Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Grant to Study How Bb Survives Hostile Environment

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-02/uota-upr020217.php

PUBLIC RELEASE: 2-FEB-2017
UTSA professor receives grant to study how Lyme disease survives in hosts

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

Janakiram Seshu, associate professor of biology and associate dean of The Graduate School at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has received a $404,250 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to support his research to better understand and prevent the spread of Lyme disease.

“Dr. Seshu’s top-tier efforts in infectious disease research are a source of immense pride for the UTSA College of Sciences,” said George Perry, Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology and dean of the UTSA College of Sciences. “His work will undoubtedly have a great impact on our knowledge of Lyme disease, as well as our efforts to fight it.”

“As Lyme disease-carrying ticks increasingly spread to new areas of the country, we need to improve our understanding of the disease. Dr. Seshu’s bacteria research will help us limit Lyme disease’s spread and allow folks here in Texas and across the nation to live healthier lives,” said U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro. “Thanks to UTSA’s continued leadership, science thrives in San Antonio.”

Seshu, a member of the South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, is best known by his peers for his inventive approach to stop the spread of Lyme disease. His work, described in a recent paper, leverages medication that is normally used to lower cholesterol.

“As a member of The South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID), Dr. Seshu’s work is always interesting and innovative. With Lyme disease-carrying ticks now present in over half the country, his research and findings will provide new insights in the treatment against the particular bacterium,” said Bernard Arulanandam, UTSA interim vice president for research.

The big question at the heart of Seshu’s research is how the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, called Borrelia burgdorferi, is able to adapt to its immediate environment inside the tick vector or infected mammalian hosts. Mammalian bodies are very rich in nutrients and fatty acids, which make it very easy for the bacteria to thrive. The tick’s body is very different. It’s very poor in nutrients. Yet the bacterium adapts very quickly and allows the disease to spread.

To limit the transmission of the disease, Seshu’s entire laboratory is focused on understanding how the Lyme disease-carrying bacterium can reinvent itself to live for so long in such a disagreeable environment.

“This award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease is an exciting investment to tackle a major debilitating disease in the US,” Seshu said. “I’m looking forward to advancing our understanding of this disease, so we can start finding better solutions.”

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks, Uncategorized

Bartonellosis Needs a One Health Approach

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28133871

Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Bartonellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease of worldwide distribution, caused by an expanding number of recently discovered Bartonella spp.
OBJECTIVES:
This review serves as an update on comparative medical aspects of this disease, including the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, treatment and challenges.
RESULTS:
Of comparative medical importance, Bartonella spp. are transmitted by several arthropod vectors, including fleas, keds, lice, sand flies, ticks and, potentially, mites and spiders. Prior to 1990, there was only one named Bartonella species (B. bacilliformis), whereas there are now over 36, of which 17 have been associated with an expanding spectrum of animal and human diseases. Recent advances in diagnostic techniques have facilitated documentation of chronic bloodstream and dermatological infections with Bartonella spp. in healthy and sick animals, in human blood donors, and in immunocompetent and immunocompromised human patients. The field of Bartonella research remains in its infancy and is rich in questions, for which patient relevant answers are badly needed. Directed Bartonella research could substantially reduce a spectrum of chronic and debilitating animal and human diseases, and thereby reduce suffering throughout the world.
CONCLUSION:
A One Health approach to this emerging infectious disease is clearly needed to define disease manifestations, to establish the comparative infectious disease pathogenesis of this stealth pathogen, to validate effective treatment regimens and to prevent zoonotic disease transmission.

Category:

Bartonella, research, Testing, Ticks

Lone Star Ticks in Wisconsin

https://academic.oup.com/jme/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jme/tjw218/2952769/Occurrence-of-Amblyomma-americanum-Acari-Ixodidae?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Occurrence of Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) and Human Infection With Ehrlichia chaffeensis in Wisconsin, 2008–2015
Megan Christenson, Xia Lee, Scott Larson, Diep Hoang Johnson, Julia Jensen, Megan Meller, Susan Paskewitz

