Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Fighting Lyme Disease in Maine – Part 2 TV Report

https://www.wabi.tv/content/news/PART-TWO-Fighting-Lyme-Disease-511597151.html TV News Story Here

PART TWO: Fighting Lyme Disease

By Morgan Sturdivant 
Posted: Thu 7:18 PM, Jun 20, 2019  

ORONO, Maine (WABI) – “Through our lab we’re kind of trying to provide surveillance on tick populations as well as the pathogens that they spread,” says Griffin Dill.

Griffin Dill is doing critical research on ticks at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. He says reported cases of disease from ticks is increasing and so is the population here in Maine.

“It’s a more forested state with the human element mixed in so it’s kind of created the perfect habitat for ticks as well as their wild life hosts.”

He says people don’t have to change their lifestyle, but it is important to take some simple precautions, like treating clothing and gear with repellents, like permethrin which is a highly effective repellent for ticks.

“We want people to be aware of ticks but not afraid. We want people to go outside.”

“I got sick after two tick bites.”

Constance “Happy” Dickey is a founding director of Maine Lyme. Happy and the others behind the organization have made education, support and prevention their mission because they know isolating and costly it can be.

“Everything after the tick bite is more complicated than preventing the tick bite. We need to make prevention second-nature to us.”

There are multiple resources on the Maine Lyme website for prevention and education including what to do if you find a tick attached to your skin. It’s important not to put any soaps, ointments, alcohol or heat on the tick and do not squeeze the body of it. Take note of when the tick was found and mark the bite area. Report any illness or rashes to your doctor. You can even send the tick to the UMaine Tick Lab for testing.

Your pets are susceptible, too.

“”For the most part of if your animal gets sick with it they have a fever. That’s one of the first signs. So same with a human if you feel tired, lethargic, you don’t really feel like moving around, so if you see that, it’s one of the things we start to think of,” says Dr. David Cloutier at the Veazie Veterinary Clinic.,

They can also test and treat for Lyme at the Veazie Veterinary Clinic. Care that comprehensive for people is what those in this fight are hoping for.

“I’ve heard from so many of my constituents.”

Including Senator Susan Collins who has recently introduced the TICK Act.

“It’s evident from the exploding numbers of these illnesses that are borne by ticks that we need to do much more.”

Dill says he meets with a group run by the Maine CDC ona regular basis for a statewide strategy. He says he wants people to know work in being done in the fight against Lyme.

“Hopefully, we make some breakthroughs on potential management strategies for controlling tick population’s as well as the medical side with the potential for new treatments even vaccination.”

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**Comment**

After watching both of these news reports and being in a few of my own, one thing sticks out to me: there’s never reporting on effective treatments.

Why?

Because it’s sticky and the way this is being treated by mainstream medicine, the CDC, and other authorities isn’t working. Period.

It’s easier to do a 2-4 minute sound bite and interview a tick researcher than it is to get to the bottom of this plague which is riddled with conflicts of interest and frankly patient abuse.

Do not let the tick researcher working with the CDC fool you. They are doing nothing. They have changed nothing, and forget about that “Lyme vaccine” which has directly caused Lyme symptoms in dogs and people:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/22/why-we-care-so-strongly-about-a-potential-lyme-vaccine/ (Many more links within this one)

I’m not saying the study of ticks isn’t important but there’s so much more that needs to be done:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/02/transmission-of-lyme-disease-lida-mattman-phd/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/are-mosquitoes-transmitting-lyme-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/19/33-years-of-documentation-of-maternal-child-transmission-of-lyme-disease-and-congenital-lyme-borreliosis-a-review/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/24/pcos-lyme-my-story/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/29/is-the-sky-truly-going-to-fall-for-patients-with-the-untreatable-form-of-lyme-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/05/ability-of-stationary-phase-persister-biofilm-microcolonies-of-borrelia-burgdorferi-to-cause-more-severe-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/24/three-antibiotic-cocktail-clears-persister-lyme-bacteria-in-mouse-study/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/13/suppression-of-microscopy-for-lyme-diagnostics-professor-laane/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks

Emerging Babesia sp. Similar to Babesia Motasi in 1st Human Case & Ticks in Korea (Asian Long-horned & Haemaphysalis Flava)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31179860

2019;8(1):869-878. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2019.1622997.

Detection and characterization of an emerging type of Babesia sp. similar to Babesia motasi for the first case of human babesiosis and ticks in Korea.

Hong SH1, Kim SY1, Song BG1, Rho JR1, Cho CR2, Kim CN3, Um TH2, Kwak YG4, Cho SH1, Lee SE1.

