Whooping cough is a highly contagious and acute respiratory disease caused by an aerobic Gram negative encapsulated coco-bacillus bacterium, Bordetella pertussis. It is a strict human pathogen with no known animal or environmental reservoirs and an air-borne disease. On inhalation, Bordetella pertussis colonizes the ciliated cells of the bronchio-epithelium to cause disease characterised by; epithelial damage, hyper mucus secretion, pulmonary edema and paroxysmal coughing. It is often accompanied by pneumonia, otitis edema, seizures, post-tussive vomiting and encephalopathy (1). For the disease to occur, Bordetella pertussis evades the host immune system and is disseminate in the lower respiratory tract. Inhaled bacteria droplets then attach to the ciliated epithelial cells in the nasal-pharynx and trachea. It is at this point that Bordetella pertussis produces virulent factors that are classified into two; adhesins and toxins. Adhesins mediate bacterial attachment to the epithelial cells while toxins that mediate the host immune system. Adhesins include; filamentous haemagglutinin, fimbriae and pertactin while toxins include pertussis toxin, tracheal cytotoxin and adenylate cyclase toxin(1). To understand the role of these virulence factors in whooping cough disease, a mouse model has been used (2). Studies have shown pertactin, a 69kDa non fimbrial outer membrane protein, facilitates attachment of the bacteria to ciliated respiratory cells. Experiments conducted on humans to test the role of pertactin have shown no significant effect except with the results from Bassinet (4). Furthermore, filamentous haemagglutinin confers infection by attaching to the host cells in the lower respiratory tract. It is about 2nm wide, and 50n... ... middle of paper ... ...lonization by Bordetella pertussis and identification of an immuno-dominant lipoprotein. Infect Immun 72:3350–3358 10. Mielcarek N, Debrie AS, Raze D et al (2006) Attenuated Bordetella pertussis: new live vaccines for intranasal immunisation. Vac- cine 24 (Suppl 2):54–55 11. Flak TA, Goldman WE (1999) Signalling and cellular specificity of airway nitric oxide production in pertussis. Cell Microbiol 1:51–60 12. Amirthalingam G. Strategies to control pertussis in infants (2013) Arch Dis Child 98(7):552-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ archdischild-2012-302968. PMid:23698594 13. Campbell H., G. Amirthalingam, N. Andrews, N.K. Fry, R.C. George, T.G. Harrison et al. Accelerating control of pertussis in England and Wales Emerg Infect Dis, 18 (2012), pp. 38–4 14. http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/archives/2013/news1913.htm 15. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/page.cfm?orgid=457&pid=58100
Bordetella pertussis is a highly communicable agent and is transmitted person-to-person via airborne droplets or direct contact with discharges from the respiratory mucous membranes of an infected person. This small, gram-negative coccobacillus is non-motile, aerobic and fastidious. B. pertussis colonizes the respiratory tract including the mouth, nose, throat and beginning of the lungs of young children worldwide. The bacteria bind to ciliated cells in the respiratory mucosa by producing adhesions. Filamentous hemagglutinin on the cell surface and pertussis toxin (Ptx) both help the bacteria in binding. Filamentous hemagglutinin binds to the galactose residues on the glycolipid of the ciliated cells. Ptx, in its cell-bound form, binds to the glycolipid lactosylceramide, which is also found on the ciliated cells. Ptx binds to the surface of phagocytes as well, causing phagocytosis of the bacteria. This mechanism may lead to enhanced survival as an intracellular parasite. Adding to its many purposes, Ptx deregulates the host cell adenylate cyclase activity. The A subunit of this AB toxin, affects the G protein responsible for inhibiting adenylate cyclase. This leads to an increase in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) creating detrimental metabolic changes in the host cells.
The article’s information is presented with the goal of informing a reader on vaccines. The evidence is statistical and unbiased, showing data on both side effects and disease prevention, providing rates of death and serious illness from both sides. This evidence is sourced from a variety of medical organizations and seems reliable, logical, and easily understood, no language that would inspire an emotional response is used. The validity of studies is not mentioned in the article, but it does encourage readers to investigate further to help make a decision. The article allows a reader to analyze the presented evidence and come to their own
B. burgdorferi is a spirochete bacteria in the same family as the bacteria that causes syphilis (“What do Lyme Disease”). It is gram negative and it contains a thin layer of peptidoglycan with a substance similar to LPS on its outer membrane (Todar). There are three genospecies, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia garinii...
