Adherence to mucosal surfaces is necessary for bacterial colonization. The in-vitro adherence to type 25 Streptococcus pneumoniae to buccal epithelial cells was studied in 15 smokers, 15 nonsmokers, and 21 exsmokers. Background adherence in smokers and nonsmokers was similar, but smokers had a markedly increased pneumococcal adherence compared to nonsmokers (12.3 +/- 6.9 vs 0.7 +/- 0.4). This i...

BACKGROUND Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus) is recognized as the etiologic agent of newborn and infant meningitis, aged up to 90 days, starting from the colonization of the maternal genital or gastrointestinal tract, but it is rarely responsible for meningitis in old infants. CASE PRESENTATION We present the case of a 9 month-old infant diagnosed with S. agalactiae meningoence...

UNLABELLED The colonization of the oral cavity is a prerequisite to the development of oropharyngeal candidiasis. AIMS The aims of this study were: to evaluate colonization and quantify Candida spp. in the oral cavity; to determine the predisposing factors for colonization; and to correlate the levels of CD4+ cells and viral load with the yeast count of colony forming units per milliliter (CF...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To study sequences of colonization of different species of microorganisms and to determine the importance of gastric colonization for the development of nosocomial pneumonia. DESIGN A prospective study. SETTING Two identical ICUs of a university hospital. PATIENTS Sixty-four patients admitted to ICU for at least 5 days; 59 were intubated. INTERVENTIONS Microbiologic cult...

We examined whether systemic cytokine signaling via interleukin (IL)-17 and growth-related oncogene-α (GRO-α) is impaired in smokers with obstructive pulmonary disease including chronic bronchitis (OPD-CB). We also examined how this systemic cytokine signaling relates to bacterial colonization in the airways of the smokers with OPD-CB. Currently smoking OPD-CB patients (n=60, corresponding to G...

Endotracheal tube colonization in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation was investigated. In the first part of this prospective study, the airway access tube was examined for the presence of secretions, airway obstruction and bacterial colonization, in cases undergoing extubation or tube change. In the second part of the study, the sequence of oropharyngeal, gastric, respiratory tract and ...