Bartholin's gland abscess caused by Neisseria sicca.

Neisseria sicca has been reported to cause bacterial meningitis, endocarditis, pneumonia, and spondylitis. Surgical drainage from a Bartholin's gland abscess contained N. sicca in pure culture. Neisseria species recovered from cerebrospinal fluid and gynecologic specimens must be carefully examined to avoid misidentification as meningococci or gonococci.     

Meningitis purulenta und Sepsis mit Nachweis von Neisseria sicca

Zusammenfassung Bei einem zweijährigen Jungen mit Meningitis und Sepsis wurden aus Liquor und Petechien gramnegative Diplokokken gezüchtet, die morphologisch als Meningokokken imponierten. Die Resultate der kulturellen und biochemischen Prüfung führten jedoch zu der Diagnose: Neisseria sicca. Differentialdiagnostische Schwierigkeiten beim Nachweis dieser Keimart und ätiologische Bedeutung werden anhand der Literatur und der eigenen Befunde besprochen.     

Neisseria sicca endocarditis: report of a case and review of the literature.

A rare case of bacterial endocarditis caused by Neisseria sicca is reported. Review of the literature revealed only five other cases where sufficient data existed to confirm this particular organism as the etiological agent of bacterial endocarditis.     

Association of an important Neisseria species, Neisseria elongata subsp. nitroreducens, with bacteremia, endocarditis, and osteomyelitis.

We retrospectively analyzed epidemiologic information associated with 22 cultures of Neisseria elongata subsp. nitroreducens (formerly CDC group M-6) submitted to the Microbial Diseases Laboratory, California Department of Health Services, Berkeley, over a 16-year period. The most common illnesses noted with this bacterium were endocarditis, bacteremia, and osteomyelitis. Risk factors associated with N. elongata subsp. nitroreducens infection included dental manipulations and/or a previous history of endocarditis, valve damage, or rheumatic heart disease.     

Organism resembling Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis.

A problem isolate resembling Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis is reported. Growth and biochemical characteristics indicated the organism to be N. meningitidis, whereas serological characteristics indicated it to be N. gonorrhoeae. This vaginal isolate may be a genetically transformed gonococcus with the ability to utilize maltose. Conversely, it may be a meningococcus which has acquired antigenic determinants of N. gonorrhoeae.     

Saksenaea vasiformis osteomyelitis.

A 24-year-old man sustained a crush injury to the tibia, which subsequently became infected with Saksenaea vasiformis. He was treated with debridement and a free myocutaneous flap, but amputation was necessary because of mycotic osteomyelitis. S. vasiformis was recovered and identified on the basis of its characteristic morphology on cornmeal agar.     

Peptostreptococcal vertebral osteomyelitis.

The clinical course of a patient with vertebral osteomyelitis caused by Peptostreptococcus micros is described. The organism was isolated on two occasions from lumbar vertebral biopsies and was visualized in histologic sections of one of the biopsies. The patient had no apparent infections at other body sites. The infection was eradicated after 6 weeks of intravenous clindamycin therapy.     

Lipopolysaccharide banding patterns of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The lipopolysaccharides of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae were examined by electrophoresis after whole-cell lysis and proteinase K digestion. The banding patterns observed from clinical isolates and laboratory strains demonstrated lipopolysaccharide which included a small number of smooth high-molecular-weight molecules as well as the previously reported lower-molecular-weight rough lipopolysaccharide.     

Neisseria spp. and AIDS.

Neisseria meningitidis from various serogroups and two commensal neisseriae (N. sicca and N. perflava) were isolated from 15 patients at various stages of human immunodeficiency virus infection in this clinical and bacteriological study. The cases were grouped into the following three classes: (i) infections with an N. meningitidis strain of a serogroup known to be pathogenic (A, B, or C) and apparently independent of the human immunodeficiency virus infection, (ii) infections with a N. meningitidis strain of a serogroup which is normally either commensal or poorly pathogenic (serogroups Y, X, Z, and Z,29E), (iii) pulmonary and disseminated infections occurring in the course of the clinical evolutionary stage of AIDS, in two cases of which commensal neisseriae (N. sicca and N. perflava) were isolated from blood cultures.     

Neisseria animalis nov. spec.

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine neue Art gramnegativer, aerober Diplokokken beschrieben, die durch die Fähigkeit charakterisiert ist, Saccharose als einziges Disaccharid anzugreifen. Sie bildet kein Pigment und ist gegen die saccharosepositiven Neisserien des Menschen außerdem koloniemorphologisch und serologisch, gegenN. caviae durch Saccharoseverwertung, Polysaccharidbildung und fehlende Tributyrinspaltung abgrenzbar. Ihr Standort ist die Rachenschleimhaut des Meerschweinchens. Als Name wirdNeisseria animalis vorgeschlagen.Die vorliegenden Untersuchungen wurden mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft durchgeführt.     

Homology of cryptic plasmid of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with plasmids from Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria lactamica.

