title: Characterization of toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans strains isolated from humans and domestic cats in the United Kingdom.
abstract: In the United Kingdom there has been a marked increase in the number of human infections caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans. During 2002 and 2003 the organism was also isolated from several domestic cats with bilateral nasal discharge. As C. ulcerans has never previously been isolated from cats, the 16S rRNA gene from three cat isolates was sequenced to confirm their species identities. Fifty clinical isolates from the United Kingdom isolated from 1986 to 2003 and seven cat isolates were characterized by ribotyping to determine whether the ribotypes of the cat isolates were genotypically related to those found for human clinical isolates. For comparison, the genotypes of 11 overseas isolates and 13 isolates from H. R. Carne's collection isolated between 1933 and 1979 were also determined. Strains isolated from domestic cats were found to exhibit the predominant ribotypes observed among human clinical isolates, suggesting that C. ulcerans isolated from cats could be a potential reservoir for human infection.
authors.affiliation: Health Protection Agency, Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory, Specialist and Reference Microbiology Division, London, UK. aruni.dezoysa@hpa.org.uk
authors.forename: Aruni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Zoysa
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Hawkey
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Engler
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Gina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Reilly
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Androulla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Efstratiou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003352:Corynebacterium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003354:Corynebacterium Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005260:Female; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D021521:Ribotyping; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S