OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the MICs of 32 antimicrobial agents for 200 isolates of Rhodococcus equi of animal origin by applying a recently described broth microdilution protocol, and to investigate isolates with distinctly elevated rifampicin MICs for the genetic basis of rifampicin resistance. METHODS The study included 200 R. equi isolates, including 160 isolates fro...

Rhodococcus equi is an unusual cause of infection in humans. Infection in immunocompetent patients is extremely rare-only 19 cases in immunocompetent hosts have been reported. Localized infections represent nearly 50% of reported cases. Pulmonary infections account for only 42% of infections in immunocompetent hosts, compared with 84% of infections in immunocompromised hosts. The mortality rate...

The objective of this study was to determine in vitro activities of azithromycin (AZM), clarithromycin (CLR), and 20 other antimicrobial agents against Rhodococcus equi and other common equine bacterial pathogens. A total of 201 bacterial isolates from various equine clinical samples were examined. CLR was more active than AZM against R. equi, with MICs at which 90% of the isolates were inhibit...

The prevalence of intermediately virulent Rhodococcus equi isolates from pig submaxillary lymph nodes from four slaughterhouses in Nakhonpathom province, Thailand, was investigated. The isolates were tested for the presence of virulence plasmids and the 20-kDa virulence-associated protein antigen (VapB) gene by PCR. Of the 734 submaxillary lymph nodes tested, 19 (2.6%) produced positive culture...

Rhodococcus equi is a rare but well-documented cause of cavitary pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. In this report the first case of R. equi infection manifesting as vertebral osteomyelitis is described. A 39-year-old liver transplant recipient presented with recurrent pneumonia and a pleura-based lung abscess and subsequently developed osteomyelitis of the lower thoracic spine. Surgical ...

considering the importance of theileria equi infection in horse breeding industry and marketing, in the present study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of t. equi among dromedaries in central iran, where a considerable number of camels and horses are raised and equine theileriosis is quite prevalent. for this purpose, a total of 161 blood samples from camels were examined in terms of t. equ...

Rhodococcus equi is a multi-host pathogen that infects a range of animals as well as immune-compromised humans. Equine and porcine isolates harbour a virulence plasmid encoding a homologous family of virulence-associated proteins associated with the capacity of R. equi to divert the normal processes of endosomal maturation, enabling bacterial survival and proliferation in alveolar macrophages. ...

Rhodococcus equi is a close relative of Mycobacterium spp. and a facultative intracellular pathogen which arrests phagosome maturation in macrophages before the late endocytic stage. We have screened a transposon mutant library of R. equi for mutants with decreased capability to prevent phagolysosome formation. This screen yielded a mutant in the gene for β-ketoacyl-(acyl carrier protein)-synth...

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are prevalent in Thailand. However, the clinical and microbiological characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in such patients are not completely clear at present. In the present study, we analyzed the characteristics of CAP in 191 HIV-infected patients (192 episodes, 130 males and 61 females, mean age 32.9 years, range:20-62) who had b...

In equids, susceptibility to disease caused by Rhodococcus equi occurs almost exclusively in foals. This distribution might be attributable to the age-dependent maturation of immunity following birth undergone by mammalian neonates that renders them especially susceptible to infectious diseases. Expansion and diversification of the neonatal microbiome contribute to development of immunity in th...