Cloning and sequencing of Staphylococcus aureus murC, a gene essential for cell wall biosynthesis.

Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that is increasingly resistant to clinically useful antimicrobial agents. While screening for S. aureus genes expressed during mammalian infection, we isolated murC.

Identification of novel staphylococcal virulence genes by in vivo expression technology.

We have applied in vivo expression technology (IVET) to the study of staphylococcal virulence. Using a promoter trap that relies on genetic recombination as a reporter of gene expression, we identified 45 staphylococcal genes that are induced during infection in a murine renal abscess model. Of these, only six were known previously; 11 others have homology to known non-staphylococcal genes.

Clinical and neuroradiographic manifestations of eastern equine encephalitis.

Background: Eastern equine encephalitis occurs principally along the east and Gulf coasts of the United States. Recognition of the neuroradiographic manifestations of eastern equine encephalitis could hasten the diagnosis of the illness and speed the response to index cases.

Methods: We reviewed all cases of eastern equine encephalitis reported in the United States between 1988 and 1994.

Sequence of the toxic shock syndrome toxin gene (tstH) borne by strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients with Kawasaki syndrome.

To explore whether a novel staphylococcal clone or structural variant of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 is associated with Kawasaki syndrome, six toxigenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus from Kawasaki syndrome patients were studied. The strains were divisible into two groups based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and are therefore unequivocally not clonal. Portions of the tstH genes of each strain were sequenced.