Chronic meningitis caused by Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae.
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A 47-year-old man presented with headache, nausea, vomiting and fever. Laboratory findings including analysis of cerebrospinal fluid suggested bacterial meningitis. Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was identified in cultures of cerebrospinal fluid. The patient recovered without any neurological sequelae after antimicrobial treatment. It is interesting that intracranial infection by E. rhusiopathiae reappeared after scores of years and that it presented with absence of an underlying cause or bacteraemia. (+info)
Differentiation of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae strains by nucleotide sequence analysis of a hypervariable region in the spaA gene: discrimination of a live vaccine strain from field isolates.
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Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae causes erysipelas in swine and is considered a reemerging disease contributing substantially to economic losses in the swine industry. Since an attenuated live vaccine was commercialized in 1974 in Japan, outbreaks of acute septicemia or subacute urticaria of erysipelas have decreased dramatically. In contrast, a chronic form of erysipelas found during meat inspections in slaughterhouses has been increasing. In this study, a new strain-typing method was developed based on nucleotide sequencing of a hypervariable region in the surface protective antigen (spaA) gene for discrimination of the live vaccine strain from field isolates. Sixteen strains isolated from arthritic lesions found in slaughtered pigs were segregated into 4 major patterns: 1) identical nucleotide sequence with the vaccine strain: 3 isolates; 2) 1 nucleotide substitution (C to A) at position 555: 5 isolates; 3) 1 nucleotide substitution at various positions: 5 isolates; and 4) 2 nucleotide substitutions: 3 isolates. Isolates with the same nucleotide sequence as the vaccine strain were further characterized by other properties, including the mouse pathogenicity test. One strain isolated from pigs on a farm where the live vaccine had been used was found to be closely related to the vaccine strain. The phylogenetic tree constructed based on the spaA sequence suggests that the evolutionary distance of the isolates is related to the pathogenicity in mice. The new strain-typing system based on nucleotide sequencing of the spaA region is useful to discriminate the vaccine strain from field isolates. (+info)
An autopsy case of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae endocarditis.
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A 58-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with fever. The vegetation was confirmed by echocardiography on the tricuspid valve and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was isolated by blood culture. The patient died due to heart failure, and tricuspid valve vegetation was confirmed on autopsy and the sample of Gram's staining showed gram-positive microcolonies. Although about 60 cases of E. rhusiopathiae endocarditis have been reported, Japanese cases are extremely rare. (+info)
Comparison of three DNA extraction methods for detection of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in chicken blood by polymerase chain reaction.
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A previously reported Erysipelothrix-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect Erysipelothrix bacteremia in chickens. The sensitivity of PCR using 3 DNA extraction methods (boiling method, commercial gene matrix, and DNA extractor kit) was compared by using a serial 10-fold dilution of a chicken isolate of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae strain in chicken blood. Of the techniques used, the DNA extractor kit, followed by PCR, provided the most sensitive method for the detection of the E. rhusiopathiae strain in chicken blood (approximately 10(0) CFU/0.1 ml of blood). Two E. rhusiopathiae infection experiments were then attempted. In a total of 10 inoculated chickens, bacteremia developed in 9 chickens, consisting of all 5 chickens used in the first trial (ranging from 5.1 x 10(1) to 2.0 x 10(3) CFU/0.1 ml of blood) and 4 of the 5 chickens used in the second trial (ranging from 1.0 x 10(0) to 3.3 x 10(2) CFU/0.1 ml of blood). In the second trial, the 3 detection techniques were applied to the chickens with bacteremia, and the organism could be detected by using the DNA extractor kit in blood specimens from the 3 chickens exhibiting bacteremia of > or =4.2 x 10(1) CFU/0.1 ml of blood. This observation suggests that most E. rhusiopathiae-infected chickens develop more critical bacteremia than the detectable level by PCR with the DNA extractor kit, and the PCR detection method can be used as a first-line screening of avian erysipelas. (+info)
Etiological and biological characteristics of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae isolated between 1994 and 2001 from pigs with swine erysipelas in Japan.
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We investigated 66 Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae strains isolated from pigs affected with swine erysipelas in Japan from 1994 to 2001 for serotype, pathogenicity towards mice, protection in vaccinated mice and antimicrobial susceptibility. Most of the isolates (84.8%) were serotype 1 or 2. For the first time, strains belonging to serotype 21 were isolated from cases of septicemia. Fifty isolates (75.8%) were highly virulent, 12 isolates (18.2%) were weakly virulent and 4 isolates were avirulent strains. All the mice vaccinated with the Koganei 65-0.15 vaccine strain survived challenge exposure with 50 highly virulent isolates. Six isolates (9.1%) grew on TPB-T80 agar containing 0.02% of acriflavine, and this was identical to the growth of the vaccine strain. Forty-seven isolates (71.2%) were resistant to oxytetracycline. The number of strains resistant to oxytetracycline among field isolates increased rapidly each year. Tylosin-resistant strains were also isolated (6.1%). These results suggest that certain characteristics, particularly antimicrobial susceptibility of E. rhusiopathiae isolates, change yearly in the field. Therefore, further investigation of the characteristics of E. rhusiopathiae field isolates is necessary. (+info)
Development of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for detection of and discrimination between Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae and other Erysipelothrix species.
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Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays were developed and validated in combination with enrichment culture for the detection and discrimination of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae and other Erysipelothrix species from tissue samples. The targets for SYBR green qPCR assays were the 16S ribosomal RNA gene for Erysipelothrix species and a gene involved in capsular formation for E. rhusiopathiae. The specificity of the assays was assessed with Erysipelothrix species and other related bacterial species. The limit of detection was found to be 5 colony-forming units per reaction. Amplification of DNA extracted from spleen and joint samples spiked with increasing quantities of Erysipelothrix cells was shown to be equally sensitive to DNA extracted from a pure bacterial culture. The assays were evaluated with 88 tissue samples from 3 experimentally infected pigs and 50 mice and with 36 tissue samples from 3 naturally infected pigs and 11 noninfected pigs. Results were compared with those of direct qPCR and conventional culture. The qPCR after enrichment increased the diagnostic sensitivity over that of culture and qPCR, thereby significantly reducing the total time taken for the detection of E. rhusiopathiae and other Erysipelothrix species. Therefore, this technique could be used for practical applications. (+info)
Comparison of conventional direct and enrichment culture methods for Erysipelothrix spp. from experimentally and naturally infected swine.
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The objective of the current study was to compare the diagnostic performance of a direct isolation method for Erysipelothrix spp. with a broth-based enrichment technique. Samples were obtained from three sources: 1) experimentally inoculated pigs, 2) porcine tissue samples submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (Ames, IA), and 3) tissues from condemned carcasses at an abattoir. Culture plates from direct isolation and broth-based technique were evaluated for growth at 24 and 48 hr. Results indicated that the broth enrichment method was markedly more sensitive for the isolation of Erysipelothrix spp. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first comparison of direct culture and broth-based enrichment methods for the isolation of Erysipelothrix spp. Interestingly, in several samples, a Gram-positive bacterium with almost identical growth characteristics to Erysipelothrix spp. was detected and identified as a Vagococcus sp. through 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. The results of this study indicate that the broth-based enrichment method should be used for the isolation of Erysipelothrix spp. from clinical samples with a history suggestive of erysipelas and that Vagococcus spp. is potentially an important differential diagnosis. (+info)