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E Yabuuchi

Publications and source records attributed to E Yabuuchi.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Cellular lipid and fatty acid compositions of Burkholderia pseudomallei strains isolated from human and environment in Viet Nam.

Viet nam is known as an endemic area of melioidosis but its etiologic agent originated in Viet nam was not extensively studied. For the first time, we analyzed the cellular lipid and fatty acid compositions of 15 Vietnamese isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei, 10 from humans and 5 from the environment. Cellular lipid compositions were analyzed by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography on silica gel G plates. Cellular fatty acid methyl esters were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The major lipids in all the isolates were phosphatidylglycerol (PG), two forms of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE-1 and PE-2), and two forms of ornithine-containing lipid (OL-1 and OL-2). PE-1 contained non-hydroxy fatty acids at both sn-1 and -2 positions, while PE-2 possessed 2-hydroxy fatty acids and non-hydroxy fatty acids in a ratio of 1:1. Since snake venom phospholipase A2 digestion of PE-2 liberated 2-hydroxy fatty acids, it was confirmed that these acids are at the sn-2 position of glycerol moiety. In both OL-1 and OL-2, amide-linked fatty acid was 3-hydroxy palmitic acid (3-OH-C16:0), while ester-linked fatty acids were non-hydroxy acids in OL-1 and 2-hydroxy acids in OL-2. The total cellular fatty acid compositions of the test strains were characterized by the presence of 2-hydroxy palmitic (2-OH-C16:0), 2-hydroxy hexadecenoic (2-OH-C16:1), 2-hydroxy octadecenoic (2-OH-C18:1), 2-hydroxy methylene octadecanoic (2-OH-C19CPA), 3-hydroxy myristic (3-OH-C14:0) and 3-hydroxy palmitic (3-OH-C16:0) acids. There were significant differences in the concentration of hexadecenoic (C16:1), methylene hexadecanoic (C17CPA), octadecenoic (C18:1) and methylene octadecanoic (C19CPA) acids among the Vietnamese isolates of B. pseudomallei. However, no significant difference was observed in cellular lipid and fatty acid components between strains of human and environmental origins.

Adolescent↗

Transfer of two Burkholderia and an Alcaligenes species to Ralstonia gen. Nov.: Proposal of Ralstonia pickettii (Ralston, Palleroni and Doudoroff 1973) comb. Nov., Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith 1896) comb. Nov. and Ralstonia eutropha (Davis 1969) comb. Nov.

Based on the results of phenotypic characterization, cellular lipid and fatty acid analysis, phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences and rNA-DNA hybrization, Burkholderia pickettii, Burkholderia solanacearum and Alcaligenes eutrophus are transferred to the new genus Ralstonia, and Ralstonia pickettii (Ralston, Palleroni and Doudoroff 1973) comb. nov., Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith 1896) comb. nov., and R. eutropha (Davis 1969) comb. nov. are proposed. The type species of the new genus is R. pickettii. Type strain of R. pickettii is ATCC 27511T, of R. solanacearum is ATCC 10696T, and of R. eutropha is ATCC 17697T.

Alcaligenes↗

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a glycolipid antigen for the serodiagnosis of melioidosis.

The serodiagnosis of melioidosis is commonly performed with tests using protein or polysaccharide as antigen. However, due to the low sensitivity, specificity and difficulty in the preparation of the antigens, more simple, precise and reproducible diagnostic tests were required. A purified glycolipid antigen (GL) which is a specific lipid component of Burkholderia pseudomallei has been used in an ELISA. With this antigen, specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was detected in 49 out of 50 melioidosis sera. IgG was also detected in 2 out of 185 (Japanese) and 16 out of 181 (Vietnamese) control sera. Thus, the sensitivity was 98.0%, and specificity was 98.9% and 91.1% in the Japanese and Vietnamese sera, respectively. When the ELISA and indirect haemagglutination (IHA) tests were combined, a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 97.8% were achieved. The advantages of the glycolipid antigen are ease of preparation, stability, high sensitivity and specificity.

Antigens, Bacterial↗

[Legionella pneumophila serogroup 3 isolated from a patient of pneumonia developed after drowning in bathtub of a hot spring spa].

