| infections with vibrio vulnificus. | v. vulnificus is an uncommon cause of soft tissue infection and primary septicemia, especially in patients with hepatic disease or who patients who are immunocompromised. the mortality of infection in these patients is extremely high despite timely antibiotic therapy. it is important to consider the possibility of infection with v. vulnificus in patients who present with high fever and rapidly progressive sepsis and have a history of consumption of raw seafood (especially oysters) or exposure of ... | 2003 | 12757246 |
| health department liability for non-enforcement. | | 2003 | 12762123 |
| response of vibrio parahaemolyticus 03:k6 to a hot water/cold shock pasteurization process. | vibrio vulnificus and v. parahaemolyticus are natural inhabitants of estuarine environments world wide. pathogenic strains of these bacteria are often transmitted to humans through consumption of raw oysters, which flourish in the same estuaries. previous studies reported the effective use of hot water pasteurization followed by cold shock to eliminate from raw oysters naturally and artificially incurred environmental strains of v. vulnificus and v. parahaemolyticus common to the gulf of mexico. ... | 2003 | 12775474 |
| vibrio vulnificus infection of the lower limb after fish spine injuries. | five patients with soft tissue infection of the lower extremity caused by vibrio vulnificus after penetrating injuries by fish spines are described. despite previously reported dismal rates of morbidity and mortality associated with vibrio septicemia, early measures including wide-spectrum intravenous antibiotics and surgical excision of devitalized tissues resulted in complete resolution in all cases. although penetrating injury is the common route of infection, indirect seeding may occur by th ... | 2003 | 12782885 |
| the kinetics of antibody production in mucus and serum of european eel (anguilla anguilla l.) after vaccination against vibrio vulnificus: development of a new method for antibody quantification in skin mucus. | vibrio vulnificus serovar e, a bacterial pathogen for eels cultured in intensive systems, is transmitted through water and enters into new hosts mainly via gills. the main objective of this work was to study the kinetics of antibody production to v. vulnificus in serum and mucus and their relationship with protection after vaccination. to quantify local mucus antibodies, a new "in situ" dot blot immunoassay using image analysis has been developed. this assay was applied to measure antibody produ ... | 2003 | 12787687 |
| intraspecific diversity of vibrio vulnificus in galveston bay water and oysters as determined by randomly amplified polymorphic dna pcr. | randomly amplified polymorphic dna (rapd) pcr was used to analyze the temporal and spatial intraspecific diversity of 208 vibrio vulnificus strains isolated from galveston bay water and oysters at five different sites between june 2000 and june 2001. v. vulnificus was not detected during the winter months (december through february). the densities of v. vulnificus in water and oysters were positively correlated with water temperature. cluster analysis of rapd pcr profiles of the 208 v. vulnificu ... | 2003 | 12788713 |
| population genetics of vibrio vulnificus: identification of two divisions and a distinct eel-pathogenic clone. | genetic relationships among 62 vibrio vulnificus strains of different geographical and host origins were analyzed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (mlee), random amplification of polymorphic dna (rapd), and sequence analyses of the reca and glna genes. out of 15 genetic loci analyzed by mlee, 11 were polymorphic. cluster analysis identified 43 distinct electrophoretic types (ets) separating the v. vulnificus population into two divisions (divisions i and ii). one et (et 35) included all indo ... | 2003 | 12788717 |
| ecology of vibrio vulnificus in estuarine waters of eastern north carolina. | while several studies on the ecology of vibrio vulnificus in gulf coast environments have been reported, there is little information on the distribution of this pathogen in east coast waters. thus, we conducted a multiyear study on the ecology of v. vulnificus in estuarine waters of the eastern united states, employing extensive multiple regression analyses to reveal the major environmental factors controlling the presence of this pathogen, and of vibrio spp., in these environments. monthly fiel ... | 2003 | 12788759 |
| regulation of vibrio vulnificus virulence by the luxs quorum-sensing system. | vibrio vulnificus is a halophilic estuarine bacterium that causes fatal septicaemia and necrotizing wound infections. we tested whether v. vulnificus produces signalling molecules (autoinducer 1 and/or 2) stimulating vibrio harveyi quorum-sensing system 1 and/or 2. although there was no evidence for signalling system 1, we found that v. vulnificus produced a signalling activity in the culture supernatant that induced luminescence expression in v. harveyi through signalling system 2. maximal auto ... | 2003 | 12791145 |
| characterization of the vibrio vulnificus putap operon, encoding proline dehydrogenase and proline permease, and its differential expression in response to osmotic stress. | the vibrio vulnificus putap genes encoding a proline dehydrogenase and a proline permease are transcribed in the same direction. proline dehydrogenase activity and the level of puta transcript were determined to reach a maximum in exponential phase and were then repressed when growth slowed down. northern blotting and primer extension analyses revealed that transcription of putap genes results in two different transcripts, transcript a (puta transcript) and transcript ap (putap transcript). expr ... | 2003 | 12813078 |
| inflammatory cytokine response to vibrio vulnificus elicited by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic alcohol users is associated with biomarkers of cellular oxidative stress. | vibrio vulnificus is the leading cause of death in the united states associated with the consumption of raw seafood, particularly oysters. in epidemiological studies, primary septicemia and inflammation-mediated septic shock caused by v. vulnificus is strongly associated with liver disease, often in the context of chronic alcohol abuse. the present study was undertaken to determine whether clinical biomarkers of liver function or cellular oxidative stress are associated with peripheral blood mon ... | 2003 | 12819121 |
| analysis of vibrio vulnificus from market oysters and septicemia cases for virulence markers. | representative encapsulated strains of vibrio vulnificus from market oysters and oyster-associated primary septicemia cases (25 isolates each) were tested in a blinded fashion for potential virulence markers that may distinguish strains from these two sources. these isolates were analyzed for plasmid content, for the presence of a 460-bp amplicon by randomly amplified polymorphic dna pcr, and for virulence in subcutaneously (s.c.) inoculated, iron-dextran-treated mice. similar percentages of mar ... | 2003 | 12839775 |
