Rm 114F Veterans Administration Medical Center Bailey Ave. Such an experiment in nature occurred in Brazil in 1984 when children developed a rapidly fatal bacteremia and purpura fulminans after conjunctivitis with the organism Haemophilus influenzae biogroup aegyptius. The syndrome is called Brazilian purpuric fever. This normally non-invasive conjunctival pathogen has acquired the ability to disseminate in the host and cause overwhelming disease.
Clonal strains are responsible for most reported cases of Brazailian purpuric fever.
This laboratory has focused on the outer membrane proteins of this non-encapsulated pathogens. We have identified a specific epitope on the P1 protein of strains of H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius that is present on most disease producing isolates. We are actively investigating this and other proteins that are associated with virulent strains using a broad variety of molecular biology techniques including polymerase chain reaction, cloning, sequencing, and site directed mutagenesis to study these proteins in detail. Pathophysiology of blood-brain barrier alterations during experimental Haemophilus influenzae meninigitis. The major heat-modifiable outer membrane protein CD is highly conserved among strains of Branhamella catarrhalis.