Anaerobic Corynebacteria Research Articles

In vitro hydrogen production by enteric bacteria cultured from children with small bowel bacterial overgrowth.

Lactulose breath hydrogen test and Enterotest string test were carried out simultaneously on 19 children 3-5 years old. Bacteria isolated from the jejunal fluid in upper small intestines of these children were incubated with lactulose at neutral pH. Anaerobes were present in all but one child, and in 15 children they were present in numbers greater than 5 log10 organisms per ml. Most of these bacteria did not produce hydrogen in vitro. Hydrogen production (greater than 100 ppm) was observed with the following bacteria: Bacteroides (5%), clostridia (8%), anaerobic corynebacteria (5%), Escherichia coli (67%), Lactobacillus (8%), Staphylococcus (8%), and Streptococcus (9%). The following bacteria did not produce hydrogen in vitro: Actinobacter, Actinomyces, anaerobic cocci, Bifidobacterium, Fusobacterium, micrococci, Neisseria, Sarcina, and Veillonella. This study suggests that in the diagnosis of small bowel bacterial overgrowth using lactulose breath hydrogen test, it is important to consider that patients with a flat breath hydrogen response to a carbohydrate challenge during the first 60 min may be infected with enteric bacteria which are not capable of producing H2.

In Vitro Hydrogen Production by Enteric Bacteria Cultured from Children with Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth

SummaryLactulose breath hydrogen test and Enterotest string test were carried out simultaneously on 19 children 3–5 years old. Bacteria isolated from the jejunal fluid in upper small intestines of these children were incubated with lactulose at neutral pH. Anaerobes were present in all but one child, and in 15 children they were present in numbers greater than 5 log10 organisms per ml. Most of these bacteria did not produce hydrogen in vitro. Hydrogen production (>100 ppm) was observed with the following bacteria: Bacteroides (5%), Clostridia (8%), anaerobic corynebacteria (5%), Escherichia coli (67%), Lactobacillus (8%), Staphylococcus (8%), and Streptococcus (9%). The following bacteria did not produce hydrogen in vitro: Actinobacter, Actinomyces, anaerobic cocci, Bifidobacterium, Fusobacterium, micrococci, Neisseria, Sarcina, and Veillonella. This study suggests that in the diagnosis of small bowel bacterial overgrowth using lactulose breath hydrogen test, it is important to consider that patients with a flat breath hydrogen response to a carbohydrate challenge during the first 60 min may be infected with enteric bacteria which are not capable of producing H2.

Diagnostic implications and treatment of massive spontaneous atelectasis in childhood.

During a 5-month period five children were treated for spontaneously occurring massive lung atelectasis. In three patients the underlying disease was bronchial asthma; in one patient idiopathic plastic bronchitis; and in another patient, infection with anaerobic Corynebacteria may have been a contributing factor. Types I and III hypersensitivity reactions were not considered to be likely causal factors. The clinical manifestations and management of this relatively rare event are described.

Antibiotic-loaded Acrylic Cement

Antibiotic-loaded acrylic cement has been used routinely since 1972 at the authors' hospitals, where a series of some 22,000 joint arthroplasty operations was performed from 1964-1983. The current status of the material is presented with up-to-date follow-up statistics on prophylactic therapy and on established deep infections. The results of 869 exchange arthroplasties are compared with results published in 1981. In the future, results will be presented in the form of survival curves. The method by which survival tables and curves are constructed is critical. Investigators should use survival curves for ease of comparison and because of the wide range of possibilities in an analysis of covariable factors. A retrospective actuarial analysis was made of 825 one-stage reimplantations in which antibiotic-loaded acrylic cement was used for infected total hip arthroplasties. Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly encountered organism. Failure rates of prostheses infected by S. aureus, S. species, and anaerobic corynebacteria did not differ statistically. A factor that significantly contributed to failure of this method of treatment was Pseudomonas infection. By actuarial analysis five years after operation, a success (survival) rate of 77% was calculated.

Anaerobes in men with urethritis.