| a fatal case of vibrio vulnificus meningoencephalitis. | the objective of this paper is to report a rare case of vibrio vulnificus presenting as meningoencephalitis without a wound infection. vibrio vulnificus is capable of causing severe and often fatal infections in susceptible individuals. it commonly causes necrotizing wound infections, primary septicemia, and gastroenteritis. a 69-year-old man had meningoencephalitis with lesion on the red nucleus, substantia nigra, basal ganglia, and dentate nucleus as the initial clinical manifestation of a v. ... | 2003 | 12848737 |
| signal-mediated cross-talk regulates stress adaptation in vibrio species. | quorum sensing systems serve as a means of 'census taking' of conspecific and non-conspecific bacteria in the near vicinity. the acylated homoserine lactone (ahl) quorum sensing system has been proposed to be primarily an intra-specific communication system, while the ai-2 autoinducer signalling system is proposed to be an interspecific communication system. here it is shown that ai-2-like signalling in two marine vibrio species, vibrio vulnificus and 'vibrio angustum' s14, induces the core resp ... | 2003 | 12855743 |
| cholera and other types of vibriosis: a story of human pandemics and oysters on the half shell. | vibrios are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment and are commonly present in or on shellfish and other seafood. a small subset of strains/species are able to cause human disease, including the cholera toxin-producing strains of vibrio cholerae that are responsible for epidemic/pandemic cholera; thermostable direct hemolysin-producing strains of vibrio parahaemolyticus; and vibrio vulnificus, which can cause fulminant sepsis. cholera outbreaks can be initiated by transmission of "epidemic" v. ch ... | 2003 | 12856219 |
| [vibrio vulnificus septicemia transmitted through a wound caused by a crustacea]. | vibrio vulnificus proliferates during the summer in salt water where it infects the crustaceans. expression of its pathogenicity depends on the underlying condition and mode of contamination. | 2003 | 12876519 |
| dna binding and cleavage by the periplasmic nuclease vvn: a novel structure with a known active site. | the vibrio vulnificus nuclease, vvn, is a non-specific periplasmic nuclease capable of digesting dna and rna. the crystal structure of vvn and that of vvn mutant h80a in complex with dna were resolved at 2.3 a resolution. vvn has a novel mixed alpha/beta topology containing four disulfide bridges, suggesting that vvn is not active under reducing conditions in the cytoplasm. the overall structure of vvn shows no similarity to other endonucleases; however, a known 'betabetaalpha-metal' motif is id ... | 2003 | 12881435 |
| antibiotic activity of lectins from marine algae against marine vibrios. | saline and aqueous ethanol extracts of marine algae and the lectins from two red algal species were assayed for their antibiotic activity against marine vibrios. experimental studies were also carried out on the influence of environmental factors on such activity, using batch cultures. the results indicated that many of the saline extracts of the algal species were active and that the activity was selective against those vibrios assayed. the algal extracts were active against vibrio pelagius and ... | 2003 | 12884128 |
| on-line high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric detection and quantification of n-acylhomoserine lactones, quorum sensing signal molecules, in the presence of biological matrices. | a protocol using reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled with positive-ion electrospray ionization and ion trap mass spectrometry is described for the identification and quantification of n-acylhomoserine lactones (hsls) in crude cell-free supernatants of bacterial cultures. the hsls are produced by gram-negative bacteria and act as intercellular signals inducing density-dependent gene expression. compared with the multi-step procedures previously reported, which included chemical extractio ... | 2003 | 12885081 |
| vibrio vulnificus necrotizing fasciitis of the calf presenting with compartment syndrome. | we describe a 17-year-old boy with congenital spherocytosis and iron overload who presented with compartment syndrome of the calf as the initial manifestation of vibrio vulnificus infection after minor trauma in a contaminated fish pond. the disease was complicated by necrotizing fasciitis requiring above the knee amputation. childhood diseases associated with iron overload pose an increased risk for complicated v. vulnificus infections. | 2003 | 12886899 |
| vibrio vulnificus infection: clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, and antimicrobial therapy. | there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported cases of infection due to vibrio vulnificus in taiwan. although the organism has been etiologically implicated in a variety of clinical syndromes, most cases of v. vulnificus infection are categorized as primary bacteremia, skin and soft tissue infection. the mortality was up to 50% in septic patients, most of them dying within 48 h of admission. in most of the cases involving v. vulnificus infection have underlying disease, particular ... | 2003 | 12886957 |
| vibrio vulnificus infection in a hemodialysis patient receiving intravenous iron therapy. | a 73-year-old man treated with long-term hemodialysis, erythropoietin, and intravenous iron sucrose infusions developed vibrio vulnificus infection after eating raw oysters harvested from the alabama coast. five of the 31 persons with cases of v. vulnificus infection reported to the alabama department of public health (montgomery) during 1996-2002 (including the patient described here) also had renal disease. persons with renal disease, especially those treated with long-term hemodialysis and in ... | 2003 | 12942420 |
| smcr and cyclic amp receptor protein coactivate vibrio vulnificus vvpe encoding elastase through the rpos-dependent promoter in a synergistic manner. | the putative virulence factors of vibrio vulnificus include an elastase, the gene product of vvpe. we previously demonstrated that vvpe expression is differentially directed by two different promoters in a growth phase-dependent manner. the activity of the stationaryphase promoter (promoter s (ps)) is dependent on rpos and is also under the positive control of cyclic amp receptor protein (crp). in this study, primer extension analyses revealed that smcr, the vibrio harveyi luxr homolog, is also ... | 2003 | 12947096 |
| regulation of fur expression by rpos and fur in vibrio vulnificus. | in a proteomic analysis of rpos-deficient vibrio vulnificus versus the wild type, one of the down-regulated proteins in the rpos mutant strain was identified as a fur protein, a ferric uptake regulator. the expression of a fur::luxab fusion was significantly influenced by sigma factor s, the rpos gene product, and positively regulated by fur under iron-limited conditions. | 2003 | 13129962 |
| severe bacterial infection in transfusion-dependent patients with thalassemia major. | the incidence and clinical spectrum of severe bacterial infection were studied in 89 patients with thalassemia major that was diagnosed between january 1971 and march 2002. there were 20 patients with 24 episodes of severe bacterial infection, resulting in an incidence of 1.6 infections per 100 patient-years. the clinical spectrum included liver abscess (6 cases), septicemia (6 cases), soft-tissue infection (2 cases), osteomyelitis (2 cases), corneal ulcer (1 case), enteritis (1 case), and absce ... | 2003 | 13130412 |
