Prof. Avi Peretz
Bacterial virulence factors
Diagnostic microbiology and rapid diagnosis of infections
Hospital-acquired infections
Host–pathogen interaction
CV
Dr. Peretz is the Director of the Research Institute and Clinical Microbiology Clinic, Tzafon Medical Center.
Research
Infectious diseases are one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Among the reasons for this we can list the increase in the resistance rate of bacteria to antibiotics, alongside a sharp peak in the rate of hospital acquired infections. One of the challenges in the field is to identify the disease cause (bacterium, virus, parasite or fungus) quickly using various diagnostic tools, and to choose the appropriate treatment, for example, antibiotics.
As part of its activities the laboratory researches the virulence mechanisms of various bacteria, such as the ability to form biofilm, toxins that cause various damages, as well as the response of the immune system and the relationship between the pathogen and the host. The laboratory closely collaborates with various research laboratories around the world and in Israel, and takes part in important multi-center international studies. Many of the studies conducted in the laboratory include the use of clinical samples collected from patients with various infectious diseases, as well as the use of animal models and cell cultures.
In recent years, the laboratory focuses on the research of on Helicobacter pylori and Clostridioides difficile, and holds the largest bacterial bank in Israel.
Publications
- Peretz A, On A, Koiefman H, Brodsky D, Isakovich N, Glyatman T, Paritsky M. BACTEC TM FX System as a tool for culturing gastric biopsies and Helicobacter pylori diagnosis. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2013;32:1541-1543.
- Peretz A, Dinisman-Zavulunov E, Koifman A, Brodsky D, Isakovich N, Glyatman T, Pastukh N, Paritsky M. Susceptibility of 45 Streptococcus bovis isolates to five antibiotic agents. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2013;43:298-299.
- Peretz A, Koiefman A, Dinisman E, Brodsky D, Labay K. Do wheelchairs spread pathogenic bacteria within hospital walls? World J Microb Biol. 2013;30:385-387.
- Graffi S, Peretz A, Jabaly H, Koiefman A, Naftali M. Acanthamoeba keratitis: study of the 5-year incidence in Israel. Br J Ophthalmol. 2013;97:1382-1383.
- Peretz A, Paritsky M, Nasser O, Brodsky D, Glyatman T, Segal S, On A. Resistance of Helicobacter pylori to tetracycline, amoxicillin, clarithromycin and metronidazole in Israeli children and adults. J Antibiot. 2014;67:555-557.
- Peretz A, Labay K, Zonis Z, Glikman D. Disengagement does not apply to bacteria - a hig carriage rate of antibiotic-resistant pathogens among Syrian civilians treated in Israeli hospitals. Clin Infect Dis. 2014;59:753-754.
- Peretz A, On A, Koiefman A, Brodsky D, Isakovich N, Glyatman T, Paritsky M. An efficiency comparison between three invasive methods for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infections: culture from stomach biopsy, rapid urease test (CUTest®( and histologic examination of gastric biopsy. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2014;45:148-151.
- Paritsky M, Pastukh N, Brodsky D, Isakovich N, Peretz A. Association of Streptococcus bovis presence in colonic content with advanced colonic lesion. World J Gastroenterol. 2015;21(18):5663-5667.
- Peretz A, Paritsky M, Pastukh N, Koiefman A, Brodsky D, Glyatman T, On A. Improvement and optimization of classical gastric biopsy culture technique for Helicobacter pylori diagnosis by applying trypsin. J Med Microbiol. 2015;64:642-645.
- Peretz A, Paritsky M, Dinisman E, Pastukh N, Glyatman T, On A. Susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori to levofloxacin and rifampicin in Israel. Microb Drug Resist. 2015;21(4):448-451.
- Nitzan O, Peretz A, Pastukh N, Lorber M. Should prophylaxis for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia be considered in patients with a CD4 count higher than 200/mm3? AIDS. 2015;29:2533-2534.
- Peretz A, Isakovich N, Pastukh N, Koiefman A, Glyatman T, Brodsky D. Performance of Gram staining on blood cultures flagged negative by automated blood culture system. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2015;34:1539-1541.
- Padawer D, Pastukh N, Nitzan O, Labay K, Aharon I, Brodsky D, Glyatman T, Peretz Catheter-Associated Candiduria: Risk Factors, Medical Interventions, and Antifungal Susceptibility. Am J Infect Control. 2015;43(7):19-22.
