To determine the pandemic potential of Vibrio cholerae, one must demonstrate both the presence of O1 antigen and the production of enterotoxin (CT). Tissue culture or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for CT have been limited to research and reference laboratories. A kit for detecting CT by reversed passive latex agglutination is now commercially available and was used to test 168 str...

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the common cause of a global emerging infectious disease, community-acquired pyogenic liver abscess (PLA). Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are critical for this microorganism's ability to spread through the blood and to cause sepsis. While CPS type K1 is an important virulence factor in K. pneumoniae causing PLA, the role of LPS in PLA is not ...

A novel, sensitive locus-specific touchdown-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (TMPCR), which is based on two-stage amplification pertaining to multiplex PCR and conditional touchdown strategy, was used in detecting and differentiating Vibrio cholerae serogroups. A panel of molecular marker-based TMPCR method generates reproducible profiles of V. cholerae-specific (588 bp) amplicons derived fr...

Genes located on the CTX element and the Vibrio cholerae pathogenicity island (VPI) were investigated in 297 clinical V. cholerae O1 and 76 environmental O1 and non-O1 isolates from Brazil between 1991 and 1999. RAPD analysis suggested that serogroup O1 strains regardless of clinical or environmental source were clonal while non-O1 strains showed greater diversity. PCR analysis showed that 71% ...

Vibrio cholerae O139 (173 strains) and O1 (221 strains) were tested for their in vitro susceptibilities to 39 antimicrobial agents. Both O139 and O1 strains were highly susceptible to azithromycin, cephems, minocycline, penems, and newer fluoroquinolones. O139 strains (94.8%), O1 Indian El Tor strains (97%), and Bangladeshi El Tor strains (50%) were highly resistant to streptomycin, sulfamethox...

Two systems are currently used to serologically type Vibrio cholerae O1 and non-O1 isolates. Antiserovar-serotype serum in the Smith system is produced in rabbits immunized with live whole-cell vaccines, and that in the Sakazaki system is produced in rabbits immunized with heat-killed vaccines. In neither system is the serovar-serotype-specific antigen clearly defined. During the course of a se...