Natural populations show striking heterogeneity in their ability to transmit disease. For example, a minority of infected individuals known as superspreaders carries out the majority of pathogen transmission events. In a mouse model of Salmonella infection, a subset of infected hosts becomes superspreaders, shedding high levels of bacteria (>10(8) cfu per g of feces) but remain asymptomatic wit...

The microbial community present in the human mouth is engaged in a complex network of diverse metabolic activities. In addition to serving as energy and building-block sources, metabolites are key players in interspecies and host-pathogen interactions. Metabolites are also implicated in triggering the local inflammatory response, which can affect systemic conditions such as atherosclerosis, obe...

Streptococcus mutans is the major pathogen of dental caries and occasionally causes infective endocarditis. Here we report the complete genome sequence of serotype k S. mutans strain LJ23, which was recently isolated from the oral cavity of a Japanese patient.

Spirochetes that share pathogen-restricted antigens with Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum have been identified in dental plaque and diseased gingival tissues, but it is not known whether these spirochetes possess virulence characteristics. In this study, plaque spirochetes were able to transmigrate a tissue barrier in vitro and were identified on the other side by using monoclonal antibodies ...

In this report we provide evidence that the antimicrobial action of stannous salts and a gold drug, auranofin, against Treponema denticola is mediated through inhibition of the metabolism of selenium for synthesis of selenoproteins.

Clinical and epidemiological studies have implicated chronic infections in the development of atherosclerosis. It has been proposed that common mechanisms of signaling via TLRs link stimulation by multiple pathogens to atherosclerosis. However, how pathogen-specific stimulation of TLR4 contributes to atherosclerosis progression remains poorly understood. In this study, atherosclerosis-prone apo...

A case of infective endocarditis caused by Rothia dentocariosa is described in a 53 year old man with a history of rheumatic fever. R dentocariosa is a component of the oral microbiota and has only rarely and recently been recognised as a human pathogen. In this patient the oral flora was the probable source of infection, with a broken molar tooth providing the probable avenue for infection.

Listeria monocytogenes has been recognized as a food borne pathogen in humans since the 1980s, but we still understand very little about oral transmission of L. monocytogenes or the host factors that determine susceptibility to gastrointestinal infection, due to the lack of an appropriate small animal model of oral listeriosis. Early feeding trials suggested that many animals were highly resist...

UNLABELLED An emerging Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) pathogen, M. mungi, infects wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) in Northern Botswana, causing significant mortality. This MTC pathogen did not appear to be transmitted through a primary aerosol or oral route. We utilized histopathology, spoligotyping, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (M...