The indoor mycotoxins inhalation exposure of patients (n=25) was studied using a highvolume air sampler (60 cfm x 24 h) with a micropore-paper filter (8x11 inches). The filters were evaluated for cytotoxicity caused by mycotoxins using the MTT-cell culture bioassay and by culture identification. A subset of samples was analyzed with an enzyme-immuno assay for occurrence of macrocyclic trichothe...

Mycotoxin contamination associated with head blight of wheat and other grains caused by Fusarium culmorum and F. graminearum is a chronic threat to crop, human, and animal health throughout the world. One of the most important toxins in terms of human exposure is deoxynivalenol (DON) (formerly called vomitoxin), an inhibitor of protein synthesis with a broad spectrum of toxigenicity against ani...

Diphtheria infections caused by the different toxigenic biotypes of Corynebacterium diphtheriae have shown to be endemic in many parts of the world, including India (1, 7). Among the total number of cases reported worldwide during the year 2005, 80% of cases were from India (1). Diseases due to nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae strains in vaccinated individuals are now being increasingly reported glo...

Maize has been adopted as a primary staple human food in Africa. In parts of West Africa, it is consumed up to three times a day and is used as weaning food for babies (1,21). Maize is vulnerable to degradation by mycotoxic fungi, but in the developing world and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, official monitoring of mycotoxin contamination levels is rare. In West Africa, 98% of people test...

Cyanobacteria thrive in every illuminated aquatic environment known, contributing at least 25% of primary productivity worldwide. Given their importance in carbon and nutrient cycles, cyanobacteria are essential geochemical agents that have shaped the composition of the Earth’s crust, oceans and atmosphere for billions of years. The high diversity of cyanobacteria is reflected in the panoply of...

BYRD, THOMAS R. (Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.), AND H. L. LEY, JR. Clostridium tetani in a metropolitan area: limited survey incorporating a simplified in vitro identification test. Appl. Microbiol. 14:993-997.1966In a limited survey, three toxigenic and one nontoxigenic strains of Clostridium tetani were isolated from 18 environmental samples from metropolitan Bost...

To the Editor: Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans may cause a zoonotic infection similar to diphtheria caused by C. diphtheriae. Previously, dairy cattle were considered to be the main reservoir for C. ulcerans (1), but recent publications suggest pet dogs and pet cats as carriers (cats often show bilateral nasal discharge) (2). We report a case of severe C. ulcerans diphtheria-like disease in ...

The once-dreaded disease diphtheria, caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, holds a prominent place in medical, scientific, and social history. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1901 to Emil von Behring for demonstrating the protective effect of antiserum directed against the diphtheria toxin. In the 1920s, the Great Race of Mercy used dogsled teams to bring diphthe...

In consenting to publish an extravagantly long report of the most tedious kind—a genome analysis (10)—this journal has shown what appears to be extraordinary indulgence. The genome is that of P1, a bacteriophage that, unlike certain of its cousins, neither raises hopes nor instills fear. P1 phage particles are not the “great hope of universal therapy and prophylaxis,” as Felix d’Hérelle believe...

To the Editor: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) cause diarrhea by producing either a heatlabile enterotoxin, a heat-stable enterotoxin (ST), or both. Consequently, ETEC can be identified either by detecting the enterotoxin in the culture fluid by immunologic assays or by detecting enterotoxin-coding genes with DNA probes or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. For many clinical...