A 71-year-old Japanese female, was found unconscious by drawing, in a hot spring spa, at around noon of 20 October 1994. She recovered by emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and admitted to the Takinomiya General Hospital, with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Although she recovered from ARDS within 4 days after her admission, she developed severe pneumonia accompanied with the second attack of ARDS. Ordinary bacteriological culture of her respiratory specimens failed to yield any significant pathogen for her pneumonia, and neither cefazolin nor imipenem/cilastatin was effective. Thus minocyclin was given on the 7th hospital-day and this was effective for blood gas and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Intratracheal exsudate inoculated on BCYE alpha agar plate yielded grayish white colonies. Cells of the colonies were clearly agglutinated by anti-Legionella pneumophila serogroup (SG) 3 serum. Antibody titers of patient's paired sera against the strain L. pneumophila SG3 Bloomington-2 and the patient's strain (Y-1) were determined by microplate agglutination test, and a significant rise from 1:20 to 1:320 was demonstrated. Patient recovered by erythromycin treatment and was discharged on the 59th hospital day. L. pneumophila SG3 organisms were again isolated from the spa water where the patient drawn. From these findings described above, we diagnosed the patient as pneumonia due to L. pneumophila SG3, and the spa water was the most probable source of infection.

Aged↗

[An outbreak of Pontiac fever due to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 7. I. Clinical aspects].

In August 1994, an epidemic of acute febrile illness occurred at the Education Center Building of a company in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. All 43 trainees attended in two groups and 2 staff members of the Center fell ill. The 45 patients came to one of our hospitals in two groups, and 35 patients were treated. The patients were 4 males and 31 females, and the average age was 29.0 years. The duration until falling ill was 36 to 90 hours after entering the Center. Symptoms were fever, lumbago arthralgia, headache, dyspnea, general fatigue, etc. Physical examination revealed slightly injected mucosa of the pharynx in a patient who complained of a sore throat. On laboratory examination, leukocytosis with a left shift of the nucleus and elevation of serum CRP levels were found. Erythromycin (600 mg, daily) and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were given by mouth to almost every patient. Two patients were hospitalized. The illness was self-limited, generally lasting from two to five days. Strains of legionellae isolated from the water of the cooling tower located at the top of the Center, were identified as L. pneumophila serogroup 7. Since seroconversion in a patient against the cooling tower strain from 1:16 to 1:256 was determined and the clinical courses agreed with the definition of Pontiac fever by Glick et al, we concluded that the epidemic was an outbreak of Pontiac fever due to L. pneumophila serogroup 7. Pontiac fever is considered to be one of the community-acquired diseases. Thus, we have to note that Pontiac fever may be misdiagnosed as we examine patients who complain of the symptoms noted above.

Adolescent↗

[An outbreak of Pontiac fever due to Legionella pneumophila serogroup 7. II. Epidemiological aspects].

From August 20 to 22, 1994, an outbreak of acute febrile illness occurred in a Training Center building of a company in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. All 43 trainees attended in two groups and 2 Center staffs were attacked. Illness was self- limiting, generally lasting three days. Though strains of legionellae, isolated from the water of the cooling tower located at the top of the building, were identified as Legionella pneumophila by microplate DNA-DNA hybridization, they failed to agglutinate with antisera against L. pneumophila serogroups 1 through 6. Two strains were sent to the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and determined as serogroup 7 of the species. Since the clinical courses agreed with the definition of Pontiac fever by Glick et al. and seroconversion in a patient against the cooling tower strain (EY3698)from 1:16 to 1:256 was determined by indirect fluorescent antibody technique, the epidemic of acute febrile illness was concluded as an outbreak of Pontiac fever due to L. pneumophila serogroup 7. The cooling tower was a cylindrical open style, with volumetric flow rate of 130 liter/min, and was used for air- conditioning exclusively to the third floor of the building. The building equipped no air-inlet, and indoor-air of the training room exchanged at every break time through windows of 168 cm in height and 72 cm in width. The cooling tower was not operated for five days before the Group A trainees checked in the Center on 18 August followed by Group B trainees on 19 August. It was speculated that high atmospheric temperature and stagnation of cooling water during this period would lead L. pneumophila to overly multiply, which could be a source of infection by flowing in through opened windows to the training rooms.

