hacked by p@3t_b@y for turks

Volume 15, Number 2–February 2009
Dispatch

Natural Transmission of Zoonotic Babesia spp. by Ixodes ricinus Ticks

Claire A.M. Becker, Agnès Bouju-Albert, Maggy Jouglin, Alain Chauvin, and Laurence Malandrin
Author affiliations: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Nantes, France (C.A.M. Becker, A. Bouju-Albert, M. Jouglin, A. Chauvin, L. Malandrin); and Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes, Nantes (C.A.M. Becker, A. Bouju-Albert, M. Jouglin, A. Chauvin, L. Malandrin)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
To determine characteristics of natural transmission of Babesia sp. EU1 and B. divergens by adult Ixodes ricinus ticks, we examined tick salivary gland contents. We found that I. ricinus is a competent vector for EU1 and that their sporozoites directly invade erythrocytes. We conclude that EU1 is naturally transmitted by I. ricinus.

Ixodes ricinus is a ubiquitous triphasic tick found commonly in Europe. This arthropod feeds on a wide variety of vertebrate hosts, including small rodents and wild and domestic ungulates. It is therefore a potential vector of numerous pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, mainly apicomplexans. Among these pathogens, 2 zoonotic Babesia species have been described in Europe: the well-known cattle parasite Babesia divergens (1) and the more recently reported roe deer parasite Babesia sp. EU1 (2–4). Biological transmission of B. divergens by I. ricinus ticks has been proven by in vivo experimental infections (5); however, quantitative transmission studies that visualize and quantify sporozoites have never been conducted. For Babesia sp. EU1, biological evidence of natural transmission by I. ricinus ticks is still lacking; its presence has been assessed only by DNA amplification from whole ticks (4,6–8). Therefore, to analyze transmission of zoonotic Babesia spp. by I. ricinus ticks, we visualized, isolated, and identified infectious sporozoites from dissected tick salivary glands, the transmitting organs.

The Study
In 2008, ticks were collected from animals from 2 different biotopes where each Babesia species had been known to circulate: a farm on which a herd was infected with B. divergens and a reserve on which wild fauna were infected with Babesia sp. EU1. A dairy farm in La Verrie (Vendée, France) was selected as a favorable biotope for B. divergens transmission on the basis not only of the presence of numerous ticks on cows and in pastures in 2007 but also of the parasite circulation in the herd, attested by serologic testing (prevalence of 37.5% by immunofluorescence antibody test [IFAT]) and confirmed by its isolation from cattle erythrocytes (prevalence 25% by culture) (9). Of the cows tested by IFAT, 56% had positive results, which indicated that new infections from ticks were occurring within the herd. Because we assumed that sporozoite differentiation is stimulated by blood ingestion and because of experimental proof that female ticks can transmit B. divergens (10), we collected only adult ticks feeding on cows. The 324 collected ticks were morphologically identified as I. ricinus and weighed to estimate their repletion status (range 3–398 mg). Of these, 223 ticks (4.7–339 mg) were dissected under a stereomicroscope to isolate both salivary glands, which were subsequently crushed in 30 µL phosphate-buffered saline in a 1.5-mL microtube with an adapted pestle. A droplet of this suspension was deposited on an 18-well slide, stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa, and examined under a light microscope. When parasites were seen, and for 41 additional negative samples within the same weight range, 5 µL of the infected suspension was added to the culture medium with bovine (B. divergens selective growth) or sheep (both species growth) erythrocytes, RPMI (Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium; Lonza, Basel, Switzerland), and 20% fetal calf serum (Lonza) in 96-well plates (11).

To identify the parasites, we directly sequenced the amplified 18S rDNA Babesia gene. PCR with Phusion High-Fidelity DNA Polymerase (Finnzymes, Espoo, Finland) was performed on extracted DNA (Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit; Promega, Madison, WI, USA) from the remaining crushed salivary gland suspensions (Bab primers GF2 and GR2, 540 bases long, variable part of the gene) (4) and from resulting parasitized erythrocytes (primers CryptoF and CryptoR, 1,727 bases long, complete gene) (12).

To confirm the identity of the infected ticks, we directly sequenced a variable part of the 16S rDNA mitochondrial gene of Ixodes ticks (310 bases long) (primers IrUp1 5´-TTGCTGTGGTATTTTGACTATAC-3´ and IrDo2 5´-AATTATTACGCTGTTATCCCTGA-3´). We used DNA extracted from salivary glands.
Figure. Microscopic appearance of Babesia sp. EU1 sporozoites isolated from tick salivary glands and of subsequent asexual development in erythrocytes.

