Acute Meningoencephalitis Associated with Borrelia miyamotoi, Minnesota, USA.

Borrelia miyamotoi is an emerging tickborne pathogen that has been associated with central nervous system infections in immunocompromised patients, albeit infrequently. We describe a case-patient in Minnesota, USA, who had meningeal symptoms of 1 month duration. B. miyamotoi infection was diagnosed by Gram staining on cerebrospinal fluid and confirmed by sequencing.

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Wildlife Species beyond Subfamily Caprinae.

Elucidating the emergence of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae-associated respiratory disease in ruminants requires identification of the pathogen host range. This bacterium was thought to be host restricted to subfamily Caprinae, but we describe its identification in healthy moose, caribou, and mule deer and diseased mule and white-tailed deer, all species in subfamily Capreolinae.

Association of gut microbiota composition and craniosynostosis.

Background: Gut microbiota has been reported to be associated with a series of metabolic diseases including metabolic bone disease. However, study about gut microbiota and craniosynostosis (CS) is very rare. We aim to investigate the gut microbiota composition in CS patients and assess the possible relationship. Methods: A total of 30 infants with CS and 30 infants with non-CS treated in Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University of Jiangsu Province from June 2021 to March 2022 were finally included in this study. All processing and analysis are carried out using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) high-throughput gene sequencing. Results: The CS group have significantly lower levels of family, genus, and species than non-CS group (all P<0.05). Furthermore, Staphylococcales and Lactobacillales at the order level, Enterococcaceae and Staphylococcaceae at the family level, and Enterococcus and Staphylococcus at the genus level were significantly enriched in the CS group (all P<0.05). Additionally, functional prediction showed that six metabolic pathways significantly differed between the two groups (all P<0.05). Of those, pathways involving polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation (P=0.030) and penicillin and cephalosporin biosynthesis (P=0.027) were more abundant in CS group than in non-CS group. Conclusions: Gut microbiota was statistically associated with the development of CS, and several taxa and specific functional pathways with significantly altered abundance have been identified in CS patients. These findings can provide clues for the study on the mechanism and early diagnosis of CS.

Analysis of bacterial community using pyrosequencing in semen from patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Although empirical antibacterial treatments are currently recommended for inflammatory chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), physicians cannot verify infections in most cases. Therefore, in this study, the microbiota of semen was investigated via pyrosequencing to obtain evidence underlying infectious disease. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with CP/CPPS (n=17) and healthy volunteers (n=4) participated in the study. Whole DNA was purified from the participants' semen. The DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using universal bacterial primers. All semen samples were also cultured using conventional methods. Pyrosequencing analysis of the PCR-amplified DNA was performed. RESULTS: None of the semen samples showed colony formation in conventional bacterial cultures. However, pyrosequencing revealed multiple bacterial genera in all samples, including an abundance of fastidious bacteria. Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus were frequently detected nonspecifically in both the patient and control groups. However, Achromobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and Brevibacillus were more frequently found in the CP/CPPS patients. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of various dominant species in the CP/CPPS group other than those reported in previous studies might be helpful for future etiological analysis of CP/CPPS.