Climate change is causing Earth to readjust. The polar ice caps are melting, lakes are evaporating, droughts are occurring, and the planet is getting warmer as a whole. This is changing even the small things such as microbes. Microbes live in every nook and cranny of this planet. Some are beneficial to life, however many are pathogens causing disease resulting in loss of certain bodily functions or even life. Countless pathogens are being affected by climate change, but one particularly being affected is the N. fowleri. The relationship between the Naegleria fowleri and humans is being altered by climate change resulting in geographical spread, increased rates of infection, and a longer lifespan for the pathogen.
Naegleria fowleri is a single-celled, protozoan pathogen found in fresh bodies of water and soil around the world (Skurie; Byrd 8). It thrives in the layer of sediment at the bottom of lakes and ponds. (Skurie). When living in soil, the N. fowleri, along with other protozoa microbes, clings to plant roots searching for bacteria (Byrd 261). This pathogen is a free-living pathogen classified as an amphizoic amoeba therefore it survives in a free state throughout soil and fresh water while having the ability to be a pathogen (Marciano-Cabral, “Immune”). It primarily seeks bacteria due to an inability to create food (Byrd 27); however, N. fowleri will attack a host if given the opportunity. In addition, it has been proven pathogens of the brain are often able to control the actions of their host to better suit the pathogen’s needs. An example may be to cause the host to have a high body temperature, wanting to stay warmer, or sleeping more often (Byrd 225). This microbe is typically found in the form of trophozoite, cyst, o...
... middle of paper ...
...mate change is becoming a catalyst for Naegleria fowleri infections and PAM. The pathogen is being forced to readjust for a hotter Earth. As a result the N. fowleri is beginning to spread to fresh bodies of water in northern states it would not have been able to survive in previously. Also, it gives N. fowleri a larger window of time to proliferate and obtain a host to attack, which could prompt more infections globally. Although scientists and physicians attempt to find cures and immunizations for the pathogen, they have yet to find an inclusive solution to work on all infections. Climate change is occurring causing great changes in the Naegleria fowleri amoeba. Therefore, the relationship between the Naegleria fowleri and humans is being altered by climate change resulting in geographical spread, increased rates of infection, and a longer lifespan for the pathogen.
In her book, Dorothy Crawford gives biographies of the history of microbes which have brought humans diseases on a large scale. These include epidemics like yellow fever, tuberculosis, smallpox, acute respiratory syndrome, bubonic plague, syphilis HIV, the Black Death, malaria and cholera. It is worth to point out that her work is up to date because most of these microbes are still with us in this era. Crawford uses the historical bibliography of humans experience with microbes to show a fact that microbes shaped our culture through infection, disease, and pandemic. At the same time, the ever changing human culture has also largely influenced the evolutionary nature of microbes.
The biting midge (Culicoides imicola), which is responsible for this disease’s transmission, is usually contained within Mediterranean Europe; where the conditions have been exactly what the midge demands to survive (Society for General Microbiology NP). However, with an increase in average temperature of six degrees, the midge has been allowed to travel northward threatening the cattle throughout the area and even as far as England (Society for General Microbiology NP). The spread of the midge’s territory has led to an increased number of their population, along with the amount of infected cattle.
Disease and parasitism play a pervasive role in all life. Many of these diseases start with microparasites, which are characterized by their ability to reproduce directly within an individual host. They are also characterized by their small size, short duration of infection, and the production of an immune response in infected and recovered individuals. Microparasites which damage hosts in the course of their association are recognized as pathogens. The level of the interaction and the extent of the resultant damage depends on both the virulence of the pathogen, as well as the host defenses. If the pathogen can overcome the host defenses, the host will be damaged and may not survive. If on the other hand the host defenses overcome the pathogen, the microparasite may fail to establish itself within the host and die.
Naegleria fowleri, the brain eating amoeba, exists around the world; reservoirs of N fowleri include sediments of lakes, rivers, geothermal water, soil, and poorly kept swimming pools. These microbes can live in temperatures up to 45 degree Celsius and do not require a host cell for survival. The free-living amoeba is the etiological source of primary amoebic meningeocephalitis (PAM), an acute and fatal disease of the central nervous system with fatality rates over 99%. Onset of illness is quick and death typically occurs within 7-14 days. Treatment for PAM poses a challenge because of rapid disease progression and limited awareness among clinicians. According to the CDC, there are more than 30 species of Naegleria that exist, however, N fowleri is exclusively the species recognized to be pathogenic in humans. When conditions are favorable, this free-living amoeba can survive outside of the host cell.
