No abstract

Summary. Twenty-seven strains of gram-negative anaerobic bacteria isolated from patients with non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU-associated strains) were compared with reference strains of Bacteroides ureolyticus and representatives of other species of Bacteroides and Fusobacterium. Conventional biochemical tests, electrophoretic (PAGE) protein profiles and DNA base compositions of 29-5+ 1-2 mol % G + C indicated striking similarities between the NGU-associated strains and B. ureolyticus. Three of the reference strains previously assigned to that species were atypical in some respects as was one of the strains from urethritis and one strain, NCTC 10939, was incorrectly classified as B. ureolyticus. Casein hydrolysis by B. ureolyticus was the principal test difference between the two sets of strains. DNA-DNA hybridisation results of 2 72% at optimum temperature conditions provided further evidence of the close relationship between B. ureolyticus and the NGU-associated strains and we conclude that these organisms should be identified as B. ureolyticus. There was insufficient evidence for recognising subspecies or biotypes within this revised concept of B. ureolyticus although several types (PAGE-type I, 17 strains; type II,6 strains; type III,3 strains) were detected which might provide the basis for future studies of hospital strains. The DNA base composition and hybridisation data indicated that B. ureolyticus was not related to other species of Bacteroides or Fusobacterium.

A total of 37 Bacteroides ureolyticus clinical isolates (mainly from the United Kingdom) comprising 18 nongonococcal urethritis-associated strains and 19 other strains, including the type strain (NCTC 10941T) and strains from abscesses, ulcers, and various other soft tissue lesions, and five reference strains of other Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, Megamonas, and Sebaldella species were characterized by one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cellular proteins. The protein patterns, which contained 45 to 50 discrete bands, were highly reproducible and were used as the basis for a numerical analysis. Four clusters comprising 31 strains of B. ureolyticus were obtained at the 70% similarity level, and one of these was further divided to give two subclusters at the 82% similarity level. The analysis showed that the clusters obtained corresponded with three previously identified polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis types (I, II, and III) within the species, although two slightly different patterns within type I were detected. Evidence is presented for a new protein pattern (type IV) which was characteristic of NCTC 10941T and seven isolates. There was no clear-cut correlation between the pattern type and the clinical source of the isolates, except for the type Mb and type IV strains, which were nongonococcal urethritis-associated and wound isolates, respectively.

No abstract

Summary A case is presented of Bacillus cereus bacteraemia in a patient receiving hepatic perfusion with 5-fluorouracil (5FU) for metastasis from a carcinoma of the breast. The literature concerning systemic B. cereus infections is briefly reviewed.