Microscopic observation of crushed salivary gland suspensions identified small pear-shaped elements in only 3 ticks; weights were 11.7, 25.3, and 277 mg. These millions of pyriform parasites were considered to be sporozoites (13): they measured about 2 µm in length and 1 µm in diameter (Figure, panel A). Only a few parasites had unusual forms, which suggests binary fission (Figure, panel B).

Development of intraerythrocytic parasites was observed, which proved the parasites’ capacity to directly infect erythrocytes. Of the 3 tick salivary glands containing pear-shaped elements, 3 days after inoculation onto a culture, ˜1/10,000 erythrocytes was infected. Only sheep erythrocytes were invaded, which suggests infection with Babesia sp. EU1. From these 150-µL starting wells, 10-mL amplified cultures (10% parasitized erythrocytes) could be established within 1 month (Figure, panel F). Typical Babesiidae developmental forms (trophozoite, dividing stages, and free merozoites) were observed, as were more atypical schizont-like parasites, which seemed to produce numerous merozoites. When sporozoites were not observed, parasites were never observed in the cultures of either bovine or sheep erythrocytes.

PCR amplification, sequencing, and comparison with Babesia spp. 18S rDNA genes (BLAST [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/Blast.cgi] search in GenBank) showed the sequences to be 100% identical to the Babesia sp. EU1 sequence (AY046575) for the 3 infected ticks (sporozoites and culture). The partial (sporozoites) and complete (culture) 18S rDNA sequences obtained have been deposited in GenBank, accession nos. FJ215872 and FJ215873. Identity of the ticks was confirmed by sequence analysis and comparison with the 16S rDNA I. ricinus gene (U14154).

For the wild fauna reserve, we used the same approach. At the reserve of Chizé (Deux-Sèvres, France), where high prevalence Babesia sp. EU1 has been described (4), we captured 18 roe deer, then collected and analyzed blood samples from them. Presence of Babesia sp. EU1 was attested by culture of samples from 4 of the deer. For 31 female ticks, half of the ticks were processed as previously described, and the salivary glands of the other half were simply crushed between 2 slides so parasites could be better seen and quantified. With the latter method, a huge number of sporozoites, ˜107 to 108, were observed (Figure, panels C, D). The inner structures were well preserved, nuclei were clearly visible, and we could observe apparent dividing forms (Figure, panel E). From the ticks collected from roe deer, only 2 tick salivary glands contained parasites; PCR products using Bab primers showed 100% identity with Babesia sp. EU1 (AY046575).

Conclusions
Our study shows that I. ricinus ticks are competent vectors for Babesia sp. EU1. Not only can these ticks carry Babesia sp. EU1 DNA, but more importantly, they enable these parasites to complete their life cycle up to the production of infectious sporozoites. Direct invasion of erythrocytes by Babesia sp. EU1 undoubtedly classifies this species in the genus Babesia, a feature generally not proven for most Babesia spp.

The proportions of Babesia sp. EU1–infective ticks found in our study (3/223 from cattle farm and 2/31 from wild fauna reserve, not statistically different) are comparable to published prevalence of infected ticks (1%–2%) collected either from animals or vegetation (6–8,14,15). Whatever the biotope, Babesia sp. EU1 is always present, threatening also in anthropized zones (farming areas). Millions of parasites inside salivary glands were observed and could be injected to the vertebrate host, from the early stage of the tick feeding (11.7 mg) until repletion (277 mg), which represents a massive infection. These 2 epidemiologic features, combined with the increasing number of immunocompromised persons, should lead to more awareness of the risk related to this zoonotic pathogen.

B. divergens sporozoites were never seen in the salivary glands of adult I. ricinus ticks, even when ticks were collected from cattle. This finding is despite the large number of ticks examined (223), the prevalence of nymphs carrying B. divergens DNA collected from the farm pastures (87% in 2007 on 113 nymphs analyzed, data not shown), as well as the infectious status of the herd (serologic prevalence 56%). We therefore raise questions about the main transmitting stage (larvae, nymph, or adult?) and about the quantitative transmission of B. divergens by I. ricinus ticks (low number of produced and infectious sporozoites?). In Europe, human babesiosis could be caused by these 2 Babesia spp., each of which is transmitted by I. ricinus ticks but probably with different sporozoite-production features.

