Bacillus Cereus Meningitis in a Patient Under Gnotobiotic Care

Colpin, G.; Guiot, H. F. L.; Simonis, R.F.A.; Zwaan, F. E.

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(81)91025-4

Cited by 37 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As this patient's initial symptoms included chest pain, yellowish sputum, and a rapid progression of the infection, the authors likened her infection to pulmonary anthrax. B. cereus colonization of the oral cavity, as noted here and elsewhere (31,44), may well be an underappreciated first stage in the pathogenesis of pulmonary as well as systemic infections in immunocompromised individuals.…”

Section: Respiratory Tract Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…While these two case presentations paralleled pulmonary infection by B. anthracis, the two isolates were not initially tested for the presence of B. anthracis toxin genes. However, a later publication by Hoffmaster et al (67) Regarding the upper respiratory tract, invasion of the oral cavity in immunosuppressed patients may be more prevalent than previously documented, as the oral cavity may become colonized with B. cereus either through the inhalation of spores or by vegetative bacteria passing through in B. cereuscontaminated food (31,44). Foci can be established by the entrapment of bacteria in furrows in the oral cavity in which the bacterium may develop locally and elaborate toxins, which can spread to adjacent tissues, or the bacterium can disseminate to other body sites.…”

Section: Respiratory Tract Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…With the advent of the Etest, in 2004, Turnbull et al (132) reported their results for MICs of selected antibiotics against 67 B. cereus strains implicated in nongastrointestinal infections (21) and food poisoning (15) and from the environment (31). With this selection of isolates, those authors thought the results would give the greatest guidance for initial empirical therapy of B. cereus infections.…”

Section: Antibiotic Susceptibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bacillus cereus , a Volatile Human Pathogen

2010

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SUMMARY Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, motile, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium that is widely distributed environmentally. While B. cereus is associated mainly with food poisoning, it is being increasingly reported to be a cause of serious and potentially fatal non-gastrointestinal-tract infections. The pathogenicity of B. cereus, whether intestinal or nonintestinal, is intimately associated with the production of tissue-destructive exoenzymes. Among these secreted toxins are four hemolysins, three distinct phospholipases, an emesis-inducing toxin, and proteases. The major hurdle in evaluating B. cereus when isolated from a clinical specimen is overcoming its stigma as an insignificant contaminant. Outside its notoriety in association with food poisoning and severe eye infections, this bacterium has been incriminated in a multitude of other clinical conditions such as anthrax-like progressive pneumonia, fulminant sepsis, and devastating central nervous system infections, particularly in immunosuppressed individuals, intravenous drug abusers, and neonates. Its role in nosocomial acquired bacteremia and wound infections in postsurgical patients has also been well defined, especially when intravascular devices such as catheters are inserted. Primary cutaneous infections mimicking clostridial gas gangrene induced subsequent to trauma have also been well documented. B. cereus produces a potent β-lactamase conferring marked resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. Antimicrobials noted to be effective in the empirical management of a B. cereus infection while awaiting antimicrobial susceptibility results for the isolate include ciprofloxacin and vancomycin.

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Section: Respiratory Tract Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Respiratory Tract Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Antibiotic Susceptibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bacillus cereus , a Volatile Human Pathogen

2010

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“…However, treatment of anthrax with penicillin is not always successful, and the use of penicillin for prophylaxis and treatment of anthrax in experimental animals has produced various outcomes (36,39,65 (30). Reports of B. cereus infections have included reports of necrotic enteritis, liver failure, endocarditis, meningitis, bacteremia, and lethal pneumonia (10,26,27,50,52,63,64,68). Investigations of the genetic basis for differential expression of the ␤-lactamase genes in these species should contribute to the taxonomy of these bacteria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Extracytoplasmic Function Sigma Factor Controls β-Lactamase Gene Expression inBacillus anthracisand OtherBacillus cereusGroup Species

