Interaction of Cryptosporidium parvum and Campylobacter jejuni in experimentally infected neonatal mice.

By the method of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the inner mucosal surface of the ileum, ceacum and colon was studied in inbred BALB/c mice. Two-day-old mice were infected with either 10(6) oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum and 10(8) CFU of porcine and human strains of the bacterium Campylobacter jejuni or with a combination of both enteropathogens. Pathological changes in infection with C.

Vero cytotoxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli in children with haemolytic uraemic syndrome and diarrhoea in Czechoslovakia.

The presence of verotoxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli (VTEC) was examined in six children with haemolytic uraemic syndrome and one child with haemorrhagic colitis. Stools were screened for strains of serogroup O157 on sorbitol-MacConkey agar for VTEC of other serogroups by serotyping. Verotoxin (VT) was tested on Vero cell monolayers: the antigenic variant of VT was assessed by neutralization experiments.

[Microbiological diagnosis of microorganisms tentatively designated as "SP organisms"].

The authors describe the biochemical characteristics of two strains described as "SP organism". This microorganism incertae sedis resembles from the biochemical aspect (oxidase+, mannite-, dextrose+ with gas) the species Pasteurella aerogenes; contrary to the latter it does not break down urea and differs also as regards the morphology of colonies, which on blood agar are coarser; it also has a higher content of G + C in DNA than Pasteurella. It is a pathogen of rodents.

Rarely occurring Shigella serovars.

In addition to the predominant Shigella sonnei, also rarely occurring Shigella serovars have been found in Czechoslovakia: 4 serovars of subgroup A (S. dysenteriae 3, 4, 7 and 12) and 11 serovars of subgroup C (S. boydii 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 lactose-positive, 10, 13, 14 aerogenic, mannitol-negative, 15, 16 and the provisional serovar E 16553).

A new member of the family Enterobacteriaceae--Pragia fontium.

Twenty isolates of the new genus and species Pragia fontium producing H2S were biochemically characterized: they gave positive gluconate oxidation, utilized Simmons citrate and 14 of them hydrolysed esculin. One of them did not produce hydrogen sulfide. Their biochemical activity was low: they did not ferment lactose, adonitol, arabinose, cellobiose, dextrin, dulcitol, erythritol, inulin, maltose, mannitol, mannose, melezitose, melibiose, raffinose, rhamnose, sorbitol, sorbose, starch, sucrose or trehalose.

First strains of the genus Kluyvera in Czechoslovakia.

Fourteen of 21 strains isolated from stools, urine specimens and the hospital environment were identified as Kluyvera. All of these 14 strains corresponded with the literary description of the genus Kluyvera and were identical with two reference strains except that one of them failed to utilize sodium acetate within 7 days. One strain (No.

Tween-esterase activity in Enterobacter sakazakii.

Seventy-one of 73 E. sakazakii strains isolated in Czechoslovakia produced Tween 80 esterase; its production was slower and less intensive than in Serratia, vibrios and aeromonads. The E.

A hydrogen sulphide producing Gram-negative rod from water.

The biochemical properties of a hydrogen sulphide-producing Gram-negative rod, provisionally designated HG group, were compared with those of the known H2S-producing and H2S-negative Enterobacteriaceae and related organisms. Sixty-four tests were used as a basis for numerical identification. All these tests demonstrated a distinctness of the HG group from other members of Enterobacteriaceae and related organisms.

The isolation of urease-negative strains of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Three urease-negative Y. enterocolitica strains of biotype 2 have been isolated from stool and urine of healthy persons. They were diagnosed on an isolation medium used routinely in the bacteriological laboratory of the Regional Station of Hygiene in Ceské Budĕjovice for isolation and diagnosis of gram-negative facultatively anaerobic-fermenting rods.