A Highly Pathogenic Strain of Staphylococcus sciuri Caused Fatal Exudative Epidermitis in Piglets

Staphylococcus sciuri are important human pathogens responsible for endocarditis, peritonitis, septic shock, urinary tract infection, pelvic inflammatory disease and wound infections. However, little information is known regarding the pathogenicity of S. sciuri to animals. From the pericardial fluid of a diseased piglet with exudative epidermitis (EE), we isolated a strain of Staphylococcus in pure culture. Surprisingly, this isolate was a member of S. sciuri rather than S. hyicus as identified by its biochemical traits and also by analysis of 23S ribosomal DNA using Internal Transcribed Spacer PCR. In addition, inoculation of newborn piglets with 1×10(10) CFU of the isolate by oral feeding or intra-muscular injection successfully reproduced EE in piglets, which suggested that the oral intake of the pathogen by the animals is one of the major routes of exposure. These unexpected findings prioritized S. sciuri as important zoonotic agents, which may have ramifications for human medicine

Novel IgG-degrading enzymes of the IgdE protease family link substrate specificity to host tropism of <i>Streptococcus</i> species

Recently we have discovered an IgG degrading enzyme of the endemic pig pathogen S. suis designated IgdE that is highly specific for porcine IgG. This protease is the founding member of a novel cysteine protease family assigned C113 in the MEROPS peptidase database. Bioinformatical analyses revealed putative members of the IgdE protease family in eight other Streptococcus species. The genes of the putative IgdE family proteases of S. agalactiae, S. porcinus, S. pseudoporcinus and S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus were cloned for production of recombinant protein into expression vectors. Recombinant proteins of all four IgdE family proteases were proteolytically active against IgG of the respective Streptococcus species hosts, but not against IgG from other tested species or other classes of immunoglobulins, thereby linking the substrate specificity to the known host tropism. The novel IgdE family proteases of S. agalactiae, S. pseudoporcinus and S. equi showed IgG subtype specificity, i.e. IgdE from S. agalactiae and S. pseudoporcinus cleaved human IgG1, while IgdE from S. equi was subtype specific for equine IgG7. Porcine IgG subtype specificities of the IgdE family proteases of S. porcinus and S. pseudoporcinus remain to be determined. Cleavage of porcine IgG by IgdE of S. pseudoporcinus is suggested to be an evolutionary remaining activity reflecting ancestry of the human pathogen to the porcine pathogen S. porcinus. The IgG subtype specificity of bacterial proteases indicates the special importance of these IgG subtypes in counteracting infection or colonization and opportunistic streptococci neutralize such antibodies through expression of IgdE family proteases as putative immune evasion factors. We suggest that IgdE family proteases might be valid vaccine targets against streptococci of both human and veterinary medical concerns and could also be of therapeutic as well as biotechnological use

Dementia care initiative in primary practice – study protocol of a cluster randomized trial on dementia management in a general practice setting

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current guidelines for dementia care recommend the combination of drug therapy with non-pharmaceutical measures like counselling and social support. However, the scientific evidence concerning non-pharmaceutical interventions for dementia patients and their informal caregivers remains inconclusive. Targets of modern comprehensive dementia care are to enable patients to live at home as long and as independent as possible and to reduce the burden of caregivers. The objective of the study is to compare a complex intervention including caregiver support groups and counselling against usual care in terms of time to nursing home placement. In this paper the study protocol is described.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The IDA (Initiative Demenzversorgung in der Allgemeinmedizin) project is designed as a three armed cluster-randomized trial where dementia patients and their informal caregivers are recruited by general practitioners. Patients in the study region of Middle Franconia, Germany, are included if they have mild or moderate dementia, are at least 65 years old, and are members of the German AOK (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse) sickness fund. In the control group patients receive regular treatment, whereas in the two intervention groups general practitioners participate in a training course in evidence based dementia treatment, recommend support groups and offer counseling to the family caregivers either beginning at baseline or after the 1-year follow-up. The study recruitment and follow-up took place from July 2005 to January 2009. 303 general practitioners were randomized of which 129 recruited a total of 390 patients. Time to nursing home admission within the two year intervention and follow-up period is the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints are cognitive status, activities of daily living, burden of care giving as well as healthcare costs. For an economic analysis from the societal perspective, data are collected from caregivers as well as by the use of routine data from statutory health insurance and long-term care insurance.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>From a public health perspective, the IDA trial is expected to lead to evidence based results on the community effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical support measures for dementia patients and their caregivers in the primary care sector. For health policy makers it is necessary to make their decisions about financing new services based on strong knowledge about the acceptance of measures in the population and their cost-effectiveness.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN68329593</p