- Peretz A, Geffen G, Socea S, Pastukh N, Graffi S. Comparison of fluorescence microscopy and different growth media culture methods for Acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosis. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2015;93(2):316-318.
- Wolf M, Peleg D, Rechnitzer H, Portnov I, Salim R, Shalev S, Keness Y, Dan R, Ben-Ami M, Peretz A, Kushnir A, Ben-Shachar I. Reconsidering the current preterm premature rupture of membranes antibiotic prophylactic protocol. Am J Perinatol. 2015;32(13):1247-1250.
- Tkhawkho L, Jackson K, Nitzan O, Peretz A. The destruction of Clostridium difficile spores colitis using acidic electrolyzed water. Am J Infect Control. 2015;43(7):19-22.
- Lerner A, Solter E, Rachi E, Adler A, Rechnitzer H, Miron D, Krupnick L, Sela S, Aga E, Ziv Y, Peretz A, Labbay K, Rahav G, Geffen Y, Hussein K, Eluk O, Carmeli Y, Schwaber M. Detection and characterization of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in wounded Syrian patients admitted to hospitals in Northern Israel. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2016;35(1):149-154.
- Peretz A, Tkhawkho L Pastukh N, Brodsky D, Namimi Halevi C, Nitzan O. Correlation between fecal calprotectin levels, disease severity and the hypervirulent ribotype 027 strain in patients with Clostridium difficile infection. BMC Infect Dis. 2016;16:309
- Shomer I, Avisar A, Desai P, Azriel S, Smollan G, Belausov N, Keller N, Glikman D, Maor Y, Peretz A, McClelland M, Rahav G, Gal-Mor O. Genetic and phenotypic characterization of a Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis emerging strain with superior intra-macrophage replication phenotype. Front Microbiol. 2016;7:1468.
- Yahalom R, Ghantous Y, Peretz A, Abu-Elnaaj I. The possible role of dental Implants in the etiology and prognosis of osteomyelitis: a retrospective study. Int J Oral Max Impl. 2016;31(15):1100-1109.
- Peretz A, Kuzniec F, Ganem D, Salman N, Qarawani D, Amir O. The need for maximal sterile barrier precaution in routine interventional coronary procedures; Microbiology analysis. Eur J Med Res. 2016;21:45.
- Peretz A, Pastukh N, Nitzan O. Is one colony enough? J Clin Microbiol. 2016;7:1925.
- Peretz A, Skuratovsky A, Khabra E, Adler A, Pastukh N, Barak S, Perlitz Y, Ben‐Ami M Kushnir A. Peripartum maternal transmission of extended-spectrum β-lactamase organism to newborn infants. Diagn Microbiol Infec Dis. 2016;87:168-171.
- Nitzan O, Elias M, Peretz A, Saliba W. Role of Antibiotics for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2016;22(3):1078-1082.
- Peretz A ,Ben Shlomo I, Nitzan O, Bonavina L, M. Schaffer P, Schaffer M. Clostridium difficile infection: associations with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeting therapy treatments. Curr Med Chem. 2016;23(39):4442-4449.
- Amar N, Peretz A*, Gerchman Y*. A cheap, simple high throughput method for screening native Helicobacter pylori urease inhibitors using a recombinant Escherichia coli, its validation and demonstration of Pistacia atlantica methanolic extract effectivity and specificity. J Microbiol Meth. 2017;133:40-45. *These two authors contributed equally.
- Orlin I, Rokney A, Onn A, Glikman D, Peretz A. Hospital clones of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are carried by medical students even before healthcare exposure. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control. 2017;23:6-15.
- Mizrahi H*, Peretz A*, Lesnik R, Aizenberg-Gershtein Y, Rodriguez-Martinez S, Sharaby Y, Pastukh N, Brettar I, Höfle MG. Halpern M. Comparison of sputum microbiome of legionellosis-associated patients and other pneumonia patients: indications for polybacterial infections . Scientific Reports 2017;7:40114. *These two authors contributed equally.
- Nitzan O, Brodsky Y, Edelstein H, Hershko D, Saliba W, Keness Y, Peretz A, Chazan B. Microbiologic data in acute cholecystitis: ten years’ experience from bile cultures obtained during percutaneous cholecystostomy. Surg Infect. 2017;18(3):345-349.