Disease Outbreaks↗

Environmental surveillance of Legionella species in Thailand.

Legionellae was found in 57 per cent of 94 cooling towers and 21.8 per cent of 78 other environmental sources. These figures reveal that the existence of legionellae in cooling towers is more prevalent than that found in other environmental sources. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was the most prevalent organism among the legionellae found in cooling towers and other environmental sources. The recovery of legionellae in each province was seasonally independent and was found throughout the year. This is the first report of an environmental survey representing the existence of legionellae in every region of Thailand.

Disease Reservoirs↗

Chronic melioidosis: a report of the first case in Japan.

A 41-year-old Japanese male with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and alcoholic liver dysfunction developed melioidosis after his business trip to Indonesia and Singapore in 1988. His disease started with spiked fever on the following day after extraction of a tooth, and a liver abscess developed, followed by abscesses in the spleen and in the subphrenic space. In spite of splenectomy and intensive antimicrobial treatments for three months, he developed parotitis, prostatitis, and abscess of the right submandibular gland at 5 to 16-month interval. Pseudomonas pseudomallei was isolated from the blood and pus from each abscess. The lung was not involved. At present, he has returned to work, with continued intravenous instillation of imipenem/cilastatin.

Adult↗

Survival of Pseudomonas pseudomallei strains at 5 degrees C.

The ability of 15 Pseudomonas pseudomallei strains of different origin to survive at 5 degrees C was tested, in comparison with the type strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas cepacia. Viable cells of each strain were suspended in tryptic soy broth (diluted 1:10) at a concentration of about 10(6) CFU/ml. The suspensions were kept at 5 degrees C, and the number of viable cells was determined by counting colonies every 10 days. Four strains of P. pseudomallei, including the type strain for the species, died within 90-100 days at 5 degrees C. Ten other P. pseudomallei strains together with the type strain of P. cepacia survived 160 days or more, although viable counts of these strains decreased to 10(1-2) CFU/ml. The Oklahoma strain of P. pseudomallei and the type strain of P. aeruginosa maintained 10(5) CFU/ml after 170-190 days. It was concluded that resistance of P. pseudomallei to low temperature differs from strain to strain. From the results of our experiments and those reported in the literature of nation-wide soil contamination by P. pseudomallei in France, prejudice regarding the organism as a tropical inhabitant must be corrected.

Burkholderia cepacia↗

Identification of Oklahoma isolate as a strain of Pseudomonas pseudomallei.

Based on the morphological, physiological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics, cellular fatty acid and lipid composition, ubiquinone-8 as the major respiratory quinone, guanine-plus-cytosine content of DNA, DNA-DNA homology value, and sequence alignment of 16S rRNA nucleotides, Oklahoma isolate was reidentified as a strain of Pseudomonas pseudomallei.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Proposal of Burkholderia gen. nov. and transfer of seven species of the genus Pseudomonas homology group II to the new genus, with the type species Burkholderia cepacia (Palleroni and Holmes 1981) comb. nov.

Based on the 16S rRNA sequences, DNA-DNA homology values, cellular lipid and fatty acid composition, and phenotypic characteristics, a new genus Burkholderia is proposed for the RNA homology group II of genus Pseudomonas. Seven species in this group were transferred to the new genus. Thus seven new combinations, Burkholderia cepacia (Palleroni and Holmes 1981), Burkholderia mallei (Zopf 1885), Burkholderia pseudomallei (Whitmore 1913), Burkholderia caryophylli (Burkholder 1942), Burkholderia gladioli (Severini 1913), Burkholderia pickettii (Ralston et al 1973) and Burkholderia solanacearum (Smith 1896) were proposed.

Amino Acids↗

Phenotypic characteristics and DNA relatedness in Prevotella intermedia and similar organisms.