Acknowledgments
We thank Bruno Guerin for kind permission to access his farm and cows, Albert Agoulon and Maxime Venisse for their help collecting ticks, Guy Van Laere and his group for technical assistance collecting roe deer samples, Nadine Brisseau for technical assistance, Hélène and Cécile Midrouillet for English corrections, and François Beaudeau for critical reading of the manuscript.

This study was supported by research funds from the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, the Région Pays de Loire, and the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes.

Mrs Becker is a veterinarian. She is pursuing a doctorate degree at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Département de Santé Animale. Her main research interests are apicomplexan pathogens, specifically with respect to their transmission and human and veterinary health importance.

References
1. Zintl A, Mulcahy G, Skerrett HE, Taylor SM, Gray JS. Babesia divergens, a bovine blood parasite of veterinary and zoonotic importance. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2003;16:622–36. PubMed DOI
2. Herwaldt BL, Caccio S, Gherlinzoni F, Aspock H, Slemenda SB, Piccaluga P, et al. Molecular characterization of a non–Babesia divergens organism causing zoonotic babesiosis in Europe. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003;9:942–8.
3. Haselbarth K, Tenter AM, Brade V, Krieger G, Hunfeld KP. First case of human babesiosis in Germany—clinical presentation and molecular characterisation of the pathogen. Int J Med Microbiol. 2007;297:197–204. PubMed DOI
4. Bonnet S, Jouglin M, L’Hostis M, Chauvin A. Babesia sp. EU1 from roe deer and transmission within Ixodes ricinus. Emerg Infect Dis. 2007;13:1208–10.
5. Joyner LP, Davies SF, Kendall SB. The experimental transmission of Babesia divergens by Ixodes ricinus. Exp Parasitol. 1963;14:367–73. PubMed DOI
6. Duh D, Petrovec M, Avsic-Zupanc T. Molecular characterization of human pathogen Babesia EU1 in Ixodes ricinus ticks from Slovenia. J Parasitol. 2005;91:463–5. PubMed DOI
7. Casati S, Sager H, Gern L, Piffaretti JC. Presence of potentially pathogenic Babesia sp. for human in Ixodes ricinus in Switzerland. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2006;13:65–70.
8. Hilpertshauser H, Deplazes P, Schnyder M, Gern L, Mathis A. Babesia spp. identified by PCR in ticks collected from domestic and wild ruminants in southern Switzerland. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006;72:6503–7. PubMed DOI
9. Malandrin L, L’Hostis M, Chauvin A. Isolation of Babesia divergens from carrier cattle blood using in vitro culture. Vet Res. 2004;35:131–9. PubMed DOI
10. Donnelly J, Peirce MA. Experiments on the transmission of Babesia divergens to cattle by the tick Ixodes ricinus. Int J Parasitol. 1975;5:363–7. PubMed DOI
11. Chauvin A, Valentin A, Malandrin L, L’Hostis M. Sheep as a new experimental host for Babesia divergens. Vet Res. 2002;33:429–33. PubMed DOI
12. Duh D, Petrovec M, Bidovec A, Avsic-Zupanc T. Cervids as Babesiae hosts, Slovenia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:1121–3.
13. Mehlhorn H, Shein E. The piroplasms: life cycle and sexual stages. Adv Parasitol. 1984;23:37–103. PubMed DOI
14. Nijhof AM, Bodaan C, Postigo M, Nieuwenhuijs H, Opsteegh M, Franssen L, et al. Ticks and associated pathogens collected from domestic animals in the Netherlands. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2007;7:585–95. PubMed DOI
15. Schmid N, Deplazes P, Hoby S, Ryser-Degiorgis MP, Edelhofer R, Mathis A. Babesia divergens-like organisms from free-ranging chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra) and roe deer (Capreolus c. capreolus) are distinct from B. divergens of cattle origin—an epidemiological and molecular genetic investigation. Vet Parasitol. 2008;154:14–20. PubMed DOI

Figure
Figure. Microscopic appearance of Babesia sp. EU1 sporozoites isolated from tick salivary glands and of subsequent asexual development in erythrocytes…

Suggested Citation for this Article
Becker CAM, Bouju-Albert A, Jouglin M, Chauvin A, Malandrin L. Natural transmission of zoonotic Babesia spp. by Ixodes ricinus ticks. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2009 Feb [date cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/15/2/320.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1502.081247

Written by Doreen Leggett  30/1/09  

County’s tick man shares insights

David Simser, an entomologist with the county extension service, has spent the last decade of his more than 30-year career tracking ticks. He is now a few years away from retiring and determined to try one more experiment to knock down Lyme disease on the Cape.