| characterization and pathogenic significance of vibrio vulnificus antigens preferentially expressed in septicemic patients. | many important virulence genes of pathogenic bacteria are preferentially expressed in vivo. we used the recently developed in vivo-induced antigen technology (iviat) to identify vibrio vulnificus genes induced in vivo. an expression library of v. vulnificus was screened by colony blot analysis by using pooled convalescent-phase serum that had been thoroughly adsorbed with in vitro-expressed v. vulnificus whole cells and lysates. twelve clones were selected, and the sequences of the insert dnas w ... | 2003 | 14500463 |
| isolation of vibrio vulnificus and atypical vibrio from surface water of the baltic sea in germany. | from 1995 to 1997 several defined species like v. alginolyticus, v. anguillarum, v. cholerae (non o1 and non o139), v. mimicus, v. parahaemolyticus and v. vulnificus were isolated during a survey to determine the presence of v. vulnificus in the brackish water of the baltic sea in germany. moreover atypical vibrio isolates were detected. four isolates belonging to a group of atypical vibrio and possibly representing a new species in the genus vibrio were characterized in detail. all four strains ... | 2003 | 14526469 |
| rpos-dependent stress response and exoenzyme production in vibrio vulnificus. | vibrio vulnificus is an estuarine bacterium capable of causing rapidly fatal infections through both ingestion and wound infection. like other opportunistic pathogens, v. vulnificus must adapt to potentially stressful environmental changes while living freely in seawater, upon colonization of the oyster gut, and upon infection of such diverse hosts as humans and eels. in order to begin to understand the ability of v. vulnificus to respond to such stresses, we examined the role of the alternate s ... | 2003 | 14532069 |
| emerging pathologies in aquaculture: effects on production and food safety. | infectious diseases represent a limiting factor for the further development of italian aquaculture. the recent introduction and spreading of new pathogens, along with the global climatic change, has contributed to a considerable decrease in trout production. emerging pathologies in rainbow trout culture include viral diseases, e.g. infectious haematopoietic necrosis (ihn), bacterial diseases, such as lactococcosis and visceral flavobacteriosis, and parasitical diseases, e.g. proliferative kidney ... | 2003 | 14535454 |
| necrotising fasciitis and myositis that originated from gastrointestinal bacterial infection: two fatal cases. | we present two cases of aggressive myofasciitis after gastrointestinal infections. the first patient developed necrosis of the legs over 5 days and he died on the 20th day. vibrio vulnificus was cultured. the second patient developed bullae on his thigh and he died the next day. streptococcus pyogenes was cultured. | 2003 | 14582759 |
| a 46-year-old man with end-stage liver disease secondary to hepatitis c with diarrhea, fever, and worsening liver failure. | | 2003 | 14603109 |
| duplex real-time sybr green pcr assays for detection of 17 species of food- or waterborne pathogens in stools. | a duplex real-time sybr green lightcycler pcr (lc-pcr) assay with dna extraction using the qiaamp dna stool mini kit was evaluated with regard to detection of 8 of 17 species of food- or waterborne pathogens in five stool specimens in 2 h or less. the protocol used the same lc-pcr with 20 pairs of specific primers. the products formed were identified based on a melting point temperature (t(m)) curve analysis. the 17 species of food- or waterborne pathogens examined were enteroinvasive escherichi ... | 2003 | 14605150 |
| identification of foodborne bacteria by infrared spectroscopy using cellular fatty acid methyl esters. | identification of bacterial species by profiling fatty acid methyl esters (fames) has commonly been carried out by using a 20-min capillary gas chromatographic procedure followed by library matching of fame profiles using commercial midi databases and proprietary pattern recognition software. fast gc (5 min) fame procedures and mass spectrometric methodologies that require no lipid separation have also been reported. in this study, bacterial identification based on the rapid (2 min) infrared mea ... | 2003 | 14607413 |
| hepcidin: the missing link between hemochromatosis and infections. | | 2003 | 14638752 |
| sepsis with bullous necrotizing skin lesions due to vibrio vulnificus acquired through recreational activities in the baltic sea. | this report describes the case of a 59-year-old woman with a history of non-hodgkin's lymphoma who developed bacteremia with vibrio vulnificus. the patient had been swimming in the unusually warm baltic sea in the summer of 2002. she presented with symptoms of septicemia and severe bullous necrotizing skin lesions of the extremities. blood culture revealed vibrio vulnificus as the pathogenic organism. under treatment with cefotaxime and gentamicin, she recovered slowly without further complicati ... | 2004 | 14655036 |
| comparative genome analysis of vibrio vulnificus, a marine pathogen. | the halophile vibrio vulnificus is an etiologic agent of human mortality from seafood-borne infections. we applied whole-genome sequencing and comparative analysis to investigate the evolution of this pathogen. the genome of biotype 1 strain, v. vulnificus yj016, was sequenced and includes two chromosomes of estimated 3377 kbp and 1857 kbp in size, and a plasmid of 48,508 bp. a super-integron (si) was identified, and the si region spans 139 kbp and contains 188 gene cassettes. in contrast to non ... | 2003 | 14656965 |
| real-time pcr analysis of vibrio vulnificus from oysters. | vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen commonly found in estuarine environments. infections are associated with raw oyster consumption and can produce rapidly fatal septicemia in susceptible individuals. standard enumeration of this organism in shellfish or seawater is laborious and inaccurate; therefore, more efficient assays are needed. an oligonucleotide probe derived from the cytolysin gene, vvha, was previously used for colony hybridizations to enumerate v. vulnificus. however ... | 2003 | 14660359 |
| sensitivity of vibrio species in phosphate-buffered saline and in oysters to high-pressure processing. | multiple strains of vibrio vulnificus, vibrio parahaemolyticus, and vibrio cholerae non-o1 were tested in phosphate-buffered saline for their sensitivity to high-pressure processing (hpp). variability in sensitivity among strains was observed for all species; this variability decreased at higher pressures. v. vulnificus was the species that was most sensitive to treatment at 200 mpa (decimal reduction time [d] = 26 s), and v. cholerae was the species that was most resistant to treatment at 200 m ... | 2003 | 14672224 |
