Paper-based point-of-care testing for cost-effective diagnosis of acute flavivirus infections.

Flavivirus infections are a serious healthcare concern in tropical and subtropical countries. Although well-established laboratory tests can provide early diagnosis of acute dengue or Zika infections, access to these tests is limited in developing countries, presenting an urgent need to develop simple, rapid, and robust diagnostic tools. Microfluidic Paper-based Analytical Devices (μPAD), are typically rapid, cost-effective, user-friendly, and they can be used as diagnostic tools for the diagnosis of these infections at Point of Care settings.

Application of a paper based device containing a new culture medium to detect Vibrio cholerae in water samples collected in Haiti.

Cholera is now considered to be endemic in Haiti, often with increased incidence during rainy seasons. The challenge of cholera surveillance is exacerbated by the cost of sample collection and laboratory analysis. A diagnostic tool is needed that is low cost, easy-to-use, and able to detect and quantify Vibrio cholerae accurately in water samples within 18-24h, and perform reliably in remote settings lacking laboratory infrastructure and skilled staff.

Bacterial detection using unlabeled phage amplification and mass spectrometry through structural and nonstructural phage markers.

According to the World Health Organization, food safety is an essential public health priority. In this context, we report a relevant proof of feasibility for the indirect specific detection of bacteria in food samples using unlabeled phage amplification coupled to ESI mass spectrometry analysis and illustrated with the model phage systems T4 and SPP1. High-resolving power mass spectrometry analysis (including bottom-up and top-down protein analysis) was used for the discovery of specific markers of phage infection.

Simplified detection of food-borne pathogens: an in situ high affinity capture and staining concept.

Food industries need simple, rapid and cost-effective solutions for pathogen detection in food and environmental samples. In this paper, we describe a simple but novel detection concept combining an affinity capture surface and intracellular metabolic marker to visualize the bacterial presence on the affinity surface. The surface of a Solid Phase Support (SPS) is functionalized with specific phage tail proteins targeted to the bacterial pathogen of interest.

Novel real-time PCR method to detect Escherichia coli O157:H7 in raw milk cheese and raw ground meat.

Raw milk, raw milk cheeses, and raw ground meat have been implicated in Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks. Developing methods to detect these bacteria in raw milk and meat products is a major challenge for food safety. The aim of our study was to develop a real-time PCR assay to detect E.

Prevalence, characterization and clonal analysis of Escherichia coli O157: non-H7 serotypes that carry eae alleles.

We examined O157:non-H7 strains isolated from various sources and geographical locations and found 15/57 strains to carry eae alleles, including alpha, beta, epsilon and kappa/delta, suggesting that these strains may be prevalent. All strains were serologically and genetically confirmed to be O157, but none were the H7 serotype or carried any trait virulence factors of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 serotype. Genetic H typing of the eae-positive strains showed that the alpha-eae-bearing strain was H45, while the beta- and epsilon-eae strains were H16 and the kappa/delta-eae strains were H39.

Fates of acid-resistant and non-acid-resistant Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli strains in ruminant digestive contents in the absence and presence of probiotics.

Healthy ruminants are the main reservoir of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). During their transit through the ruminant gastrointestinal tract, STEC encounters a number of acidic environments. As all STEC strains are not equally resistant to acidic conditions, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether acid resistance confers an ecological advantage to STEC strains in ruminant digestive contents and whether acid resistance mechanisms are induced in the rumen compartment.

Specificity analysis of a novel phage-derived ligand in an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7.

An assay using a phage-derived ligand to capture Escherichia coli O157:H7 prior to antibody detection was evaluated for assay specificity. Analysis of 200 strains showed that the assay was highly specific for the O157 serogroup. It detected all the O157:H7 strains including Shiga toxin-producing O157 nonmotile strains as well as O157 non-H7 strains.