- Sharaby Y, Rodríguez-Martínez S, Oks O, Pecellin M, Mizrahi H, Peretz A, Brettar I, Höfle M, Halpern M. Temperature-dependent growth modeling of environmental and clinical Legionella pneumophila MLVA-genotypes. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2017;83(8):e0329516.
- Tkhawkho L, Nitzan O, Pastukh N, Brodsky D, Jackson K, Peretz A. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Clostridium difficile isolates in Israel. J Glob Antimicrob Resist. 2017;17(10):161-164.
- Perlitz Y, Megory E, Nitzan O, Bouganim T, Younis J, Shapso N, Ben Ami M, Peretz A. Enriched culture and Xpert Polimerase Chain Reaction assay of Group B streptococcus carrier status at 35-37 weeks' gestation to labor onset: a comparison. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2017;(6): 1-5.
- Binyamin D, Pastukh N, On A, Paritsky M, Peretz A. Phenotypic and genotypic correlation as expressed in Helicobacter pylori resistance to clarithromycin and fluoroquinolones. Gut Pathog. 2017;9:48
- Pastukh N, Binyamin D, On A, Paritsky M, Peretz A. GenoType® HelicoDR test in comparison to histology and culture for Helicobacter pylori detection and identification of resistance mutations to clarithromycin and fluoroquinolones. Helicobacter. 2017;6(22)
- Hamo Z, Azrad M, Nitzan O, Sagi A, Tkhawkho L, Binyamin D, Peretz A. Role of single procalcitonin test on admission as a biomarker for predicting the severity of Clostridium difficile infection. Front Microbiol. 2017;8:2532.
- Peretz A, Zabari L, Pastukh N, Avital N, Masaphy S. In vitro antileishmanial activity of a black morel: Morchella importuna. Int J Med Mushrooms. 2018;20:71-80.
- Sharaby Y, Rodríguez-Martínez S, Pecellin M, Sela R, Peretz A, Höfle M, Halpern M, Brettar I. Virulence traits of environmental and clinical Legionella pneumophila MLVA genotypes. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2018;84:429-518.
- Pastukh N, Peretz A*, Brodsky D, Isakovich N, Azrad M, On A. The antimicrobial susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori in strains isolated from children in Israel. J Glob Antimicrob Resist. 2018;12:175-178.
*These two authors contributed equally. Corresponding author
- Binyamin D, Nitzan O, Azrad M, Hamo Z, Koren O, Peretz A. In vitro activity of tedizolid, dalbavancin, and ceftobiprole against Clostridium difficile. Front Microbiol.2018;9:1256.
- Azrad M, Tkhawkho L, Isakovich N, Nitzan O, Peretz A. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli – comparison between Etest and a broth dilution method. Ann Clin Mocrobiol Antimicrob. 2018;17:23.
- Laviad- Shitrit S, Sharaby Y, Izhaki I, Peretz A*, Halpern M. Antimicrobial susceptibility of environmental non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae isolates. Front Microbiol. 2018;19:1726.
*These two authors contributed equally.
- Azrad M, Hamo Z, Tkhawkho L, Peretz A. Elevated serum Immunoglobulin A levels in patients with Clostridium difficile infection are associated with mortality. Pathogens and Disease. 2018;76:6
- Rozenfelda K, Nitzana O, Peretz A. Presence of anaerobic bacteria in the urinary tract of catheterized ICU patients. 2018. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2018;37(11):2131-2136.
- Low M, Almog R, Balicer Ran D, Liberman N, Raz R, Peretz A, Nitzan O. Infectious disease burden and antibiotic prescribing in primary care in Israel. Ann Clin Mocrobiol Antimicrob. 2018;17:26.
- Regev-Yochay G, Reisenberg K, Katzir M, Wiener-Well Y, Rahav G, Strahilevitz J, Istomin V, Tsyba E, Peretz A, Khakshoor S, Dagan R. Pneumococcal meningitis in adults after introduction of PCV7 and PCV13, Israel, July 2009-June 2015. Emerg Infect Dis.;2018 24(7):1275-1284.
- Tkhawkho L, Jackson K, Nitzan O, Peretz A. The destruction of Clostridium difficile spores colitis using acidic electrolyzed water. Am J Infect Control. 2015;43(7):19-22.