| rapid detection of vibrio vulnificus in shellfish and gulf of mexico water by real-time pcr. | in this paper we describe optimization of sybr green i-based real-time pcr parameters and testing of a large number of microbial species with vvh-specific oligonucleotide primers to establish a rapid, specific, and sensitive method for detection of vibrio vulnificus in oyster tissue homogenate and gulf of mexico water (gulf water). selected oligonucleotide primers for the vvh gene were tested for pcr amplification of a 205-bp dna fragment with a melting temperature of approximately 87 degrees c ... | 2004 | 14711681 |
| abundance of potentially pathogenic micro-organisms in penaeus monodon larvae rearing systems in india. | monodon baculovirls (mbv), external fouling organisms (efo) and bacteria (especially vibrio species) were monitored during 1996-1997 at nine different penaeus monodon rearing hatcheries in india. total cultivable heterotrophic bacteria, vibrio-like-bacteria, presumptive vibrio harveyi, vibrio anguillarum, vibrio vulnificus counts were determined from shrimp eggs, post larvae, rearing tank water, source sea water, feed (artemia nauplii and microencapsulated feed). the mbv infected post larvae and ... | 2003 | 14717450 |
| high growing ability of vibrio vulnificus biotype 1 is essential for production of a toxic metalloprotease causing systemic diseases in humans. | vibrio vulnificus biotype 1, a causative agent of fatal septicemia or wound infection in humans, is known to produce a toxic metalloprotease as an important virulence determinant. v. vulnificus biotype 2 (serovar e), a primary eel pathogen, was found to elaborate an extracellular metalloprotease that was indistinguishable from that of biotype 1. the potential of v. vulnificus biotype 1 for production of the metalloprotease was compared with biotype 2 and other human non-pathogenic vibrio species ... | 2004 | 14726228 |
| expression of vibrio vulnificus capsular polysaccharide inhibits biofilm formation. | vibrio vulnificus is a human pathogen that produces lethal septicemia in susceptible persons, and the primary virulence factor for this organism is capsular polysaccharide (cps). the role of the capsule in v. vulnificus biofilms was examined under a variety of conditions, by using either defined cps mutants or spontaneous cps expression phase variants derived from multiple strains. cps expression was shown to inhibit attachment and biofilm formation, which contrasted with other studies describin ... | 2004 | 14729720 |
| a k+ yptake protein, trka, is required for serum, protamine, and polymyxin b resistance in vibrio vulnificus. | vibrio vulnificus, a highly virulent marine bacterium, is the causative agent of both serious wound infections and fatal septicemia in many areas of the world. to identify the genes required for resistance to human serum, we constructed a library of transposon mutants of v. vulnificus and screened them for hypersensitivity to human serum. here we report that one of the isolated serum-susceptible mutants had a mutation in an open reading frame identified as trka, a gene encoding an amino acid seq ... | 2004 | 14742502 |
| vibrio vulnificus infection: epidemiology, clinical presentations, and prevention. | | 2004 | 14982256 |
| varied clinical presentations of vibrio vulnificus infections: a report of four unusual cases and review of the literature. | vibrio vulnificus is a gram-negative, motile, curved bacillus of the family vibrionaceae that is a rare cause of gastroenteritis, septicemia, and wound infections in humans. v. vulnificus is halophilic, flourishes in warm temperatures, and is part of the bacterial flora of the marine environment. the location of our health care setting, on the gulf of mexico, has given us the opportunity to observe a wide variety of clinical presentations of infections caused by this organism. in the first case, ... | 2004 | 14982266 |
| a "fishy remedy": an unusual transmission of vibrio vulnificus infection. | this case report describes a unique transmission of vibrio vulnificus infection. a 38-year-old woman with recurrent cellulitis and chronic ulcer on her leg developed necrotizing cellulitis and sepsis caused by v. vulnificus. meticulous history investigation revealed the link to contaminated fish blood that had been applied on the ulcer by a traditional healer. through this case, it may be stressed that a traditional remedy can sometimes be harmful and life-threatening. | 2004 | 14982277 |
| influence of aquatic microbiota on the survival in water of the human and eel pathogen vibrio vulnificus serovar e. | the eel and human pathogen vibrio vulnificus serovar e (biotype 2) is seldom isolated from natural waters, although it can survive in sterilized artificial seawater microcosms for years. the main objective of the present study was to investigate whether aquatic microbiota can limit its survival and recovery from water samples. a set of preliminary experiments of survival in microcosms containing natural seawater and water from eel farms showed that the persistence of this pathogen was mainly con ... | 2004 | 15008814 |
| a systematic method to identify genomic islands and its applications in analyzing the genomes of corynebacterium glutamicum and vibrio vulnificus cmcp6 chromosome i. | some genomic islands contain horizontally transferred genes, which play critical roles in altering the genotypes and phenotypes of organisms, and horizontal gene transfer has been recognized as a universal event throughout bacterial evolution. a windowless method to display the distribution of genomic gc content, the cumulative gc profile, is proposed to identify genomic islands in genomes whose complete genome sequences are available. two new indices are proposed to assess the codon usage bias ... | 2004 | 15033867 |
| simultaneous detection of marine fish pathogens by using multiplex pcr and a dna microarray. | we coupled multiplex pcr and a dna microarray to construct an assay suitable for the simultaneous detection of five important marine fish pathogens (vibrio vulnificus, listonella anguillarum, photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae, aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, and vibrio parahaemolyticus). the array was composed of nine short oligonucleotide probes (25-mer) complementary to seven chromosomal loci (cyt, rpon, gyrb, toxr, urec, dly, and vapa) and two plasmid-borne loci (fata and a.sa ... | 2004 | 15070982 |
| cloning and characterization of the lipase and lipase activator protein from vibrio vulnificus ckm-1. | the gene (lipa) encoding the extracellular lipase and its downstream gene (lipb) from vibrio vulnificus ckm-1 were cloned and sequenced. nucleotide sequence analysis and alignments of amino acid sequences suggest that lip ais a member of bacterial lipase family i.1 and that lipb is a lipase activator of lipa. the active lipa was produced in recombinant escherichia coli cells only in the presence of the lipb. in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters and triacylglycerols, using the reactivated li ... | 2004 | 15093133 |
