Pseudomonas Aeruginosa The Opportunist

Pseudomonas aeruginosa the Opportunist provides an in depth analysis of clinically relevant pathogenetic mechanisms and selected disease states. The book presents the most current discussion of pathogenic mechanisms logically arranged from the microbiology of the Pseudomonadaceae and initial mucosal adherence, progessing to microcolony formation and release of a wide assortment of virulence factors, and closing with the contribution of host cells to the disease process. Cellular and molecular disease mechanisms are covered, including genetic regulation of virulence-associated bacterial products. Future research trends are highlighted as well. Pseudomonas aeruginosa the Opportunist is an excellent reference for bacteriologists, clinical investigators, and practicing clinicians representing a variety of specialties, including ophthalmology, pediatrics, and transplantation.

Assembling the latest research by an international group of contributors, this volume covers the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, and control measures of this elusive microorganism. It will provide a deeper understanding of the pathogen to physicians and surgeons caring for patients infected, or at risk of becoming infected, with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa offers a rich variety of biologically relevant topics to explore and serves as a model system to understand the interactions of Gram-negative bacteria with human hosts. The organism adapts readily to most environments. It has a large and variable genome with a great deal of metabolic potential. P. aeruginosa encodes a variety of regulatory systems to fine tune gene expression and integrate environmental signals. This organism can infect both plants and animals and produces a plethora of enzymes and factors that can overcome host defenses. Moreover, it has the ability to change between the states of a sedentary colonizer to an invasive and highly motile organism. Clinically, the bacterium is resistant to many antibiotics making it difficult to treat and impossible to eradicate from the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. Intrinsic antibiotic resistance combined with an armamentarium of tissue degradative enzymes makes it imperative to possess a comprehensive understanding of the biology, genetics and pathogenesis of this organism so that novel therapeutics based on virulence product neutralization can be designed and implemented. This Research Topics issue will be devoted to updating the current understanding of P. aeruginosa systems as they relate to its different lifestyles in different environments. The underlying theme is to provide broad overviews and to integrate protein structure-function and gene regulation as it relates to the biology of this bacterium.

The development of antibiotic resistance within microbial communities, especially in clinical settings, is currently an important public health issue. Human activity, such as the clinical overuse of therapeutic antibiotics, as well as the spread of antibiotics in the environment by anthropogenic pollution, is mainly responsible for this observed rise in resistance. Furthermore, it is predicted that as antibiotic resistance increases in bacterial populations, as will virulence: the capacity of these microbes to infect. This is due to the selection of antibiotic resistance, through widespread antibiotic use, co-selecting for virulence via shared cellular mechanisms between the two factors. We investigated the proposed link between antibiotic resistance and virulence by utilizing larval zebrafish and Pseudomonas aeruginosa of varying degrees of antibiotic resistance as a host-pathogen model. We were successful in developing a novel method to test virulence via static immersion. Using this technique, we found that there was no significant correlation between antibiotic resistance and virulence in the P. aeruginosa strains that we tested. We conclude that the developed method of static immersion will prove useful in understanding host-pathogen interactions, and can be utilized in future studies moving forward. Lastly, we suggest that further P. aeruginosa strains should be tested, as the lack of correlation between antibiotic resistance and virulence could be due to the small sample size used in this study. Investigating the connection between antibiotic resistance and virulence is crucial in understanding the impacts and consequences of society's current antibiotic use, and potentially in remediating the human activity responsible for the rise of antibiotic resistance in microbial populations.

The concept of this book arose out of an international workshop, which we organized and held at the University of Wales Conference Centre at Gregynog. The workshop was the first occasion on which researchers from all the different disciplines concerned with the extracellular virulence factors of mucoid strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in relation to cystic fibrosis (CF) had met to discuss this multifaceted problem. It was deemed a particularly timely moment to gather together experts for the exchange of facts, ideas and hypotheses. No formal abstracts were presented and no proceedings were published. But during the succeed ing months the organizers were persuaded by a number of participants that a wider audience should benefit from what had proved to be such a fruitful cross-fertilization of expertise. Thus we moved from being workshop organizers to book editors, sure in the knowledge that at least we had a willing and enthusiastic set of contributors! It should be stressed, however, that this book is not a transcript of that workshop. Not all those participants are authors, and some new names have been added. Instead we have focused on alginate as an extracellular virulence factor of P. aeruginosa in CF pulmonary infections. Recent advances in the biochemistry and molecular genetics of alginate bio synthesis, as well as in our understanding of the basic defect in CF and isolation of the gene, mean that the book is even more timely than when first planned.

This book will cover both the evidence for biofilms in many chronic bacterial infections as well as the problems facing these infections such as diagnostics and treatment regimes. A still increasing interest and emphasis on the sessile bacterial lifestyle biofilms has been seen since it was realized that that less than 0.1% of the total microbial biomass lives in the planktonic mode of growth. The term was coined in 1978 by Costerton et al. who defined the term biofilm for the first time.In 1993 the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recognised that the biofilmmode of growth was relevant to microbiology. Lately many articles have been published on the clinical implications of bacterial biofilms. Both original articles and reviews concerning the biofilm problem are available.

Microbial endocrinology represents a newly emerging interdisciplinary field that is formed by the intersection of the fields of neurobiology and microbiology. This book will introduce a new perspective to the current understanding not only of the factors that mediate the ability of microbes to cause disease, but also to the mechanisms that maintain normal homeostasis. The discovery that microbes can directly respond to neuroendocrine hormones, as evidenced by increased growth and production of virulence-associated factors, provides for a new framework with which to investigate how microorganisms interface not only with vertebrates, but also with invertebrates and even plants. The reader will learn that the neuroendocrine hormones that one most commonly associates with mammals are actually found throughout the plant, insect and microbial communities to an extent that will undoubtedly surprise many, and most importantly, how interactions between microbes and neuroendocrine hormones can influence the pathophysiology of infectious disease.

"In print, online, or on your mobile device, Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Disease provides the comprehensive and actionable coverage you need to understand, diagnose, and manage the ever-changing, high-risk clinical problems caused by infectious diseases in children and adolescents. With new chapters, expanded and updated coverage, and increased worldwide perspectives, this authoritative medical reference offers the latest need-to-know information in an easily-accessible, high-yield format for quick answers and fast, effective intervention!"--Publisher's website.