edged sword: Because we learned they could recombine in nature, we could possibly replicate the process in the lab, which could allow us to understand the genetic controls of virulence and drug resistance and potentially other traits that make it such a dangerous pathogen, much faster.”
C. auris was first discovered in 2009 and has since spread in over 50 countries, where outbreaks have been reported and thousands have died from fungal infections. Nearly half of all that suffer from this infection will die from it.
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Face Masks
With adjustable metal nose band.
Now available for immediate shipping!
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Double Action Sanitizer
Hardy's custom produced sanitizer pump bottle gives you double protection...both isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. Bugs don't stand a chance!
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Comfy Lab Coats
For added protection on the job, Hardy offers disposable lab coats, featuring three pockets, and comfortable knit cuffs and collars.
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Specimen Collection Swabs
Hardy offers swabs in the flocked, foam, and spun polyester formats.
Choose from nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, standard, or urethral.
Available for immediate shipping!
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"I finally retired from my years as a limousine driver with nothing in my savings account.
All that hard work and nothing to chauffeur it!"
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You should always wear glasses when doing math...it improves division.
I once got fired from the calendar factory, just for taking a day off.
Always be nice to clones...they are people two.
I recently became a vegetarian, but it was a big missed steak.
I once put all I had into an origami business...but it folded.
"I only know 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know Y."
Did you hear about the farmer who had to sell his chickens when he went bankrupt? No farm..no fowl.
Acupuncture is a jab well done!
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Ever wish for an instrument that will quickly identify all the major pathogens in respiratory and stool specimens?
Now it's here!
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HardyCHROM Strep A
Are you ready for Strep Season? Hardy's chromogenic medium detects Group A Strep. Colored colonies are easy to see on a white background.
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HardyCHROM Candida+auris
Hardy's new chromogenic plate for the detection of Candida spp, now includes C. auris! It creates both a colored and fluorescent colony. Vivid colors stand out against a white background. Ask us for samples!
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Rapid Test Methods
Check out our mini catalog on rapid test kits that includes reagents and test cards. You'll see many "hard to find" products that will save you time and money!
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Loops of all kinds!
When it comes to loops, Hardy has it all. Nichrome, platinum, disposable, calibrated, needles, or spreaders. See our mini-catalog below or click here to learn about the convenient Loop Caddy.
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QC Organisms
Hundreds of species are available from Hardy Diagnostics, your Microbiologics distributor. Available in the pellet or stick format. Quantitative or qualitative.
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Carba 5 for CRE Detection
With Carba 5 you can test for the 5 major enzymes of carbapenem resistance. Tests for gene expression not just gene presence. Read out in only 15 minutes. No equipment needed! See the video!
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Rapid Bacterial Pneumonia
Detection
Hardy offers a rapid kit that will detect bacterial antigens in the urine in only 15 minutes. Watch a short video here.
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Fast Strep Grouping
Strep season is in full swing! Hardy's StrepPRO will rapidly identify your streps into the proper Lancefield grouping. Takes only minutes!
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AnaeroGRO
Pre-reduced anaerobic culture media, ready-to-use for your set-ups. Pouches are gassed out with nitrogen for superior growth. Click here for a short video. See our complete anaerobic catalog below...
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Dehydrated Media
Hardy manufactures a complete line of powdered media. It is conveniently packaged in five different configurations ready for export. Click here to watch a short video explaining the advantages of CRITERION.
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Test your power of observation.
Can you find the three lady bugs and three babies
hiding among the coffee beans?
Give up?....scroll to the bottom.
"Believe nothing of what your hear and half of what you see."
Edgar Allan Poe, 1845
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Pharmaceutical Microbiology |
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DuraRack for all Petri Plates
Hardy now offers an indestructible rack for 100mm standard and 60mm contact plates. Click here to find out why this will be the last rack you will ever have to buy! |
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Impact Air Samplers
Hardy offers a complete line of air samplers for your clean room monitoring program. Click here for a short instructional video. Check out our complete catalog!
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HardyVAL for all your USP <797> compliance needs
Hardy offers everything you need for proficiency testing to comply with USP regulations.
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Surface Sampling
Hardy offers a complete line of products for Environmental and Surface Monitoring. Contact plates and more. Watch a brief video on what Hardy has to offer...
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HardyCHROM Campy
Hardy announces a new chromogenic media for Campylobacter. Easily identify colonies based on their red color.
Ask us for samples to evaluate.
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The smartest ATP Monitors!
Hardy is your authorized dealer for the Hygiena ATP monitoring system, Ensure Touch. Get results in 10 seconds!
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Legionella Testing
Hardy offers a complete line of BCYE media for the detection of Legionella. Many formulas to choose from for immediate delivery.
Ask us for samples to evaluate.
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Compact Dry
Hardy is your authorized dealer for all the Compact Dry chromogenic formulas. These low profile rigid plates allow for accurate colony detection and selection.
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Zinc, zinc ionophores, and Vitamin D are recommended for a robust immune system.
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Early Treatment of COVID-19
What are the recent recommendations regarding "home based" treatment of the virus?
More outpatient recommendations as published in the American Journal of Medicine...
1) Reduction of re-inoculation - To prevent further spread of the virus, room ventilation measures can be taken.
2) Combination antiviral therapy - Zinc lozenges, zinc ionophores (hydroxychloroquin (HCG)), azithromycin, doxycycline, Favipiravir.
3) Immunomodulation - Corticosteroids to prevent a possible cytokine storm.
4) Antiplatelet/antithrombotic therapy - Low dose aspirin or heparin to prevent blood clots.
5) Administration of oxygen - Blood oxygen can be monitored with a fingertip pulse oximeter, utilizing supervised supplemental oxygen, and self-proning.
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Brian Tracy
A Canadian-American author and motivational speaker. He wrote more than eighty books on the psychology of achievement and success.
"Every act of self-discipline increases your confidence, trust, and belief in yourself and your abilities."
"Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting."
"Peak performance begins with your taking complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you."
"There are no limits on what you can achieve with your life, except the limits you accept in your mind."
"It doesn't matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going."
"One of the marks of successful people is they are action oriented. One of the marks of average people is they are talk oriented."
"Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day."
"The greatest joys of life are happy memories. Your job is to create as many of them as possible."
"The future belongs to the risk-takers, not the comfort-seekers."
"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, What's in it for me?"
"The biggest mistake you could ever make is to think you work for anyone but yourself."
"Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems."
"Avoid negative people at all costs. They are the greatest destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem."
"One of the most important rules for success is this: Every great success is the result of hundreds and thousands of small efforts and accomplishments that no one sees or appreciates."
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Vintage public health poster |
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Brainteasers
Need to exercise
the gray matter?
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The Hardy Diagnostics manufacturing facility in Springboro, Ohio. Click on the photo to see how we make media! |
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During our 42 years of serving the microbiology community, we have continually aimed to provide the utmost in "a culture of service" for our valued customers. As a 100% employee owned company, we have even more incentive to please our customers as best we possibly can every day. Do you have a suggestion, comment, or question? Please contact me here.
Jay Hardy, CLS, SM (NRCM)
CEO of Hardy Diagnostics
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