Urinary interleukin-8 is elevated in urinary tract infections independently of the causative germs.

Interleukin-8 elevation in urine during urinary tract infections (UTIs) has been documented for different uropathogenic germs in 85 patients. We showed that for 17 different isolates, IL-8 was increased in 92% of UTIs with an average value of 627 pg/ml for infected, as compared to 45 pg/ml for uninfected patients. We suggest that the high negative predictive value of the IL-8 urine assay could be useful to eliminate UTIs in routine screenings.

[Pasteurella multocida meningo-encephalitis with aphasia in a young adult].

We report the first case of Pasteurella multocida meningo-encephalitis with aphasia in a 28 year-old-patient. The investigations confirmed the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. But the delay in identification of the organism involved iterative changes of antibiotherapy.

Activation and proteasomal degradation of rho GTPases by cytotoxic necrotizing factor-1 elicit a controlled inflammatory response.

The CNF1 toxin is produced by uropathogenic and meningitis-causing Escherichia coli. CNF1 penetrates autonomously into cells and confers phagocytic properties to epithelial and endothelial cells. CNF1 acts at the molecular level by constitutively activating Rho GTPases attenuated by their cellular ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation.