Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial meningitis and septicemia in children and young adults in the United States. Rapid and reliable identification of N. meningitidis serogroups is crucial for judicious and expedient response to cases of meningococcal disease, including decisions about vaccination campaigns. From 1997 to 2002, 1,298 N. meningitidis isolates, collected in the U...

Neisseria meningitidis remains the leading cause of fatal sepsis. Cultures may not be available in fulminant fatal cases. An immunohistochemical assay for N meningitidis was applied to formalin-fixed samples from 14 patients with meningococcal disease. Histopathologic findings in 12 fatal cases included interstitial pneumonitis, hemorrhagic adrenal glands, myocarditis, meningitis, and thrombi i...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) include O157:H7 and non-O157 serotypes. The public health impact of STEC infections is high because of their ability to cause severe infections. We characterized our STEC strains isolated from diarrheal and asymptomatic persons in northern and southwest Iran. The 29 STEC strains were examined for the presence of virulence genes by polymerase chain r...

To compare the diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) identifications obtained between traditional O serotyping and modern virulence gene detection assays, we developed a multiplex real-time PCR assay by detecting six specific virulence genes for enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), and enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC). Among 261 clinical...

The relationship between carriage and the development of invasive meningococcal disease is not fully understood. We investigated the changes in meningococcal carriage in 892 military recruits in Finland during a nonepidemic period (July 2004 to January 2006) and characterized all of the oropharyngeal meningococcal isolates obtained (n = 215) by using phenotypic (serogrouping and serotyping) and...

INTRODUCTION Infection by Neisseria meningitidis, termed as meningococcal disease, can cause meningococcal meningitis and septicemia with or without meningitis. Meningococcal disease is endemic in Brazil and has a high potential to cause large-scale epidemics; therefore, it requires the immediate notification of cases to the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) in Brazil. The aim ...

A molecular-based detection method was developed to detect Escherichia coli O26, O111 and O157 in minced (ground) beef samples. This method consists of an initial overnight enrichment in modified tryptone soya broth (mTSB) and novobiocin prior to DNA extraction and subsequent serogrouping using a triplex PCR. This method has a low limit of detection and results are available within 24 hours of ...

Although Serratia marcescens is a well-known nosocomial pathogen, investigation of its hospital ecology has been limited by the lack of available typing techniques. During an investigation of the occurrence of this organism in a neonatal intensive care unit, we evaluated a number of such techniques. Using a selective medium, we conducted prospective surveillance of neonatal rectal colonization ...

Listeria monocytogenes isolates recovered from retail ready-to-eat (RTE) meats, raw chickens and fresh produce were characterized by serogroup identification using PCR, genotyping using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Five L. monocytogenes serogroups were identified. Of the 167 isolates 68 (41%) belonged to serogroup 1/2b, 3b; 53 (32%) belonged ...

The intentional early colonization of the intestinal tract with beneficial microflora, known as competitive exclusion, has been shown to successfully protect poultry from selected enteric pathogens. Although effective cultures have been produced and are available, an inexpensive, air-tolerant, and completely defined culture is needed. Presently, we developed an in vitro competition assay to sel...