Eighteen cases of Acanthamoeba-associated keratitis among contact lens wearers seen at the Department of Ophthalmology, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria, between 1996 and 1999 are reviewed. The amoebae were proven to be the causative agents in three patients. The aim of our study was to discriminate between clinically relevant and nonrelevant isolates and to assess the relatedness of the...

The dynamics of root and hypocotyl colonization, and the gene expression patterns of several fungal virulence factors and plant defense factors have been analyzed and compared in the interaction of two Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. phaseoli strains displaying clear differences in virulence, with a susceptible common bean cultivar. The growth of the two strains on the root surface and the colonizati...

Insecticide susceptibility and virulence to resistant rice varieties were determined and evaluated in the brown planthopper (BPH) and the whitebacked planthopper (WBPH), collected from Asian countries (Japan, China, Taiwan, northern Vietnam, southern Vietnam, and Philippines) in 2006. Insecticide susceptibility was determined by a topical application method using four insecticides. Virulence to...

To isolate and detect anthrax spores form soil in different regions of Iran in order to find the anthrax foci‚ a total of 668 environmental specimens were collected during 2003-2004. Bacterial endospores were extracted from soil specimens via flotation in distilled water, incubation at room temperature, filtration, heat shock and culture on blood agar and selective PLET media. Bacillus anthraci...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is involved in oral and systemic infections, and is associated with, eg aggressive forms of periodontitis and with endocarditis. The cagE gene encodes a ≈39 kDa putative exotoxin expressed by A. actinomycetemcomitans. The level of conservation of cagE, and its possible significance in periodontal disease, has not yet been thoroughly...

This study was conducted to determine a disease outbreak in 14 day old post-larvae of abalone (Haliotis diversicolor supertexta) which caused mass mortality in July 2010 in Shanwei, China. Twenty-nine bacterial strains were isolated from a sample pool of 10 diseased post-larval abalones on 2216E marine agar plates during a natural outbreak of the disease. Among them, a dominant isolate (referre...

Avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) affect various avian species, especially domestic poultry , and are caused by type A orthomyxoviruses and type 1 avian paramyxoviruses, respectively. 1,2 Clinical manifestations of such infections vary with the virus strain, the host species, and the presence or absence of secondary environmental factors or exacerbating agents. In domestic poultry...

This study was conducted to determine a disease outbreak in 14 day old post-larvae of abalone (Haliotis diversicolor supertexta) which caused mass mortality in July 2010 in Shanwei, China. Twenty-nine bacterial strains were isolated from a sample pool of 10 diseased post-larval abalones on 2216E marine agar plates during a natural outbreak of the disease. Among them, a dominant isolate (referre...

The present study shows that differences in pathogenicity exist among fish nodavirus strains. In challenge trials, a Japanese strain (SJ93Nag) was highly virulent to larvae of the striped jack Pseudocaranx dentex but replication was not detected in larvae of Atlantic halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus at 6 degrees C. Conversely, a Norwegian nodavirus strain (AH95NorA) that was highly virulent to...

Virulence in the ubiquitous intracellular protozoon Toxoplasma gondii for its natural intermediate host, the mouse, appears paradoxical from an evolutionary standpoint because death of the mouse before encystment interrupts the parasite life cycle. Virulent T. gondii strains secrete kinases and pseudokinases that inactivate the immunity-related GTPases (IRG proteins) responsible for mouse resis...