We present the case history of a 48-year-old male patient with Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae who developed a nodular vasculitis. He developed a cutaneous vasculitis with the onset of respiratory symptoms. The diagnosis of Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection was based on serology. Since this infection is very common in our population, although often asymptomatic, it should be systematicall...

Bacteria belonging to the family Chlamydiaceae cause a broad spectrum of diseases in a wide range of hosts, including humans, other mammals and birds. However, very little is known about chlamydial infections in birds in our region. In the present study, we examined 28 clinically normal birds in illegal captivity that were confiscated in the province of C6rdoba, Argentina. The objective was to ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Chlamydophila psittaci is a lethal bacterium that causes endemic avian chlamydiosis, and respiratory psittacosis. Laboratory diagnosis of Chlamydophila psittaci is difficult by culture. This study was design to investigate the presence of Chlamydophila psittaci in collected pharyngeal swabs from asyptomatic pigeons by PCR. MATERIALS AND METHODS Pharyngeal samples from...

Th1 immune responses, characterized by production of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), are associated with protective immunity to viruses and intracellular bacteria. Heat-killed Brucella abortus promotes secretion of Th1-inducing cytokines such as interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IFN-gamma and has been used as a carrier to induce Th1 responses to vaccines. To explore which bacterial constituents could me...

BACKGROUND Brucella abortus can proliferate within professional and nonprofessional phagocytic host cells and thereby successfully bypass the bacteriocidal effects of phagocytes. However, the intracellular survival mechanism and factors of virulence are not fully understood. METHODS We have investigated the role of the regulator of G protein signaling 2 (RGS2), an intracellular calcium ([Ca(2...

Baker, Phillip J. (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and J. B. Wilson. Chemical composition and biological properties of the endotoxin of Brucella abortus. J. Bacteriol. 90:895-902. 1965.-The ability of endotoxin to induce hypoferremia in mice was used to measure the specific activity of various endotoxin preparations of Escherichia coli and Brucella abortus and to determine the endotoxin cont...

Brucella abortus may be useful as a component of vaccines. This is because it possesses several unique properties as a carrier that enable it to stimulate human B cells even in the relative absence of T cells. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 proteins conjugated to B. abortus could induce neutralizing antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Recently we showed that the charact...

BACKGROUND Brucellosis is an infectious disease that is caused by Brucella spp. As Brucella spp. are intramacrophage pathogens, the treatment of this infection is very difficult. On the other hand, due to the side effects of the brucellosis treatment regime, it is necessary to find new antimicrobial agents against it. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effec...

The gene annotated BAB2_1150 in the Brucella abortus 2308 genome sequence is predicted to encode a homolog of the well-characterized heme transporter ShuA of Shigella dysenteriae and accordingly has been given the designation bhuA (Brucella heme utilization). Phenotypic analysis of an isogenic bhuA mutant derived from B. abortus 2308 verified that there is a link between BhuA and the ability of...

The outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Brucella (B.) abortus have been extensively studied, but their immunogenicity and protective ability against B. abortus infection are still unclear. In the present study, B. abortus Omp28, a group 3 antigen, was amplified by PCR and cloned into a maltose fusion protein expression system. Recombinant Omp28 (rOmp28) was expressed in Escherichia coli and was t...