Affiliation:
1. Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
Recent isolations of Rhodococcus equi from cavitatory pulmonary disease in patients with AIDS have aroused interest among medical microbiologists in this unusual organism. Earlier isolations from humans had also been in immunosuppressed patients following hemolymphatic tumors or renal transplantation. This organism has been recognized for many years as a cause of a serious pyogranulomatous pneumonia of young foals and is occasionally isolated from granulomatous lesions in several other species, in some cases following immunosuppression. The last decade has seen many advances in understanding of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and immunity to infection in foals. The particular susceptibility of the foal is not understood but can be explained in part by a combination of heavy challenge through the respiratory route coinciding with declining maternally derived antibody in the absence of fully competent foal cellular immune mechanisms. R. equi is largely a soil organism but is widespread in the feces of herbivores. Its growth in soil is considerably improved by simple nutrients it obtains from herbivore manure. About one-third of human patients who have developed R. equi infections had contact in some way with herbivores or their manure. Others may have acquired infection from contact with soil or wild bird manure. R. equi is an intracellular parasite, which explains the typical pyogranulomatous nature of R. equi infections, the predisposition to infection in human patients with defective cell-mediated immune mechanisms, and the efficacy of antimicrobial drugs that penetrate phagocytic cells.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Microbiology (medical),Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,General Immunology and Microbiology,Epidemiology
Reference199 articles.
1. Corynebacteria associated with diseases of cattle, sheep and goats in northern Nigeria;Addo P. B.;Br. Vet. J.,1977
2. Characterization of production of cholesterol oxidases in three Rhodococcus strains;Aihara H.;J. Appl. Bacteriol.,1986
3. Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus sp. nov., a chlorophenol-mineralizing actinomycete;Apajalahti J. H. A.;Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol.,1986
4. Studies of naturally occurring and experimental Rhodococcus equi (Corynebacterium equi) pneumonia in foals;Ardans A. A.;Proc. Am. Assoc. Equine Pract.,1986
5. Corynebacterium equi infection in the equine;Bain A. M.;Aust. Vet. J.,1963
Cited by
487 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献