We have recently isolated from the gingival pockets, periapical lesions and saliva some anaerobic gram-negative, black-pigmented rods. Many of these isolates exhibited phenotypic characteristics similar to Prevotella intermedia (Bacteroides intermedius). However, several of these isolates, although resembling P. intermedia in most of the phenotypic expressions, were capable of fermenting lactose, a biochemical characteristic atypical of P. intermedia. These atypical clinical isolates (strains capable of fermenting lactose) and isolates exhibiting more typical phenotypic characteristics (i.e., lactose nonfermenting) were definitively identified as P. intermedia by DNA-DNA hybridization using a photoprobe biotin method. Quantitative hybridization of clinical isolates with labeled DNA of P. intermedia-type strains (ATCC 25611 and ATCC 33563) showed that almost all the clinical strains isolated from disease sites of adults belonged to the ATCC 25611 group, whereas strains isolated from the saliva of children belonged to the ATCC 33563 group. These data, together with the phenotypic characterization of the isolates, suggested that P. intermedia is a heterogeneous species both phenotypically and genetically.

Bacteroides↗

[Culture-positive Legionella pneumonia in Japan, 1980-1990. Working Party for Legionellosis, Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare].

The Working Party for Legionellosis headed by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare processed to standardize the diagnostic procedures for Legionella pneumonia, as the first step to clarify the actual occurrence of patients with this respiratory disease. All the clinical data were collected and analysed on the 28 culture-confirmed patients in Japan during the past 11 years, from 1980 through 1990. The 28 patients were distributed throughout Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Out of 28 patients, 18 were community-acquired and 10 were nosocomially infected. In 8 of 18 community-acquired patients, any significant underlying disease was not observed. Though it was dominant in the age group in their 60s & 70s, victims were distributed in adults over 20 years of age and even in a new born baby. Only 5 out of 28 patients recovered successfully. From the autopsy findings, in 5 out of the remaining 23 expired patients, Legionella pneumonia seemed to be successfully treated, but other disease or other bacterial pneumonia put an end to the patients. The results of clinical laboratory tests and the efficacy of antibiotics to Legionella pneumonia were essentially the same as those reported in the literature.

Adult↗

[Analysis of chest radiographs of culture positive Legionella pneumonia in Japan, 1980-1990. Working Party for Legionellosis, Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare].

We analyzed the initial and follow-up chest radiographs of 28 patients with culture-positive Legionella pneumonia, and developed a scoring system to quantitate the severity of radiological findings for pneumonia. Intrapulmonary shadows were observed on the initial chest radiograph in 26 patients, but pleural effusion was noted in only one. In one patient the initial chest radiograph had probably been obtained too early to reveal any pulmonary change. Alveolar shadows were noted on the initial radiograph in 21 (81%) patients, and interstitial shadows in 5 (19%). In ten (38%) patients shadows were present in both lung fields. Shadows were prominent in the middle and lower lung fields. A cavity was noted in only one patient, and pleural effusion was also noted at some time during the clinical course in 19 (70%). A large amount of pleural effusion was observed in four patients. The average pneumonia severity score was 3.3 in the 9 patients who survived, and 5.1 in the 17 who died (p > 0.05). The mortality rate was 53% in the 17 patients with pneumonia severity score of 5 or less and 89% in the 9 patients with a score of 6 or more (p > 0.05). Twelve patients died within one week after the initial chest radiograph was obtained. There were no differences among patients with community-acquired infection with or without underlying disease and those with nosocomial infection in characteristic and extension of shadow, presence of pleural effusion, or pneumonia score. The chest radiograph of Legionella pneumonia include bilateral shadow findings characteristic, pleural effusion and rapid progression of shadow, and are clinically useful for diagnosis.

Adolescent↗

Factors stimulating propagation of legionellae in cooling tower water.

Our survey of cooling tower water demonstrated that the highest density of legionellae, >/=10 CFU/100 ml, appeared in water containing protozoa, >/=10 MPN/100 ml, and heterotrophic bacteria, >/=10 CFU/100 ml, at water temperatures between 25 and 35 degrees C. Viable counts of legionellae were detected even in the winter samples, and propagation, up to 10 CFU/100 ml, occurs in summer. The counts of legionellae correlated positively with increases in water temperature, pH, and protozoan counts, but not with heterotrophic bacterial counts. The water temperature of cooling towers may promote increases in the viable counts of legionellae, and certain microbes, e.g., protozoa or some heterotrophic bacteria, may be a factor stimulating the propagation of legionellae.

Journal Article↗