Dulmini Nanayakkara Sapugahawatte

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Fellow at Estonian University of Life Sciences

Background/ hypothesis Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus-GBS) is a major pathogenic bacterium in fresh-water fish farming. Recent studies revealed that severe GBS infections in adults were associated to consumption of fresh-water fish, raising an alarm to public health and possibility of zoonotic transmission. Hence, the current pilo...

Inhibitory Effects of Chlorella vulgaris Algasomes on Listeria species Growth and Biofilm Eradication Dulmini Nanayakkara Sapugahawatte1Ɨ, Kasun Godakumara1 Ɨ, Gayandi Ekanayake1, Deep Bhattacharya1, Getnet Balcha Midekessa1,2, Mati Roasto3, Renu Geetha Bai4, Timo Kikas4, Aneta Andronowska5, Alireza Fazeli1,2,6* 1. Institute of Veterinary Medicin...

Extracellular Vesicles as Natural Solutions to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the ability of microbes to withstand the effects of antibiotics/medication that once could successfully eliminate them, poses a critical global health issue. AMR results in prolonged illnesses, higher healthcare expenses, and increased mo...

Systematic review of post COVID-19 prevalence and colonisation of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Southeast Asia Carmen Li, Rita WY Ng, Ian Yu Yan Lo, Ashley Myers, Dulmini Nanayakkara Sapugahawatte, Margaret Ip 1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR)...

Background Bacillus cereus is commonly found in many foods and known for causing foodborne illness. Due to their spore-forming and biofilm-forming nature and contamination capability these bacteria are presenting a large challenge to the food industry. The bacterium has become increasingly resistant to multiple drugs necessitating novel preventive...

Background Bacillus cereus is commonly found in many foods and known for causing foodborne illness. Due to their spore-forming and biofilm-forming nature and contamination capability these bacteria are presenting a large challenge to the food industry. The bacterium has become increasingly resistant to multiple drugs necessitating novel preventive...

Effective suppression of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 growth through periodic dosing of pasteurized milk-derived extracellular vesicle Dulmini Nanayakkara Sapugahawtte1, Kasun Godakumara1, Mihkel Mäesaar2, Gayandi Ekanayake1, Getnet Balcha Midekessa1,3, Madhusha Prasadini1, Suranga Kodithuwakku1,4, Mati Roasto2, Aneta Andronowska5, Alireza Faze...

Background/ hypothesis Bovine mastitis, a global dairy cattle disease, impacts animal health, milk quality and public health due to its zoonotic potential. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS), and Escherichia coli are the key mastitis-causing pathogens. This study examined whey and algae spent media-derived extracellular vesicles...

Increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) challenges conventional antibiotics, prompting the search for alternatives. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from pasteurised cattle milk offer promise, due to their unique properties. This study investigates their efficacy against five pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, aiming to...

Objective To estimate the global prevalence of asymptomatic colonisation, and determine the associated risk factors, antibiotic resistance and genotypes of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the upper respiratory tract of young children. Design Four bibliometric databases were searched for publications between 2010 and 2022 acco...

Abstract Background/ hypothesis Cross-host species infections with GBS has been suggested and we hypothesized that common genetic determinants of GBS adapted to host diversity accounted for tropism in both humans and animals. Thus, this study compared and analysed the molecular characteristics of the animal and human GBS to identify their relatio...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by cells, and have a lipid bilayer structure. EVs harbor various molecules, including proteins, RNAs, and DNAs. Studies of mammalian EVs are increasingly attracting the interest of researchers; however, there are few studies of nanoparticles in food. Milk-derived EVs can survive high temperatures and digest...

Objective To estimate the global prevalence of asymptomatic colonisation, associated risk factors, and antibiotic resistance of MRSA in the upper respiratory tract of young children. Results Methods MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases were searched between 2010 and 2022, following the registered protocol in PROSPERO (CRD 420223283...

Background Increasing studies suggest that antibiotic exposure during pregnancy may increase the risk of health-related conditions in childhood; however, controversy still exists. Thus, we conducted this systematic review to evaluate the association between antibiotic use during pregnancy and long- term outcomes in childhood including overweight, o...

