The marine dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum has been associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) outbreaks in Portuguese waters for many years. PSP syndrome is caused by consumption of seafood contaminated with paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), a suite of potent neurotoxins. Gymnodinium catenatum was frequently reported along the Portuguese coast throughout the late 1980s and early...

Fungi may infect the cornea, orbit and other ocular structures. Species of Fusarium, Aspergillus, Candida, dematiaceous fungi, and Scedosporium predominate. Diagnosis is aided by recognition of typical clinical features and by direct microscopic detection of fungi in scrapes, biopsy specimens, and other samples. Culture confirms the diagnosis. Histopathological, immunohistochemical, or DNA-base...

Background and Purpose: Aflatoxins are naturally produced by some species of Aspergillus, such as A. flavus and A. parasiticus. Aflatoxins reportedly have carcinogenic effects on human, poultry, and livestock, and therefore could be linked to severe human illnesses. Aflatoxin biosynthesis pathway involves different clustered genes, including structural, regular, and unassigned genes. The presen...

objective: the role of staphylococcal enterotoxin b (seb) in food poisoning is well known, however its role in other diseases remains to be explored. the aim of this study is the molecular screening and characterization of the seb gene in clinically isolated strains. materials and methods: in this experimentally study, 300 staphylococcus aureus (s. aureus) strains isolated from clinical samples...

The most economically important species used in a wide range of fermentation industries throughout Asia belong to Aspergillus section Flavi, which are morphologically and phylogenetically indistinguishable, with a few being toxigenic and therefore a major concern. They are frequently isolated from Korean fermentation starters, such as nuruk and meju. The growing popularity of traditional Korean...

Spores of three strains each of type A and type B Clostridium botulinum were produced both by a biphasic (solid medium overlaid with an aqueous phase) and by a "conventional" (deep broth culture) procedure. Sporogenesis by the biphasic system was more rapid, convenient, and economical, and yielded as many or more heat-resistant (80 C, 10 min) spores per milliliter as by the conventional techniq...

BACKGROUND Infant botulism is the most prevalent form of botulism in the USA, representing 68.5 % of cases reported from 2001-2012. Infant botulism results when botulinum toxin-producing clostridia (BTPC) colonize the infant gut with concomitant in vivo production of the highly potent botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). The gut microbiota of infants with botulism is largely uncharacterized; therefore,...

crease in enterotoxin production. Based on their findings, toxin-enriched culture filtrates for separation studies have been produced by the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, in collaboration with this laboratory, using a 20 litre batch fermentation technique with controlled pH 7.5, aeration of 10 litres/min, agitation at 500rev./min and incubation at 36°C for 5-6h. Cel...

We were concerned to read the recent article by Pennie et al. (7) on the misidentification of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae as a Corynebacterium sp. with low virulence in a child with endocarditis. The paper raises several issues relating to current methods for the microbiological diagnosis of diphtheria. Firstly, specific guidelines on laboratory diagnosis have been issued by the World...