Abstract
Because of the increasing incidence of human ehrlichiosis in Wisconsin, we assessed reports of human infections by Ehrlichia chaffeensis and the distribution of its vector, the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum (L.)). From 2008 through 2015, 158 probable and confirmed human cases of E. chaffeensis infections were reported to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Five cases without travel history outside of Wisconsin were confirmed as E. chaffeensis by polymerase chain reaction. Surveillance for the vector occurred from 2008 through 2015 and was based on active and passive methods, including examination of white-tailed deer, collections from live-trapped small mammals, submissions of ticks removed from wild and domestic animals through the Wisconsin Surveillance of Animals for Ticks (SWAT) program, digital or physical submissions by the public to the University of Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic or Medical Entomology laboratories, and active tick dragging. More than 50 lone star ticks (46 adults, 6 nymphs, and 1 larva) were identified. Lone star ticks were more commonly found in south central Wisconsin, particularly in Dane County, where discovery of more than one life stage in a single year indicates possible establishment.

Category:

research, Ticks

Spread of TBI’s in Michigan

https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ofid/ofw269

Geographic Expansion of Lyme disease in Michigan, 2000-2014

Paul M. Lantos, Jean Tsao, Lise E. Nigrovic, Paul G. Auwaerter, Vance Fowler, Felicia Ruffin, Erik Foster, and Graham Hickling
Open Forum Infectious Diseases (2017) ofw269. Published 09 January 2017.

Abstract

Background.

Most Lyme disease cases in the Midwestern United States are reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In recent years, however, a widening geographic extent of Lyme disease has been noted with evidence of expansion eastwards into Michigan and neighboring states with historically low incidence rates.

Methods.

We collected confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease from 2000 through 2014 from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, entering them in a geographic information system. We performed spatial focal cluster analyses to characterize Lyme disease expansion. We compared the distribution of human cases with recent Ixodes scapularis tick distribution studies.

Results.

Lyme disease cases in both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan expanded more than five-fold over the study period. While increases were seen throughout the Upper Peninsula, the Lower Peninsula particularly expanded along the Indiana border north along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Human cases corresponded to a simultaneous expansion in established I. scapularis tick populations.

Conclusions.

The geographic distribution of Lyme disease cases significantly expanded in Michigan between 2000 and 2014, particularly northward along the Lake Michigan shore. If such dynamic trends continue, Michigan can expect a continued increase in Lyme disease cases, as may neighboring areas of Indiana, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada.

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks

Bm & TBI’s in NY State

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X17300158

Detection of Borrelia miyamotoi and other tick-borne pathogens in human clinical specimens and Ixodes scapularis ticks in New York State, 2012-2015.

Wroblewski D, Gebhardt L, Prusinski MA, Meehan LJ, Halse TA, Musser KA.

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, online first, 2017 Jan 16. pii: S1877-959X(17)30015-8.

Abstract

Borrelia miyamotoi (Bm) is a recently emerging bacterial agent transmitted by several species of ixodid ticks. Diagnosis of Bm infection can be challenging, as the organism is not easily cultivable.

We have developed and validated a multiplex real-time PCR to simultaneously identify Bm infection and the agents causing human granulocytic anaplasmosis and human monocytic ehrlichiosis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis, respectively. The assay is 100% specific; highly sensitive, detecting 11 gene copies of Bm DNA in both whole blood and cerebral spinal fluid; and provides rapid results in less than two hours.

A retrospective study of 796 clinical specimens collected between the years 2012 and 2014 and a prospective study of 366 clinical specimens were performed utilizing this novel assay to evaluate the frequency of Bm infection in New York State (NYS). Eight clinical specimens (1%) were found to be positive for Bm, 216 were positive for A. phagocytophilum, and 10 were positive for E. chaffeensis.

Additionally, we tested 411 I. scapularis ticks collected in NYS during 2013 and 2014 in a separate multiplex real-time PCR to determine the prevalence of Bm, A. phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi s.s., and Borrelia species. Our results indicated rates of 1.5%, 27%, 19.7%, and 8.8% respectively.

The ability to monitor both the frequency and geographic distribution of Bm cases and the prevalence and geographic distribution of Bm in ticks will help create a better understanding of this emerging tick-borne pathogen.

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Lyme, research, Ticks