Sixty-four men with non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), seven with gonococcal urethritis (GU), and 30 who had no symptoms or signs of urethritis were studied. Chlamydia trachomatis was isolated from urethral specimens taken from 22% of the men with NGU, and 18% with GU, but not from those who did not have urethritis even though 20 (67%) of them had a history of NGU, GU, or both. The chlamydial isolation rate for men having NGU for the first time was 30%. Ureaplasma urealyticum was isolated from 42% of the men with NGU, 43% of men with GU, and 27% of those without urethritis.In addition to aerobes anaerobes were isolated frequently from men whether or not they had urethritis, the most common being anaerobic Corynebacteria, peptococci, and micro-organisms of the Bacteroides-Fusobacteria group. There was no appreciable difference in the overall isolation of anaerobes from men with NGU (89%) or from those without disease (80%). The rate of isolation of a Gram-negative anaerobic bacillus from men with NGU (50%) was, however, strikingly different to that from men with GU (14%) or from those without disease (13%). Furthermore, this bacillus was recovered from 28 (56%) of 50 men with NGU who were considered chlamydia-negative and from 19 (61%) of 31 men who were both chlamydia-negative and ureaplasma-negative. The effect of antibiotic treatment was evaluated in a few patients only, so that although those from whom the Gram-negative bacillus was eliminated by tetracycline recovered clinically there is a need for a prospective therapeutic trial to evaluate further the importance of the bacillus.

急性経過をとった乳牛の肝蛭症について

In Nara Prefecture acute fatal fascioliasis has been prevalent among cattle since 1968 when the use of agricultural chemicals began to be restricted to a large extent. Seven infected animals were examined. They excreted tar-like bloody feces, because Fasciolalarvae perforated the hepatic parenchyma to cause hemorrhage and blood and bile were discharged into the duodenum. Inflammatory thickening accompanied with infiltration of numerous acidophils was observed in the duodenal wall. Ectopic Fasciola infection was seen in the lung.Hepatic abscesses were found in all the animals. From them were isolated epidermic staphylococci, streptococci, and anaerobic corynebacteria at a high rate. Epizootiological examination revealed that a main source of infection in dairy cows was rice straw.

Effect of aerobic and anaerobic corynebacteria on reaginic antibody response in mice.

Effect of aerobic and anaerobic corynebacteria on reaginic antibody response in mice.

Therapy of spontaneous pulmonary metastases of a murine mammary carcinoma with anaerobic corynebacteria

Corynebacterium parvum given intravenously or into the tumor 7 or 2 days before surgical removal of primary tumors greatly reduced the number of spontaneous pulmonary metastases of a syngeneic mammary carcinoma of C3Hf/Bu mice. When a single dose of 6000 rads γ-rays was used to eliminate primary tumors the number of lung metastases significantly increased. Administration of C. parvum before irradiation not only prevented this metastasis — facilitating effect of radiation, but also reduced the number of lung nodules below that in amputated mice. Metastatic spread was not altered by postoperative treatment of mice with single doses of C. parvum or C. granulosum. However, significantly more mice had lung metastases if they were given 2 intraperitoneal injections of C. granulosum.

Phenoloxidase Activity in Organisms Isolated from Lepromatous and Tuberculoid Leprosy

Anaerobic corynebacteria (propionibacteria), isolated in pure culture from the plasma of a case of tuberculoid leprosy and from lepromata of cases of lepromatous leprosy, exhibited phenoloxidase activity such as that shown by Prabhakaran to be associated with leprosy bacilli harvested from patients suffering from leprosy. Several corynebacteria, mycobacteria, and nocardias similarly examined did not produce phenoloxidase.

Cell wall composition in the classification of Gram positive anaerobes

ABSTRACT Four groups of strains of Clostridia and anaerobic corynebacteria were examined by chemical and antigenic cell wall analysis. In each group it was possible to identify more than one pattern of cell wall sugar components, and these sugar patterns show a high degree of correlation with the subgroups revealed by cell wall agglutination tests. In the two groups tested, DNA/DNA homology tests showed that strains with the same cell wall sugar pattern had a high degree of homology (80-100%).

