Borrelia Burgdorferi
Life History:
Lyme disease is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete that is found in deer ticks of genus Ixodes. Lyme disease was named in 1977 after arthritis was observed in clusters in children in Lyme, Connecticut. An infected tick can transmit B. burgdorferi to the humans and animals that it bites. If left untreated, the B. burgdorferi can cause a systemic infection by traveling through the bloodstream and establishing itself in various body tissues. Lyme disease is most prevalently found in north-eastern United States.
Microbial Characteristics and Virulence:
Borrelia burgdorferi is not classified as either Gram-positive or Gram-negative. When B. burgdorferi is Gram-stained, the cells stain a weak Gram-negative by default, as safrin is the last dye used. B. burgdorferi has an outer membrane that contains an LPS-like substance, an inner membrane, and a periplasmic space which contains a layer of peptidoglycan. They have endoflagella which are contained within the periplasmic space. It can be cultivated on a modified Kelly medium called BSK (Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly). BSK solidified with 1.3% agarose allows the production of colonies from single organisms. The spirochete grows more slowly than most other bacteria dividing once after 12-24 hours. B. burgdorferi resembles other spirochetes in that it is a highly specialized, motile, two-membrane, spiral-shaped bacteria which lives primarily as an extracellular pathogen. One of the most striking features of B. burgdorferi as compared with other eubacteria is its unusual genome, which includes a linear chromosome approximately one megabase in size and numerous linear and circular plasmids. Long-term culture of B. burgdorferi re...
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..., Pennsylvania, Delaware Maryland, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. Lyme disease accounts for approximately 16,000 infections in the United States per year. Since 1982 there have been over 145,000 cases reported to health authorities in the US. Lyme disease accounts for 95% of vector borne illness and the incidence rate is 5 per 100,000 although this number may be less than true cases due to underreporting. People of all ages and both genders are equally susceptible, although highest attack rates are in children ages 0-14 years and in persons 30 years of age or older.
Sources Cited:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm
http://www.aldf.com/Lyme.asp#PARA1
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/bburgdorferi.htm
http://www.aldf.com/Lyme_TreatmentTable.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/epi.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic588.htm
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.
One of the largest epidemic events in history, the Bubonic Plague had a devastating effect on European society. It is believed to have begun in China, and it reached European soil in 1347, when it struck Constantinople (Document 1). It was carried by infected fleas that spread the disease between humans and rats. A symptom of the plague was the development of large, dark swellings called “buboes” on the victim’s lymph nodes. By the time the plague left, Europe’s population had been reduced by almost half. The devastation as a result of the plague may seem shocking, but there were several important factors that contributed to its deadliness.
On an endless road of meadows and half collapsed barns exists a quaint town living its motto “The City of Progress”. Enterprise, Alabama is stuck between miles of bleak pastures and feeding cows, but the peanut factory overwhelms your every breath. The monotonous drive does have a reward, and it can only be found hiding in a valley of small stores and baptist churches on downtown’s main street. It is a statue that reminisces this town’s story of triumph over its struggling economy during the decline of cotton. Sculpted from stone, a woman is presenting a boll weevil in honor for its efforts in destroying the crop, cotton, Enterprise, Alabama’s main economic source.
The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague and Bubonic Plague, was a catastrophic plague that started out in Asia and began to spread into Europe. In the span of three years, the Black Death killed about one third of all the people in Europe. The plague started out in the Gobi Dessert in Mongolia during the 1320’s. From the desert the plague began to spread outwards in all directions. China was among the first to suffer from the plague in the early 1330s before the plague hit Europe.
The distance of the initial extract line to a pigment band was divided by the distance of the marked solvent front to the initial extract line both were measured in cm. The RF (relative to front) was calculated for each pigment band, indicating the travelled distance between the pigment and the front (solvent line) on the chromatography
Wallace, J.M. ( 2014 May 19 )Measles, Mumps Outbreaks put Ohio at center of nationwide surge of vaccine preventable illnesses ;Cleveland Plain Dealer; retrieved from www.cleveland .com/health fit
Necrotizing Fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria ) from an essay by Katrina Tram Duong, edited by S.N. Carson M.D.