Dybas. C.L (2008) ‘Climate, Environment, and Infectious Diseases: A Report from the AIBS 2008 Annual Meeting’, BioScience, Vol. 58 (No. 9). Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1641/B580903 [Accessed 12 March 2014]
... and heating up, and development pushing deeper into uninhabited terrain, the range of cocci is likely to increase. But other factors may aggravate its impact, too. With more and longer-lived transplant patients and a proliferating set of indications for immunosuppressive drugs, researchers expect to see an acceleration in the number of life-threatening cases. “As we as a population become more immunosuppressed, we become at higher risk,” Tom Chiller, a fungal expert at the C.D.C., said.
Slack, John M. and I. S. Snyder. Bacteria and Human Disease. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., 1978.
our everyday lives bacteria is constantly surrounding us, some of the bacterium that we encounter are beneficial to us but then there are the ones that are severely detrimental to our health. The way that they effect a persons body can differ from person to person. Many of the “microscopic foes” are very resilient and have a very fast reproduction rate. Not only do they reproduce quickly they sometimes seem to outsmart our immune system and not allow our bodies to fight the infection making it almost impossible to stop them. One thing that a lot if people rely on is the assistance of prescription drugs to get them better but even the drugs are not being effective and we can’t stop the pathogens from invading our personal places such as work, home, school, or anywhere. Even though modern medicine is advancing the pathogens could still get the get the best of us. The scary thing is we never know when the next pandemic or epidemic is going to arise. All it needs is some ordinary microbe to swap genes with a deadly germ to produce a “super pathogen” and it could happen to anyone, anywhere, as it did to Jeannie Brown who is from “our neck of the woods”.
...standing the nature of relationship between the residing microbes inside human cells and about their function is very important to put an end to this war and to live in peace with the natural organisms that are benefitting human body and their survival has become our primary importance.
In the documentary, Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria, reporter David Hoffman investigates this new untreatable infection along two individuals and a bacterial virus within a hospital. The first individual Hoffman investigates is Addie Rerecich of Arizona, she was treated for a staph infection with antibiotics, but other complications arise. Addie had a lung transplant, she was given several different antibiotics, but her body became pan-bacteria, non-resistance to the bacteria. Addie’s life was on the edge, she had to be on life support, and finally she received new lungs. The transplant helped Addie but it would take years before could go back to normal before the infection. The second individual is David Ricci; he had his leg amputated in India after a train accident. The antibiotic treatment he received became toxic to his body increasing problems. While in India, he underwent surgery almost every day because of infections he was developing. Back in Seattle, doctors found the NDM-1 resistance gene in his body; NDM-1 gene is resistance to almost all antib...
...sease will spread to become an outbreak as it has a higher likelihood of spreading throughout the population before it is recognized as a new disease and treatment has begun. Factors such as high population density, high speed air travel and antibiotic resistance aid the spread of the disease and contribute to it becoming an outbreak. Epidemiology and other safety measures aid in the protection of the population from outbreaks of disease and alter the susceptibility of the human race to outbreaks of disease.
Thousands of species have become extinct over the last four decades as a result of changes in land use and as a result of global warming. Whether or not the millions of species can adapt and evolve to climate changes is debatable. As this brief overview will report, the human species is not adapting well to the changes. It must be remembered that increases in the levels of carbon dioxide are certainly responsible for the risk many species face, but so is the way land is used, e.g., rain forest destruction. There is a feedback loop wherein plant life and the climate are interdependent. Each affects the other. When forests are cut down, temperatures in that area will rise. Rising temperatures cause other plant life requiring cooler temperatures To die off.
Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment in which they grow. The effects
The link between climate change and biodiversity loss has long been established. Although throughout Earth’s history the climate has always changed with ecosystems and species coming and going were able to adapt. Rapid climate change affects the ecosystems and species ability to adapt and so biodiversity loss increases. Climate change has many environmental impacts on biodiversity, projected future changes are likely to result in changes in the distribution of species and ecosystems, and overall biodiversity loss. There are many ways you can go about this situation to help reduce the impact the climate change has on the biodiversity, I have two approaches that I think would be very efficient. The affects climate change has on biodiversity loss is important to the world for many reasons. If climate change continues to affect biodiversity it can have an enormous impact on human society, it will have a major impact on the food chain which we greatly depend on, water sources may become scarce, and medicines and other sources that we obtain from plants may reduce or even disappear because of biodiversity loss.