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...

Multidrug-resistant enterococcal nosocomial invasive infections are a rising concern faced by the medical community. Not many options are available to treat these highly virulent organisms. Risk factors for developing these highly resistant organisms include prolonged hospital stay, previous antibiotic use, and immunosuppression. In this article, we report a case of daptomycin-resistant enteroc...

A triple one-step RT-PCR was developed to screen and differentiate virulent from avirulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates. Three sets of oligonucleotides were designed, each specific for amplifying NDV fusion protein gene-specific RNA from virulent, avirulent or all isolates respectively. The sensitivity of one-step RT-PCR was determined using viral RNA extracted from serially diluted N...

BACKGROUND Escherichia coli (E. coli) is rarely implicated in bone or joint infections in children. CASE PRESENTATION We discuss the case of a healthy 12-year-old girl with an E. coli bacteraemia and a T11-T12 spondylodiscitis revealed by magnetic resonance imaging. The strain harboured serogroup O1:K1 and virulence factors common to highly virulent extra intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC)...

Background Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a major cause of food poisoning in many countries. The rapid cases of this agent in recent years made it become an important etiology. However, the relationship between strains isolated from environment, food and clinical samples is still unclear. The presence of antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors such as tdh (thermostable direct hemolysin), trh...

Macrophages from the mouse peritoneal cavity were examined by electron microscopy at various time intervals up to 24 h after intraperitoneal administration of each of three strains of staphylococci different in virulence for mice: high-virulent, low-virulent, and avirulent strains. After engulfment, avirulent bacteria were highly liable to intracellular digestion, resulting in almost complete d...

A virulent isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, which had been obtained from eight sequential intraperitoneal infections in mice compromised with iron and methotrexate, expressed greater lethality than the avirulent parent strain when both strains were injected into mice treated with iron. The present study demonstrates that pyochelin, a siderophore produced by P. aeruginosa, also increases ...

Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) is a severe disease in farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar that has caused epidemic outbreaks in most salmon-producing countries worldwide. The disease is caused by virulent ISA virus (ISAV). Low virulent variants of the virus, characterised by a full-length sequence in the highly polymorphic region of segment 6 in the virus genome, have been reported with increas...