Campylobacter infection associated with raw milk. An outbreak of gastroenteritis due to Campylobacter jejuni and thermotolerant Campylobacter fetus subsp fetus

Raw milk is identified with increasing numbers of outbreaks of gastroenteritis and is an important vehicle for transmission of Campylobacter infection. Unlike Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter fetus subsp fetus has not been associated with common-source outbreaks of gastroenteritis. This report describes an outbreak of gastroenteritis involving C jejuni and a thermotolerant strain of C fetus subsp fetus associated with raw milk. Fifteen (39%) of 38 persons who attended a banquet in Wisconsin in June 1982 developed acute gastroenteritis. Stool specimens were obtained from nine ill guests; four yielded C jejuni and three yielded C fetus subsp fetus. The C fetus subsp fetus isolates were identified fortuitously, in part because of unusual thermotolerance (growth at 42 degrees C), permitting isolation at temperature appropriate for C jejuni. Survey results implicated raw milk as the source of the outbreak. Findings provide evidence of a potentially emergent milkborne pathogen contributing to the risk of raw milk consumption and suggest that current diagnostic laboratory techniques may fail to identify significant foodborne agents.     

Fatalities associated with Campylobacter jejuni infections

Although Campylobacter jejuni is now recognized as a common cause of gastroenteritis, fatalities associated with this infection in the United States have not been previously reported. Two fatalities associated with C jejuni infections occurred over a two-year period in the Denver metropolitan area. The first case was in a previously healthy 26-year-old woman who died following a two-day diarrheal illness. The second case was in a 69-year-old diabetic woman who died 19 hours after developing a gastrointestinal tract illness one day following hospital discharge for an orthopedic procedure. Both patients had taken an antimotility agent. During this same two-year period there were 24.4 reported cases of C jejuni infections per 100,000 population. The death rate per reported case was 2.4 per 1,000, and the overall death rate in the entire five-county population was 0.059 per 100,000 population. The exact causes of death for the two patients are not clear; however, hypokalemia may be a contributing factor, especially since there was no evidence of profound volume depletion in the one patient for whom laboratory data were available. Prompt hospitalization and withholding of antimotility agents may have prevented these deaths.     

空肠弯曲杆菌的血清学分型

用南昌地区分离的21株空肠弯曲杆菌免疫家兔制备抗血清,交叉凝集试验结果显示,经煮沸的同型菌和有交叉反应的异型活菌吸收的抗血清可以用于空肠弯曲杆菌的血清分型。从人分离和从鸡分离菌株属同一血清群提示在南昌地区鸡也可能是人类弯曲杆菌肠炎的重要传染源之一。1/6的南昌地区分离菌不能用加拿大的空肠弯曲杆菌多价组合血清分型。这些菌株可能属于新的血清型。     

Resistotyping of Campylobacter jejuni

The principal objective of typing in epidemiology is to trace a strain as it passes from one individual to another. Resistotyping is a phenotypic method that consists of testing bacterial strains against a set of arbitrarily chosen chemical agents, whereby, a resistance pattern that is characteristic of a strain is generated and, is believed to describe the isolates for epidemiological purposes. This simple typing system is described for campylobacter isolated in Lagos, Nigeria. Resistotyping was performed with twenty chemical agents incorporated into disc. The resistotyping results revealed that the twenty isolates from human and chickens belonged to 14 different resistotypes with the largest group comprising 25% of the isolates. The human strains were distinctly differentiated into eight resistotypes. All the Campylobacter Jejuni isolates were resistant to potassium chloride (A), Boric acid (B), Sodium biselenite (C), potassium dischromate (F), potassium permanganate (I) ferrous sulphate (N), magnesium sulphate (O), sodium hydrogen phosphate (P), sodium sulphate (Q), and magnesium chloride (R). Only one strain was resistant to mercuric chloride (M) while three of the strains were sensitive to disodium orthophosphate (H), sodium azide (J), and metronidazole (T). The method seems to be adequate for defining the relatedness of our isolates in epidemiologic situation and has proven promising for Campylobacter jejuni in our environment.     

