Activation of a CBASS anti-phage system by quorum sensing and folate depletion.

To counteract infection with phage, bacteria have evolved a myriad of molecular defense systems. Some of these systems initiate a process called abortive infection, in which the infected cell kills itself to prevent phage propagation. However, such systems must be inhibited in the absence of phage infection to prevent spurious death of the host.

Direct activation of a phospholipase by cyclic GMP-AMP in El Tor .

Sensing and responding to environmental changes is essential for bacteria to adapt and thrive, and nucleotide-derived second messengers are central signaling systems in this process. The most recently identified bacterial cyclic dinucleotide second messenger, 3', 3'-cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP), was first discovered in the El Tor biotype of The cGAMP synthase, DncV, is encoded on the VSP-1 pathogenicity island, which is found in all El Tor isolates that are responsible for the current seventh pandemic of cholera but not in the classical biotype. We determined that unregulated production of DncV inhibits growth in El Tor but has no effect on the classical biotype.

The epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease in EU/EEA countries, 2004-2014.

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia although infection by some serogroups may be prevented through vaccination. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of IMD in EU/EEA countries during 2004-2014 to monitor serogroup- and age-specific trends, and compare country trends by the period of meningococcal C conjugate (MCC) vaccine introduction.

Methods: We analysed IMD surveillance data by age, gender, serogroup, country and outcome.

Epidemiology of Invasive Haemophilus influenzae Disease, Europe, 2007-2014.

We describe the epidemiology of invasive Haemophilus influenzae disease during 2007-2014 in 12 European countries and assess overall H. influenzae disease trends by serotype and patient age. Mean annual notification rate was 0.

Molecular characterisation of Porcine rubulavirus (PorPV) isolates from different outbreaks in Mexico.

Since the report of the initial outbreak of Porcine rubulavirus (PorPV) infection in pigs, only one full-length genome from 1984 (PorPV-LPMV/1984) has been characterised. To investigate the overall genetic variation, full-length gene nucleotide sequences of current PorPV isolates were obtained from different clinical cases of infected swine. Genome organisation and sequence analysis of the encoded proteins (NP, P, F, M, HN and L) revealed high sequence conservation of the NP protein and the expression of the P and V proteins in all PorPV isolates.