Leptospira and bats : story of an emerging friendship

A growing number of recent studies have highlighted bats as a reservoir for Leptospira bacteria, pointing out the potential role of bats in the epidemiology of the most widespread zoonotic disease in the world [1]. Because leptospirosis is a largely neglected disease, a number of unanswered questions remain about the ecology and evolution of Leptospira, especially those associated with bats. Here we summarize what has been recently learned about this emerging but enigmatic host–pathogen association. We show how this system can provide exciting new opportunities to obtain insights into the evolutionary ecology of bat-borne pathogens and propose future directions to disentangle the role of bats in human leptospirosis.The National Research Foundation, South Africa (NRF – N00595) to MD.http://www.plospathogens.orgam2016Microbiology and Plant Patholog

Antibiotherapy and pathogenesis of uncomplicated UTI: difficult relationships

In a time when conventional antibiotics are becoming increasingly less effective for treatment of infections, the relationship between bacteria and antimicrobial resistance is becoming more and more complicated. This paper provides a current review of studies reported in the literature pertaining to the antibiotherapy of human urinary tract infections (UTI), in a way that helps the reader direct a bibliographic search and develop an integrated perspective of the subject. Highlights are given to (bio)pathogenesis of uncomplicated cystitis. Features associated with the antibiotherapy of UTI such as development of resistance are presented in the text systematically. This review discusses recent advances in the understanding of how the predominant uropathogen Escherichia coli interacts with its host and leads to infection; so one can understand some of the reasons behind antibiotherapy failures

Functional and genetic analysis of regulatory regions of coliphage H-19B: location of shiga-like toxin and lysis genes suggest a role for phage functions in toxin release

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74784/1/j.1365-2958.1998.00890.x.pd

Presence of Virulence Genes in Enterococcus Species Isolated from Meat Turkeys in Germany Does Not Correlate with Chicken Embryo Lethality

Virulence-associated traits have frequently been studied in enterococci and are considered to contribute towards the pathogenicity of infections. In the present study, Enterococcus isolates were collected during diagnostic investigations from meat turkeys in Germany. Twenty-eight isolates of three different Enterococcus species were analyzed for five selected putative virulence traits to understand their potential role in the pathogenicity using the chicken embryo lethality assay. Ten E. faecalis, ten E. faecium, and eight E. gallinarum isolates were examined for the presence of common virulence genes and their phenotypic expression, namely, the cytolysin operon, five individual cyl genes (cylLL, cylLS, cylM, cylB, and cylA), gelatinase (gelE), hyaluronidase (hylEfm), aggregation substance (asa1), and enterococcal surface protein (esp). The Enterococcus isolates showed significant species-dependent differences in the presence of genotypic traits ( by Fisher’s exact test; Cramer’s V = 0.68). At least one gene and up to three virulence traits were found in E. faecalis, while six E. faecium isolates and one E. gallinarum isolate did not display any virulence-associated pheno- or genotype. More than half of the Enterococcus isolates (n = 15) harbored the gelE gene, but only E. faecalis (n = 10) expressed the gelatinase activity in vitro. The hylEfm gene was found in five E. gallinarum isolates only, while seven isolates showed the hyaluronidase activity in the phenotypic assay. In Cramer’s V statistic, a moderate association was indicated for species (V ≤ 0.35) or genotype (V < 0.43) and the results from the embryo lethality assay, but the differences were not significant. All E. gallinarum isolates were less virulent with mortality rates ranging between 0 and 30%. Two E. faecalis isolates were highly virulent, harboring the whole cyl-operon as well as gelE and asa1 genes. Likewise, one E. faecium isolate caused high embryo mortality but did not harbor any of the investigated virulence genes. For the first time, Enterococcus isolates of three different species collected from diseased turkeys were investigated for their virulence properties in comparison. The results differed markedly between the Enterococcus species, with E. faecalis harboring the majority of investigated genes and virulence traits. However, the genotype did not entirely correlate with the phenotype or the isolates’ virulence potential and pathogenicity for chicken embryos