Rhodococcus equi causes severe pyogranulomatous pneumonia in foals and in immunocompromised humans. Replication of virulent isolates within macrophages correlates with the presence of a large plasmid which encodes a family of seven virulence-associated proteins (VapA and VapC to VapH), whose functions are unknown. Although cell-mediated immunity is thought to be crucial in eliminating R. equi i...

AIM The aim was to determine the occurrence of streptococci in equines in Jammu (R. S. Pura, Katra), characterization of Streptococci equi subsp. equi and Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus with respect to their virulence traits and to determine antibiotic sensitivity pattern of virulent Streptococcus isolates. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 96 samples were collected from both clinical...

Rhodococcus equi is a Gram-positive coccobacillus that can cause a variety of infections in humans, most commonly severe pneumonia.1-4 These infections typically occur in immunocompromised hosts, although, rarely, immunocompetent hosts may be affected as well.1-4 Nonequi Rhodococcus species have been implicated in human disease, albeit less commonly than R equi. We report a case of severe cavit...

The conjugative virulence plasmid is a key component of the Rhodococcus equi accessory genome essential for pathogenesis. Three host-associated virulence plasmid types have been identified the equine pVAPA and porcine pVAPB circular variants, and the linear pVAPN found in bovine (ruminant) isolates. We recently characterized the R. equi pangenome (Anastasi E, et al. 2016. Pangenome and phylogen...

Rhodococcus equi is a Gram-positive, facultative, intracellular bacterial pathogen and the most common cause of severe infectious pneumonia in foals of less than six months of age (Prescott 1991). The pathogen is ubiquitous in the environment, but becomes concentrated in breeding farm situations due to its ability to reproduce in the gastrointestinal tract of herbivores. A foal is suspected of ...

BACKGROUND Despite the paucity of data available, stall-side serum amyloid (SAA) assays are commonly used to make diagnostic and treatment decisions in foals with bronchopneumonia. HYPOTHESIS Measurement of SAA concentrations can accurately differentiate pneumonic from healthy foals. ANIMALS Fifty-four pneumonic foals between 3 weeks and 5 months of age were compared to 44 healthy controls....

Rhodococcus equi infection is increasing in regions with high HIV prevalence worldwide. The microbiological features and clinical mimicry of tuberculosis infection pose diagnostic challenges in high-tuberculosis-incidence settings. We present two HIV-associated cases of R. equi infection from Vietnam and discuss the unique diagnostic challenges in such settings.

equine babesiosis is a hemoprotozoan tickborne disease with worldwide distribution and caused by theileria equi and babesia caballi. this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of t. equi and b. caballi infection in turkoman breed horses in north khorasan province of iran. blood samples were collected from 100 apparently healthy horses and examined by microscopy and indirect immuno...

One of the most difficult tasks in modern day database management systems is information retrieval. Basically, this task involves a user query, written in a high-level language such as the Structured Query Language, and some internal operations, which are transparent to the user. The internal operations are carried out through very complex modules that decompose, optimize and execute the differ...

A case of pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) due to Rhodococcus equi in an immunocompetent individual was successfully treated by combining surgery and antibiotics. The R. equi-targeted antimicrobial agents erythromycin and rifampin were used only after surgical resection of the lesion and identification of the infective organism.