Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) is a zoonotic pathogen for persons in contact with horses. In horses, S. zooepidemicus is an opportunistic pathogen, but human infections associated with S. zooepidemicus are often severe. Within 6 months in 2011, 3 unrelated cases of severe, disseminated S. zooepidemicus infection occurred in men working with horses in eastern Finland. To clarify the pathogen’s epidemiology, we describe the clinical features of the infection in 3 patients and compare the S. zooepidemicus isolates from the human cases with S. zooepidemicus isolates from horses. The isolates were analyzed by using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, and sequencing of the szP gene. Molecular typing methods showed that human and equine isolates were identical or closely related. These results emphasize that S. zooepidemicus transmitted from horses can lead to severe infections in humans. As leisure and professional equine sports continue to grow, this infection should be recognized as an emerging zoonosis.
SUMMARYCD14 is a pattern recognition receptor on the membranes of monocytes and macrophages for several microbial products, of which lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the best known. A shed form of CD14 is present in serum. As the CD14 gene promoter polymorphism -159C/T and some bacterial infections may affect the sCD14 levels, we compared the impact of both the CD14 promoter polymorphism and Helicobacter pylori infection on serum sCD14 levels in 201 dyspeptic patients (group 1) who had undergone gastroscopy, and 127 staff members (group 2) with no endoscopy. sCD14 was measured from the sera by a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and CD14 genotyping was carried out with PCR. Helicobacter pylori infection was detected by serology and/or culture or PCR. sCD14 levels were elevated in the subjects carrying the T allele (CT or TT genotype) in both groups when compared with subjects with the CC genotype. Overall, H. pylori-positive subjects tended to have higher sCD14 levels compared with H. pylori-negative subjects. In group 1 consisting of dyspeptic patients, those with gastric ulcer, gastric erosion or duodenal ulcer had significantly elevated levels of sCD14 compared with the patients with normal endoscopic findings or macroscopic gastritis. The recent use of NSAIDs was also associated with enhanced sCD14. Thus, we were able to show several factors, one genetic and the other environmental (H. pylori infection and mucosal lesion), to have an impact on sCD14.
The in vitro susceptibility of 38 strains of Francisella tularensis (biovar F. tularensis palaearctica) was determined using Etests on cysteine heart agar plates with 2% haemoglobin. All strains were susceptible to the antibiotics traditionally used to treat tularaemia, such as streptomycin (MIC(90) 4.0 mg/L), tetracycline (MIC(90) 0.38 mg/L) and chloramphenicol (MIC(90) 0.38 mg/L), and to aminoglycosides, such as tobramycin (MIC(90) 1.5 mg/L) and gentamicin (MIC(90) 1.0 mg/L). The quinolones examined had low MIC(90)s: ciprofloxacin, 0.016 mg/L; levofloxacin, 0.016 mg/L; grepafloxacin, 0.047 mg/L; and trovafloxacin, 0.032 mg/L. In contrast, all the strains were resistant to beta-lactams and azithromycin. Quinolones thus seem to be promising drugs for the treatment of tularaemia.
Maternal intrapartum antibiotics and prolonged expectant management after ROM were associated with decreased transmission rate of vaginal Lactobacillus flora to the neonate during birth. As early colonization of Lactobacillus flora may have a preventive role in the development of allergic diseases later, the significance of intrapartum prophylactic antibiotics needs to be highlighted in forthcoming studies, especially as regards immunological development of the offspring.
Enhanced secretion of anti-inflammatory Th2 cytokines is a characteristic feature in normal physiological pregnancy. In recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA), however, defective production of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and other Th2 cytokines has been shown in humans. Association studies have shown that a base exchange polymorphism (guanine-->adenine) at position -1082 of the IL-10 promoter is associated with differential IL-10 production. Since factors contributing to IL-10 production appear to be important in RSA, we studied the IL-10 genotypes of 38 Finnish women with a history of three or more consecutive abortions and 131 ethnically matched healthy controls. No significant differences in the -1082 allele or genotype frequencies were found between the controls and the RSA women. The present study suggests that the IL-10 -1082 (G-->A) polymorphism is not a major genetic regulator in RSA.
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