Isolation and molecular characterization of Brucella isolates in cattle milk in Uganda.

Brucellosis is endemic in livestock and humans in Uganda and its transmission involves a multitude of risk factors like consumption of milk from infected cattle. To shed new light on the epidemiology of brucellosis in Uganda the present study used phenotypic and molecular approaches to delineate the Brucella species, biovars, and genotypes shed in cattle milk. Brucella abortus without a biovar designation was isolated from eleven out of 207 milk samples from cattle in Uganda.

Evaluation of the international forum on evidence informed health policymaking: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - 27 to 31 August 2012.

Background: Meetings and conferences are often used as a tool to disseminate information, network with colleagues, and/or set direction for a field of study, but there is little evidence to support whether such events achieve their objectives. This study evaluates the International Forum on Evidence Informed Health Policymaking (EIHP), a three-day meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2012, to determine the success of the meeting based on pre-determined objectives.

Methods: The evaluation strategy was developed based on a previously published conference evaluation framework and operationalized as an end-of-conference participant survey that incorporated both process (programme/organization) and outcome measures (potential changes in behaviour).

Multilocus sequence typing of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis from patients with different degrees of clinical symptoms.

Background: In the past, contradictory results have been obtained linking Chlamydia trachomatis serovars (ompA gene) to different clinical courses of infection.

Methods: A high resolution multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system was used to genotype 6 genetic regions, including ompA, in 70 Dutch urogenital C. trachomatis strains from patients with different degrees of defined clinical symptoms (asymptomatic, symptomatic, and lower abdominal pain), to determine if MLST genotypes correlated with clinical manifestations of infection.

Typing of lymphogranuloma venereum Chlamydia trachomatis strains.

We analyzed by multilocus sequence typing 77 lymphogranuloma venereum Chlamydia trachomatis strains from men who have sex with men in Europe and the United States. Specimens from an outbreak in 2003 in Europe were monoclonal. In contrast, several strains were in the United States in the 1980s, including a variant from Europe.

Mosaic structure of intragenic repetitive elements in histone H1-like protein Hc2 varies within serovars of Chlamydia trachomatis.

Background: The histone-like protein Hc2 binds DNA in Chlamydia trachomatis and is known to vary in size between 165 and 237 amino acids, which is caused by different numbers of lysine-rich pentamers. A more complex structure was seen in this study when sequences from 378 specimens covering the hctB gene, which encodes Hc2, were compared.

Results: This study shows that the size variation is due to different numbers of 36-amino acid long repetitive elements built up of five pentamers and one hexamer.

Characterisation of Chlamydia trachomatis by ompA sequencing and multilocus sequence typing in a Swedish county before and after identification of the new variant.

Objectives: In 2006 a new variant of Chlamydia trachomatis (nvCT), with a deletion in the cryptic plasmid, was reported in Sweden. This deletion included the targets for the genetic diagnostic systems used in many clinical laboratories and resulted in thousands of false-negative results. The aim of this study was to characterise consecutive Chlamydia tissue culture-positive samples from 2006 in Orebro County, after identification of the nvCT, and to compare the results from samples collected in the same county in 1999-2000.

Emergence and spread of Chlamydia trachomatis variant, Sweden.

A variant of Chlamydia trachomatis that had escaped detection by commonly used systems was discovered in Sweden in 2006. In a nationwide study, we found that it is now prevalent across Sweden, irrespective of the detection system used. Genetic analysis by multilocus sequence typing identified a predominant variant, suggesting recent emergence.

High-resolution genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis strains by multilocus sequence analysis.

Genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis is limited by the low sequence variation in the genome, and no adequate method is available for analysis of the spread of chlamydial infections in the community. We have developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system based on five target regions and compared it with analysis of ompA, the single gene most extensively used for genotyping. Sequence determination of 16 reference strains, comprising all major serotypes, serotypes A to L3, showed that the number of genetic variants in the five separate target regions ranged from 8 to 16.

Lymphogranuloma venereum prevalence in Sweden among men who have sex with men and characterization of Chlamydia trachomatis ompA genotypes.

An outbreak of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) infections has recently been reported from The Netherlands and other European countries. The Swedish surveillance system has identified three LGV cases since 2004, all with clinically suspected infection in men who have sex with men (MSM). In order to assess the prevalence of LGV in a high-risk group of MSM and include clinically atypical cases, retrospective analysis of 197 Chlamydia trachomatis-infected men was performed.

Chlamydophila psittaci in Fulmars, the Faroe Islands.

Chlamydophila psittaci was detected in 10% of 431 fulmars examined from the Faroe Islands. Analysis of ompA showed a sequence almost identical to that of the type strain. The origin of C.