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The clinical manifestations of and epidemiological data from 11 patients infected with Vibrio vulnificus admitted to Danish hospitals during the unusually warm summer of 1994 are reported. All patients contracted the disease after exposure to seawater; however, none had consumed seafood. Four patients developed bacteremia, one of whom subsequently died; nine patients, including the four with bacteremia, exhibited skin manifestations. Four patients contracted the disease while fishing; in at least one case the patient had handled eels. All Vibrio vulnificus strains were highly susceptible to 11 antimicrobial agents tested. Plasmid analysis revealed that 8 of 11 strains carried plasmids. Ribotyping using the enzyme HindIII on the 11 strains showed five different types, two of which comprised four strains each. The present study provides the first clinical and epidemiological data about a series of human Vibrio vulnificus infections from a temperate zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seventy-seven clinical isolates of Xanthomonas maltophilia (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia) were consecutively collected from the Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, ribotyped and compared with the ribotypes of 25 other clinical and reference strains of Xanthomonas maltophilia. Using restriction enzyme EcoRI, 20 different ribotypes were observed, with 78 isolates displaying the five most common types. Using another enzyme, BamHI, these 78 isolates were further subdivided into 16 different ribotypes. Three patients harboured two strains with different ribotypes. No type was found related to only one department and no single-strain outbreak was detected. The origin of this wealth of different strains in hospital patients needs to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A retrospective survey of non-typhoid Salmonella bacteraemia in the period 1984 to 1988 was carried out by the five departments of clinical microbiology in Greater Copenhagen. A total of 168 patients were identified. A gradual increase was observed from 11 cases in 1984 to 58 cases in 1988. The corresponding incidence per 100,000 inhabitants in Copenhagen rose from 0.9 in 1984 to 5.0 in 1988. During the same period the total registered incidence of human Salmonella infections in Denmark increased from 17.6 to 67.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. The serotype most often isolated from bacteraemic patients was Salmonella dublin followed by Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium. Salmonella dublin demonstrated enhanced invasive and pathogenic properties. Predisposing factors were present in 56 % of the patients; the most common was malignant disease. A fatal or complicated course of the bacteraemia was observed more frequently in patients with underlying diseases than in persons who had previously been healthy. A total of 17 % of the patients died; one-fifth of these had a ruptured aortic aneurysm. It is concluded that the substantial increase in the number of cases and the often serious course taken by the infection demonstrate a need for increased efforts at prophylaxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eleven strains of Cardiobacterium hominis, two strains of Kingella indologenes and six strains of CDC group EF-4 were characterized. Since all three taxa are oxidase-positive, fastidious gram-negative rods with relatively few positive reactions, they may be easily confused in the microbiological laboratory. Common characteristics are acid production from glucose, aerobic growth in semi-solid agar and very slow anaerobic growth. Group EF-4 is distinguished from the other two species by its capacity to produce catalase and its lack of indole production. Cardiobacterium hominis can be distinguished from Kingella indologenes by its ability to ferment mannitol and sorbitol and by differences in enzyme production. The three taxa also differ considerably with regard to morphological and cultural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]