DNA probe hybridisation was used to examine the relation between the cryptic plasmid from Neisseria gonorrhoeae and plasmids carried by pharyngeal isolates of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria lactamica. The complete gonococcal cryptic plasmid and HinfI derived digestion fragments subcloned into Escherichia coli were used to probe Southern blots of plasmid extracts. Homology was found to a plasmid of approximate molecular weight 4.5 kilobase pairs (Kb) but not to plasmids of less than 3.2 Kb or 6.5 Kb. Eleven of 16 strains of N meningitidis and two of six strains of N lactamica carried plasmids that showed strong hybridisation with the 4.2 Kb gonococcal plasmid. Hybridisation of plasmids from non-gonococcal species of neisseria with the gonococcal cryptic plasmid indicates that caution should be taken when using the cryptic plasmid as a diagnostic probe for gonorrhoea.     

Fluorescent-antibody-negative penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The incidence of monoclonal-fluorescent-antibody-negative penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae is not known. Two isolates which could not be identified by using a commercial monoclonal fluorescent-antibody conjugate are described. The use of more than one confirmatory method is recommended.     

Multidrug-resistant Pneumococcus causing vertebral osteomyelitis.

Primary vertebral osteomyelitis in a rare presentation of pneumococcal infection especially in an asymptomatic patient with no primary focus of infection. This report describes a patient who presented with lower back pain in which the magnetic resonance imaging showed little evidence of L1 and L2 vertebral body destruction. Cultures from these vertebral bodies grew penicillin and third-generation resistant pneumococcus. The patient was treated successfully with 6 weeks of vancomycin and rifampin.     

Monoclonal antibody analysis of lipopolysaccharide from Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis.

A hybridoma produced by the polyethylene glycol fusion of the NS-1 variant of the P3x63Ag8 BALB/c plasmacytoma to splenocytes harvested from a BALB/c mouse immunized with whole gonococci was found to be producing antibody to a common region on gonococcal lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition systems were established by utilizing this antibody, designated 3F11, and 100% inhibition occurred with both LPS and the LPS-LPS and LPS-derived polysaccharides partially inhibited the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas similar preparations isolated from Escherichia coli O:111, the J-5 mutant of this strain, and Salmonella minnesota Re595 failed to inhibit the assay. Studies utilizing whole gonococcal strains 4505 and the isogenic variant 4505r, which lacks both the LPS serotype and common determinants as inhibitors, demonstrated that the determinant recognized by the 3F11 antibody was present on the surface of 4505 and absent on 4505r. Inhibition studies were performed with beta-glucose, beta-galactose, D-glucosamine, D-galactosamine, heptose, 2-keto-3-deoxyoctanoate, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, alpha-lactose, and beta-lactose. Complete inhibition of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay occurred with D-galactosamine, and partial inhibition was achieved with both alpha-lactose and beta-lactose. Based on these observations, the 3F11 antibody recognizes a site common to gonococcal LPS which is partially shared by meningococcal LPS. The chemical structure of the determinant appears to be a D-galactosamine-O-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-4)-D-glucopyranose. Additional specificity may be conferred by the steric relationship of the determinant on the intact LPS.     

Difficulties in differentiating Neisseria cinerea from Neisseria gonorrhoeae in rapid systems used for identifying pathogenic Neisseria species.

Neisseria cinerea and Neisseria gonorrhoeae may occur at the same body sites and may have similar colony morphologies. Ideally, systems used for rapid identification of N. gonorrhoeae should be able to differentiate N. cinerea from gonococci. We tested seven N. cinerea strains using the Gonochek II (Du Pont Diagnostics), Minitek (BBL Microbiology Systems), RapID-NH (Innovative Diagnostics, Inc.), RIM-N (American Microscan), and Phadebact (Pharmacia Diagnostics) systems. We found that the reactions produced by N. cinerea in Gonochek II, Minitek, and RapID-NH kits could be confused with the results produced by some strains of N. gonorrhoeae. The susceptibility of N. cinerea to colistin, its ability to grow on tryptic soy or Mueller-Hinton agar, and its inability to grow on modified Thayer-Martin medium help differentiate it from gonococci.     

Novel lipoprotein expressed by Neisseria meningitidis but not by Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The ppk gene, which codes for the enzyme polyphosphate kinase in Neisseria meningitidis strain BNCV, is preceded by an open reading frame coding for a protein with a predicted size of 19.2 kDa with a typical lipoprotein signal sequence of 21 amino acids. The protein has significant homology to the N-terminal portion of an outer membrane protein from Haemophilus somnus (J. Won and R. W. Griffith, Infect. Immun. 61:2813-2821, 1993). Sequencing of the same open reading frame from meningococcus strain M1080 predicted an almost identical protein. Antisera were raised against the lipoprotein, expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase. The antisera reacted with meningococcal membrane fractions on a Western blot (immunoblot) but did not elicit complement-dependent bactericidal activity. Restriction enzyme digestion demonstrated conservation of this portion of the meningococcal and gonococcal chromosomes. However, antisera raised to the recombinant protein showed that the protein was absent from all strains of gonococcus tested. The sequences of the gene from several strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis were compared and found to be almost identical, except that the coding sequences from all of the gonococcal strains were terminated prematurely as a result of a frameshift mutation. The significance of the remarkable conservation of these gonococcal genes is discussed.