Abstract

Babesiosis is a tick-transmitted intraerythrocytic zoonosis. In Korea, the first mortalities were reported in 2005 due to Babesia sp. detection in sheep; herein we report epidemiological and genetic characteristics of a second case of babesiosis. Microscopic analysis of patient blood revealed polymorphic merozoites. To detect Babesia spp., PCR was performed using Babesia specific primers for β-tubulin, 18S rDNA, COB, and COX3 gene fragments. 18S rDNA analysis for Babesia sp., showed 98% homology with ovine Babesia sp. and with Babesia infections in Korea in 2005. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis of 18S rDNA, COB, and COX3 revealed close associations with B. motasi. For identifying the infectious agent, Haemaphysalis longicornis (296) and Haemaphysalis flava (301) were collected around the previous residence of the babesiosis patient. Babesia genes were identified in three H. longicornis: one sample was identified as B. microti and two samples were 98% homologous to B. motasi.

Our study is the first direct confirmation of the infectious agent for human babesiosis. This case most likely resulted from tick bites from ticks near the patient house of the babesiosis patient. H. longicornis has been implicated as a vector of B. microti and other Babesia sp. infections.

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**Comment**

Everyone’s been waiting with bated breath on what the Asian Long-horned tick is transmitting.  We know it’s transmitting numerous pathogens in Asia but has yet to be found to transmit pathogens here in the U.S., although the tick itself is spreading geographically like wildfire. This is the tick that clones itself and drains cattle of its blood. https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/12/asian-tick-found-in-new-jersey-can-kill-cattle-by-draining-them-of-blood/

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vbz.2018.2298  This article shows the ticks and transmittable diseases in South Korea.

The full-length article tells the unfortunate story of an elderly men’s death 36 hours after hospitalization due to an emerging type of Babesia due to a tick bite. 

A blood sample was obtained from the jugular vein in the patient that presented with dizziness and general weakness. 

No microorganisms were isolated from the blood culture.

Microscopy revealed the following:

Upon light microscopic examination, variable intraerythrocytic parasites as ring forms, pear-shaped forms, paired pyriforms, pleomorphic ring forms, and multiple-infected parasites and clusters of extracellular rings were detected in Giemsa-stained blood smears. The percentage of parasitaemia was 1.8% (Figure 1). Maltese cross forms comprising four masses in an erythrocyte that are often described as a characteristic of B. microti infection were not detected in most blood smears (Figure 1).

Please note that the patient would have failed a simple blood test and even microscopy revealed atypical findings as well as the fact parasitemia was less than 2%.

Yet, 2% was enough to kill a man.

Tick collections were performed by dividing the area around the patient’s residence and the findings were:

A total of 597 ticks were collected around the patient’s residence, including 296 H. longicornis (186 adult, 41 nymphs, and 68 larvae) and 301 Haemaphysalis flava (1 adult and 300 larvae) (Table 2). Among these, 94% of the ticks were collected in both the front yard of patient’s residence (442 ticks) and associated hill III (124 ticks). Based on the results of the amplification of Babesia genes in each tick, 2 (0.3%) were positive for 18S rDNA of Babesia species, 1 (0.2%) for COB and COX3, and 1 (0.2%) for β-tubulin gene of B. microti. While the nymph of H. longicornis yielded a positive result for only 18S rDNA, one female tick of H. longicornis yielded positive results for 18S rDNA, COB, and COX3 gene fragments. Also, one female tick of H. longicornis only yielded positive results for β-tubulin gene of B. microti (Table 3).

Please note two things: the high amount of ticks found right in his yard and the low incidence of infected ticks – yet, it only took one to kill him.

The Discussion section reveals some interesting things:

Previously, seven different Babesia spp., B. microti, B. divergens, B. bovis, B. canis, B. duncani, B. venatorium, and a novel Babesia sp. similar to ovine babesias were reported to cause human babesiosis...Human babesiosis (KCDC-1) in 2017 was the second case identified in Korea and the sequence of Babesia sp. was very closely related to that of KO1 and Liaoning, China. These large Babesia are clearly distinct from other agents of human babesiosis based on their shape and phylogeny. These results suggest that the causative agent in their case of babesiosis is a novel large Babesia parasite infecting humans and may be highly fatal….

the identified Babesia parasites (in the patient) might be B. motasi, and this is the first study to detect B. motasi in human babesiosis and H. longicornis in Korea.

