Frequency of vacA, cagA and babA2 virulence markers in Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from Mexican patients with chronic gastritis.

Background: Helicobacter pylori has been strongly associated with chronic gastritis, peptic and duodenal ulcers, and it is a risk factor for gastric cancer. Three major virulence factors of H. pylori have been described: the vacuolating toxin (VacA), the cytotoxin-associated gene product (CagA) and the adhesion protein BabA2.

Two or more enteropathogens are associated with diarrhoea in Mexican children.

Background: Diarrhoeal diseases constitute a major public health problem, particularly in the developing world, where the rate of mortality and morbidity is very high. The purpose of this study was to conduct a 2 years and 3 months study in order to determine the prevalence of five enteropathogen diarrheogenic agents in Mexico City.

Methods: Faecal samples were obtained from 300 Mexican children diagnosed as positive for diarrhoea, aged > 2 to < 12 years old, and from 80 children matched for age but with no symptoms of the disease (control group).

Susceptibility to 5-fluorocytosine, miconazole and amphotericin B of Candida albicans strains isolated from the throat of non-AIDS patients.

Eighty Candida albicans strains, isolated from throat of patients at the Universitary Clinic of the Faculty of Superior Studies Iztacala of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, were analyzed. They were identified by microscopic and colony morphologies, germ tube test, and by auxanogram and zimogram. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 5-fluorocytosine, miconazole and amphotericin B were determined by microtiter broth dilution.

Metalloproteases secreted by Actinobacillus suis.

Actinobacillus suis secretes metalloproteases into its medium. These secreted proteins, when concentrated by precipitation with 70% (NH4)2SO4 or methanol, displayed proteolytic activity at >200 kDa molecular mass bands in 10% polyacrylamide gels copolymerized with bovine casein (1%). They showed activity in a broad pH range (from pH 5 to pH 10) and were inhibited by 20 mM EDTA or EGTA, but could be reactivated by calcium.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae metalloprotease: cloning and in vivo expression.

The complete amino acid and nucleotide sequence of a secreted metalloprotease produced by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 is reported. A clone showing proteolytic activity in cell-free culture media was selected from a genomic library of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 in pUC 19.