Intraspecies variation in the emergence of hyperinfectious bacterial strains in nature.

ABSTRACT: Salmonella is a principal health concern because of its endemic prevalence in food and water supplies, the rise in incidence of multi-drug resistant strains, and the emergence of new strains associated with increased disease severity. Insights into pathogen emergence have come from animal-passage studies wherein virulence is often increased during infection. However, these studies did not address the prospect that a select subset of strains undergo a pronounced increase in virulence during the infective process- a prospect that has significant implications for human and animal health. Our findings indicate that the capacity to become hypervirulent (100-fold decreased LD(50)) was much more evident in certain S. enterica strains than others. Hyperinfectious salmonellae were among the most vi

SUBMITTER: Heithoff DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3325197 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature