Latest Articles
ReviewCutaneous Mycobacterial InfectionsHumans encounter mycobacterial species due to their ubiquity in different environmental niches. In many individuals, pathogenic mycobacterial species may breach our first-line barrier defenses of the innate immune system and modulate the activation of phagocytes to cause disease of the respiratory tract or the skin and soft tissues, sometimes resulting in disseminated infection.
- ReviewTreatment of Toxoplasmosis: Historical Perspective, Animal Models, and Current Clinical Practice
Primary Toxoplasma gondii infection is usually subclinical, but cervical lymphadenopathy or ocular disease can be present in some patients. Active infection is characterized by tachyzoites, while tissue cysts characterize latent disease.
- ReviewMethicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Molecular Characterization, Evolution, and Epidemiology
Staphylococcus aureus, a major human pathogen, has a collection of virulence factors and the ability to acquire resistance to most antibiotics. This ability is further augmented by constant emergence of new clones, making S. aureus a “superbug.” Clinical use of methicillin has led to the appearance...
- ReviewRecent Development of Visceral Leishmaniasis Treatments: Successes, Pitfalls, and Perspectives
Research in visceral leishmaniasis in the last decade has been focused on how better to use the existing medicines as monotherapy or in combination. Systematic research by geographical regions has shown that a universal treatment is far from today's reality.
- ReviewNonsuppurative (Aseptic) Meningoencephalomyelitis Associated with Neurovirulent Astrovirus Infections in Humans and Animals
Astroviruses are thought to be enteric pathogens. Since 2010, a certain group of astroviruses has increasingly been recognized, using up-to-date random amplification and high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods, as potential neurovirulent (Ni) pathogens of severe central nervous system (CNS) infections, causing encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, and meningoencephalomyelitis.
- ReviewEpidemiology, Biology, and Impact of Clonal Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections in Cystic Fibrosis
Chronic lower airway infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in individuals suffering from the genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF). Whereas it was long presumed that each patient independently acquired unique strains of P. aeruginosa present in their...
- ReviewHuman Pathogenic Entomophthorales
The pathogenic entomophthoralean fungi cause infection in insects and mammalian hosts. Basidiobolus and Conidiobolus species can be found in soil and insect, reptile, and amphibian droppings in tropical and subtropical areas.
- ReviewPerinatal Streptococcus agalactiae Epidemiology and Surveillance Targets
Streptococcus agalactiae, or group B streptococcus (GBS), is a major neonatal pathogen. Recent data have elucidated the global prevalence of maternal and neonatal colonization, but gaps still remain in the epidemiology of this species.
- ReviewMobile Genetic Elements Associated with Antimicrobial Resistance
Strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics, particularly those that are multiresistant, are an increasing major health care problem around the world. It is now abundantly clear that both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria are able to meet the evolutionary challenge of combating antimicrobial chemotherapy, often by acquiring preexisting resistance determinants from the bacterial gene pool.
- ReviewMechanisms of Bacterial Tolerance and Persistence in the Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Environments
Pathogens that infect the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts are subjected to intense pressure due to the environmental conditions of the surroundings. This pressure has led to the development of mechanisms of bacterial tolerance or persistence which enable microorganisms to survive in these locations.