[Can industrial laundry remove Bacillus cereus from hospital linen?].

Contaminated hospital linen has caused some cases of Bacillus cereus bacteremia in Japan. We analyzed the disinfection efficacy of industrial washing of hospital towels and sheets by counting the number of B. cereus on linen before and after washing.

[Enterococcus faecium BIO effect on enteropathogen growth inhibition].

In a study of the effect of the widely used, commercially available Enterococcus faecium BIO probiotic on enteropathogen growth, we determined the effect using a new, growth inhibition test on layered agar medium. E. faecium BIO and test organisms did not come into direct mutual contact and effects were judged by test organism growth on the agar surface.

Metagenomic diagnosis of bacterial infections.

To test the ability of high-throughput DNA sequencing to detect bacterial pathogens, we used it on DNA from a patient's feces during and after diarrheal illness. Sequences showing best matches for Campylobacter jejuni were detected only in the illness sample. Various bacteria may be detectable with this metagenomic approach.

Importance of Providencia species as a major cause of travellers' diarrhoea.

In this study the importance of Providencia species as a cause of travellers' diarrhoea was examined using a selective medium developed by the authors. Providencia species could easily be distinguished from other enteric pathogens by the colour of the colonies obtained. Nine strains of Providencia alcalifaciens, nine of Providencia rettgeri and five of Providencia stuartii were isolated from 130 specimens, representing a surprisingly high incidence of infection compared with other pathogens isolated on SS agar and TCBS agar.

Effect of environmental conditions on proteins secreted by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O26:H11.

Infections due to Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are responsible for severe diarrheal diseases in humans, and these bacteria have recently emerged as a leading cause of renal failure and encephalitis in children and the aged. In this study, we examined the environment-dependent production of proteins secreted from a strain of STEC O26:H11 by trichloroacetic acid precipitation, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. Growth of bacteria in essential minimum medium (M9) led to the detection of secreted proteins of 104, 80,40, 37 and 25 kDa (P104, P80, P40, P37 and P25, respectively).