Occurence of enterotoxin genes and macrorestiction analysis of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis and bulk tank milk samples in Italy.

The goal of the study was to genotypically compare S. aureus isolates from mastitis milk and raw milk to identify the relation between strains and to assess the enterotoxigenicity of the isolates. Eighty-three Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from cows and bulk tank milk of five farms in northern Italy were compared genotypically. The genes for the enterotoxins A, D, G and I, but not for B, C, E and H and the toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), were detected by PCR amplification. Macrorestriction analysis with the restrictions enzyme SmaI revealed 14 pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns. These were in part different from each other only in a few fragments and thus displayed a close clonal relation. The results of the present investigation showed that identical or closely related clones seemed to be responsible for the cases of bovine mastitis in the farms investigated and partly responsible for contamination of bulk tank milk

Comparative sequence analysis of spa gene of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis: Characterization of an unusual spa gene variant

The protein A encoding gene spa of four Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine clinical mastitis was amplified by PCR and sequenced. The four strains were selected after an initial screening of spa gene of 41 strains isolated from mastitic cows and were subjected to detailed investigations. According to the sequencing results the spa gene of three strains (M1, M2, M3) appeared with gene segments encoding five (E, D, A, B and C) and four (E, A, B and C) IgG binding domains for two (M1, M3) and one (M2) strain, respectively and with gene segments encoding four, two and two repeats of the octapeptide Xr-repeats for the strains M1, M2 and M3, respectively. For the remaining Staph. aureus strain (M4) gene segments encoding IgG binding domains E, D and A and a new domain BC with a size of 219 bp could be observed. The BC domain appears, with a deletion of a 123 bp segment from the border region between both domains, as fused domain of both previously characterized domains. The Xr-region of this strain had 11 octapeptide repeats. � Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 2006

Penicillin G and oxacillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from bovine subclinical mastitis [Resistencia a penicilina G y oxacilina, de cepas de Staphylococcus aureus aisladas de mastitis bovina subclinical]

Sixty-eigth out of 530 different S. aureus field strains isolated from subclinical cases of bovine mastitis from Germany (n = 26), Indonesia (n = 16), Mexico (n = 16) and Brazil (n = 10), respectively, were selected to be studied in the present work. The strains were tested phenotypically as well as genotypically for the presence of penicillin G and oxacillin-resistance. For the primary phenotypical species identification of the 530 S. aureus strains, plasmacoagulase-test and Api 32 Staph system was applied. This was confirmed by molecular detection of the S. aureus specific genes encoding 23 S rRNA, thermostable nuclease (nuc), clumping factor (clfA), coagulase (coa) and protein A region Xr (spa). The selection of the 68 strains was carried out by the random selection of one strain per herd; additionally, only strains with different macrorestriction profiles were included here. Genotypic resistance to semisynthetic penicillins (methicillin/oxacillin) and penicillin G was studied through the identification of mecA and blaZ-genes, respectively. The mecA gene was detected in only one S. aureus isolate from Brazil, which was not phenotypically resistant against methcillin, as shown by the use of standard disc diffusion method, BBL-Chromoagar and MIC-determination by Vitek II. In contrast penicillin-resistance of strains based on the presence of the blaZ-gene could be observed in 50 (73.5%) of the investigated strains. However, only 40 (58.8%) of these 50 blaZ-positive strains were phenotypically penicillin-resistant. According to the presented data, resistance to semisynthetic penicillins in S. aureus field strains seems to be not a major problem in dairy herds of the investigated countries despite the long-term use of these antibiotics in the field