| [a basic study of vibrio vulnificus infection: serotyping and drug sensitivity test of environment-derived strains and human clinical isolates]. | in attempt to elucidate the route and source of vibrio vulnificus infection. serotyping and drug sensitivity tests of environment-derived strains and human clinical isolates were performed. 1) serotyping of isolates from the two types of source were determined. of environment-derived strains, 72.5% were classified into 18 types, and o7 was the most frequent type, accounting for 73.1%, and the second frequent type was o4, accounting for 6.1%. of human clinical isolates, 87.1% were classified into ... | 2004 | 15103898 |
| efficacy of a bivalent vaccine against eel diseases caused by vibrio vulnificus after its administration by four different routes. | vulnivaccine, a vaccine against vibriosis caused by vibrio vulnificus serovar e (formerly biotype 2), confers acceptable levels of protection to eels after its administration by prolonged immersion in three doses. recently, a new pathogenic serovar, named serovar a, has been isolated from vaccinated eels in a spanish freshwater eel farm. the main objective of this work was to design a bivalent vaccine, and to study its effectiveness against the two pathogenic serovars. with this aim, eels weighi ... | 2004 | 15123314 |
| regulation of proinflammatory mediator production in raw264.7 macrophage by vibrio vulnificus luxs and smcr. | vibrio vulnificus causes fatal septicemia in human hosts, which is the consequence of raw shellfish consumption. the mortality following septicemia is dependent on the in vivo production of inflammatory mediators, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnfalpha). the present study was set up to investigate the association of quorum sensing in v. vulnificus with the host immune response. the effect of quorum sensing on cytotoxicity and the production of proinflammatory mediators was examined usin ... | 2004 | 15145462 |
| isolation and characterization of rpos from a pathogenic bacterium, vibrio vulnificus: role of sigmas in survival of exponential-phase cells under oxidative stress. | a gene homologous to rpos was cloned from a fatal human pathogen, vibrio vulnificus. the functional role of rpos in v. vulnificus was accessed by using an rpos knockout mutant strain. this mutant was impaired in terms of the ability to survive under oxidative stress, nutrient starvation, uv irradiation, or acidic conditions. the increased susceptibility of the v. vulnificus mutant in the exponential phase to h2o2 was attributed to the reduced activity of hydroperoxidase i (hpi). although sigmas ... | 2004 | 15150215 |
| bright fluorescence of a novel protein from vibrio vulnificus depends on nadph and the expression of this protein is regulated by a lysr-type regulatory gene. | a blue fluorescent protein, bfgv, belonging to the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily, was found in a non-bioluminescent pathogen vibrio vulnificus ckm-1. this protein has fluorescence spectra with two excitation peaks at 283 and 352 nm, and one emission peak at 456 nm. bfgv fluoresces through effectively augmenting the intrinsic fluorescence of nadph bound to it. escherichia coli transformants expressing this protein can emit eye-detectable fluorescence. a lysr-type transcriptional ... | 2004 | 15158463 |
| quantifying intrachromosomal gc heterogeneity in prokaryotic genomes. | the sequencing of prokaryotic genomes covering a wide taxonomic range has sparked renewed interest in intrachromosomal compositional (gc) heterogeneity, largely in view of lateral transfers. we present here a brief overview of some methods for visualizing and quantifying gc variation in prokaryotes. we used these methods to examine heterogeneity levels in sequenced prokaryotes, for a range of scales or stringencies. some species are consistently homogeneous, whereas others are markedly heterogen ... | 2004 | 15177687 |
| a plasmid-encoded class 1 integron carrying sat, a putative phosphoserine phosphatase gene and aada2 from enterotoxigenic escherichia coli o159 isolated in japan. | a class 1 integron was detected in a single multidrug-resistant strain of enterotoxigenice escherichia coli (etec) o159 after examination of 23 clinical e. coli isolates. this isolate was resistant to streptomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, chloramphenicol and ampicillin. sequencing of the class 1 integron identified three-gene cassettes. the first is the streptothricin acetyltransferase gene, sat, which confers resistance to streptothricin. the second is an orf whose product is a putative phosphos ... | 2004 | 15183870 |
| hyperbaric oxygen as adjunctive therapy in vibrio vulnificus septicemia and cellulitis. | | 2004 | 15233174 |
| vibrio vulnificus sepsis successfully treated with antibiotics, surgical debridement, and recombinant human activated protein c. | | 2004 | 15233383 |
| characterization of a lysyl aminopeptidase activity associated with phosphoglucose isomerase of vibrio vulnificus. | phosphoglucose isomerase (pgi) is a multifunctional enzyme involved in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis and, in mammalian cells, functions as neuroleukin, autocrine motility factor (amf), and differentiation and maturation factor (mf). we isolated and characterized pgi with a novel lysyl aminopeptidase (lysap) activity (pgi-lysap) from vibrio vulnificus. mass spectrometry revealed that pgi-lysap is a heterodimer consisting of 23.4- and 60.8-kda subunits. only the heterodimer displayed lysap activi ... | 2004 | 15262231 |
| an outbreak of vibrio vulnificus infection in kumamoto, japan, 2001. | | 2004 | 15262710 |
| role of flagellum and motility in pathogenesis of vibrio vulnificus. | to assess the role of the flagellum which was detected by immunoscreening of surface proteins of vibrio vulnificus, an flge-deleted mutant was constructed and tested for its pathogenicity. the ability of this nonmotile mutant to adhere to int-407 cells and its role in biofilm were decreased, as was its lethality to mice. | 2004 | 15271959 |
| immunogenic antigens of the eel pathogen vibrio vulnificus serovar e. | the immunogenic antigens of vibrio vulnificus serovar e were investigated in the eel. fish were vaccinated by immersion with vulnivaccine (v), revaccinated 2 years later by intraperitoneal injection (rv) and bath infected 15 days post-revaccination (rvi). the specific immune response in serum was followed in all groups, and selected sera were used for immunostaining of surface (sa) and extracellular antigens (eca). bacteria were grown in iron-rich (tsb and mswye) and iron-poor media (tsb and msw ... | 2004 | 15276607 |
| seal finger. | | 2004 | 15288743 |
| fluorescent intensity of a novel nadph-binding protein of vibrio vulnificus can be improved by directed evolution. | blue fluorescent protein, bfgv, found from vibrio vulnificus ckm-1, fluoresces through augmenting the intrinsic fluorescence of bound nadph. random mutagenesis and dna shuffling were applied to increase the fluorescent intensity of bfgv. the wild type bfgv gene was subjected to four cycles of mutagenesis processes. a prominent d7 mutant protein had fluorescent intensity four times larger than wild type bfgv. the emission wavelength of this mutant protein appeared at 440 nm, which was 16 nm short ... | 2004 | 15313207 |
