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Pharmaceutical Contamination Remains a Quality Challenge

Contamination of medicinal products is an ongoing industry issue
EndotoxinSterility Testing
19 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Despite stringent regulations and pharmacopoeial standards, contamination of both sterile and non-sterile products continues to be an issue, with documented incidents and outbreaks linked to bacteria, fungi, as well as endotoxin exposures, highlighting ongoing manufacturing challenges. 
Clinical & Veterinary

Importance of Validating Recombinant Endotoxin Reagents

Validation Needed When Replacing LAL With rFC Endotoxin Tests
Assay ValidationEndotoxinKinetic Colorimetric Assay (KCA)
19 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Recombinant endotoxin reagents offer sustainable, animal-free endotoxin testing alternatives, but manufacturers must validate them against autochthonous or indigenous microbial flora from their own environments to ensure accurate detection.
Clinical & Veterinary

Automated AST by Colibri and WASP Matches Manual Accuracy

Fully automated AST testing for the clinical microbiology laboratory
Antibiotic SensitivityAssay ValidationAutomation
19 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Automated bacterial suspension preparation with Colibri® combined with plate streaking by WASP® demonstrates high categorical agreement with manual methods for antibiotic disk diffusion susceptibility testing, supporting its use in total laboratory automation.
Clinical & Veterinary

Improving ESBL Recovery in Healthcare Environmental Samples

Improved recovery of ESBL-producing bacteria using chromogenic agar
Antibiotic ResistanceCarbapenemase-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)Chromogenic Media
19 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Recovery of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae from healthcare environmental samples is optimized by 18-hour pre-enrichment in buffered peptone water followed by plating on cefotaxime-supplemented Membrane Lactose Glucuronide Agar.
Clinical & Veterinary

Flow Cytometry Reveals Hidden Microbes in Dialysis Water

VBNC Bacteria in Dialysis Water Detected by Flow Cytometry
Flow CytometryViable But Not Culturable (VBNC)
13 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
A direct comparison of flow cytometry and heterotrophic plate count methods shows that culture-based testing substantially underestimates microbial contamination in dialysis water.
Clinical & Veterinary

Viable But Non-Culturable (VBNC) Pathogens in Drinking Water May Pose Health Risks

VBNC Pathogens in Potable Water
E. coliPseudomonas aeruginosaViable But Not Culturable (VBNC)
13 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Viable But Non-Culturable (VBNC) E. coli and P. aeruginosa are prevalent across source, tap, and potable drinking water even after treatment. Predictive models suggest health risks from these VBNC pathogens exceed acceptable thresholds.
Water

IceGut Study Maps Early-Life Gut Microbiome Trajectory

Babys Gut Health Linked to Maternal Pregnancy Complications
Microbiome
06 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Fecal microbiome profiling from 328 Icelandic children and their 214 mothers reveals a unique early-life gut colonization and a durable perinatal imprint from mothers affected with maternal gestational diabetes mellitus.
Other Microbiome

Shedding Light on 'Low Endotoxin Recovery' in LAL Assays

Low Endotoxin Recovery in LAL Assays
Clinical TrialsEndotoxinPyrogen Free Labware
04 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Excipients used in pharmaceutical formulations can induce endotoxin masking, causing the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay to underestimate true endotoxin levels. Gorman et al. show that masking arises from excipient-driven alterations in endotoxin structure and aggregate size.
Clinical & Veterinary Assay Development

Human Transmission of Invasive Nontyphoidal Salmonella

Human Transmission of Invasive Nontyphoidal Salmonella
Microbial controlSalmonella EnteritidisSalmonella/Shigella
04 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Phylogenomic and epidemiological analyses of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) indicate that >50% of infections - historically considered foodborne or zoonotic - arise from human-to-human transmission, with diarrheal patients acting as intermediaries. 
Clinical & Veterinary

