We examined the blood of 94 North American Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients using forensic polymerase chain reaction and found that a subset (10.6%) of CFS patients show evidence of Brucella spp. infections compared to one of 70 control subjects (Odds Ratio = 8.2, Confidence Limits 1-66, P<0.01). Rural patients showed a higher incidence of Brucella spp. infections over urban patients (OR...

Previously we and others found that a majority of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients showed evidence of systemic mycoplasmal infections, and their blood tested positive using a polymerase chain reaction assay for at least one of the four following Mycoplasma species: M. fermentans, M. hominis, M. pneumoniae or M. penetrans. Consistent with previous results, patients in the current study (n...

Creation of defined genetic mutations is a powerful method for dissecting mechanisms of bacterial disease; however, many genetic tools are only developed for laboratory strains. We have designed a modular and general negative selection strategy based on inducible toxins that provides high selection stringency in clinical Escherichia coli and Salmonella isolates. No strain- or species-specific o...

Pyogenic liver abscess is a condition with considerable mortality. The common etiology of liver abscesses after chemotherapy is fungi, especially candida albicans, and gram-positive bacteria. However, little is known about gram-positive bacterial infection as the cause of pyogenic liver abscess. In this study we reviewed our experiences with the use of daptomycin for the treatment of gram-posit...

The Toll-dependent defense against Gram-positive bacterial infections in Drosophila is mediated through the peptidoglycan recognition protein SA (PGRP-SA). A mutation termed osiris disrupts the Gram-negative binding protein 1 (GNBP1) gene and leads to compromised survival of mutant flies after Gram-positive infections, but not after fungal or Gram-negative bacterial challenge. Our results demon...

UNLABELLED Objective : Linezolid is active against drug-resistant gram-positive bacteria. However, the efficacy and safety of linezolid in the treatment of the elderly have not been well characterized. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of linezolid in the treatment of the elderly with gram-positive bacterial infection and to investigate the risk factors associated with the ...

Glycopeptides of the clinically important antibiotic drugs are glycosylated cyclic or polycyclic nonribosomal peptides. Glycopeptides such as vancomycin and teicoplanin are often used for the treatment of gram-positive bacteria in patients. The increased incidence of drug resistance and inadequacy of these therapeutics against gram-positive bacterial infections would be the formation and clinic...