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...

Phage typing was used to identify strains of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary and nonurinary sources. When eight phages isolated in Pennsylvania were used to type 717 cultures from Missouri, 50.3% of 624 urinary isolates and 34.4% of 93 nonurinary isolates were typable. Strains from nonurinary sources were not found commonly in urine. When five additional phages isolated in Missouri were ...

OBJECTIVES Information on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens is scarce in resource-poor settings. We determined the susceptibility of bacterial enteric pathogens and faecal Escherichia coli isolates obtained from children in urban Tamale, Northern Ghana, to antibiotics widely used in the that area [ampicillin or amoxicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) and chloramphenic...

The prevalence of multidrug-resistant shigellae is an important concern in the treatment of shigellosis in many developing countries, and other therapies, including herbal agents, may provide an important alternative to antimicrobial agents. In this study, three Nigerian medicinal plants: Ocimum gratissimum, Terminalia avicennoides, and Momordica balsamina were investigated for their activities...

Intracellular pathogenic organisms such as salmonellae and shigellae are able to evade the effects of many antibiotics because the drugs are not able to penetrate the plasma membrane. In addition, these bacteria may be able to transfer genes within cells while protected from the action of drugs. The primary mode by which virulence and antibiotic resistance genes are spread is bacterial conjugat...

We conducted serologic and biochemical studies on strains of three provisional Shigella serotypes. Included were 19 strains of serotype 3873-50 from three countries (1 from Mexico, 1 from Netherlands Antilles, and 17 from the United States), 13 strains of serotype 3341-55 from three countries (1 from Canada, 1 from Bulgaria, and 11 from the United States), and 19 strains of serotype 19809-73 fr...

Shigella flexneri causes human dysentery after invading the cells of the colonic epithelium. The best-studied effectors of Shigella entry into colonocytes are the invasion plasmid antigens IpaC and IpaB. These proteins are exported via a type III secretion system (TTSS) to form a pore in the host membrane that may allow the translocation of other effectors into the host cytoplasm. TTSS-mediated...

A multivalent live oral vaccine against both Shigella spp. and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is being developed based on the hypothesis that protection can be achieved if attenuated shigellae express ETEC fimbrial colonization factors and genetically detoxified heat-labile toxin from a human ETEC isolate (LTh). Two detoxified derivatives of LTh, LThK63 and LThR72, were engineered by s...

Minicells are small, anucleate cells resulting from aberrant cell divisions at the polar ends of bacilli. We have isolated minicell-producing mutant strains of Shigella flexneri 2a (MC-I) and Shigella dysenteriae 1 (MC-V) after mutagenesis with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. Microscopically, broth cultures of MC-I and MC-V were found to contain free minicells, normal cells, and filamento...

A combination of immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure was used for direct isolation and identification of Shigella dysenteriae type 1 and Shigella flexneri from feces. Immunomagnetic particles were coated with monoclonal antibody MASFB, which is specific for a common epitope of the O polysaccharides of S. dysenteriae type 1 and S. flexneri. Bacteria bo...