A study of the morphologic and biochemical characteristics of certain anaerobic corynebacteria

The biochemical reactions, antibiotic sensitivities, phage susceptibility and morphologic features of nine anaerobic corynebacteria, obtained from the American Type Culture Collection and Dr. A-R Prévot (identified in these collections as Corynebacterium acnes, C. anaerobium, C. avidum, C. diphtheroides, C. granulosum, C. liquefaciens, C. lymphophilum, C. parvum and C. pyogenes) were examined over an 18 month period. Many biochemical characteristics varied on repeated examination. All organisms were highly sensitive to 7 antibiotics and all but one of those tested were susceptible to a single phage. Size and morphology varied under different conditions. Review of the literature showed much disagreement on the characteristics of each organism. It was concluded that conventional routine methods do not permit their recognition as individual species, and that they should be regarded as variants of C. acnes.

Cultural characteristics and fatty acid composition of propionibacteria.

The cultural characteristics and cellular fatty acid composition of 40 strains representing 7 species of Propionibacterium and of 9 cultures of anaerobic corynebacteria were studied. The cultures were characterized by means of 23 separate cultural and biochemical tests. Cultures of the two genera differed consistently in only two reactions; the propionibacteria did not produce indole or liquefy gelatin, whereas the anaerobic corynebacteria were consistently positive with these tests. The fatty acids were extracted from whole cells and examined as methyl esters by gas-liquid chromatography. The most abundant acid in the seven Propionibacterium species was a C(15)-saturated branched-chain acid which was present in both the iso-and anteiso-form. Based on a comparison of the relative abundance of these isomers (i-C(15) and a-C(15)), the species were separated into two groups. P. freudenreichii and P. shermanii (group one) were similar and contained the a-C(15) isomer as the predominant acid. The i-C(15) isomer was the most abundant acid in the second group (P. arabinosum, P. jensenii, P. pentosaceum, P. thoenii, and P. zeae). The fatty acid profiles of the anaerobic corynebacteria were somewhat similar to those of the second group of propionibacteria, but were distinct from the profiles of P. freudenreichii and P. shermanii. The addition of branched-chain amino acids (l-leucine and l-isoleucine) to the growth medium increased the synthesis of the specific fatty acid(s) structurally related to the added amino acid.

Anaerobic infection of the brain: Observations on eighteen consecutive cases of brain abscess

The rates of mortality and morbidity from brain abscess remain forbiddingly high despite the advent of antibiotics, which are given generally on the basis of incomplete bacteriologic data. Since the literature places little emphasis on accurate identification of infecting organisms in brain abscess, a careful bacteriologie study was made of all brain abscesses of nontraumatic origin at this hospital. These cases have consistently yielded a group of bacteria hitherto given only sporadic mention. In a series of eighteen consecutive cases during a six year period, sixteen yielded a heavy growth of anaerobic bacteria, and two were sterile. Anaerobes alone were isolated in ten cases and mixtures of anaerobes and aerobes in six. Anaerobic streptococci predominated; bactcroides, actinomyces, anaerobic corynebacteria and veillonella were less frequently isolated. One of the sterile abscesses contained streptococci in stained section. Pus from the abscesses was characteristically putrid and in one case enough gas was produced to be visible on routine skull roentgenogram. In fourteen patients a pre-existing focus of chronic infection in the ear, sinus or lung was clearly recognizable. This fact, together with anatomic considerations regarding the localization of brain abscesses, probably explains the high incidence of anaerobes and further suggests that these organisms may be the important pathogens in all brain abscesses of similar origin. The properties of anaerobes may have special significance in the pathogenesis of brain abscess and contribute to the high rate of therapeutic failures. Early treatment before suppuration sets in, with the massive doses of antibiotics necessary in central nervous system infections, is emphasized as a possible means of improving the chances of a favorable outcome. Severe and intractable headache is stressed as a recognizable early symptom, which in a patient with a known focus of chronic infection permits a presumptive diagnosis in an early stage of infection.