“We are all at risk,” Simser said.

Simser, long brown hair drawn into a pony tail, told a small group gathered at the Harwich Community Center about the project he is committed to Jan. 24. Even though funding has been eliminated, he’ll get it done, he said.

Up on the screen behind him appeared a curious deer looking over a big, green, box-like object filled with corn. Deer, that often carry hundreds of ticks on their coats, have to stick their head through rollers coated with permethrin to get to the corn. The permethrin then kills the ticks.

Simser’s first-year numbers bode well. In seven sites across the Cape, pre-treatment numbers showed 72 nymphs, or teenage ticks which are responsible for about 75 percent of cases in humans. After treatment those numbers dropped to 33, he said. (In control areas, the numbers were 50.)

He expects the numbers in the treated areas to decrease further as the project continues over the next few years.

“I’m hoping the numbers will go way down,” he said.

Simser’s dream is to have the contraptions be successful and someday be as ubiquitous as those blue boxes that keep greenhead populations under control.

One of the reasons he is so fired up about the initial results is he has seen Lyme disease cases rise on the Cape. In 2002, the number of reported cases was 1,930; in 2007, it was 3,376. It is estimated there are 100 cases of Lyme disease per 100,000 people on the Cape. Compare that to the rate in the entire United States, which is five. (Although on Nantucket it’s much higher, 660.)

Simser said the number of people who are infected may not be up as sharply, as awareness may be increasing and more doctors may be diagnosing. Still, the disease is spreading and seems entrenched on the peninsula. And it’s serious.

Lyme disease is “really deleterious,” he said. “It really messes you up.”

Although there are three species of ticks on Cape - Lone Star, Dog and Deer - and all carry diseases, only the deer tick is responsible for spreading Lyme.

Simser has had Lyme a couple of times, which helps in his presentations as he can use slides of the tell-tale rash he got.

A bull’s eye rash is often associated with Lyme disease, but only occurs in about 40 percent of the cases, he said. The rash usually shows up immediately, but there are other warning signs as well. Often people feel like they have the flu; Simser advises seeing a doctor when you get the flu during the summer.

Simser told the group he was getting a blood test as he has been feeling “really lousy.” Although summer is the most dangerous time, people can get Lyme disease any time of year.

If untreated, the disease often progresses, and people can experience shooting joint pain, palsy, arthritis, heart problems and assorted other issues.

Simser also touched on “confusing and contentious” chronic Lyme, which lingers for years and which some doctors refuse to treat.

He expects Lyme disease cases to rise this year as his work shows that numbers jump in odd number years. So he advises people to be ever vigilant.

http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/home2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17127&Itemid=34

Published on Friday, January 30, 2009

Fleas and ticks are more than just a nuisance for pets, they can be potentially hazardous thanks to the diseases they may carry. Most veterinarians advise pet owners to use a flea and tick product to safeguard their animals against parasites. This is a year-round effort, because you never know when your dog or cat can be affected by fleas or ticks.

Fleas and ticks also do not differentiate between pets and humans for their meals. So an animal with an infestation can easily pass on his or her “friends” to a pet owner. Ticks can be carriers of Lyme disease or Spotted Fever.

Monthly treatment with a topical fleaand tick repellent can reduce the risk. Many flea collars are safe. However, there have been some adverse reactions reported in the behavior of an animal wearing a flea collar. Keep in mind that canine products are not interchangeable with feline products. So carefully read the packaging of any flea and tick item to ensure the safety of your pet.

If you find fleas on your dog or cat, you will likely have to treat the entire house. Flea powders and sprays are available. The process may have to be repeated several times to eliminate all fleas from the premises.