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For more on Babesia:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/16/babesia-treatment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/01/bb-new-strain-of-babesia-found-in-tick-on-a-tropical-bird-in-canada/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/11/babesia-widespread-in-canada-its-high-tolerance-to-therapy/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/21/could-it-be-babesia/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/05/variable-clinical-presentations-of-babesiosis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/22/babesiosis-in-pregnancy-an-imitator-of-hellp-syndrome/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/26/fda-recommends-testing-for-tick-borne-illness-in-donated-blood-a-big-duh/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/11/transfusion-transmitted-babesiosis-one-states-experience/

 

Category:

Babesia, research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission

Retinal Vessel Occlusion Caused by Bartonella Infection

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6236082/

. 2018 Nov 19; 33(47): e297.
Published online 2018 Oct 29. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2018.33.e297
PMCID: PMC6236082
PMID: 31044568

A Case of Retinal Vessel Occlusion Caused by Bartonella Infection

Minji Woo,1 Somin Ahn,1 Joon Young Song,2 and Seong-Woo Kimcorresponding author1
Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer
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A 29-year-old female visited the emergency room with sudden visual loss in the right eye started on the same day. She had been suffering from fever for two days. A best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.5/0.7 in the Snellen chart. Fundus examination (Fig. 1) showed multiple retinal hemorrhages. Severe vascular sheaths around the optic disc area were present in the right eye. Candle-wax-dripping sign in the superior hemisphere were found in the left eye.

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On systemic examination, erythema of the lower extremities (Fig. 1C) and right inguinal lymph node enlargement were discovered. With systemic doxycycline (100 mg) and gentamicin (90 mg) administration, fever subsided after three days. Bartonella infection was confirmed after 10 days with in-house indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) analysis (immunoglobulin G; cutoff points for seropositive titer at 1:64). Lymph node biopsy showed necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis (Fig. 1D). On the same day, the BCVA decreased to hand motion in the right eye. When asked, she could not specify when the vision loss began. The candle-wax-dripping sign in the left eye had progressed to vascular sheath with flame-shaped hemorrhages. Fluorescein angiography shows a rack of filling of the retinal arteries. Blocked fluorescence by retinal hemorrhage was found in the whole area of right eye and in the superotemporal quadrant of left eye. Inner-retinal hyper-reflectivity of the right eye and cystoid macular edema in the left eye were revealed (Fig. 2). The impression was central retinal artery and vein occlusion for the right eye and branch retinal artery and vein occlusion for the left eye, associated with severe vasculitis secondary to Bartonella infection. The patient was treated with a systemic methylprednisolone 500 mg, anticoagulant (Enoxaparin sodium 60 mg) and Rifampin (300 mg). Three month after disease onset, the BCVA in the right eye improved to 0.1. For photographs and medical records that consisted possible identification of the patient, a consent form was obtained from the patient for use of publication.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Professor Jin-Soo Lee, Department of Internal Medicine, Inha University School of Medicine, for his help with the in-house IFA analysis.

Footnotes

Funding: This research was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Korean government, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIP) (NRF-2017M3A9E2056458).

Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Contributed by

Author Contributions: Conceptualization: Woo M, Kim SW. Investigation: Woo M, Ahn S. Writing – original draft: Woo M. Writing – review & editing: Ahn S, Song JY, Kim SW.

References

1. Kwon HY, Im JH, Lee SM, Baek JH, Durey A, Park SG, et al. The seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae in healthy adults in Korea. Korean J Intern Med. 2017;32(3):530–535. [PMC free article][PubMed] []
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Category:

Bartonella, Eye Issues, research, Treatment

Breakthrough Paves Way For New Lyme Disease Treatment

https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2019/06/17/new-lyme-disease-treatment-cure-ticks-virginia/1456187001/

Breakthrough paves way for new Lyme disease treatment

, Staunton News Leader
June 17, 2019 

A Virginia Tech biochemist has discovered the cellular component that contributes to Lyme arthritis, a debilitating and extremely painful condition that is the most common late stage symptom of Lyme disease, a press release said.

According to the release from Virginia Tech, the biochemist, Brandon Jutras, found that as the Lyme-causing bacteria borrelia burgdorferi multiplies, it sheds a cellular component called peptidoglycan that elicits a unique inflammatory response in the body.

“This discovery will help researchers improve diagnostic tests and may lead to new treatment options for patients suffering with Lyme arthritis,” said Jutras, lead author on the study. “This is an important finding and we think that it has major implications for many manifestations of Lyme disease, not just Lyme arthritis.”

