Stephen A. Berger

Bacteremia After the Use of an Oral Irrigation Device: A Controlled Study in Subjects with Normal-Appearing Gingiva: Comparison with Use of Toothbrush

Abstract Eight of 30 persons with normal-appearing gingiva developed bacteremia after using an oral irrigation device. In comparison, none of 30 persons using toothbrushes developed bacteremia. Thi...

Relationship between infectious diseases and human blood type

During the past eight decades, a large number of studies have examined the possible relationship between blood type and infection. Many publications reflect uncritical attempts to mathematically link unstratified or random data. The interaction of pathogen and erythrocyte membrane may reflect antigenic similarity, adhesion through specific receptors, or modulation of antibody response. Anthropological surveys suggest that the geographic and racial distribution of human blood groups reflects susceptibility of populations with specific blood types to the plague, cholera, smallpox, malaria and other infectious diseases.

Enterobacter hafnaie infection: report of two cases and review of the literature

Two of 255 wounded soldiers developed nosocomial infection with Enterobacter hafniae. This species is rarely associated with urinary or gastrointestinal disease, and had not been heretofore reported in the setting of localized or bacteremic wound infection. Difficulties in nomenclature and identification have obviated accurate assessment of the importance of E. hafniae as a pathogen. Nevertheless, in view of the relative sensitivity of this species to antibiotics one should be careful to distinguish E. hafniae from other members of the genus Enterobacter.

Microbial nomenclature: A list of names and origins

n Abstractn n Microbial nomenclature underwent a large number of changes in the 1970s. Many species of pathogens were added and many others experienced name changes. These modifications primarily were due to two unrelated factors: the use of new DNA hybridization techniques and the advent of computerized literature searches to establish historical precedence. In 1980 an approved list of microbial names was published. This list fixed and legitimized bacterial nomenclature. All future additions or alterations to it had to pass international scientific committees. This list has now been accepted by the scientific community. The derivation of these names are presented in this review.n n

The Photometric Analysis of Microbial Growth for the Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Bacterial Pathogens

Photometric instruments have been used in the microbiology laboratory for over 50 years. Although the ability of light energy to traverse a colloidal suspension of microorganisms would seem to be directly transformable to the number of organisms per a given volume, the physical and mathematical complexity of photometric measurements applied to bacteriology has only recently been delineated. The basic challenge for photometry was to relate the properties of the microbial particle such as its shape, size, and refractive index to the angular distribution of scattered light. Transforming measurements of scattered light into usable information required knowledge of the light’s wavelength, amplitude, phase, and polarization emanating in each direction from the scatterer.