In a prospective study between July 1999 and September 2000, stool specimens of children below the age of 16 years with (n = 187) and without (n = 137) diarrhea were tested for the presence of enterovirulent bacteria by standard culture methods and by PCR. Targets for the PCR were the plasmid pCVD432 for enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC), the verotoxin 1 and verotoxin 2 genes for entero...

Objective(s): This study was designed to determine the relationship of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli isolates in multispecies biofilms and their individual phenotypic characters in biofilm consortia. Materials and Methods:  The subject isolates were recovered from different food samples and identified on the basis of growth on differential and selective med...

BACKGROUND This study evaluated the antibacterial activity of some plants used in folklore medicine to treat diarrhoea in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. METHODS The acetone extracts of Acacia mearnsii De Wild., Aloe arborescens Mill., A. striata Haw., Cyathula uncinulata (Schrad.) Schinz, Eucomis autumnalis (Mill.) Chitt., E. comosa (Houtt.) Wehrh., Hermbstaedtia odorata (Burch. ex ...

The survival of Salmonella enterica was recently shown to increase when the bacteria were sequestered in expelled food vacuoles (vesicles) of Tetrahymena. Because fresh produce is increasingly linked to outbreaks of enteric illness, the present investigation aimed to determine the prevalence of protozoa on spinach and lettuce and to examine their interactions with S. enterica, Escherichia coli ...

A critical factor in ensuring the safety of acidified foods is the establishment of a thermal process that assures the destruction of acid-resistant vegetative pathogenic and spoilage bacteria. For acidified foods such as dressings and mayonnaises with pH values of 3.5 or higher, the high water phase acidity (acetic acid of 1.5 to 2.5% or higher) can contribute to lethality, but there is a lack...

Resistance to complement mediated killing, or serum resistance, is a common trait of pathogenic bacteria. Rck is a 17 kDa outer membrane protein encoded on the virulence plasmid of Salmonella enterica serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis. When expressed in either E. coli or S. enterica Typhimurium, Rck confers LPS-independent serum resistance as well as the ability to bind to and invade mammali...

Phagocytic cells represent an important line of innate defense against microorganisms. Uptake of microorganisms by these cells involves the formation of a phagosome that matures by fusing with endocytic compartments, resulting in killing of the enclosed microbe. Small GTPases of the Rab family are key regulators of vesicular trafficking in the endocytic pathway. Intracellular pathogens can inte...

Novel candidate live oral vaccines based on a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi ZH9 (Ty2 DeltaaroC DeltassaV) derivative that directed the expression of either the B subunit of Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin or hepatitis B virus core antigen from the bacterial chromosome using the in vivo inducible ssaG promoter were constructed. The levels of attenuation of the two S. enterica serovar Typh...