Shigella flexneri restricts Escherichia coli deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and can modify phage DNA so that it is restricted in E. coli.

BACKGROUND In our earlier studies 34 kDa outer membrane protein (OMP) of Shigella flexneri 2a has been identified as an efficient immunostimulant. KEY RESULTS In the present study MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the purified 34 kDa OMP of Shigella flexneri 2a shows considerable sequence homology (Identity 65%) with the OmpA of S. flexneri 2a. By using the specific primers, the gene of interest has b...

The in vitro antibacterial activity of cinoxacin was compared with that of ampicillin and chloramphenicol against 26 strains of nontyphoid Salmonella and 44 strains of Shigella. Cinoxacin was found to have a lower minimal inhibitory concentration than ampicillin and chloramphenicol against all Salmonella and Shigella sonnei strains. Cinoxacin had minimal inhibitory concentrations similar to tho...

Diarrhoeal disease is still considered a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children. Among diarrhoeagenic agents, Shigella should be highlighted due to its prevalence and the severity of the associated disease. Here, we assessed Shigella prevalence, drug susceptibility and virulence factors. Faeces from 157 children with diarrhoea who sought treatment at the Children's Hospital João ...

INTRODUCTION Shigellosis, or bacillary dysentery, is a bloody diarrhea caused by the invasion of the human colonic and rectal mucosa by Shigella, a gramnegative microorganism belonging to the family enterobacteriaceae. In the developing world, children are the major victims with 600,000 deaths every year. The symptoms are characterized by early watery diarrhea rapidly followed by fever, intesti...

We investigated the etiology of acute diarrhea among Peruvian military recruits undergoing three months of basic combat training near the Amazonian city of Iquitos. From January through September 2002, 307 of 967 recruits were seen at the Health Post for diarrhea (attack rate [AR] = 31.8%, incidence = 1.28 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14-1.43] episodes/person-year). Shigella spp. were the m...

One of the chromosomal segments associated with virulence in Shigella flexneri encodes the production of aerobactin and the synthesis of an iron-regulated 76-kilodalton outer membrane protein believed to be the ferric-aerobactin receptor. However, S. flexneri expressing this putative aerobactin receptor, which is slightly larger than that encoded by pColV, is insensitive to the killing action o...

Introduction of the rol genes of Shigella dysenteriae 1 and Escherichia coli K-12 into Shigella flexneri carrier strains expressing the heterologous S. dysenteriae type 1 lipopolysaccharide resulted in the formation of longer chains of S. dysenteriae 1 O antigen. In bacteria producing both homologous and heterologous O antigen, this resulted in a reduction of the masking of heterologous O antig...

Pathogenicity islands are capable of excision and insertion within bacterial chromosomes. We describe a protein, Rox, that stimulates excision of the Shigella resistance locus pathogenicity island in Shigella flexneri. Sequence analysis suggests that Rox belongs to a new subfamily of recombination directionality factors, which includes proteins from P4, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, and Y...

Several candidate vaccines against Shigella spp. are in development, but the lack of a clear correlate of protection from challenge with the induction of adequate immune responses among the youngest age groups in the developing world has hampered Shigella vaccine development over the past several decades. Bioconjugation technology, exploited here for an Shigella flexneri 2a candidate vaccine, o...