Culture Journal Explores Cronobacter Species and Mycobacterium Bovis

Oxoid announced that the latest edition of its journal, Culture (Volume 31, No 1), is now available. The issue focuses on two key areas: the newly designated genus Cronobacter and Mycobacterium bovis, the causative bacterium of bovine tuberculosis. Authored by Dr Steve Forsythe of the School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University Nottingham, UK, the Cronobacter article reviews the physiology, virulence, detection and control of this newly designated genus. Cronobacter has been isolated from a range of foods. The incidence of the bacterium in powdered infant formula has been well reported in neonates, particularly those with low birth-weights. With high mortality rates, this is the major group at risk.

In the US, the reported Cronobacter infection incidence rate is ~1 per 100,000 infants. This incidence rate increases to 9.4 per 100,000 in infants of very low birth weight. The first neonatal deaths attributed to Cronobacter were in 1958. Since then, according to the FAO/WHO, around the world there have been 120 documented cases of neonatal and infant Cronobacter infections and at least 27 deaths. Elsewhere in the new issue, Jessica Parry of the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, UK, describes how bovine tuberculosis (bTB) remains one of the most difficult animal health problems facing the farming industry in Great Britain today. With over 40,000 animals slaughtered under the control programme in 2008, the article describes the control of bTB in cattle; laboratory testing for M. bovis including
bacterial culture, microscopic examination and molecular typing; and describes the problem of bTB in Eurasian badgers. The article concludes by looking at the future of bTB and 2010 eradication programmes in the UK.