| occurrence of vibrio vulnificus in fish and shellfish available from markets in china. | vibrio vulnificus is a naturally occurring estuarine bacterium often associated with disease such as septicemia in humans following consumption of raw and lightly cooked seafood. in china and neighboring countries, rapid economic growth has encouraged increased consumption of seafood, and dietary habits are changing, with more people eating raw fish. in this study, the prevalence of v. vulnificus was investigated in 48 samples from 11 species of live seafood available from markets in coastal cit ... | 2004 | 15330524 |
| [seasonal change of vibrio vulnificus in the slime of tidal flats, seawater, and fishes collected along ariake sea, japan]. | to investigate the seasonal change of vibrio vulnificus in ariake sea, japan, we attempted to isolate v. vulnificus from the slime of tidal flats, seawater, and fishes obtained from three harbors along ariake sea. the sample were collected twice a month from january to december, 2001. also, we determined the biological characteristics of the individual isolates. v. vulnificus were isolated throughout the year, but the isolation ratios were higher during the warmer season from june to october. th ... | 2004 | 15344557 |
| pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of vibrio vulnificus strains isolated from taiwan and the united states. | vibrio vulnificus is a marine bacterium that causes human wound infections and septicemia with a high mortality rate. v. vulnificus strains from different clinical and environmental sources or geographic regions have been successfully characterized by ribotyping and several other methods. pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (pfge) is a highly discriminative method, but previous studies suggested that it was not suitable for examining the correlation of v. vulnificus strains from different origins. ... | 2004 | 15345394 |
| effects of temperature and salinity on vibrio vulnificus population dynamics as assessed by quantitative pcr. | the abundance of vibrio vulnificus in coastal environments has been linked to water temperature, while its relationship to salinity is less clear. we have developed a culture-independent, most-probable-number quantitative pcr approach to examine v. vulnificus population dynamics in barnegat bay, n.j. based on the combined analysis of our results from barnegat bay and from the literature, the present data show that (i) v. vulnificus population dynamics are strongly correlated to water temperature ... | 2004 | 15345434 |
| changes in membrane fatty acid composition during entry of vibrio vulnificus into the viable but nonculturable state. | vibrio vulnificus, a gram-negative bacterium found in estuarine waters, is responsible for over 95% of all seafood-related deaths in the united states. as a result of a temperature downshift to 5 degrees c, this organism enters the viable but nonculturable (vbnc) state. changes in the membrane fatty acid (fa) composition of v. vulnificus may be a contributing factor to the ability of this organism to enter into and survive in the vbnc state. this hypothesis was tested by incubating the organism ... | 2004 | 15357297 |
| purification and characterization of lysozyme from plasma of the eastern oyster (crassostrea virginica). | lysozyme was purified from the plasma of eastern oysters (crassostrea virginica) using a combination of ion exchange and gel filtration chromatographies. the molecular mass of purified lysozyme was estimated at 18.4 kda by sds-page, and its isoelectric point was greater than 10. mass spectrometric analysis of the purified enzyme revealed a high-sequence homology with i-type lysozymes. no similarity was found however between the n-terminal sequence of oyster plasma lysozyme and n-terminal sequenc ... | 2004 | 15364284 |
| identification of the emerging pathogen vibrio vulnificus biotype 3 by commercially available phenotypic methods. | identification of the emerging pathogen vibrio vulnificus biotype 3 has become a challenge for clinical laboratories in the last few years. in this study, the abilities of five commercial systems to identify this new species have been evaluated for the first time, using a unique collection of strains. fifty-one well-documented wild strains of v. vulnificus biotype 3 were processed using api 20 ne, gni+ vitek 1 cards, id-gnb vitek 2 cards, neg combo 20 microscan panels, and nmic/id-5 bd phoenix p ... | 2004 | 15365001 |
| hand infections caused by delayed inoculation of vibrio vulnificus: does human skin serve as a potential reservoir of vibrios? | vibrio vulnificus may cause severe soft tissue infections of the upper extremity. this pathogen usually gains access to soft tissues either by direct inoculation through a penetrating injury by an infected marine animal or by exposing abraded skin to contaminated water. we report five patients with vibrio vulnificus hand infections following superficial hand injuries incurred within 24 hours after uneventful handling of fish. this clinical observation, together with the fact that the physiologic ... | 2004 | 15368624 |
| a calcium-calmodulin antagonist blocks experimental vibrio vulnificus cytolysin-induced lethality in an experimental mouse model. | we demonstrated that trifluoperazine, a calcium-calmodulin antagonist, blocked the hyperpermeability induced by vibrio vulnificus cytolysin in in vitro-modeled endothelium and prevented the deaths of mice. furthermore, compared to tetracycline alone, tetracycline combined with trifluoperazine enhanced the survival rate of v. vulnificus-infected mice, indicating the role of the cytolysin as an important factor in pathogenesis. | 2004 | 15385523 |
| characterization and virulence of hemolysin iii from vibrio vulnificus. | vibrio vulnificus, a highly virulent marine bacterium, is the causative agent of both serious wound infections and fatal septicemia in many areas of the word. a gene (hlyiii) encoding a hemolysin was cloned and sequenced from v. vulnificus. nucleotide sequence analysis predicted an open reading frame of 642 bp encoding a 214 amino acid polypeptide that showed 48% sequence identity to the hemolysin iii of bacillus cereus. when hlyiii of v. vulnificus was expressed in escherichia coli, crude extra ... | 2004 | 15386100 |
| structural and functional analyses of phosphoglucose isomerase from vibrio vulnificus and its lysyl aminopeptidase activity. | phosphoglucose isomerase (pgi) with a novel lysyl aminopeptidase (lysap) activity was recently isolated and partially characterized from the human pathogen, vibrio vulnificus. this pgi is a heterodimer consisting of 60.8- and 23.4-kda subunits, which together provide lysap activity. the present study further characterizes the complex structure and functions of vibrio pgi and draws parallels with rabbit and human pgi. a proscan search of vibrio pgi revealed 194 different structural motifs of whic ... | 2004 | 15450853 |
| production of vibrio vulnificus hemolysin in vivo and its pathogenic significance. | hemolyin/cytolysin (vvha) is one of the representative exotoxins produced by vibrio vulnificus. cytotoxic mechanism of vvha has been extensively studied. however, there have been controversies concerning the pathogenic significance since vvha(-) mutant showed no ld(50) change in mice. in this study, we investigated whether vvha is expressed in vivo. when v. vulnificus was cultured in the presence of normal pooled human serum, substantial amount of vvha was detected by elisa and the transcription ... | 2004 | 15464986 |
