xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

Neisseria meningitidis is hosted only by humans and colonizes the nasopharynx; it survives in the human body by reaching an equilibrium with its exclusive host. Indeed, while cases of invasive disease are rare, the number of asymptomatic Neisseria meningitides carriers is far higher. The aim of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge of survival strategies of Neisseria meningitides aga...

Koel Bhattacharya, Suman Kanungo, Dipika Sur, Banwari Lal Sarkar, Byomkesh Manna, Anna Lena Lopez,1 Manjira Bhattacharya, Suman Nandy, and Swapan Kumar Niyogi Author affi liations: National institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, India (K. Bhattacharya, S. Kanungo, D. Sur, B.L. Sarkar, B. Manna, M. Bhattacharya, S. Nandy, S.K. Niyogi); and International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Sou...

UNLABELLED Type IV pili (Tfp) are expressed by many Gram-negative bacteria to promote aggregation, adhesion, internalization, twitching motility, or natural transformation. Tfp of Neisseria meningitidis, the causative agent of cerebrospinal meningitis, are involved in the colonization of human nasopharynx. After invasion of the bloodstream, Tfp allow adhesion of N. meningitidis to human endothe...

The ability to study the virulence of pathogenic Neisseria spp. has been greatly limited by the absence of genetic tools which allow the construction of defined mutants. We have engineered a transposon system which allows random mutagenesis of the Neisseria genome at relatively high frequency. Tn1545-delta 3 is a 3.4-kb derivative of the gram-positive transposon Tn1545 encoding resistance to ka...

We identified a previously undocumented mutation in the dihydropteroate synthase (folP) gene associated with Neisseria meningitidis sulfonamide resistance. A PCR-based assay to detect this mutation, which is 100% predictive of sulfonamide resistance, was developed.

RTX cytotoxins play an important role in virulence of numerous gram-negative pathogens. Unexpectedly, however, we show here that the RTX proteins of Neisseria meningitidis are dispensable for virulence in the infant rat model of infection.

A glucose-negative, maltose-positive strain of group C Neisseria meningitidis was isolated from the blood of a 63-year-old man. Interestingly, maltose degradation was detected by radiometric methods but not by growth methods.

We report the isolation of Neisseria meningitidis, characterized as B:NT:P1.7, from a female patient's genital tract in an outpatient clinic for HIV care. The gynecology clinic, as part of the follow up, collects specimens from all patients with HIV infection for routine exams and for early laboratory detection of sexually transmitted diseases . A Gram-negative diplococcus was isolated from the...

Neonatal meningococcal meningitis is very rare; among the existing 13 serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis, serogroups B, C and Y have been reported in neonatal meningococcal meningitis [1-3]. Here we report isolation of N. meningitidis serogroup Y from the cerebrospinal fluid of a neonate which to the best of our knowledge is the first report from India. This could alert the clinicians to keep...