2009

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The susceptibility of most Bacillus anthracis strains to ␤-lactam antibiotics is intriguing considering that the closely related species Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis typically produce ␤-lactamases and the B. anthracis genome harbors two ␤-lactamase genes, bla1 and bla2. We show that ␤-lactamase activity associated with B. anthracis is affected by two genes, sigP (BA2502) and rsiP (BA2503), predicted to encode an extracytoplasmic function sigma factor and an anti-sigma factor, respectively. Deletion of the sigP-rsiP locus abolished ␤-lactamase activity in a naturally occurring penicillin-resistant strain and had no effect on ␤-lactamase activity in a prototypical penicillin-susceptible strain. Complementation with sigP and rsiP from the penicillinresistant strain, but not with sigP and rsiP from the penicillin-susceptible strain, conferred constitutive ␤-lactamase activity in both mutants. These results are attributed to a nucleotide deletion near the 5 end of rsiP in the penicillin-resistant strain that is predicted to result in a nonfunctional protein. B. cereus and B. thuringiensis sigP and rsiP homologues are required for inducible penicillin resistance in these species. Expression of the B. cereus or B. thuringiensis sigP and rsiP genes in a B. anthracis sigP-rsiP-null mutant confers inducible production of ␤-lactamase activity, suggesting that while B. anthracis contains the genes necessary for sensing ␤-lactam antibiotics, the B. anthracis sigP and rsiP gene products are not sufficient for bla induction. Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus thuringiensisare the best-studied members of the B. cereus group. Extensive genomic studies, including DNA-DNA hybridization, 16S and 23S rRNA sequence comparisons, multilocus sequence typing, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, and amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis, have revealed a high degree of phylogenetic relatedness among these organisms, leading to the proposal that B. anthracis, B. cereus, and B. thuringiensis may be viewed as a single species (7, 8, 12, 23, 28, 46-48, 51, 56). Despite the remarkably high degree of DNA sequence similarity and synteny among these species, there are notable species-specific phenotypes, many of which are attributed to plasmid content. B. anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, typically contains two virulence plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2, which harbor genes encoding toxins and capsule biosynthetic enzymes, respectively (57,73). Large, transmissible plasmids associated with the insect pathogen B. thuringiensis usually contain genes encoding insect toxins, which are produced as large parasporal inclusions (40,77). Strains of B. cereus, a ubiquitous soil bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, can harbor a variety of extrachromosomal elements, including plasmids with high levels of similarity to pXO1 (44,52).In addition to plasmid-associated traits, some species-specific phenotypes are due to differential expression of chromosomal genes. B. cereus and B. thuringiensis have certain phospolipase, hem...

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“…The poor outcomes in acute leukemia patients may have been an indirect consequence because of the greater immunosuppression following intensive chemotherapy, rather than due to the underlying disease. Regarding the relationship between B. cereus sepsis and the treatment process of acute leukemia in the combined clinical parameters, 35 patients developed sepsis during remission induction or reinduction therapy, 9 consolidation therapy, 4 posttransplantation, and 1 maintenance therapy in a total of 49 acute leukemia patients whose clinical data were available (Akiyama, et al 1997, Arnaout, et al 1999, Christenson, et al 1999, Colpin, et al 1981, Cone, et al 2005, Coonrod, et al 1971, Dohmae, et al 2008, Feldman and Pearson 1974, Frankard, et al 2004, Funada, et al 1988, Garcia, et al 1984, Gaur, et al 2001, Ginsburg, et al 2003, Ihde and Armstrong 1973, Jenson, et al 1989, Katsuya, et al 2009, Kawatani, et al 2009, Kiyomizu, et al 2008, Kobayashi, et al 2005, Kuwabara, et al 2006, Le Scanff, et al 2006, Leff, et al 1977, Marley, et al 1995, Motoi, et al 1997, Musa, et al 1999, Nishikawa, et al 2009, Ozkocaman, et al 2006, Sakai, et al 2001, Strittmatter, et al 1995,…”

Section: Discussion and Proposal 231 How Do We Efficiently Select Hmentioning

confidence: 99%