Ticks discovered on a pet should carefully be removed with a tweezer. Make sure to pull out all of the mouthparts lodged beneath the pet’s skin. Do not squeeze, burn or try to suffocate the tick. This could cause it to regurgitate saliva and diseases into your pet. Ticks like moist, shady, thick foliage. When walking your dog or allowing your cat out, keep the pet away from the edge of woods or where there is tall grass.

http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-13158–6-6—.html

0/1/2009

Medics have warned people not to underestimate the danger posed by ticks after new figures for cases of tick-borne encephalitis were released.

Tyrol had the most cases – 20 - of Frühsommer-Meningoencephalitis (FSME) or tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in 2008, compared to eight in Vorarlberg and four in Salzburg.

Tyrol provincial first-aid director Christoph Neuner said today the number of cases was no cause for concern but warned people should not ignore the danger posed by tick bites.

Neuner said people should wear long clothing and hats when walking in forest areas and said the Inn, Ötz and Ziller river valleys were hotspots for tick activity.

People between 40 and 70 years of age are most at risk of getting TBE from tick bites, doctors said. Discount vaccine is available at pharmacies.

http://austriantimes.at/index.php?id=10912

Int J Cardiol. 2009 Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Borrelia-like organism in heart capillaries of patient with Lyme-disease seen by electron microscopy.

Lalosevic D, Lalosevic V, Stojsic-Milosavljevic A, Stojsic D.
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Histology and Embryology, St. Hadjuk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia; Clinical Center of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia.

A case of a patient who developed an acute myocarditis due to Lyme disease is reported. An increased serum antibody titer to Borrelia burgdorferi suggested a diagnosis and in addition of basic clinical methods, endomyocardial biopsy performed and analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. The lumen of myocardial capillaries was founded mostly filled with detritus and fibrin precipitate, between them several bacterial fragments were identified. The electron-microscopic characteristics of the microorganisms in this specimen, revealing irregularly coiled appearance and consistent thickness of 0.2 mum, correspond to the spiral-like structure of Lyme disease borrelia. The presence of fibrin deposits on the capillary endothelium and necrosis of myocardiocytes, suggests that the cardiopathy in our patient was represent borrelia-mediated damage of the hearth microcirculation.

PMID: 19168240 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19168240?ordinalpos=1&itool=Email.EmailReport.Pubmed_ReportSelector.Pubmed_RVDocSum

 South Shore couple says guinea fowl like to chow down on problem bugs
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Sun. Jan 25 - 5:44 AM

SUNNYBROOK — They’re kind of cute — if you don’t look at their heads too closely. Anne Cosgrove affectionately says her guinea fowl resemble Coneheads.

But they’re here to do a job, and they do it well.

She and husband Jim bought 14 guinea fowl last summer to get rid of blacklegged ticks on their property in Sunnybrook, near Hermans Island just outside of Lunenburg.

“It’s well documented that guinea fowl can be used for ridding a property of ticks,” she said.

That’s important for people here. The Lunenburg area is one of three in the province known to have deer ticks infected with Lyme disease. These ticks can infect pets and people. There have been 15 reported cases of Lyme disease acquired in Nova Scotia since 2002, five of them in the Blue Rocks area not far from the Cosgroves’ home.

The provincial Natural Resources Department says infected ticks have turned up within a three-square-kilometre area of Admirals Cove in Bedford; in Gunning Cove and Churchover, near Shelburne; and in a 10-square-kilometre area around the town of Lunenburg.

The Cosgroves bought the guinea fowl last July from a neighbour who had had great success with them getting rid of ticks on his tree farm. The chicks were just a few days old so they stayed in a pen until mid-August, when they were set free to roam the Cosgroves’ eight-hectare property overlooking Princess Inlet.

“Once they get busy in the tall grass, where it’s said the ticks live, they just feast. They do it all the time,” Ms. Cosgrove said.

They’re quite noisy, but she said they quiet down at night and happily return to their pen at suppertime. The pen is covered all over with thick chicken wire to prevent the birds from being eaten by raccoons, owls and eagles.

Not everyone has the space, or the decibel tolerance, for guinea fowl. But pretty much everyone around here worries about ticks.

So the Town of Lunenburg and Municipality of the District of Lunenburg are discussing becoming the first formal test site in Canada for a method aimed at killing ticks on deer.

The Public Health Agency of Canada and provincial Department of Natural Resources have presented the two municipalities with a proposal to put four bait stations in the area to control blacklegged ticks.

