Stephen Baker

..Here we discuss the current position of typhoid diagnostics, highlight the need for technological improvements and suggest potential ways of advancing this area...

..The observed patterns of genetic isolation and drift are consistent with the proposed key role of asymptomatic carriers of Typhi as the main reservoir of this pathogen, highlighting the need for identification and treatment of carriers...

..abstract:..

..Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is an area of high incidence and the pediatric population appears to be at high risk of exposure and infection...

..As genome sequencing, SNP detection and geospatial information become more accessible these methods will continue to transform the way molecular epidemiology is used to study populations of bacterial pathogens...

..Here, we report a fatal bacteremia caused by Chromobacterium violaceum in Vietnam. We describe a number of clinical, microbiological, and molecular aspects associated with this bacterial infection...

..The study also provides insight into the evolution of serovar Typhi and demonstrates the value of a molecular epidemiological technique that is exchangeable, that is internet friendly, and that has global utility...

..Evidence suggests that SPI-7 is susceptible to spontaneous circularization, loss, and transposition. Here, we demonstrate that a region within SPI-7 has the ability to mobilize the small incQ plasmid R300B...

..These data demonstrate that, like some Streptomyces linear elements, at least one of the terminal inverted repeats of pBSSB1 is non-essential, but that a palindromic repeat sequence may be necessary for replication...

....

..Data from 540 patients randomised to ofloxacin treatment was analysed to identify an MIC of the infecting organism associated with treatment failure...

..Typhi isolated from 267 typhoid fever patients in the Mekong delta region participating in a randomized trial conducted between 2004 and 2005...

..We propose such changes are related to increasing economic prosperity and HIV prevalence, and this pattern marks a substantial change in the epidemiology of invasive salmonellosis in Southeast Asia...

..Invasive Salmonella serovars, which cause enteric fever, can be commonly cultured from the blood of infected patients. Yet, the isolation of invasive Salmonella serovars from blood is protracted and potentially insensitive...

..Our data imply that the characteristics of the two plasmid groups are indicative of distinct selective pressures in the differing environments...

..We present a growing family of SPI-7-related ICEs whose mobility, abundance, and cargo variability indicate that these elements may have had a large impact on the evolution of the Enterobacteriaceae...

..We aimed to assess the efficacy of gatifloxacin versus ciprofloxacin in the treatment of uncomplicated shigellosis in children...

..Two clusters of C. neoformans var. grubii VN1 are responsible for the majority of cases of cryptococcal meningitis in Vietnam. The distribution of these clusters differs according to the immune status of the host...

..Evidence suggests that, as well as undergoing gene degradation, S. Typhi has also recently acquired genes, such as those encoding the Vi antigen, by horizontal transfer events...

..Typhi host. The PST6 plasmid conferred the ability to grow in high salt medium (4.7% NaCl), which we demonstrate is due to the presence in PST6 of the Tn6062 transposon encoding BetU...

..The genome of the Vi phage E1 is significantly related to other bacteriophages belonging to the same serovar Typhi phage-typing set, and we demonstrate a role for phage DNA modification in determining host specificity...

..These data suggest that intestinal commensal organisms are a significant reservoir for the dissemination of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance in Ho Chi Minh City...

..This internally controlled real-time PCR method is robust, exhibits a high degree of reproducibility, and may have a greater utility and sensitivity than commercial EIA kits...

..These findings have implications for typhoid-control strategies, and our innovative approach may be applied to other diseases caused by other monophyletic or emerging pathogens...

..Screening for nalidixic acid resistance or ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin disk inhibition zone are suitable for detecting S. Typhi isolates with reduced fluoroquinolone susceptibility...

..The method described here can be used to monitor the incidence of Vi-negative serovar Typhi in regions where the Vi vaccine is used...

..Vietnam is representative of a typical transitional middle income country where the spectrum of infectious diseases combined with the spread of drug resistance is shifting and bringing new healthcare challenges...

..The DNA sequence of pBSSB1 was determined to be just over 27 kbp, and was predicted to encode 33 coding sequences. To our knowledge, pBSSB1 is the first non-bacteriophage-related linear plasmid to be described in the Enterobacteriaceae...

....

..We have designed a RCT to test the hypothesis that an oral preparation of Lactobacillus acidophilus is superior to placebo in the treatment of acute watery diarrhoea in Vietnamese children...

..suis strains isolated from human cases are lacking. We studied antimicrobial resistance and associated resistance determinants in S. suis isolated from patients with meningitis in southern Vietnam...

..These data show that the intravenous route for penicillin may be inadequate for clearing the infection and emphasizes wound debridement in the treatment of tetanus...

..This method will prove a useful tool in answering questions relating to the biology of many difficult-to-culture or fastidious bacteria of clinical concern...

..coli, suggesting that these mobile genetic elements have played a major role in driving the variability of this region...

..Antimicrobial resistance in the genus Shigella is a constant threat, with reports of organisms in Asia being resistant to multiple antimicrobials and new generation therapies...

..We describe a cohort of HIV uninfected Vietnamese patients with cryptococcal meningitis in whom underlying disease is uncommon, and relate presenting features of patients and the characteristics of the infecting species to outcome...

..This study details how genomic plasticity within lineages of recombinogenic bacteria can permit adaptation to clinical interventions over remarkably short time scales...

..Neutral evolution in Typhi appears to reflect the asymptomatic carrier state, and adaptive evolution depends on the rapid transmission of phenotypic changes through acute infections...

..citri. This analysis suggested that SPI-7 may be a mobile element, such as a conjugative transposon or an integrated plasmid remnant...

..The extreme genome variability was confirmed by whole-genome microarray analysis; it may reflect the organism's niche in the gut and should provide information on the evolution of virulence in this organism...

..Mutation of the staA, tcfA or pilS genes did not affect invasion or adhesion in either the presence or the absence of Vi capsule...

....