Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) was once a relatively common source of infection and disease in the United States, especially in the western half of the United States, with a handful of western states accounting for almost all infections. This profile radically changed with the introduction of the two dose Hepatitis A …
Vibrio is a genus of bacteria that includes several species that are important causes of human disease. The most infamous of these diseases is caused by Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera. Other significant species causing illness in humans are Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Globally, these infections sicken many people and are sometimes fatal.
Recent news reports have highlighted the potentially serious, and usually deadly, risk of the fungal disease known as mucormycocis. While Mucor refers to a specific genus of fungi with thousands of species included, the disease is not exclusively caused by the Mucor genus; other genus of fungi may be implicated. Mucormycosis Risk While mucormycosis is …
Staphylococcus is the genus name of a very large group of closely related bacteria, some of which are commonly found on and in the human body, and some of these bacteria are notorious causes of infection and disease. Among the most common of these bacteria that are capable of causing disease are Staphylococcus aureus and …
Shigella is a genus group of bacteria that contains four species, S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. boydii, and S. sonnei. While these are frequently referred to as “species,” it is probably more scientifically correct to refer to them as biotypes of Escherichia, but because of the important medical differences between infections with Shigella versus most …
Salmonella is the genus name of a large group of bacteria which however contains only two distinct species. Unlike many bacterial genus groups the distinctions among the many, at last count 2,501, individually recognized types of Salmonella are not species but instead are known as serovars, or serological variants. These variants are recognized by differing …
Listeria monocytogenes is one specific genus and species pair of bacteria. There are five additional species within the Listeria genus, but only one of these, L. ivanovii, in addition to L. monocytogenes, is considered to be a pathogen, or capable of causing disease. L. ivanovii is not nearly as common an infection however and it …
Escherichia Basics Escherichia is the genus name of a group of bacteria that contains at least 7 different species, although by far the most well-known and well-studied is clearly Escherichia coli (E. coli). Because E. coli is so common in the environment and in humans, as well as in other animals and because it is …
Campylobacter is a genus of bacteria which contains numerous species, at least 7 of which have been shown to infect and cause disease in humans. These bacteria may also infect animals such as cattle, sheep, pigs, birds, and domestic pets such as cats and dogs. Unlike many bacteria, and indeed most of the bacteria found …