Pseudomonas aeruginosaExotoxin A

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes more than 100,000 infections in the United States each year. Pseudomonas infections are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality despite the use of modern antibiotics.¹ Recognition of the limitations of existing therapy for pseudomonas disease has stimulated renewed interest in its pathogenesis and in immunologic approaches to prophylaxis and treatment.During the past century Charrin² and Bouchard³ postulated the role of a toxin in pseudomonas disease. Their hypothesis lay dormant until the 1960's when Liu et al. discovered and later purified a lethal factor in pseudomonas cultures that they called exotoxin A. . . .