- Yeganeh M, Paritsky M, On A, Azrad M, Roshrosh H, Moalem R, Peretz A. Characteristics of antibiotic resistance of H. pylori among adult Arab and Jewish populations in northern Israel. Microb Drug Resist. 2019;25(1):103-107.
- Azrad M, Baum M, Rokney A, Levi Y, Peretz A. In vitro activity of tedizolid and dalbavancin against MRSA strains is dependent on infection source. Int J Infect Dis. 2019;78;107-112.
- Azrad M, Keness Y, Nitzan O, Pastukh N, Tkhawkho L, Freidus V, Peretz A. Cheap and rapid in-house method for direct identification of positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF MS technology. BMC Infect Dis. 2019;19(1):7.
- Nuriel-Ohayon M, Neuman H, Ziv O, Belogolovski A, Barsheshet Y, Bloch N, Uzan A, Lahav R, Peretz A, Frishman S, Hod M, Hadar E, Louzoun Y, Avni O, Koren O. Progesterone increases Bifidobacterium relative abundance during late pregnancy. Cell Rep. 2019;27(3):730–736.
- Sharaby Y, Nitzan O, Brettar I, Höfle M, Peretz A, Halpern M. Antimicrobial agent susceptibilities of Legionella pneumophila MLVA-8 genotypes. Scientific Reports 2019;9:6138.
*These two authors contributed equally.
- Azrad M, Freidus V, Kassem R, Peretz A. Identification of dermatophytes by MALDI-TOF MS technology in the clinical laboratory. Int. J Mass Spectrom. 440 2019;:32-36.
- Mizrahi S, Hamo Z, Azrad M, Peretz A. Molecular characterization and moxifloxacin susceptibility of Clostridium difficile. Antibiotics. 2019:8;18.
- Azrad M, Danilov E, Goshen S, Nitzan O, Peretz A. Detection of Group A Streptococcus in pharyngitis by two rapid tests: Comparison of the BD VeritorTM and the QuikRead go® Strep A. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2019;38.6:1179-1185.
- Hamo Z, Azrad M, Nitzan O , Peretz A. Characterization of the immune response during infection caused by Clostridioides difficile. Microorganisms. 2019:7;435.
- Golan Shaposhnik E, Abozaid, Grossman T, Marva E, On A, Azrad M, Peretz A. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium among children hospitalized due to gastrointestinal symptoms and the efficiency of diagnostic methods for Cryptosporidium. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2019;101(1):160-163.
- Grossman T, Ken-Dror S, Pavlotzky E, Vainer J, Gla zer Y, Sagi O, Peretz A, Agmon V, Marva E, Valinsky L. Molecular Typing of Cryptosporidium in Israel. Plos One. 2019;3;14(9):e0219977
- Perlitz Y, Saffoury E, Shabso N, Labai A, Namatiyof J, Nitzan O, Ben-Shlomo I, Azrad M, Ben-Ami M, Peretz A. Maternal and neonatal outcome of asymptomatic bacteriuria at term pregnancy. Pathogens and Disease. 2019;1:77(5).
- Peretz A, Naamneh B, Tkhawkho L, Nitzan O. High rates of fosfomycin resistance in Gram negative urinary isolates from Israel. Microb Drug Resist. 2019:25;408-412.
- Kalish T , Miron D, Azrad M, Rechnitzer H, Ben-Amram H, Glikman D, Peretz A. Characteristics of hospitalised patients with influenza in 2015–2016 in Northern Israel: three circulating strains and continued fear of 2009 A/H1N1. Epidemiol Infect. 2019;25:147
- Peretz A, Azrad M, Blum A. Influenza virus and Atherosclerosis. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 2019;1;112(10):749-755.
- Azrad M, Tkhawkho L, Hamo Z, Peretz A. The diagnostic performance and accuracy of 3 molecular assays for the detection of Clostridium difficile in stool samples, compared with the Xpert® C. difficile assay. J Microbiol Meth. 2020;168:105784.
- Peretz A, Zadok B, Azrad M. Performance of the Influ A+B K-SeT® assay as compared to two RT-PCR assays for detection of influenza virus. Diagn Microbiol Infec Dis. 2020;115097.