We investigated the molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS) from carriage in a cohort of pregnant mothers and their respective newborns in a Teaching Hospital in Sri Lanka. GBS vaginal carriage was assessed on pregnant mothers at pre-delivery (n = 250), post-delivery (n = 130), and from peri-rectal swabs of n...

We report the antimicrobial resistance of 191 fish and 61 pork Group B Streptococcus (GBS) procured from Hong Kong wet markets. Two-hundred-and-fifty-two GBS strains were isolated from 992 freshwater fish and 361 pig offal during 2016–2019. The strains were isolated from homogenised samples and plated on selective media, followed by identification...

The authors would like to make the following correction to the published paper [...]

Penicillin non-susceptible Streptococcus agalactiae (PEN-NS GBS) has been increasingly reported, with multidrug-resistant (MDR) GBS documented in Japan. Here we identified two PEN-NS GBS strains during our surveillance studies: one from a patient’s wound and the other from a tilapia. The patient’s GBS (H21) and fish GBS (F49) were serotyped and tes...

We report a SCCmec II, ST39 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolate from pigs that harbored toxic-shock syndrome toxin gene (tsst-1). The gene was located in a rare pathogenicity island SaPI68111, which also carried enterotoxin genes that can cause fatal infections. Pigs may potentially serve as a reservoir for MRSA dissemination.

Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS), is a frequent human colonizer and a leading cause of neonatal meningitis as well as an emerging pathogen in non-pregnant adults. GBS possesses a broad animal host spectrum, and recent studies proved atypical GBS genotypes can cause human invasive diseases through animal sources as food-borne zo...

Background: Non-typeable H. Influenzae (NTHi) is increasingly recognized to play an important role in respiratory tract infections. Increasing reports of ampicillin- and β-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistance are also noted. We aimed to study the epidemiology and characteristics of NTHi from a collection of archived Haemophilus influenzae (HI)...

Background: Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) is an important pathogen with a wide host range, causing sepsis and meningitis in humans, mastitis in cattle and streptococcosis in fish. This results in much medical and veterinary morbidities and a huge economic burden to both livestock and aquaculture industries worldwide. The outbreak of adult sepsis d...

The high prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causing skin and soft tissue infections in both the community and healthcare settings challenges the limited options of effective antibiotics and motivates the search for alternative therapeutic solutions, such as antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT). While many publicat...

Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are of global health importance, yet there is a paucity of surveillance studies on food animals in Hong Kong. Here, we report a high prevalence of ESBL-E (ranging from 0.5% to 52.4%) and CPE (0% to 9.9%) from various food animal...

Available online: https://www.escmid.org/escmid_publications/escmid_elibrary/…

Prevalence and characteristics of extended-spectrum β-lactamases and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolated from freshwater fish and pork available in wet markets in Hong Kong Background: Extended spectrum β-lactamase producing (ESBL-PE) and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are increasingly recognized in farm animals i...

Background: Although Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) is a commensal in the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract of women, GBS infection in non-pregnant adults has been reported through suspected food borne contamination from fish delicacy. Penicillin is the standard treatment for GBS infection worldwide, thus resistance to this antibiotic unde...

Background: A ribosomal subunit protein (rsp)-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method was developed for fast subspecies-level typing of Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus, GBS), a major cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis. Methods: A total of 796 GBS whole genome sequ...

Abstract Background Maternal vaginal colonization with antibiotic resistant organisms is a growing concern in countries with high antibiotic resistance rates. Methods A low vaginal swab was collected from mothers on admission, on discharge and a peri-rectal swab was collected from the neonates born to these mothers on discharge. Routine microbiolog...

Background Infections with multi drug resistant (MDR) organisms are a major problem in intensive care units (ICUs). Proper infection control procedures are mandatory to combat the spread of resistant organisms within ICUs. Well stablished surveillance programmes will enhance the adherence of the staff to infection control protocols. The study was c...