Lyme disease is the most reported vector-borne disease in the country, and in Virginia reports have increased by more than 6,000 percent in the last fifteen years. The Centers for Disease Control, estimates that approximately 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually in the United States. Scientists predict that the number of people who become infected Lyme will increase as our climate continues to change.

Jutras — an assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute — and his collaborators recently published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to the release, the PNAS paper was four years in the making, and Jutras began this research during his post-doctoral fellowship in the lab of Christine Jacobs-Wagner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and professor at Yale University.

“Nowadays nothing significant in science is accomplished without collaboration,” said Jutras. Co-authors on this paper ranged from bench scientists to medical doctors and practicing physicians. Dr. Allen Steere, a Harvard doctor who originally identified Lyme disease in the 1970s, assisted Jutras with his research and provided access to patient samples.

The research could provide a new way to diagnose Lyme disease and Lyme arthritis for patients with vague symptoms based on the presence of the cellular component called peptidoglycan in synovial fluid.

Read: Every spot in Virginia is a hotspot for ticks

The press release said, the team found peptidoglycan is a major contributor to Lyme arthritis in late-stage Lyme disease patients. Peptidoglycan is an essential component of bacterial cell walls. All bacteria have some form of peptidoglycan, but the form found in the bacteria that causes Lyme, borrelia burgdorferi, has a unique chemical structure. When the bacteria multiply, they shed peptidoglycan into the extracellular environment, because its genome does not have the appropriate proteins to recycle it back into the cell.

“We can actually detect peptidoglycan in the synovial fluid of the affected, inflamed joints of patients that have all the symptoms of Lyme arthritis but no longer have an obvious, active infection,” said Jutras in the release.

Peptidoglycan elicits an inflammatory response and the molecule persists in the synovial fluid, which means that our bodies continue to respond, without mounting a counter response.

Receptors in our immune system sense bacterial products and, depending on the individual’s genetic predispositions, may determine how strongly a patient’s body reacts to peptidoglycan.

The next phase of Jutras’ work is to use methods to destroy the peptidoglycan, or intervene to prevent a response, which could get rid of Lyme disease symptoms. According to the release, Jutras predicts that with either therapy patients would start recovering sooner.

Breakthrough paves way for new Lyme disease treatment, as discussed in this video provided by Virginia Tech. Video provided by Virginia Tech, Staunton News Leader

Clinical samples included in this study were obtained from patients that had confirmed cases of Lyme disease under the guidelines of the CDC, but virtually all did not respond to oral and/or intravenous antibiotic treatment, the release said. The presence of peptidoglycan in these patients’ synovial fluids may explain why some people experience symptoms of late stage Lyme disease in the absence of an obvious infection. In this case, the usual antibiotic treatments for Lyme disease would no longer be helpful, but this discovery might provide avenues for new treatments, the press release said.

Members of the Jacobs-Wagner lab purified the peptidoglycan and removed all other bacterial components and asked: is peptidoglycan all on its own capable of causing arthritis in a mouse model?

According to the release, within 24 hours post-injection, mice presented with dramatic joint inflammation, indicating that peptidoglycan can cause arthritis.

Jutras is continuing his research at Virginia Tech on peptidoglycan by more thoroughly studying its chemical composition to determine how it is able to persist in the human body. This will also help further the understanding of how this bacterial product contributes to other manifestations of Lyme disease.

“We are interested in understanding everything associated with how patients respond, how we can prevent that response, and how we could possibly intervene with blocking therapies or therapies that eliminate the molecule entirely,” Jutras said.

__________________
**Comment**
This article brings up more questions than answers.
1) Were these patients used for this study truly treated appropriately to begin with?  For example, was the mono-therapy of doxycycline only used for a short period of time?  This treatment has been shown again and again to have treatment failures from the beginning of time. For examples of effective treatment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/  In a nutshell, effective treatment takes into account pleomorphism, polymmcrobialism, and biofilm. Doxy alone will not do these things.
2) Would an anti-peptidoglycan treatment only be a bandaid covering up a systemic infection? Everything I know about borrelia would answer a resounding “yes,” to this question.  While that may not be a bad thing, we must be honest about what the treatment’s really doing as well as the fact borrelia can persist in the human body, something The Cabal isn’t admitting at this point. Again, we truly need to end this Lyme War and according to microbiologist Tom Grier, that isn’t going to happen until post mortem studies are completed:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/13/chronic-lyme-post-mortem-study-needed-to-end-the-lyme-wars/ Isn’t it a bit ironic that The Cabal is just fine with creating a patentable drug but NOT fine with doing the proper science that would put all of this to rest?
3) Bandaids on symptoms are used all the time to lesson pain and other symptoms; however, they shouldn’t be used at the expense of true, effective treatment for a systemic infection that’s relapsing in nature. In the case of Lyme disease, that would simply mean long-term antimicrobials. While I do not know the study parameters used here my guess would be the treatment that “didn’t work” was the mono-therapy of doxycycline which certainly doesn’t work for many coinfections such as Babesia, as well as the fact Eva Sapi has shown it to push the spirochete into the noncell wall form invitro:  https://www.dovepress.com/evaluation-of-in-vitro-antibiotic-susceptibility-of-different-morpholo-peer-reviewed-article-IDR
Just this year another study was done about it by Caskey et al.:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31057493
In a nutshell, using an anti-peptidoglycan without tandem antimicrobials could allow an infection to worsen over time to cause refractory (unmanageable) disease in patients.

