Ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination in grape production is an important problem worldwide. Microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) have been demonstrated as useful tools to identify different toxigenic strains. In this study, Aspergillus carbonarius strains were classified into two groups, moderate toxigenic strains (MT) and high toxigenic strains (HT), according to OTA-forming ability. The M...

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is changing as evidenced by increasing virulence, rising incidence, unresponsiveness to metronidazole therapy, and worse outcomes. Thus, it is critical that CDI diagnosis be accurate so ongoing epidemiology, disease prevention, and treatment remain satisfactory. We tested 10 diagnostic assays, including 1 commercial real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR...

BACKGROUND Cholera is endemic in Bangladesh, with outbreaks reported annually. Currently, the majority of epidemic cholera reported globally is El Tor biotype Vibrio cholerae isolates of the serogroup O1. However, in Bangladesh, outbreaks attributed to V. cholerae serogroup O139 isolates, which fall within the same phylogenetic lineage as the O1 serogroup isolates, were seen between 1992 and 19...

Lateral gene transfer (LGT) has been crucial in the evolution of the cholera pathogen, Vibrio cholerae. The two major virulence factors are present on two different mobile genetic elements, a bacteriophage containing the cholera toxin genes and a genomic island (GI) containing the intestinal adhesin genes. Non-toxigenic V. cholerae in the aquatic environment are a major source of novel DNA that...

A triplex PCR method was developed to simultaneously amplify a heat-labile toxin sequence (LT) of 258 bp, a shiga-like toxin I sequence (SLT I) of 130 bp, and a shiga-like toxin II sequence (SLT II) of 346 bp from toxigenic strains of Escherichia coli. This method was used to screen 377 environmental E. coli isolates from marine waters or estuaries located in Southern California and North Carol...

Biocontrol using autochthonous Debaryomyces hansenii isolates is a potentially suitable strategy for inhibiting toxigenic moulds in dry-cured meat products. The antifungal activity of 280 D. hansenii isolated from dry-cured meat products as well as the mode of action of the most active isolates against toxigenic penicillia were evaluated in this work. A 13.9% of the D. hansenii isolates showed ...

Australia’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) was established in 1991 and uses the following case definition for notification of diphtheria: isolation of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae and either (a) pharyngitis and/or laryngitis (with or without membrane), or (b) toxic (cardiac or neurological) symptoms. Since the establishment of the NNDSS, there have been 23 not...

Mycotoxins are unavoidable contaminants of food grains, feeds, medicinal herbs, and spices, posing as health threat to animals and humans. The objective of this study was to screen medicinal herbs and spices for fungi and mycotoxin contamination and evaluate their safety. Sixty-three samples were examined for fungal contamination and fungal load determined using standard microbiological method....

Toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains cause diphtheria in humans. The toxigenic C. diphtheriae isolate NCTC13129 produces three distinct heterotrimeric pili that contain SpaA, SpaD, and SpaH, making up the shaft structure. The SpaA pili are known to mediate bacterial adherence to pharyngeal epithelial cells. However, to date little is known about the expression of different pili in vari...

Escherichia coli strains belonging to serogroup O29 were studied. Invasiveness was the most common virulence factor described in this serogroup, but a few papers also reported production of heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin. In the present study invasive ability was found in O29:H- strains, whereas production of ST-I enterotoxin was observed only in serotype O29:H21 strains, showing that virulence w...