White-tailed deer would go up to the feeding stations and when they took the bait their heads and necks would come into contact with rollers coated with an insecticide that kills ticks.

A report prepared by the agencies says studies in the United States have shown the devices can reduce tick populations by 70 to 90 per cent. No Canadian jurisdictions have tried to implement a tick control program because it is a relatively new problem.

The report, prepared by Robbin Lindsay of the Public Health Agency and natural resources entomologist Jeff Ogden, says in the Lunenburg area “is ideally suited” for such a study.

Lunenburg Mayor Laurence Mawhinney said the previous council approved the idea in principle, but it must go back to the new council for review.

The program would mean some expense for the town in terms of staff and training, but Mr. Mawhinney said he believes it is an idea many people support.

Don Zwicker, District of Lunenburg deputy mayor, said his council has invited the report’s authors to appear to answer some questions before a decision is made. “We want to make sure we understand the full scope of what’s involved,” he said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1102662.html

Linda Pearce
January 24, 2009

THIS time last year, a recuperating Sam Stosur found time amid her Australian Open commentary duties to have a hit with her new coach, the Fed Cup captain David Taylor. The session lasted about 10 minutes. “We couldn’t go more because her heart rate was 170, hitting down the middle,” Taylor recalled yesterday. “Yeah, I had my doubts.”

Tennis Australia had assigned Taylor to Stosur for 12 months, to guide her through the return from Lyme disease and viral meningitis that flattened her for much of the second half of 2007. But so bleak did things look for a time, there was some discussion about what Taylor would do if Stosur failed to come back from a health issue more serious than some might know.

“She had to fly her father over to America because she couldn’t go to the grocery store. She was actually bedridden,” Taylor said. “Once she left hospital the nurse had to come over and give her antibiotics three times a day because she couldn’t get to the doctors. It was that grave.

“Brent [Larkham, AIS head coach] and I were trying to work out the logistics of my job. I guess we just kept believing she would get better, but they were saying ‘well if you can’t work with Sam, you’re going to have to do something this year.’ So it was quite doubtful whether she’d return to this level so quickly, but she never doubted it at all.”

By April, Stosur was back playing, starting on the Challenger circuit then graduating back to grand slam level with wildcards, although not until the Beijing Olympics did Taylor feel the 24-year-old was 100 per cent. This week, the arrangement will end, but exactly when depends on whether the Australian No.1 can topple Elena Dementieva in tonight’s third-round match on Rod Laver Arena.

Whatever the outcome, it has been a productive partnership, and Thursday’s performance against German Sabine Lisicki appeals to Taylor as the Queenslander’s best match in their time together. There had been some fine tennis en route to a final in Seoul in early October, but this one was produced under intense pressure - and in a slam, where Stosur has won more than two rounds only three times in 22.

It also came after an erratic opening match studded with 45 unforced errors that drew a similar volume of criticism. Stosur knows that is part of the deal this month, and Taylor acknowledges that the profile of tennis is so low for the rest of the year that Australians are inevitably judged by how well they do in Australia.

Last year, he was working with Casey Dellacqua on her magical run to the fourth round, and before that the much-loved 2005 quarter-finalist Alicia Molik. If Dellacqua has had self-esteem and confidence issues, Taylor’s challenge with Stosur is that her laid-back attitude is sometimes at a notch below her aggressive style of game. “Sam’s a very, very relaxed person, so that can help you or hurt you. Sometimes she tends to get a little bit passive.”

She is also not as naturally open or forthcoming as Dellacqua, and has not connected with the patriotic local fans in quite the same way.

“Sam knows that,” says Taylor. “She tries to go out there and be very professional on the court, and then unfortunately she doesn’t give a lot of information, and I think that’s the reason.

“And maybe the sunglasses, a lot of people say to me you can’t really see the emotion. But she’s done better this week, so I think that’s a matter of time. And it all changes with a big result.”

Dementieva would be a huge one. The Russian fourth seed yesterday firmed to equal title favourite with three-time champion Serena Williams and is unbeaten in 12 matches this year. She has also never lost a set in two meetings with Stosur, whose current ranking of 48th is 21 places below her peak from early 2007, but should break into the top 20 if her recent standard can be maintained in the coming months.

