By comparing smooth wild-type Brucella spp. to their rough mutants, we show that the LPS O chain restricted the activation of the ERK1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, thus preventing the synthesis of immune mediators that regulate host defense. We conclude that the MAPKs are a target for immune intervention by virulent smooth Brucella.

Brucella spp. are important pathogens affecting a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic animals. We report the complete and annotated genome sequence of Brucella ceti ST26 strain TE10759-12, isolated from a striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) stranded along the Italian shoreline in March of 2012.

Brucella spp. are intracellular bacterial pathogens that cause infection in domestic and wild animals. They are often used as model organisms to study intracellular bacterial infections. Brucella VirB T4SS is a key virulence factor that plays important roles in mediating intracellular survival and manipulating host immune response to infection. In this review, we discuss the roles of Brucella V...

The application of two synthetic oligonucleotides as probes and as primers in the polymerase chain reaction is presented for a specific, sensitive, and quick identification of Brucella spp. The specific oligonucleotide sequences were chosen on the basis of a 16S rRNA sequence alignment between Brucella abortus and Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

Ten striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, stranded along the Costa Rican Pacific coast, had meningoencephalitis and antibodies against Brucella spp. Brucella ceti was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of 6 dolphins and 1 fetus. S. coeruleoalba constitutes a highly susceptible host and a potential reservoir for B. ceti transmission.

We present microbiologic findings in harbor seal (phoca; Phoca vitulina ) carcasses collected from the North Sea of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, 1996-2014, and interpret results in relation to potential variations caused by phocine distemper virus and influenza A virus mass mortalities. We conducted microbiologic investigations on 2,124 tissue samples from lung, liver, kidney, spleen, intestine...

The possible role of Brucella spp. in 65 abortion cases, 55 from sheep and 10 from goats, occurring in the birth seasons of 2004 and 2005 in northwestern Turkey was investigated. Colony morphology, agglutination by acriflavin, H2S production, CO2 requirement, dye sensitivity in thionin, basic fuchsin, growth characteristics in streptomycin, lysis with Tbilisi phage, and agglutination with monos...

Although a "One Health" approach has been successfully implemented for emerging infectious zoonotic diseases with pandemic potential, we still lack a conceptual framework to address enzootic diseases like brucellosis. The vast majority of published brucellosis studies in the developing world rely solely on serology. An important shortcoming of brucellosis serology is the impossibility to infer ...

We read with interest the paper “Ribosomal RNA Sequence Analysis of Brucella Infection Misidentified as Ochrobactrum anthropi Infection” by Horvat and colleagues (1). The paper reported that a Brucella isolate was misidentified as Ochrobactrum anthropi. The 16S rRNA results indicated that the isolates were Brucella species, with 100% agreement to rRNA sequences of known brucellae and low homolo...

To investigate the effects of irrigation on land cover changes and the risk of selected zoonotic pathogens, we carried out a study in irrigated, pastoral and riverine areas in the eastern Kenya. Activities implemented included secondary data analyses to determine land use and land cover (LULC) changes as well as human, livestock and wildlife population trends; entomological surveys to character...