The science linking processed sewage sludge (biosolids) land application with human health has improved in the last ten years. The goal of this review is to develop a consensus view on the human health impacts associated with land-applying biosolids. Pre-existing risk studies are integrated with recent advances in biosolids pathogen exposure science and risk analysis. Other than accidental dire...

the formation of chlamydospores of phytophthora parsiana, a newly described high temperature tolerant pathogen of woody plants, were investigated in culture media and in infected roots of susceptible host plants. different solid agar media and cleared v-8 juice broth were inoculated with different isolates of p. parsiana and incubated for four days at room temperature before they were transferr...

Molecular methods are increasingly used to identify pathogens that are difficult to cultivate. We report a case of disseminated infection with "Mycobacterium tilburgii," a proposed species that has never been cultivated. The case illustrates the diagnostic utility of sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene directly from clinical specimens.

Current antibiotic testing does not include the potential influence of host cell environment on microbial susceptibility and antibiotic resistance, hindering appropriate therapeutic intervention. We devised a strategy to identify the presence of host-pathogen interactions that alter antibiotic efficacy in vivo. Our findings revealed a bacterial mechanism that promotes antibiotic resistance in v...

Over the years, a vast array of information concerning the interactions of viruses with their hosts has been collected. However, recent advances in proteomics and other system biology techniques suggest these interactions are far more complex than anticipated. One particularly interesting and novel aspect is the analysis of cellular proteins incorporated into mature virions. Though sometimes co...

Listeria monocytogenes is an opportunistic invasive foodborne pathogen. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of L. monocytogenes strain F4244 (serotype 4b) using Illumina sequencing. The sequence showed 94.5% identity with strain F2365, serotype 4b, and 90.6% with EGD-e, serotype 1/2a.

Bacterial transcriptomics is widely used to investigate gene regulation, bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, host-pathogen interactions, and pathogenesis. Transcriptomics is crucially dependent on suitable methods to isolate and detect bacterial RNA. Microfluidics offer ways of creating integrated point-of-care systems, analysing a sample from preparation, and RNA isolation to detection. A...

Many host-pathogen interactions are embedded in a web of other interspecific interactions. Recent theoretical studies have suggested that reductions in predator abundance can indirectly lead to upsurges in infectious diseases harbored by prey populations. In this note, we use simple models to show that in some circumstances, predation can actually increase the equilibrial prevalence of infectio...