Detection and characterization of pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa from bovine subclinical mastitis in West Bengal, India.

AIM: Subclinical mastitis in bovines is mainly responsible for the huge economic loss of the dairy farmers, of which Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the causative agents. The study was aimed at a screening of suspected milk samples from different cattle farms of West Bengal for detection and confirmation of P. aeruginosa strains followed by their characterization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Around 422 milk samples were screened from different dairy farms primarily by on-spot bromothymol blue (BTB) test and then in the lab by somatic cell counts (SCC) to finally consider 352 samples for detection of P. aeruginosa. Selective isolation and confirmation of the isolates were done using selective media, viz., cetrimide and Pseudomonas agar followed by confirmation by fluorescent technique. Molecular characterization of the strains was done by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of toxA (enterotoxin A, 352 bp) and exoS (exoenzyme S, 504 bp) genes. RESULTS: Approximately, 371 (87.9%) samples were positive in on-spot BTB test among which 352 (94.8%) samples revealed high SCC values (more than 3 lakh cells/ml) showing infection when screened. Among these, 23 (6.5%) samples yielded typical Pseudomonas sp. isolates out of which only 19 (5.4%) isolates were confirmed to be P. aeruginosa which showed characteristic blue-green fluorescence due to the presence of pigment pyoverdin under ultraviolet light. Out of these 19 isolates, 11 isolates were positive for toxA, 6 isolates for exoS, and 2 for both these pathogenic genes. CONCLUSION: Approximately, 5.4% cases of bovine subclinical mastitis infections in South Bengal were associated with P. aeruginosa which possess pathogenic genes such as toxA (63.2%) and exoS (36.8%).

L-lysine production by S-2-aminoethyl-L-cysteine-resistant mutants of Arthrobacter globiformis.

Using mutagenesis with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, a number of homoserine auxotrophs have been isolated from a glutamate-producing Arthrobacter globiformis excreting L-lysine in good amounts. For further improvement, mutants resistant to the lysine analog S-(2-aminoethyl)-L-cysteine have been isolated from homoserine auxotrophs. For the three potent mutants tested, White's medium was found to be the best. Glucose, ammonium nitrate and biotin were found to be optimum at 280 mmol/L, 40 mmol/L and 22 nmol/L, respectively. With optimal glucose, ammonium nitrate and biotin, the strain AECrVI yielded 36 g lysine per L in flask culture.

Panophthalmitis due to rhizopus in an AIDS patient: a clinicopathological study.

Various opportunistic infections in the eye have been reported earlier in AIDS. We report a case of panophthalmitis in an AIDS patient where the eviscerated tissue on histopathologic and microbiologic examination showed the fungus Rhizopus.

Acute panuveitis with haemorrhagic hypopyon as a presenting feature of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Anterior uveitis is a known clinical entity in herpes zoster ophthalmicus associated with AIDS. However, reports of acute haemorrhagic hypopyon uveitis in such cases are lacking. Herein we describe a young male patient presenting with acute panuveitis with haemorrhagic hypopyon, who was found HIV positive on investigation.