Reconstituted Infant Formulas Contain Viable Microorganisms

Bottle containing reconstituted infant formula
Bacillus cereusSmarter Food SafetyYeasts and Moulds
04 Dec 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Powdered Infant Formula (PIF) reconstituted using sterile 70°C water, sterile room-temperature water, or a common at-home preparation machine (AHPM) contains viable bacteria and yeast, indicating that conventional reconstitution guidance may not guarantee microbiological safety.
Food & Beverage

Infant Botulism on the Rise; an Outbreak in the US

FDA Recalls ByHeart Infant Formula Due to Possible C botulinum
Clostridium botulinum
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
A 2025 study by Dabritz et al. shows infant botulism is on the rise; in Nov 2025, a Clostridium botulinum outbreak has been linked to the ByHeart brand of infant formula in the US.
Food & Beverage

Did Vaccine Change Cause Global Spread of AMR Pertussis?

Link Between Less Antigenic Vaccines and AMR Bordetella pertussis
BordatellaVaccine Development
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
A possible link between a less antigenic form of the whooping cough vaccine and global transmission of antimicrobial resistant B. pertussis is explored by Xu et al., 2025 in their analysis of 1,774 genomes isolated from China, Japan, US, and France. 
Clinical & Veterinary

Improved Method to Predict Salmonella Heat Inactivation

Estimating Salmonella Inactivation in Low Moisture Foods
HACCPSalmonellaSmarter Food Safety
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
A new modelling approach to estimate Salmonella inactivation in low-moisture foods under non-isothermal elevated-heat conditions involves tracking temperature changes in real-time and applying sequential kinetic modelling.
Food & Beverage

Antibiotic Resistant Strains Within the Human Microbiome

Anaerobic Human Gut microbiome Microcosms
Antibiotic ResistanceCarbapenemase-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Colonization of the human gut by antibiotic-resistant strains is strain‐ and context‐specific rather than singularly driven by antibiotic selection.
Microbiome

Rapid Point-of-Care Detection of STIs CT/NG/MG

Study Supports Shift Toward POC Molecular Diagnostics for STIs
ChlamydiaMycoplasma genitaliumNeisseria
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
The Cobas Liat molecular POC assay delivers rapid results in 20 min and specificities >97% for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), and sensitivities ≥92% regardless of symptomatic status.
Clinical & Veterinary

Syndromic Respiratory Pathogen Panel Multicenter Evaluation

Study on LIAISON PLEX Respiratory Flex Assay
BordatellaDiagnostic SystemsInfluenza
20 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
A multicenter evaluation confirms that the LIAISON PLEX Respiratory Flex Assay delivers robust, clinically reliable detection of up to 19 respiratory pathogens, supporting its integration into routine diagnostic use.
Clinical & Veterinary

Listeria monocytogenes Biofilm Resistance to Standard Sanitizers

Listeria monocytogenes in Biofilms
BiofilmJournal ClubListeria monocytogenes
19 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Lucy Sutton et al. (2025) show that mature biofilms of L. monocytogenes on stainless‐steel surfaces failed to respond to high‐concentration sanitizers. 
Food & Beverage

Spray-on Biocide Durability Claims a Bust in the Real World

Study on Effects of Spray-on Biocide
SanitizersSurface Monitoring
18 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Commercially available spray-on surface biocide (SAQAS) showed no significant antimicrobial effect at either 5- or 30-day post-application under real world conditions. 
Food & Beverage Clinical & Veterinary

Using Microbial Ecology to Strengthen HACCP Sanitation Controls

Factors Influencing Sanitizer Effectiveness
HACCPJournal ClubSanitizers
18 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Yadav et al. (2025) assessed how the multi-stage sanitation process impacts microbial populations in a large commercial beef-processing facility by tracking total aerobic counts, Enterobacteriaceae/coliforms, and microbial composition via sequencing.
Food & Beverage

Microbiome-informed Diagnostic for Clostridioides difficile Infection

Clostridioides difficile
Clostridioides difficle
17 Nov 2025 Lora Benoit Ph.D
Gut microbiome profiles can be used to distinguish C. difficile colonized patients with diarrhea from those with true CDI infections. 
Clinical & Veterinary

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