幽门弯曲菌和空肠弯曲菌的电子显微镜对比观察

Specimens were made by preparing the ultrathin sections after negative staining and ruthenium red staining. The specimens were observed under electron microscope. Results revealed that the shapes of Campylobacter pyloridis (Cp) and C. jejuni (Cj) were similar, but distinctive differences in their structures were observed. Cp had one to five sheathed flagella at one end with bulbous tips. Cj had only one unsheathed flagellum on each end without a bulbous tip. The cell body of Cp was longer than that of Cj. A layer of thick and dense delicate filament-like substance was attached to the surface of the cell body of Cp in the ultrathin sections with ruthenium red staining, in the case of Cj only a little of such a substance could be noted.     

幽门弯曲菌和空肠弯曲菌的电子显微镜对比观察

作者对幽门弯曲菌(Cp)和空肠弯曲菌(Cj)进行负染和钌红染色后作电镜对比观察。结果发现Cp的形态类似于Cj,但结构存在明显差异。Cp菌体一端有1～5根有鞘鞭毛,末端有终球;Cj菌体两端各有一根无鞘鞭毛,末端未见终球。Cp菌体比Cj长,菌体的两端较Cj圆。在用钌红染色的超薄切片中,Cp菌体表面附着一层厚而密集的细丝状物质,而Cj表面仅有稀少的钢丝状物质附着。     

Mortality of therapeutic fish Garra rufa caused by Aeromonas sobria

Objective

To investigate a case of mass mortality of Garra rufa (G. rufa) from a fish hatchery farm in Slovakia.

Methods

Causative bacterial agent was swabbing out of affected fish skin area and subsequently identified using commercial test system. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method.

Results

Infected G. rufa was characterized by abnormal swimming behaviour, bleeding of skin lesions and local haemorrhages. Despite of using recommended aquatic antibiotic treatment no improvement was achieved and Aeromonas sobria (A. sobria) was identified as a causative agent of fish mortality. Due to massive fish mortality, antibiotic susceptibility of pure isolated culture of A. sobria was evaluated employing eight antibiotics against human infections. A. sobria was resistant only against one antibiotic, namely ampicilin.

Conclusions

These results indicate that A. sobria can act as a primary pathogen of G. rufa and may be a potential risk factor for immunodeficient or immunoincompetent patients during the ichthyotherapy.     

Intestinal colonization of rats following experimental infection with Campylobacter jejuni

Oral infection of rats with 10(6)-10(8) colony forming units per ml of Campylobacter jejuni resulted in prompt intestinal colonization. Campylobacter jejuni was recovered from rat faecal samples for four months post infection. The colonized rats did not succumb to clinical diarrhoea or pyrexia. The resistance of rats to C. jejuni clinical infection and their ability to shed the organism for protracted periods, make rats potential source of zoonotic campylobacteriosis.     

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis due to Campylobacter jejuni

A patient with alcoholic cirrhosis complicated by ascites developed spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Campylobacter jejuni--(a microaerophilic bacillus)--was isolated from ascitic fluid and blood.     

大鲵感染温和气单胞菌的实验研究

目的分离大鲵感染的病原菌并进行菌株鉴定和药敏实验。方法从患病大鲵的心脏血和腹水中分离培养到可疑菌落，采用法国梅里埃全自动微生物分析仪进行鉴定和药敏试验。根据药敏试验结果指导养殖场进行治疗。结果经法国梅里埃全自动微生物分析仪鉴定为温和气单胞菌，药敏试验证实对庆大霉素、复方新诺明、丁胺卡那霉素、氨曲南、头孢替坦、头孢曲松和头孢唑啉等敏感。结论本次引起大鲵感染的是温和气单胞菌。该菌对庆大霉素、复方新诺明等抗菌药物敏感。