| vibrio vulnificus septicaemia in japan: an estimated number of infections and physicians' knowledge of the syndrome. | questionnaire surveys were implemented to study the incidence and physicians' knowledge of vibrio vulnificus infections in japan. registered emergency physicians were selected by stratified random sampling for a questionnaire survey. a total of 235 out of 386 physicians (61%) responded to the questionnaire and 12 v. vulnificus septicaemia cases were reported from 10 respondents. the annual estimated number of v. vulnificus septicaemia was calculated as 425 (95 % ci 238-752). the study also revea ... | 2004 | 15473164 |
| methods for isolation and confirmation of vibrio vulnificus from oysters and environmental sources: a review. | the gram-negative bacterium vibrio vulnificus is a natural inhabitant of estuarine waters and poses a significant health threat to humans who suffer from immune disorders, liver disease, or hemochromatosis (iron overload). v. vulnificus enters human hosts via wound infections or consumption of raw shellfish (primarily oysters), and infections frequently progress to septicemia and death in susceptible individuals. prevalence in waters and shellfish is not correlated with fecal indicator organisms ... | 2004 | 15488274 |
| vibrio vulnificus in taiwan. | residents in taiwan are often exposed to marine microorganisms through seafood and occupational exposure. the number of reported cases of infection attributable to this organism has increased since the first case was reported in 1985. the increasing number of cases may be caused by greater disease activity or improved recognition by clinicians or laboratory workers. we analyze a clinical-case series of 84 patients with vibrio vulnificus infection from 1995 to 2000 and describe the molecular epid ... | 2004 | 15496235 |
| regulation system for protease production in vibrio vulnificus. | vibrio vulnificus is a causative agent of serious food-borne diseases in humans related to consumption of raw seafoods. this human pathogen secretes a metalloprotease (vvp) that evokes enhancement of the vascular permeability and disruption of the capillaries. production of microbial proteases is generally induced at early stationary phase of its growth. this cell density dependent regulation of vvp production in v. vulnificus known to be the quorum-sensing. when v. vulnificus was cultivated in ... | 2004 | 15500979 |
| detection and enumeration of vibrio vulnificus in oysters from two estuaries along the southwest coast of india, using molecular methods. | this study was conducted to understand the seasonal distribution of vibrio vulnificus in oysters from two estuaries and the effect of environmental factors on the abundance of v. vulnificus in tropical waters. v. vulnificus was detected in 56.6% of the samples tested by colony hybridization with an alkaline phosphatase-labeled oligonucleotide probe (vv-ap), and the counts ranged from <10/g during the summer months to 10(3)/g in the monsoon season at both sites. the density of v. vulnificus appea ... | 2004 | 15528563 |
| comparative genomics of the kdgr regulon in erwinia chrysanthemi 3937 and other gamma-proteobacteria. | in the plant-pathogenic enterobacterium erwinia chrysanthemi, almost all known genes involved in pectin catabolism are controlled by the transcriptional regulator kdgr. in this study, the comparative genomics approach was used to analyse the kdgr regulon in completely sequenced genomes of eight enterobacteria, including erw. chrysanthemi, and two vibrio species. application of a signal recognition procedure complemented by operon structure and protein sequence analysis allowed identification of ... | 2004 | 15528647 |
| generation of active fragments from human zymogens in the bradykinin-generating cascade by extracellular proteases from vibrio vulnificus and v. parahaemolyticus. | vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen causing septicemia, and the infection is characterized by formation of the edematous skin lesions on limbs. this pathogenic species secretes a thermolysin-like metalloprotease as a virulence determinant. the metalloprotease was confirmed to activate human factor xii-plasma kallikrein-kinin cascade that results in liberation of bradykinin, a chemical mediator enhancing the vascular permeability, from high-molecular weight kininogen. namely, the ... | 2004 | 15530971 |
| therapy of other bacterial infections. | cutaneous bacterial disease continues to account for a significant proportion of clinical visits. the continuing emergence of strains that are resistant to available antibacterial agents creates a challenge for dermatologists, who need to keep abreast of current treatment strategies. in this article, antibacterial regimens are presented for skin infections caused by organisms such as staphylococcus, streptococcus, pseudomonas, neisseria, haemophilus ducreyi, treponema pallidum, bacillus anthraci ... | 2004 | 15571499 |
| protocol for specific isolation of virulent strains of vibrio vulnificus serovar e (biotype 2) from environmental samples. | the eel pathogen vibrio vulnificus biotype 2 comprises at least three serovars, with serovar e being the only one involved in both epizootics of eel vibriosis and sporadic cases of human infections. the virulent strains of this serovar (vse) have only been recovered from clinical (mainly eel tissue) sources. the main objective of this work was to design and validate a new protocol for vse-specific isolation from environmental samples. the key element of the new protocol is the broth used for the ... | 2004 | 15574896 |
| detection of pathogenic vibrio spp. in shellfish by using multiplex pcr and dna microarrays. | this study describes the development of a gene-specific dna microarray coupled with multiplex pcr for the comprehensive detection of pathogenic vibrios that are natural inhabitants of warm coastal waters and shellfish. multiplex pcr with vvh and viub for vibrio vulnificus, with ompu, toxr, tcpi, and hlya for v. cholerae, and with tlh, tdh, trh, and open reading frame 8 for v. parahaemolyticus helped to ensure that total and pathogenic strains, including subtypes of the three vibrio spp., could b ... | 2004 | 15574946 |
| the vibrio seventh pandemic island-ii is a 26.9 kb genomic island present in vibrio cholerae el tor and o139 serogroup isolates that shows homology to a 43.4 kb genomic island in v. vulnificus. | vibrio cholerae is the aetiological agent of the deadly diarrhoeal disease cholera. in this study the 7.5 kb vibrio seventh pandemic island-ii (vsp-ii) that is unique to v. cholerae el tor and o139 serogroups was analysed and it was found to be part of a novel 26.9 kb genomic island (gei) encompassing vc0490-vc0516. the low-gc-content vsp-ii encompassed 24 predicted orfs, including dna repair and methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins, a group of hypothetical proteins and a bacteriophage-like inte ... | 2004 | 15583158 |
