Quantitative detection and genetic characterization of thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. in fresh chicken meats at retail in Japan.

Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal illnesses, and which are considered to be transmitted to humans mainly from chicken meats. Considering the less availability of quantitative contamination data in the retail chicken meats in Japan, 510 fresh chicken meats retailed at five distinct regions in Japan between June 2019 and March 2021 were examined. The quantitative testing resulted that 45.7% of the samples (254/510) were positive at mean ± standard deviation of 1.15 ± 1.03 logCFU/g, whereas 43 samples (8.4%) exceeded 3.0 logCFU/g. Seasonal comparison revealed increased bacterial counts in fall compared with spring and summer. As for the chicken slaughter age, those slaughtered at >75 days old were less contaminated than those at <75 days old. Genome sequencing analyses of 111 representative C. jejuni isolates resulted in the detection of three antimicrobial resistance genes (gyrA substitution T86I, tetO and blaOXA-61) at 25.2, 27.9 and 42.3%, respectively. In silico MLST analysis revealed the predominance of sequence types (ST)-21 clonal complex (CC), followed by ST-45CC and ST-464CC. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based phylogenetic tree largely classified the sequenced C. jejuni isolates into two clusters (I and II), where all C. jejuni from highly contaminated samples (STs-21CC, -22CC and -45CC) belonged to cluster I, independent of both season and slaughter age. To our knowledge, this is the first example to study the current status of Campylobacter contamination levels in fresh chicken meats retailed in Japan. Our data would be contributable to future quantitative microbial risk assessment, to establish effective control measures for campylobacteriosis.

The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and Alzheimer's disease in Japan.

Although two studies have indicated a possible link between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, these were reported from Europe, where the prevalence of H. pylori infection is not very high. In this study, the prevalence of H. pylori infection was examined in AD patients in Japan, where there is a high prevalence of H. pylori. Consecutive patients referred to the Memory and Dementia Outpatient Clinic from August 2002 to March 2009 were studied. H. pylori infection status was determined by measuring urinary levels of anti-H. pylori antibody (RAPIRUN(®)). Multiple stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations of AD with the main predictor variables. Of the 917 patients who visited the clinic, 385 were diagnosed as having AD. Ninety-seven patients did not have dementia and were considered controls. On univariate analysis, average age and the proportion of males were significantly higher in AD patients than in controls. There was no difference in the prevalence of H. pylori infection between patients with AD and controls (62.0% vs. 59.7%, p = 0.67, crude odds ratio (OR), 1.10). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that older age and male sex, but not H. pylori status, were significantly associated with AD (p < 0.001, p = 0.01, p = 0.83, respectively). The prevalence of H. pylori infection did not differ between AD patients and controls among Japanese subjects. The high prevalence of H. pylori in controls may contribute to the discrepancy with previous reports.

[Comparison of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and from ordinary interstitial pneumonia].

We studied cell findings in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 13 patients with nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and 20 with ordinary interstitial pneumonia (UIP). NSIP and UIP were difficult to distinguish by high-resolution CT. Surgical lung biopsies were performed in all patients. We divided the patients with NSIP and UIP into 4 groups, a group of idiopathic NSIP (idiopathic NSIP), a group of NSIP patients associated with collagen vascular disease (CVD NSIP), a group of idiopathic UIP patients (idiopathic UIP) and a group of UIP patients associated with collagen vascular disease (CVD UIP). We then examined the differences in BALF cell findings between these groups. The percentage of lymphocytes in BALF was higher in idiopathic NSIP and CVD NSIP than in the healthy control. The percentage of alveolar macrophages was lower and the percentage of lymphocytes was higher in CVD NSIP than in idiopathic UIP. The CD4/CD8 ratio in BALF of idiopathic NSIP was lower than with idiopathic UIP. It is important that NSIP be distinguished from UIP clinically, and our results suggest that BALF cell findings may be useful for making this distinction.