Sphingomonas wittichii, a close relative of the human pathogen Sphingomonas paucimobilis, is a microorganism of great interest to the bioremediation community for its ability of biodegradation to a large number of toxic polychlorinated dioxins. In the present study we investigated the presence of different virulence factors and genes in S. wittichii. We utilized phylogenetic, comparative genomi...

Haemophilus parasuis is an early colonizer of the porcine upper respiratory tract and is the etiological agent of Glasser's disease. The factors responsible for H. parasuis colonization and systemic infection are not yet well understood, while prevention and control of Glasser's disease continues to be challenging. Recent studies on innate immunity to H. parasuis have demonstrated that porcine ...

Host and bacterial factors that determine whether Salmonella serotypes remain restricted to the gastrointestinal tract or penetrate beyond the mucosa and cause systemic disease remain largely undefined. Here, factors influencing Salmonella host specificity in calves were assessed by characterizing the pathogenesis of different serotypes. Salmonella enterica serotype Dublin was highly virulent i...

Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) are the major virulent factors of Haemophilus parasuis. PCR-RFLP targeting the ompA gene was conducted to investigate the possibility of genotyping H. parasuis in this study. Fifteen reference strains and 49 isolates from pig farms in northwest China were genotyped by PCR-RFLP with a pair of specific primers. The results indicated that both the 15 reference strain...

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite responsible for a common infection of the central nervous system. Interferon (IFN) γ is the key cytokine of host defence against T. gondii. However, T. gondii strains differ in virulence and T. gondii factors determining virulence are still poorly understood. In astrocytes IFN γ primarily induces immunity-related GTPases (IRGs), ...

Etiological factors vary with age, source of infection (community vs. hospital acquired pneu‐ monia) and underlying host defects (e.g immunodeficiency). Viruses are the most common etiological factors in preschool children, although in many cases more than one causative agents can be identified. There are several emerging pathogens in community acquired pneumonia in children: virulent strains o...

OBJECTIVES We compared the reactivity of IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies in mouse sera after infection with virulent RH and low-virulent S273 and Beverley strains of Toxoplasma gondii against RH SAG1 recombinant p30 (rp30) and synthetic SAG1 peptides. METHODS Infected mouse serum samples were collected 9 days after infection, and the level of total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a against the RH SAG1 rp30 prote...

This is the first case report from Scandinavia of a pyogenic liver abscess caused by a Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate belonging to the international hyper virulent clone ST23. The patient, an 85-year old Caucasian, had no history of foreign travel or any classical predisposing factors for infection. The isolate was hypermucoviscous of capsular serotype K1 and carried the virulence factors aeroba...