| depletion of lymphocytes, but not neutrophils, via apoptosis in a murine model of vibrio vulnificus infection. | vibrio vulnificus causes severe sepsis in humans. there are several reports about the relationship between host immunity and bacterial growth in v. vulnificus infection. however, the effect on leukocytes of v. vulnificus infection in vivo has not been elucidated. a murine model of v. vulnificus infection was used to investigate its effects on leukocytes in this study. bacteria were recovered from the blood of mice 3 h after subcutaneous injection in the right lower flank. they were detected in 8 ... | 2005 | 15591250 |
| two cases of severe sepsis due to vibrio vulnificus wound infection acquired in the baltic sea. | two severe cases of vibrio vulnificus wound infection with secondary septicemia occurred during 1 week in august 2003 on the german island of usedom in the southwestern baltic sea. in both cases, pre-existing wounds were inoculated by wading in contaminated sea water. one of the patients died from septic multiorgan failure. to the best of our knowledge, this is the first fatality due to a v. vulnificus infection to have occurred in germany. microbiological analysis revealed high concentrations o ... | 2004 | 15599654 |
| vibrio vulnificus infection of the upper extremity. | vibrio vulnificus is a potentially limb- and life-threatening infection. this pathogen should be suspected in any patient with a rapidly progressive infection who has a history of saltwater contact. although the infection may occur in otherwise healthy individuals, v vulnificus has a proclivity for patients with underlying chronic disease, particularly hepatic dysfunction. prompt recognition and immediate treatment with antibiotics and possibly surgical débridement may prevent amputation or deat ... | 2004 | 15603518 |
| structural basis for discriminative regulation of gene expression by adenine- and guanine-sensing mrnas. | metabolite-sensing mrnas, or "riboswitches," specifically interact with small ligands and direct expression of the genes involved in their metabolism. riboswitches contain sensing "aptamer" modules, capable of ligand-induced structural changes, and downstream regions, harboring expression-controlling elements. we report the crystal structures of the add a-riboswitch and xpt g-riboswitch aptamer modules that distinguish between bound adenine and guanine with exquisite specificity and modulate exp ... | 2004 | 15610857 |
| [severe sepsis with organ failure in necrotizing fasciitis of the right leg caused by infection with vibrio vulnificus]. | vibrio vulnificus is a human pathogen which can cause the septicemia and necrosis of the soft tissue, especially fasciitis. the occurrence is most common in the summer, the source of infection can be sea water or the sand on the beaches, however the infection after eating seafood was described as well. the patient with predominant liver dysfunction are more often affected. the clinical course is characterized by severe sepsis, and massive skin lesion. the mortality more than 60% is reported. thi ... | 2000 | 15635806 |
| multiplex pcr detection of clinical and environmental strains of vibrio vulnificus in shellfish. | in this study, we developed a pcr-based rapid detection method for clinically important pathogenic strains of vibrio vulnificus. positive amplification of the 504-bp viub fragment was seen in all 22 clinical isolates tested but only in 8 out of 33 environmental isolates. the combination of the species-specific 205-bp vvh fragment along with viub in a multiplexed pcr enabled us to confirm the presence of potentially pathogenic strains of v. vulnificus. no amplification of other vibrio spp. or non ... | 2004 | 15644908 |
| development of a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction targeted to the toxr for detection of vibrio vulnificus. | the taqman assay, a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (pcr), was developed to target the toxr gene (toxr) of vibrio vulnificus. the toxr of v. vulnificus was cloned and sequenced. based on these results, we designed specific primers and a probe for use in the quantitative pcr assay. twenty-nine strains of v. vulnificus that were obtained from various sources produced a single pcr product. the amount of final amplification product and threshold cycle number were the same among the ... | 2005 | 15676198 |
| influence of temperature, salinity and ph on the growth of environmental aeromonas and vibrio species isolated from mai po and the inner deep bay nature reserve ramsar site of hong kong. | four environmental bacterial isolates including aeromonas hydrophila mp-3, a. salmonicida mp-4, vibrio vulnificus mp-2 and v. cholerae mp-1 isolated from sediment and water of mai po nature reserve of hong kong were examined for their responses to temperature, ph and salinity under laboratory conditions in this study. v. cholerae mp-1 was found to resist vibriostatic agent o/129 at concentration of 10 microg/ml. in addition, bacterial growth under test conditions was measured and the results wer ... | 2005 | 15678554 |
| essential role of an adenylate cyclase in regulating vibrio vulnificus virulence. | vibrio vulnificus, a halophilic estuarine bacterium, causes a fatal septicemia and necrotizing wound infection. to investigate the role of camp in v. vulnificus virulence regulation, an in-frame deletion mutant of the cya gene encoding adenylate cyclase was constructed. the cya null mutation resulted in a pleiotropic change of virulence phenotypes. the production of hemolysin and protease, the motility, and the cytotoxicity were decreased by the cya mutation. the defects in the cya mutant were f ... | 2005 | 15686854 |
| tubo-ovarian abscess caused by vibrio vulnificus. | vibrio vulnificus is a gram-negative bacterium that causes an aggressive infection with high mortality, especially in patients with liver disease. wound infections due to v. vulnificus occur via direct contamination of cutaneous tissues and can include the uterus. we report a case of v. vulnificus tubo-ovarian infection from an unusual method of acquisition in the gulf of mexico. | 2005 | 15698719 |
| complete genome sequence of vibrio fischeri: a symbiotic bacterium with pathogenic congeners. | vibrio fischeri belongs to the vibrionaceae, a large family of marine gamma-proteobacteria that includes several dozen species known to engage in a diversity of beneficial or pathogenic interactions with animal tissue. among the small number of pathogenic vibrio species that cause human diseases are vibrio cholerae, vibrio parahaemolyticus, and vibrio vulnificus, the only members of the vibrionaceae that have had their genome sequences reported. nonpathogenic members of the genus vibrio, includi ... | 2005 | 15703294 |
| hybrid vibrio vulnificus. | the recent emergence of the human-pathogenic vibrio vulnificus in israel was investigated by using multilocus genotype data and modern molecular evolutionary analysis tools. we show that this pathogen is a hybrid organism that evolved by the hybridization of the genomes from 2 distinct and independent populations. these findings provide clear evidence of how hybridization between 2 existing and nonpathogenic forms has apparently led to the emergence of an epidemic infectious disease caused by th ... | 2005 | 15705319 |