Isolation and Identification of Microorganisms and Antibiotic Resistance Microorganisms from Beehives Located in Palm, Corn and Longan Plantations, Thailand

This study aims to determine the prevalence of microorganisms and antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in beehives located on different plantations in Thailand. Seventeen swabs immersed in transport media were utilized for samples from different zones within beehives. Traditional microbial culture-based methods, biochemical tests, MALDI-TOF MS (VITEK® MS, bioMerieux, Marcy-l'Étoile, France), and antibiotic drug susceptibility (disk-diffusion) tests were used to detect microorganism and antimicrobial resistance bacteria. The results from 16 beehive swabs found Gram-positive bacteria at 59.5%, Gram-negative bacteria at 35.1%, and fungi (yeast) at 5.4%. These organisms are classified as 11, 11, and 2 types of Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi (yeast), respectively. Furthermore, no organism showed resistance to vancomycin or cefoxitin for antibiotic drug susceptibility testing. In contrast, all Acinetobacter spp. were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, imipenem, and meropenem, except for Acinetobacter schindleri, which was resistant to ceftazidime and cefotaxime. For other organisms, due to the limitations of tests to identify some environmental microbial species, the antimicrobial susceptibility test results cannot be interpreted as resistant or susceptible to the drug for these organisms. The study's findings will support prevention, healthcare services, and public health systems.

A Case of Nocardia africana-Related Keratitis

Nocardia spp. are gram positive, aerobic, weakly acid-fast bacteria. Nocardia spp. keratitis is a rare ocular infection classically described following corneal injury or vegetative and soil exposure. However, keratitis caused by Nocardia africana had never been reported in the literature. We first reported a 70-year-old male who had a traumatic ocular injury to his left eye a month ago. With his complaint of left eye pain, reduced vision, and light sensitivity, the slit-lamp biomicroscopy showed the superficial multi-lobulated epithelial infiltration located at the inferior cornea with a positive fluorescein stain. Microscopic workup from corneal specimens demonstrated dry and chalky white colonies on blood agar and Lowenstein-Jensen media resembling Nocardia spp. The MALDI-TOF MS analyses using VITEK® MS exhibited N. africana. The corneal lesion was treated with 2% amikacin topical eye drops and responded well. The careful history-taking, precise clinical examinations, and meticulous microscopic assessment were the cornerstones of diagnosis. Definite diagnosis and timely treatment were essential to prevention of ocular morbidity in N. africana.