This same thing can happen to Lyme/MSIDS patients who have been given catabolic steroids such as prednisone for inflammation.  Without tandem antimicrobials to continue a full-court press on pathogens, the steroids dampen the immune system and allow the pathogens to strengthen. Ask any ILADS trained doctor and they will say the same.  For an example:  http://danielcameronmd.com/steroid-use-can-lead-long-term-treatment-failure-lyme-disease-patients/  Excerpt: 

Treatment failures were found in Lyme arthritic patients who were treated with intramuscular (IM) benzathine penicillin following steroids. [3]

In another study, two patients were ill for 3 years and one patient for 6 years despite receiving intravenous (IV) ceftriaxone. The authors explained, “Patients unresponsive to ceftriaxone were more likely to have received corticosteroid treatment.” Dattwyler et al. from Stony Brook Medical Center found an “association of steroid use with an increased failure rate or worsening of disease is understandable in view of the well-known effects of these agents on the inflammatory and immune responses.”

Dattwyler advised against the use of steroids in Lyme disease patients based on these two studies. “In view of the strong association between the use of steroids and the lack of response to antibiotic therapy, we believe that glucocorticoids should not be used in the treatment of Lyme borreliosis.” [2]

This article highlights yet again the importance of needing the right research to be done. The Cabal continues full-steam ahead doing research built upon false premises that could hurt patients in the end.

 

Category:

Inflammation, Lyme, research, Treatment

SPbU Scientists Have Discovered the First Family of Extracellular Rickettsia-Like Bacteria

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/spsu-ssh061419.php

NEWS RELEASE 

SPbU scientists have discovered the first family of extracellular Rickettsia-like bacteria

Microbiologists have discovered a new family of bacteria belonging to the order Rickettsiales — Deianiraeaceae; this is the first report of the Rickettsia-like bacteria that display a unique extracellular lifestyle and are in fact predators

ST. PETERSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY

IMAGE
IMAGE: INVASION OF A PARAMECIUM CELL BY DEANIRAEA BACTERIA. view more CREDIT: ISME JOURNAL

Like Heracles’ wife

The Deianiraeaceae, which has become the fourth family in the order Rickettsiales, currently contains one genus, Deianiraea. All previously investigated Rickettsiales are obligate intracellular specialised parasites. By contrast, Deianiraea not only attacks the victim from the outside, but also it never enters the host cell throughout its entire life cycle. Deianiraea colonises the extracellular surface of the ciliate Paramecium: the predatory bacterium attacks the ciliate and replicates on its surface, taking the victim’s resources, and eventually its life.

The name for the newly discovered bacterium – Deianiraea – refers to the myth of Deianira, the wife of Heracles. According to legend, the centaur Nessus attempted to kidnap Deianira, but she was rescued by Heracles. Heracles shot the centaur with an arrow dipped in the Lernaean Hydra’s venomous blood. The dying Nessus, seeking vengeance, persuaded Deianira to take some of his blood, as it would allegedly make a powerful love potion. When Deianira heard that Heracles had fallen in love with another woman, she feared that he would leave her. Deianira sent him a tunic smeared with the centaur’s blood. The tunic poisoned with the Hydra’s venom in the centaur’s blood killed Heracles. ‘Similarly, the Deianiraea bacterium kills the ciliates, covering the host cell like a poisoned tunic,’ notes Alexey Potekhin, Professor at the Department of Microbiology of St Petersburg University and a member of the international research team.

