Organism
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.
Characteristics and Morphology
Amoebae of the genus Naegleria are identified in part by their ability to create a temporary flagellate phase once exposed to nutritional scarcity. N fowleri is confirmed to be a typical eukaryotic protist by electron microscopy examination (Patterson et al., 1981).
N fowleri has three stages of their cycle. In the amoeboid trophozoite stage, they are infectious and measure 10-35 µm long. The trophozoite transforms to a non-feeding flagellate when food sources are limited. Flagellates are motile and measure 10-20 µm in length. The amoeba or flagellate will form a cyst, the dormant stage, if the environment is too cold and not conducive to continued feeding and growth. When the organism is in the cyst stage, it has a single layered wall and only one nucleus. The cyst measures 7-1...
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...here are no extensive efforts in prevention of N fowleri currently because of the low reported occurrences. However, because of the high fatality rate among patients that are diagnosed with PAM, there is a determination in research to develop new diagnostics and treatment therapy.
Prevention
It is essential the public to be educated regarding PAM disease. Most cases involve children and adolescents that have participated in water recreational activities. Though extremely rare, people that use sinus rinses have been diagnosed with N fowleri PAM. People who practice nasal rinsing are recommended using distilled water.
Unique Fact: Humans cannot contract the amoeba from another person or by drinking contaminated water. The amoeba enters your body through your nose, by contaminated water and voyages to the brain through the nerves that transmit the sense of smell.
The second morphological stage of G. lamblia is the cyst form. The cyst is generally egg-shaped and measures eight to fourteen micrometers in length. The width of the cyst is between seven and ten micrometers. When in this form, the original organelle is duplicated. Instead of just having the two nuclei, the microbe now exhibits four nuclei, four median ...
Brucellosis remains the most common and serious problem in some parts of the world.1 Many of Brucella species could infect animals through direct contact. Human could be infected when exposed to B. abortus, B. melitensis, or B. suis. In humans, the exhausting disease could become, over time, a chronic disease that affects several organs. Ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products, as well as occupational exposure to infected animals, are the major causes of brucellosis. In addition, Ariza et al. indicated that some species of Brucella could be used in a bioterrorist attack.2
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...
The “water bear” is a common name for a group of a little over 100 genera of protozoans grouped under the Phylum Tardigrada and is a relative of the Phylum Arthropoda. The phylum Tardigrada contains over 1000 species, and is grouped into three classes. There are two main classes the Heterotarigrada ad the Eutardigrada. The last is the Mesotardigrada and contains only one species, that was discovered in a sulfur spring in Japan 1937, and has not been seen since. “Water bears” are, as with most species, separated into groups by characteristics and more recently molecular genetic methods. The Heterotarigrada are known mainly for their hair like tufts on appendages and hard-undivided flattened scales. The Eutardigrada are known as “naked tardigrades” because they lack the hard scales or have several separate plates. Tardigrades are then divide further into orders by comparing groups for cuticle appearance, feeding tube, claws, and other defining features (Michalczyk, 2014).
Necrotizing fasciitis, known commonly known as "flesh eating bacteria [infection]", occurs in a wide range of people 1. It occurs in the elderly, middle aged and younger patients. It occurs in athletes and debilitated individuals. It can occur in drug abusers with self inflicted wounds and healthy individuals with incidental injuries. It may occur in those with metabolic disorders such as diabetes and those with suppressed immune systems. It may occur in those with no underlying disorders and no known particular injury. It occurs under ordinary circumstances such as a seemingly harmless cut or scrape and in wounds resulting from major trauma such as an auto accident.
Slack, John M. and I. S. Snyder. Bacteria and Human Disease. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., 1978.
A Prokaryote is a single cell organisms that does not have a nucleus, which is divided into two major groups: archaeabacteria and bacteria. Prokaryotes are usually found in three common structures, such as bacillus is rod shaped, crocus is spherical-shaped, and spirillum is long shape. Although there are prokaryotes that are responsible for diseases there are also good types of bacteria that we need. Prokaryotes provide essential services to biological systems for instance food and agriculture.
There are factors that can put people at risk for contracting this disease, for example, exposure to endemic areas such as India, Egypt, Brazil, and Angola. Although this disease is communicable, it is not highly contagious. Constant contact with the untreated may result in transmission of the disease through inhaled respiratory secretion or droplets entering an abrasion on the skin. However, droplets cannot infect the intact skin. Individuals living with the untreated are 8X more likely to develop the disease. Another risk factor may be the improper handling of wild life without safety gloves. Certain primates and 9-Banned armadillos are possible carriers of this disease, making animal to human transmission a probability. Furthermore, Mycobacterium leprae can survive in moist soil for one to two weeks.
Some call it “horror'; and some call it “the super germ';, but now, our always known “regular'; bacteria, those one-celled creatures once considered under control with antibiotics, have invaded our hospitals and headlines with a vengeance. The vengeance used against us is caused by an existing organism called necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria, caused by Group A streptococcus. What this organism does is progressively destroy the human body tissue all the way to the bone. This organism has amazingly outsmarted us of even our most potent drugs.
From the years 1998 to 2007, about 1,500 Americans were infected with the bacteria associated with Neisseria meningitdis commonly known as meningococcus. Unfortunately about eleven percent of those infected died and about twenty percent of the people suffer from long term consequences such as brain damage, kidney disease, or amputations. Meningococcemia is an acute and potentially life-threatening infection of the bloodstream that can cause many sy...
Correspondingly, this sickness is spread and contracted by sexual, non-sexual, and perinatal contact. Through sexual contact, it goes to penis to vagina and or penis to rectum. Germs caused by NGU are reliable to be passed down during sex, vaginal or orally, which involves direct mucous membrane contact with an infected person. “T...
Despite the accomplishments, water-borne diseases remain an issue of concern. “From 1971 to 1988 there were 564 infectious outbreaks in the United States involving nearly 140,000 people.” Bacteria are microorganisms that are of the kingdom Prokaryotae. When certain bacteria appear in places where they do not normally reside, they can cause illness.
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...
Arthropods are animals belonging to the phylum Arthropoda, which is the largest of all phyla in the Animal Kingdom, with more than one million species, making them almost 80% of the whole kingdom. These include insects, arachnids, crustaceans and many more, most of which are quite small, the biggest being the Japanese Spider Crab with a leg span of 3.5 meters and the smallest being the microscopic Plankton.
After following in Linnaeus’s footsteps the next major discovery in taxonomy was in the 1880’s when Ernist Haeckel suggested a third kingdom. The advances in microscopy and biochemistry led to the discovery of microscopic organisms. It was found that they were unicellular, so they did not fit into either of the multicellular groups; So Haeckel recommended the kingdom Protista to put them in.