- Miller D, Martin M, Harel N, Tirosh O, Kustin T, Meir M, Sorek N, Gefen-Halevi S, Amit S, A Vorontsov O, Shaag A, Wolf D, Peretz A, Shemer-Avni Y, Roif-Kaminsky D, Kopelman N, Huppert A, Koelle K, Stern A. Full genome viral sequences inform patterns of SARS-CoV2 spread into and within Israel. Nat Commun. 2020; 11(1), 1-10.
- Peretz A, Tameri O, Azrad M, Barak S, Perlitz Y, Abu Dahoud W, Ben‐Ami M, Kushnir A. Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma carriage in pregnant women: the prevalence of transmission from mother to newborn. BMC Pregnancy Childb. 2020; 20(1), 1-7.
- Rohana H, Azrad M, Nitzan O, Adler A, Koren O, Peretz A. Characterization of Clostridioides difficile strains, the disease severity and the microbial changes they induce. J Clin Med.2020;9.12.
- Nseir WB, Hussein SHH, Farah R, Mahamid MN, Khatib HH, Mograbi JM, Peretz A, Amara AE. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease as a risk factor for Clostridium difficille-associated diarrhea. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 2020;113.5:320-323.
- Graif N, Abozaid S, Peretz A. Trends in distribution and antibiotic resistance of bacteria isolated from urine cultures of children in northern Israel between 2010-2017. Microb Drug Resist. 2020 ;26.11: 1342-1349
- Domanovich-Asor T, Motro Y, Khalfin B, Craddock H, Peretz A, Moran-Gilad J. Genomic Analysis of Antimicrobial Resistance Genotype-to-Phenotype Agreement in Helicobacter pylori. Microorganisms.2021;9.1.
- Domanovich-Asor T, Craddock H, Motro Y, Khalfin B, Peretz A ,Moran-Gilad J. Unravelling antimicrobial resistance in Helicobacter pylori: global resistome meets global phylogeny. Helicobacter. 2021. e12782
- Azrad M, Shmuel H, Leshem T, Hamo Z, Baum M, Rokney A, Agay-Shay K, Peretz A. Reduced susceptibility to chlorhexidine among S. aureus isolates in Israel: phenotypic and genotypic tolerance. Antibiotics. 10.3 (2021): 342
- Baer D, Azrad M, Saleh N, Peretz A. Detection of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in simulated blood culture in 15 minutes. Life. 11.2 (2021): 145
- Gotshal D, Azrad M, Hamo Z, Nitzan O, Peretz A. : IL-16 and BCA-1 serum levels are associated with disease severity of C. difficile infection. Pathogens. 10.5 (2021): 631
- Adar A, Zayyad H, Azrad M, Libai K, Aharon I, Nitzan O, Peretz A. Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with a new diagnosis of carriage or clinical infection with CPE: a retrospective study. Front Public Health.2021;9.53.
- Kridin K, Schonmann Y, Damiani G, Peretz A, On E, Tzur Bitan E, D. Cohen A. Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors are associated with a decreased risk of COVID-19- associated hospitalization in patients with psoriasis- A population-based cohort study. Dermatologic Therapy.
Accepted
- Ben-Haim O, Azrad M, Saleh N, Tkhawkho L, Peretz A. Evaluation of the NG-Test CARBA 5 kit for rapid detection of carbapenemase-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Lab Med.
- Binyamin D, Nitzan O , Azrad M, Hamo Z, Koren O, Peretz A. The Microbiota Diversity Following Antibiotic Treatment in Clostridium difficile Infection. BMC Gastroenterol.
- Ashtamkar Matok L, Azrad M, Leshema T, Peretz A. Mother-to-neonate transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria: a cross-sectional study. Microorganisms.
- Kassem R, Shmase Y, Nitzan O, Azrad M, Peretz A. Tinea capitis in an immigrant pediatric community; a clinical signs-based treatment approach. BMC Pediat.
- Abu Rahmoun L, Azrad M, Peretz A . Antibiotic resistance and biofilm production capacity in Clostridioides difficile. Front Cell Infect Microbiol.
- Ben Shimol S, Regev Yochay G, Givonlavi N, Brosh Nissimov T, Peretz A, Megged O, Dagan R. Dynamics of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Israel in Children and Adults in the PCV13 Era: A Nationwide Prospective Surveillance. Clin Infect Dis.
Last Updated Date : 07/08/2023