Predator of the microworld

The novel bacterium was discovered by chance. Natalia Lebedeva is one of the co-authors of the study and a leading expert of the Centre for Culture Collection of Microorganisms at the St Petersburg University Research Park. She took a sample of water from a waste water stream in Larnaca, Cyprus. Microbiological analysis of the water sample revealed that it contained a large number of ciliates. Laboratory observation showed massive loss of cilia, which are employed for locomotion and feeding. This resulted in the death of the affected ciliate. Other paramecia, which were added into the same culture, also soon died. Upon closer inspection of the affected ciliates it became evident that the deciliated areas of the cell surface were covered by tightly packed bacteria – unknown to science at that moment.

‘New bacterial families are rarely discovered these days. It is always an important finding, no matter what order this family may belong to. In our case, a new family has been found in a very well-studied order – the Rickettsiales. Previously, only DNA of related bacteria were detected in the samples. Therefore, the bacteria were classified as Rickettsia-like, as the scientists were not able to place them into the existing system of families of the order. It was the first time that we had found these bacteria alive. The molecular phylogenetic analysis enabled us to reassemble all the data fragments and, consequently, to establish a new bacterial family – Deianiraeaceae. One may say we were lucky,’ says Alexey Potekhin.

Strong and almost independent

Unlike other Rickettsia-like bacteria, Deianiraea is not only able to replicate – to reproduce outside the cell – but also to sustain itself with less dependence on the host. ‘Deianiraea possesses a higher capability to synthesise amino acids, compared to all other Rickettsiales. It can synthesise 16 amino acids, including the 8 that other representatives of the order cannot produce. 16 out of the 20 main amino acids is almost a full set. The rest it is most likely to acquire from its victims, but we do not know that for certain. Moreover, Deianiraea can synthesise nucleotides: other Rickettsiales do not do this because they receive them from the host,’ Alexey Potekhin explains.

Another feature of Deianiraea is that it has several secretion systems. In bacteria, this enables protein secretion that can be employed for interaction with other cells as well. Deianiraea does have a specialised secretion system for interacting with other bacteria. It also has a specialised type IV secretion system which putatively enables it to establish contact with the ciliate. At present, the researchers have not yet established the exact mechanism of the parasite-host cell interaction, and what the bacterium may acquire from the ciliate or other host organisms.

Related to mitochondria

The order Rickettsiales encompasses three previously known families of highly diverse representatives of intracellular symbionts and parasites associated with eukaryotes, including animal and human pathogens (e.g., typhus). It has been suggested that all Rickettsia-like may have shared a common ancestor with mitochondria. Mitochondria are responsible for ATP synthesis in all eukaryotic cells, i.e. for energy metabolism. The discovery of a novel — extracellular — Rickettsiales bacterium suggests that the evolutionary path of mitochondria may have been different, contrary to what has been previously assumed.

‘Evolution, whenever possible, tends to choose the path of least effort, reducing the number of redundant functions: all that is unnecessary is eliminated. It has been assumed that the common ancestor of all Rickettsia-like bacteria was a specialised intracellular parasite with a low biosynthetic potential. In other words, it was unable to synthesise many of the essential substances, acquiring them from the host. It could sustain itself and reproduce only inside host cells. The results of our research allow us to assert with confidence that the last common ancestor of all Rickettsia-like bacteria led an extracellular lifestyle, lived in water, had a flagellum and was metabolically independent. It also must have had cellular systems that enabled parasite-host interactions. Adaptation to the lifestyle of intracellular parasites of the modern families of the Rickettsiales order would have evolved later in parallel and independently in different sub-lineages. The discovery of Deianiraea impels us to reopen the debate about the time when the ancestor of mitochondria would have established itself inside a proto-eukaryote, and the particular traits this mitochondrial ancestor would have possessed,’ the scientist concludes.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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For more on Rickettsia:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/12/willy-speaks-from-the-grave-rickettsia-helvetica/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/06/rickettsiales-in-ticks-removed-from-outdoor-workers-from-georgia-florida/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/22/1st-report-of-anaplasma-found-in-thai-bartonella-rickettsia-leptospira-scrub-typhus-in-humans-as-well-even-more-found-in-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/11/rickettsia-found-in-ticks-on-brazilian-snakes/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/03/tick-bite-in-ear-gave-uk-teacher-rickettsial-typhus-infection/

Lastly, I’ll never forget what Dr. Hoffman, RIP, told me years ago when he was a medical resident in Illinois treating people with tick-borne illness before it had a name (Lyme).  He called it a “Rickettsial-like” disease.  He may have been closer to the truth than he knew.

Category:

research, Rickettsia