Laboratory appraisal of optimal gaseous conditions for growth of zoonotic Helicobacter felis ATCC 49179.

An attempt was made to assess the hitherto undescribed optimal gaseous conditions for growth of zoonotic Helicobacter felis, focusing on the ratio of spiral-forms amongst the whole cells examined. The largest mean colony diameter was obtained under the gaseous condition of O(2) 12% and CO(2) 10%. In analyzing the five day old colonies, the highest percentage of spiral forms (85.

Phylogeny of a novel "Helicobacter heilmannii" organism from a Japanese patient with chronic gastritis based on DNA sequence analysis of 16S rRNA and urease genes.

"Helicobacter heilmannii" is an uncultivable spiral-shaped bacterium inhabiting the human gastric mucosa. It is larger and more tightly-coiled than H. pylori.

An amino acid substitution in PBP-3 in Haemophilus influenzae associate with the invasion to bronchial epithelial cells.

Haemophilus influenzae is a common pathogen of respiratory infections. We examined whether beta-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) strains that are known to have ampicillin resistance due to a substitution of amino acid of penicillin binding protein (PBP)-3, differ from beta-lactamase-negative ampicillin-susceptible strains with regard to invasion of bronchial epithelium. After 3h incubation of each of 34 beta-lactamase-negative ampicillin-susceptible and 57 BLNAR strains in the presence of BEAS-2B cells, a human bronchial epithelium cell line, extracellular bacteria were killed using gentamicin and intracellular bacteria numbered.

Transmission via the face is one route of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus cross-infection within a hospital.

Background: It is generally accepted that hospital personnel must not touch their faces, and indeed must not elevate their hands above the shoulder in the ward, because many bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus colonize the face. However, possible methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cross-infection by way of faces has not yet been properly examined.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight isolates from 159 inpatients from February 1999 to January 2000 were subjected to chromosomal DNA analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

First isolation of Dysgonomonas mossii from intestinal juice of a patient with pancreatic cancer.

Background: Dysgonomonas species were first designated in 2000. However, clinical infections due to this microorganism have rarely been described. Our aim was to present the first isolation of Dysgonomonas mossii from intestinal juice of a patient with pancreatic cancer.