• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.117-121
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• 2000

The mucormycosis is a group of serious opportunistic infections caused by fungi of the class Zygomycetes and order Mucorales. Pulmonary mucormycosis is a relatively rare disease but typically manifested by a rapidly progressive, often fatal pneumonia in patients with diabetes mellitus, hematologic malignant neoplasms, or organ transplants. The radiologic manifestations of pulmonary mucormycosis are nonspecific and include progressive lobar or multilobar consolidations, pulmonary masses and pulmonary nodules. Recently, we experienced a pulmonary mucormycosis in 32-year-old man with uncontrolled diabetes. He complained of cough, left pleuritic chest pain and generalized weakness. Initial chest X-ray finding was the consolidation on the lower lobe of the left lung. On the sixth hospital day, bronchoscopic examination with lung biopsy revealed broad, non-septate hyphae with right-angle branching, diagnostic of mucormycosis, and consequently amphotericin B therapy was started. We performed a lobectomy of the left lower lobe of the lung on 29th hospital day.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.88-93
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• 2007

Wegener's granulomatosis is a disease with an unknown etiology that is characterized by necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis involving the upper and lower respiratory tract and the kidneys. The typical pulmonary findings are bilaterally involved multiple variable sized nodules. We report a case of Wegener's granulomatosis that presented as a single lung mass. A male patient presented with a nasal obstruction, arthralgia, cough, and intermittent dyspnea. The chest radiograph showed a mass, approximately 4.5 cm in diameter, in the right lower lobe. Lung cancer or tuberculosis was initially considered. However, the clinical, laboratory and pathological findings of the mass indicated Wegener's granulomatosis. The patient was administered prednisolone and cyclophosphamide, and improved temporarily. Unfortunately, the immunocompromised patient expired as a result of respiratory failure with pneumonia.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1529-1538
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• 2017

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic and clinically significant emerging pathogen. We investigated the relative roles of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 in initiating host defenses against K. pneumoniae. TLR2 knockout (KO), TLR4 KO, TLR2/4 double KO (DKO), and wild-type (WT) mice were inoculated with K. pneumoniae. Mice in each group were sacrificed after either 12 or 24h, and the lungs, liver, and blood were harvested to enumerate bacterial colony-forming units (CFU). Cytokine and chemokine levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time PCR, and pneumonia severity was determined by histopathological analysis. Survival was significantly shortened in TLR4 KO and TLR2/4 DKO mice compared with that of WT mice after infection with $5{\times}10^3CFU$. TLR2 KO mice were more susceptible to infection than WT mice after exposure to a higher infectious dose. Bacterial burdens in the lungs and liver were significantly higher in TLR2/4 DKO mice than in WT mice. Serum $TNF-{\alpha}$, MCP-1, MIP-2, and nitric oxide levels were significantly decreased in TLR2/4 DKO mice relative to those in WT mice, and TLR2/4 DKO mice showed significantly decreased levels of $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-6, MCP-1, and inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA in the lung compared with those in WT mice. Collectively, these data indicate that TLR2/4 DKO mice were more susceptible to K. pneumoniae infection than single TLR2 KO and TLR4 KO mice. These results suggest that TLR2 and TLR4 play cooperative roles in lung innate immune responses and bacterial dissemination, resulting in systemic inflammation during K. pneumoniae infection.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1399-1407
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• 2015

Klebsiella pneumoniae is found in the normal flora of the skin, mouth, respiratory tract, urinary tract, and intestines in human. However, the stain is opportunistic pathogen, which is the causative agent of community acquired pneumonia. Corn silk has been known to be effective for antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria, including K. pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, et al. In this study we focused on the antimicrobial properties of con silk water extract of K. penumoniae. K. pneumoniae isolates K. pneumoniae ATCC 13883 and broad-spectrum β-lactamase (BSBL), exteded-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL), carbapenemase-producers. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined by the disk diffusion method. Searches for bla genes were performed by PCR amplication and direct sequencing. MacConkey agar plate medium was prepared using the corn silk extracts (50% or 100%) instead of distilled water for antimicrobial activity test. The microbial growth inhibitory potential of K. pneumoniae was determined by using the MacConkey agar plate spreading method, and the plate was incubated 18 hr at 37℃. Genes encoding β-lactamases including SHV-1 (n=8), SHV-2a (n=8), SHV-5 (n=2), SHV-11 (n=2), SHV-12 (n=18), TEM-1 (n=10), CTX-M-3 (n=2), CTX-M-14 (n=2), CTX-M-15 (n=1), GES-5 (n=5), KPC-2 (n=6), KPC-3 (n=4), and NDM-1 (n=2) were detected. The corn silk extract showed significantly antimicrobial activity against K. pneumoniae ATCC 13883, but BSBLs, ESBLs, and carbapenemase producers were not. Therefore, corn silk extract is thought to be able to assist in the prevention and rapid recovery of infectious disease caused by K. pneumoniae.