We described plasmid mediated transfer of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics between Bacteroides fragilis strains. Ampicillin-resistance was transferred from B. fragilis strain GAI-10150 to a B. fragilis strain JC-101 with a frequency of 10(-6)/input donor by a filter mating technique. A common plasmid band, named pBFKW1, was found in both the donor and the transconjugants. The plasmid was p...

Bacteroides spp. has gained substantial interest among the suggested potential candidates for alternative faecal indicators for untreated recreational waters by the US EPA. Interest in Bacteroides as a faecal indicator is based upon the relative abundance of selected members of the Bacteroides genus in the human colon and human faeces. In this study, we developed a real-time PCR detection syste...

Horizontal DNA transfer contributes significantly to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in Bacteroides fragilis. To further our understanding of DNA transfer in B. fragilis, we isolated and characterized a new transfer factor, cLV25. cLV25 was isolated from B. fragilis LV25 by its capture on the nonmobilizable Escherichia coli-Bacteroides shuttle vector pGAT400DeltaBglII. Similar ...

Clindamycin resistance in Bacteroides fragilis was examined in 507 strains isolated from 1973 to 1981. Three groups were recognized: highly susceptible (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] less than or equal to 0.125 microgram/ml), intermediately susceptible (MIC = 0.25 to 4 micrograms/ml), and highly resistant to (MIC greater than or equal to 8 microgram/ml). The incidence of high-level res...

BACKGROUND Recent research on obesity has demonstrated that the intestinal microflora can have an important influence on host energy balance. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the intestinal microflora and the body mass index in the first 3 years of life. RESULTS In a prospective study, a faecal sample from 138 infants was taken at the age of 3, 26 and 52 weeks ...

BACKGROUND The 'hygiene hypothesis' suggests that early exposure to microbes can be protective against atopic disease. The intestinal microbial flora could operate as an important postnatal regulator of the Th1/Th2 balance. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between early intestinal colonisation and the development of asthma in the first 3 years of life. METHODS In a pros...

Dientamoeba fragilis is a pathogen of the human gastrointestinal tract that is a common cause of diarrhoea. A paucity of knowledge on the in vitro cultivation and cryopreservation of Dientamoeba has meant that few studies have been conducted to investigate its biology. The objective of this study was to define, for the first time, in vitro culture conditions able to support the long-term in vit...

Giardia duodenalis is a well recognised enteropathogen, while Dientamoeba fragilis is rarely detected and consequently it is not recognised as an important human pathogen. In 2002-2003, a survey has been carried out on enteroparasites in faecal samples of outpatients attending a day care centre in the town of Perugia (Central Italy). To improve the detection level, at least three samples from e...

[email protected] Gut microbiota play an important roles in induction of various cellular responses, including cytokine production. In this work, we examined the involvement of four intestinal strains in induction of the cytokine response (the relative expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8) in intestinal epithelial cells. Caco-2 cells were treated with cell-free supernatants (CFS) of four intestin...

Dientamoeba fragilis is a common enteropathogen of humans. Recently a cyst stage of the parasite was described in an animal model; however, no cyst stage has been described in detail from clinical samples. We describe both cyst and precystic forms from human clinical samples.