The 16 presentations at a workshop in Jerusalem, August 1991, sponsored by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, explore new approaches, methods, and commercially available kits for determining the presence of pathogenic Mollicutes bacteria more quickly than the days or weeks require

The emergence of pathogens resistant to conventional antimicrobial agents has forced us to intensify the efforts in search for new approaches to prevent infectious diseases. Such a direction was indicated in studies over the last two decades showing that adhesion of pathogens, primarily via glycoconjugate or protein receptors of the host tissue, is crucial for the infectious process. Moreover, it was found that infection can be prevented by blocking adhesion of the pathogen to mucosal surfaces of the host. The various aspects of interference with the process of microbial adhesion as a way of...

The mycoplasmas, a trivial name used to denote organisms included in the class Mollicutes, are a group of prokaryotic organisms comprising more than 120 species distinguished from ordinary bacteria by their small size and the total lack of cell walls. The absence of a cell wall in mycoplasmas is a characteristic of outstanding importance to which the mycoplasmas owe many of their pecu- liarities, for example, their morphological instability, osmotic sensitivity, unique ion pumping systems, resistance to antibiotics that interfere with cell wall bio- synthesis, and susceptibility to lysis by...

This compendium is the result of the FEMS Workshop on "Rapid Diagnosis of Mycoplasmas" which I organized and which took place in Jerusalem, Israel, August 11-23, 1991. The first week's sessions were held at a resort on the outskirts of Jerusalem and consisted of lectures and discussions. This part was modelled along the lines of the Gordon Conference in the USA, i.e., in an intimate atmo- sphere in which everyone could mix and exchange ideas, and was very benefi- cial. About 100 scientists from around the world attended the first week. Dur- ing the first week, the biology, molecular biology...