title: Prevalence of Capnocytophaga canimorsus in dogs and occurrence of potential virulence factors.
abstract: Capnocytophaga canimorsus is a Gram-negative commensal of dog's mouth causing severe human infections. A strain isolated from a human fatal infection was recently shown to have a sialidase, to inhibit the bactericidal activity of macrophages and to block the release of nitric oxide by LPS-stimulated macrophages. The present study aimed at determining the prevalence of C. canimorsus in dogs and the occurrence of these hypothetical virulence factors. C. canimorsus could be retrieved from the saliva of 61 dogs out of 106 sampled. Like in clinical isolates, all dog strains had a sialidase and 60% blocked the killing of phagocytosed Escherichia coli by macrophages. In contrast, only 6.5% of dog strains blocked the release of nitric oxide by LPS-challenged macrophages, suggesting that this property might contribute to virulence. The comparative analysis of 69 16S rDNA sequences revealed the existence of C. canimorsus strains that could be misdiagnosed.
authors.affiliation: Infection Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 50/70, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mally
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paroz
authors.forename: Hwain
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Salome
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Lavinia V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Soussoula
authors.forename: Ueli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmiediger
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saillen-Paroz
authors.forename: Guy R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cornelis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D002206:Capnocytophaga / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004285:Dogs / Q000382:microbiology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000032:analysis; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010587:Phagocytosis; D015995:Prevalence; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D037521:Virulence Factors; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D009439:Neuraminidase