Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection transmitted from animals to humans by the ingestion of infected food products, direct contact with an infected animal or inhalation of aerosols. The last method is remarkably efficient given the relatively low concentration of organisms (10 – 100 bacteria) needed to establish infection in humans, and has brought renewed attention to this old disease. Brucella is a facultative intracellular pathogen that has the ability to survive and multiply in the phagocytes and cause abortion in cattle and undulant fever in humans. Brucella spp particularly B. melitensis, B. abortus, and B. suis represent a significant public health concern. At present, B. melitensis is the principle cause of human brucellosis in India. Molecular studies have demonstrated the phylogenetic affiliation of Brucella to Agrobacterium, Ochrobactrum, and Rhizobium. Human brucellosis still presents scientists and clinicians with several challenges, with regard to the understanding of its pathogenic mechanism, severity, progression, and development of improved treatment regimens. Molecular studies have now highlighted the pathogenesis of Brucella, for the development of newer diagnostic tools that will be useful in developing countries where brucellosis is a common, but often a neglected disease. This review compiles all these issues in general and the pathogenicity and newer diagnostic tools in particular.

not only in the treatment of enterococcal infections but also because the organism can horizontally transfer this resistant determinant to other Vancomycin-susceptible species. [6] Until recent times, the VRE strains were found sensitive to Linezolid. Resistance to Linezolid is slowly developing, posing several questions on the virulence factors and their survival mechanisms. [7] This review article focuses on the development of virulence factors of the organism and their signiÞ cance in survival of the organism. Genome of EnterococciThe two commonly isolated species of Enterococci associated with nosocomial infections are E. faecalis and E. faecium. The sequencing of the E. faecalis and E. faecium genomes [8] has been done by the Institute for Genomic Research [TIGR] and Joint Genomic Institute of the Dept of Energy in USA respectively. The genome of E. faecalis V583 and E. faecium ATCC BAA-472 has been sequenced. E. faecalis strain V583 is the Þ rst VRE exhibiting Van B phenotype. Some unique features of the genome are that over 25% of genome is made up of mobile and/or exogenously acquired DNA which includes a number of conjugative and composite transposons, a pathogenicity island, integrated plasmid genes phage regions, and high number of insertion sequence [IS]. A comprehensive genome-wide analysis identiÞ ed 134 putative surface exposed proteins that might be associated with colonisation or virulence.The genome of E. faecium is estimated to be around 2.9 Mb, slightly smaller than 3.2 Mb of E. faecalis strain V583. It consists of 2,928,706 base pairs in 300 contigs, 20 reads IntroductionEnterococci have attracted much attention in recent times due to their increased recognition as a cause of nosocomial 'super infection' in patients receiving antimicrobial agents.[1] They are intrinsically resistant / tolerant to many antibiotics and are able to acquire drug resistance either by chromosome, transfer of plasmid or transposon acquisition containing genetic sequences that confer resistance in other bacteria. [2] Until recently these ordinary bowel commensals languished as misclassiÞ ed streptococci and were commonly perceived 'as organisms which did not cause major or serious infection'.[3] The medical importance of Enterococci far outweighs the relatively insigniÞ cant proportion of the total adult human commensal they represent.[4] It is ranked as one of the leading organisms causing hospital-borne infection. In USA alone, eight lakh cases of enterococcal infections occur each year. AbstractEnterococcus, considered a normal commensal of intestinal tract, is fast emerging as a pathogen causing serious and life threatening hospital borne infections. This is attributed to acquisition of multi drug resistance and virulence factors of the organisms. The sequencing of Enterococcus faecalis has given a lot of insight into its genetic makeup. The E. faecalis strain V583, which has been sequenced, contains a total of 3182 open reading frames (ORFs) with 1760 of these showing similarity to known proteins and 221 of u...

No abstract

The age group of positive cases of H1N1 was between 21 and 30 years and age group of patients who died ranged from 40 to 45 year. This overview indicates that although the majority of hospitalized persons infected with novel influenza A (H1N1) recovered without complications, certain patients had severe and prolonged disease. It was also noted that 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection - related clinical illness predominantly affects young patients. All hospitalized patients with novel influenza A (H1N1) infection should be monitored carefully and treated with antiviral therapy. Mandatory vaccination of health-care workers is especially important in emerging pandemic.