Over the past few years, the syndrome of streptococcosis has been associated with outbreaks in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum) and caused significant economic losses in the aquaculture industry in Iran. The main purpose of this work was molecular identification of some causative agents of streptococcosis in rainbow trout. A total of 520 samples were collected from the head kidney o...

This study evaluated the effects of dietary supplementation with 0.3% Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell wall and of vaccination against Streptococcus agalactiae on the cellular component of acute inflammation induced in the coelomic cavity of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus and on survival of the fish after challenge. A total of 84 tilapia of mean (±SD) weight 125.0 ± 1.5 g were distribute...

Candida africana as a species recovered from female genital specimens is highly close to C. albicans. The present study was conducted to discriminate C. africana from presumptive vaginal C. albicans strains by molecular assay and evaluate their hemolysin activity, biofilm formation, and cohemolytic effect (CAMP) with vaginal bacterial flora. A total of 110 stock vaginal C. albicans isolates wer...

Recently we have discovered an IgG degrading enzyme of the endemic pig pathogen S. suis designated IgdE that is highly specific for porcine IgG. This protease is the founding member of a novel cysteine protease family assigned C113 in the MEROPS peptidase database. Bioinformatical analyses revealed putative members of the IgdE protease family in eight other Streptococcus species. The genes of t...

Streptococcus agalactiae hyaluronate lyase degrades primarily hyaluronan, the main polysaccharide component of the host connective tissues, into unsaturated disaccharide units as the end product. Such function of the enzyme destroys the normal connective tissue structure of the host and exposes the tissue cells to various bacterial toxins. The crystal structure of hexasaccharide hyaluronan comp...

Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Streptococcus uberis and Streptococcus agalactiae are the three main pathogens causing bovine mastitis, with great losses to the dairy industry. Rapid and specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification methods (LAMP) for identification and differentiation of these three pathogens are not available. With the 16S rRNA gene and 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacers as target...

Certain extracellular proteins produced by several pathogenic microorganisms interfere with the host immune system facilitating microbial colonization and were thus designated virulence-associated immunomodulatory proteins. In this study, a protein with B lymphocyte stimulatory activity was isolated from culture supernatants of Streptococcus agalactiae strain NEM316. This protein, with an appar...

Over the past few years, the syndrome of streptococcosis has been associated with outbreaks in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum) and caused significant economic losses in the aquaculture industry in Iran. The main purpose of this work was molecular identification of some causative agents of streptococcosis in rainbow trout. A total of 520 samples were collected from the head kidney o...

Analysis of overnight carrot broth culture using the BD GeneOhm StrepB assay (carrot broth-enhanced PCR) yields increased sensitivity compared to that of carrot broth culture alone for the detection of Streptococcus agalactiae. We investigated the prospect of reducing the carrot broth incubation time prior to PCR performance. In vitro experimentation demonstrated that carrot broth-enhanced PCR ...

We present a case of infective endocarditis associated with community-acquired Streptococcus agalactiae in an immune competent patient. The endocarditis affected the native aortic valve with perforation of the coronary cusp and was complicated by a cerebral embolism. The use of intravenous ampicillin produced a satisfactory clinical and echocardiographic recovery despite not receiving a valve r...