Invasive Neisseria meningitidis infection is rare but carries a high mortality rate. The carriage rate in the normal population is around 10% and can be higher in confined populations. A study on the prevalence of carriage of N. meningitidis was conducted among 3195 army recruits after 2 months of intensive training in an army camp. N. meningitidis was isolated from 37.0% of these recruits. Two...

This study compared a slide agglutination test (Denka Seiken, Tokyo, Japan) to the "gold standard" quellung reaction (Pneumotest; Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark) for the serogrouping of pneumococci. Two hundred clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were used for the comparison. Each assay was performed according to the manufacturer's instructions. There was an overall agree...

Isolates of Campylobacter jejuni, C coli, C fetus and C laridis were tested for agglutination reactions with a panel of five lectins: Arachis hypogaea, Bauhinia purpurea, Solanum tuberosum, Triticum vulgaris and Wisteria floribunda. Twenty three patterns of agglutination (lectin types) were recorded among 376 isolates. Patterns were consistent and reproducible. Only 4.5% of isolates were untypa...

Hamond C., Martins G., Loureiro A.P., Bremont S., Medeiros M.A., Bourhy P. & Lilenbaum W. 2015. First isolation and characterization of Leptospira interrogans serogroup Australis from swine in Brazil. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 35(1):6-8. Laboratório de Bacteriologia Veterinária, Instituto Biomédico, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Hernani de Melo 101, Niteroi, RJ 24210-030, Brazil. E...

In August 1987, an outbreak of group A meningococcal meningitis occurred during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, resulting in an attack rate among American pilgrims of 640 per 100,000. To determine risk factors for carriage, throat cultures were taken from passengers arriving on four consecutive flights from Saudi Arabia to the United States. Pilgrims were more likely to be group A...

The genetic relatedness of 223 invasive Escherichia coli strains that cause either meningitis or urosepsis without meningitis in young infants was determined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), ribotyping, and phylogenetic polymerase chain reaction grouping. We also determined the serotypes and virulence genotypes (on the basis of 11 virulence genes). The strains belonged to 29 sequence type ...

Enzyme extraction methods are commonly used to release antigen for Lancefield serogrouping of streptococci. Recently, up to 47% of enterococci have been found to possess antigens cross-reactive with both the group D and the group G grouping reagents. We investigated whether the organisms had recently emerged or whether changes in extraction methods (enzyme extraction) have resulted in our aware...

Twelve strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa representing 12 serogroups in the serogrouping schema used in the People's Republic of China were compared with serogroups in the International Antigenic Typing System (IATS). The first eight groups originated in the People's Republic of China, and group II appears to have a new major antigen that is not found in the IATS. Groups I, III, IV, V, VI, VII, ...

This study was conducted to characterize virulence genes of Escherichia coli isolates from water, sediment, fish, and crab in Aby Lagoon. Serogrouping was performed by EPEC antisera in 113 E. coli strains. The presence of diarrhea-associated genes (eae, stx, AggR, elt, and est) was assessed by multiplex PCR using specific primers. Based on the multiplex PCR, sixty-two isolates (42 from water, 1...

The so called enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) O serogroups include typical and atypical EPEC, enterohaemorrragic E. coli, enterotoxigenic E. coli, and enteroaggregative E. coli. The aim of this article is to review the composition of each O serogroup and the major serotypes, clones, and additional virulence characteristics of each of these diarrheagenic categories. Their adherence patt...