In this study, organ samples from 426 common seals Phoca vitulina, 298 harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena, 34 grey seals Halichoerus grypus and 10 other marine mammals were assessed for the presence of Brucella species. Forty-seven common seals, 2 harbour porpoises and 1 grey seal were found to be positive for these bacteria. A total of 91 Brucella strains were successfully isolated, due to th...

Resistance to intracellular bacterial pathogens such as Brucella spp. relies on cell-mediated immunity, which involves activation of the bactericidal mechanisms of antigen-presenting cells (macrophages and dendritic cells) and the subsequent expansion of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell clones. Brucella antigens induce the production of T helper type 1 (Th1) cytokines, and an adequate Th1 ...

This study investigated the exposure of jaguar populations and domestic animals to smooth Brucella, Leptospira spp. and Toxoplasma gondii in the Cerrado, Pantanal and Amazon biomes of Brazil. Between February 2000 and January 2010, serum samples from 31 jaguars (Panthera onca), 1,245 cattle (Bos taurus), 168 domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and 29 domestic cats (Felis catus) were collecte...

In the present study we completed the nucleotide sequence of a Brucella melitensis 16M DNA fragment deleted from B. abortus that accounts for 25,064 bp and show that the other Brucella spp. contain the entire 25-kb DNA fragment. Two short direct repeats of four nucleotides, detected in the B. melitensis 16M DNA flanking both sides of the fragment deleted from B. abortus, might have been involve...

Here we present a review of most of the currently used polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods for identification of Brucella bacteria in biological samples. We focused in particular on methods using single-pair primers, multiplex primers, real-time PCRs, PCRs for marine Brucella, and PCRs for molecular biotyping. These methods are becoming very important tools for the identification of B...

We evaluated the association between the mean platelet volume (MPV) and monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR) with brucella-caused epididymo-orchitis to determine if they could be used to differentiate between brucella and non-brucella epididymo-orchitis. The charts of 88 patients with non-brucella and 14 patients with brucella epididymo-orchitis were retrospectively reviewed. Brucellosis was diagnos...

Rifampin is one of the most potent and broad-spectrum antibiotics against bacterial pathogens. Its bactericidal activity is due to its ability to bind to the beta subunit of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase encoded by the rpoB gene. Mutations of the rpoB gene have been characterized in rifampin-resistant (Rif(r)) strains of Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The genetic bases of R...

Bacteria of the Brucella genus are facultative intracellular class III pathogens. These bacteria are able to control the intracellular trafficking of their vacuole, presumably by the use of yet unknown translocated effectors. To identify such effectors, we used a high-throughput yeast two-hybrid screen to identify interactions between putative human phagosomal proteins and predicted Brucella sp...

Brucella spp. is the causative agent of brucellosis (Malta fever), which is the most widespread zoonosis worldwide. The pathogen is capable of establishing persistent infections in humans which are extremely difficult to eradicate even with antibiotic therapy. Moreover, Brucella is considered as a potential bioterrorism agent. Histidinol dehydrogenase (HDH, EC 1.1.1.23) has been shown to be ess...