Lyme disease is one of the seven most common diseases reported in the United States to the CDC annually (www.cdc.gov). The rates have gone from 10,000 cases in 1992 to over 30,000 cases in 2009. 95% of these cases were found in the northeast and Midwest regions of the United States (Committee on Lyme Disease, 2011) . More cases happen in this area of the country due to the close proximity of deer to population. The bite itself isn’t the problem, rather the pathogen being spread in mammals from the bite. Lyme disease occurs when a tick penetrates the skin of mammals and the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi enters. Borrelia burgdorferi is carried by ticks named the Ixodes dammini, which is the main vector for Lyme disease. These may also be known as I. scapularis, and may be found on deer (Schilling-McCann, 2010). ¬¬¬In addition to Lyme Disease, ticks may also carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Tularemia (Smeltzer et al, 2010).
The appearance of the Bubonic Plague in Europe in the 14th century was the cause of a disastrous period of change in European culture and lifestyle. The Bubonic Plague ravaged Europe, killing over 60 percent of the population and is the cause of a series of political, economic and social upheavals. The effects of the plague on the decimated populations in Europe was the cause of a mass questioning of the effectiveness of political and religious authority leaders, a dramatic shift in the wealth of the lower class, and increased persecution and discrimination of Jews and other outlying groups in society.
Bursitis Does it hurt to move your arm? Is it tender and radiating pain to your neck and finger tips? Do you have a fever? If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, then you may have a typical joint injury called bursitis. Bursitis is an inflammation of the bursa that is easily prevented, detected, and treated.
The article begins by introducing general knowledge about arranged marriages in India. First is the proof of commonality. Arranged marriages are so customary that marriages not arranged
One of the main arguments for arranged marriages is that parents, being older and more experienced, are better able to find a suitable match for their children. This belief relies on the trust the offspring has that their parents understand what would be best choice or most suitable for their children. This trust is often discouraged by the individualist ideal and rebel teen mentality sponsored by American mass-media. However, in India trust between parent and child are common. When Nanda tried helping arrange a marriage, we see that parents in India weigh many considerations when choosing partners for their children including the statuses of the individuals (including their caste and career path), the social dynamics between the members of both households, and what resources the other family and potential partner have. At least in the case given in the reading, this process can be though and produce a good marriage with stable family ties. Another argument made for arranged marriage is that since the parents are handling the marriage, the children are free to enjoy life and not worry about the details. To a lesser degree in our country, people delegate part of the relationship forming process to others by allowing friends, family, and dating sites or shows to play matchmaker. Though in general, in America the person who would be in the relationship is more involved, and has to worry about handling some of the details. In India, culture is more dependent on family structure so marriage is just as much about forming ties between families as the couple itself, which is part of the reason why the family is so involved in these
The purpose of this lab was to better understand the process of chromatography by separating different mixtures. In one experiment, students had to separate b-carotene and chlorophyll in spinach. In the seconds experiment, students were expected to separate the different colors or compounds within several dyes. In this second experiment, students not only took a paper chromatography of the different dyes, but also of the spinach juice. Furthermore, students also calculate the Rf values for the paper chromatography experiment; students collected the wavelengths of the two bands that were collected from the first experiment (separating separate b-carotene and chlorophyll in spinach). I hypothesized that we would be able to better separate the
When it comes to the topic of marriage, different cultures have different customs. Some of these customs have changed over the years and some have stayed the same. One type of marriage that interests me is arranged marriage and why there are arranged marriages still going on today. That is why I have chosen to write about them in this paper and discuss why they were/are an important staple in certain cultures.
What is marriage? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary "Marriage is a union representing a special kind of social and legal partnership between two people”. Marriage is considered be a union in which it should last a life time. Marriage can be look at differently depending where you come from and also what you belief in. In western countries arrange marriages have been known to exist for decades. On the other hand there is also Love marriages which consist of two people who genuinely love and are attracted to one on other. Either Arrange or Love they are still considering marriages with different beliefs, traditions and customs. Arrange Marriages should not eve allow even though it is a culture in the Western Countries.