Diphtheria is caused by a pathogenic (disease causing) bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheria also known as C. diphtheria (Nordqvist, 2004-2014). This bacterium usually effects the upper respiratory tract where inflammation is contracted. In a serious matter or event, this pathogen can be deadly once it enters the blood stream that leads to major parts of the body which includes the heart, brain and the nerves. This disease is also contagious and can be contracted by inhaling ultramicroscopic solid or liquid particles known as aerosolized secretions, direct contact with secretions or skin ulcer, and through contaminated items such as household or personal items.
perfringens is the most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States, with a million cases each year (CDC, 2014). C. perfringens is able to produce up to 15 different toxins, making it versatile. These toxins are used to isolate the five different types of C. perfringes: type A, B, C, D, and E. The four toxins that are primarily used to isolate the different types include alpha, beta, epsilon, and iota-toxins. Type A is the most common and most variable, and subdivided into entertoxigenic and non-enterotoxigenic strains (Herholz et al., 1999). Enterotoxigenic type A and C are associated with equine enterocolitis, gas gangrene, infections, avian and canine necrotic enteritis, colitis in horses, and diarrhea in pigs (Divers and Ball, 1996). Types B, C, D, and E can cause severe enteritis, dysentery, toxemia, and high mortality rates in young lambs, calves, pigs, and foals. Types B, C, D, and E have been intermittently associated with foal enterocolitis, and equine antibiotic associated diarrhea (Divers and Ball, 1996). Even though the alpha toxin is noted to be relatively nonpathogenic, the beta2 toxin plays a significant role in digestive disease, specifically, enterocolitis in equine (Herholz et al., 1999). This is mainly due to the C. perfringens entertoxin (CPE), the main virulence factor that initiates many critical gastrointestinal diseases across species (Herholz et al. 1999). CPE works in a four-step mechanism against membrane action (CDC, 2014). First,
Some strains of this microorganism produce C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE), a group of toxins that cause a variety of adverse effects in the host. Strains of C. perfringens are classified as 5 biotypes, A – E, depending on the production of four major enterotoxins (α, β, ε and ι). In addition, strains of C. perfringens may also produce a number of other toxins including neuraminidase, hyaluronidase, and collagenase. For example, α-toxin, produced by C. perfringens type A, is primarily responsible for the production of gas gangrene. However, only roughly 5% of C. perfringens carry the CPE gene that codes for the production of these toxins. CPE is inactivated at 74oC.
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
According to the Website Medicine Net, Whooping Cough (pertussis) is an acute, highly contagious respiratory infection that is initiated by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Furthermore, Whooping Cough routinely sways infants and young children but can be stopped by immunization with the pertussis vaccine. Additionally from my research in Seattle Times it states that California had more than 9,000 situations, including 10 deaths. Washington has had 10 times the cases reported in 2011, and so has Wisconsin with almost 2,000 cases this year. although young kids are in much crisis then adults to getting influenced by the Whooping Cough due to not getting the vaccine when enrolling in a middle school or high school. The relationship between the pertussis vaccines and the present outbreak of the Whooping Cough is that in their states health officials are endeavoring to get any person they can vaccinated before the whooping hack disperse and sway more people because it was said that some persons may not be adept to get vaccinated due to having critical allergies, weak immune system from ...
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The true hosts of M. bovis are cattle but disease has been reported also in many other domesticated and non-domesticated animals (buffaloes, sheep, goats, camels, pigs, equines a...
Measles Measles is a highly contagious disease. It is caused by an RNA virus that changes constantly. Measles symptoms usually include a bad cough, sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, sensitivity to light, and a very high fever. Red patches with white grain like centers appear along the gum line in the mouth two to four days after the first symptoms show. These patches are called Koplik spots because Henry Koplick first noticed them in 1896.
Among cases reported in the United States, what was the incidence rate of pertussis in infants (6-11 months) compared to adolescents (11-19 years) in 2015?
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