“There’s holes in Elena’s game, it’s just whether Sam can exploit them,” Taylor said. “Second serve, predictability of serve, things like that. She’s great off the ground, physically a very imposing player, but I don’t think any more imposing than Sam at the moment, physically, so I guess it’s going to be a question of whether you can crack a few chinks in the armour … Elena’s a clear favourite, but it’s a match Sam is definitely capable of winning if she plays very well.”

Last year, he was working with Casey Dellacqua on her magical run to the fourth round, and before that the much-loved 2005 quarter-finalist Alicia Molik. If Dellacqua has had self-esteem and confidence issues, Taylor’s challenge with Stosur is that her laid-back attitude is sometimes at a notch below her aggressive style of game. “Sam’s a very, very relaxed person, so that can help you or hurt you. Sometimes she tends to get a little bit passive.”

She is also not as naturally open or forthcoming as Dellacqua, and has not connected with the patriotic local fans in quite the same way.

“Sam knows that,” says Taylor. “She tries to go out there and be very professional on the court, and then unfortunately she doesn’t give a lot of information, and I think that’s the reason.

“And maybe the sunglasses, a lot of people say to me you can’t really see the emotion. But she’s done better this week, so I think that’s a matter of time. And it all changes with a big result.”

Dementieva would be a huge one. The Russian fourth seed yesterday firmed to equal title favourite with three-time champion Serena Williams and is unbeaten in 12 matches this year. She has also never lost a set in two meetings with Stosur, whose current ranking of 48th is 21 places below her peak from early 2007, but should break into the top 20 if her recent standard can be maintained in the coming months.

“There’s holes in Elena’s game, it’s just whether Sam can exploit them,” Taylor said. “Second serve, predictability of serve, things like that. She’s great off the ground, physically a very imposing player, but I don’t think any more imposing than Sam at the moment, physically, so I guess it’s going to be a question of whether you can crack a few chinks in the armour … Elena’s a clear favourite, but it’s a match Sam is definitely capable of winning if she plays very well.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/tennis/rippling-stosur-reaping-rewards-of-fighting-spirit/2009/01/23/1232471589753.html

One Medicine Symposium focused on potential impact

Pictured left - Dr. Pablo Beldomenico, a wildlife epidemiologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, talks with Dr. Maria Baron Palamar, a postdoctoral student in North Carolina State University’s Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences PhD program.

Human encroachment into uninhabited parts of Southeast Asia exposed people to unusual animals and previously unknown pathogens, and global travel carried a tropical zoonotic disease to Toronto in 2003, Dr. Barrett Slenning told a gathering of public health professionals.

That transmission chain for severe acute respiratory syndrome would have been nearly impossible only a few decades ago, said Dr. Slenning of the Population Health and Pathobiology Department at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Economic globalization and climate change combine to allow people, plants, animals, products, markets, vectors, and contaminants to move very rapidly across the globe, creating a changing mix of biological systems with which we have never had to deal before,” Dr. Slenning said, adding that the dynamism of that mix augments the complexity of challenges in animal and human health.

Dr. Slenning made the comments during a presentation Dec. 11 for about 250 public health professionals gathered at the sixth annual One Medicine Symposium in Durham, N.C. The two-day meeting starting Dec. 10 was titled “Earth, Wind, and Fire: a One Medicine Approach to Climate Change.”

The symposium’s speakers largely agreed that climate change—particularly warming—is occurring, and there was no debate or rebuttal on those points during presentations or Q-and-A sessions.

The AVMA policy on Global Climate Change and Animal Health, which was approved in November 2008, states “climate change has serious far-reaching negative implications for animal and ecosystem health” and it encourages a one- health approach, enhanced governmental response capacity, research, surveillance, and development of educational initiatives related to climate change, animal disease, and animal health.

Steve Cline, DDS, deputy state health director for North Carolina, said in opening remarks for the symposium he thinks it has become clear climate change is occurring, and the debate has shifted from what is causing the change to what can be done to solve its challenges.

New species of fire ants are populating North Carolina, and the state may see more severe weather events, increased risk of food- and waterborne illness, and threats from wildfire, Dr. Cline said. Not all of those can be blamed on climate change, he said, but public health professionals can improve work across disciplines and agencies to find solutions.

Dr. Roger K. Mahr, past president of the AVMA, also called for collaboration to face an environment increasingly affected by climate change. That environment is populated by interconnected humans and animals, and the integrated challenges created by their contact require integrated solutions, he said.

“Animal and public health are truly at a crossroads,” Dr. Mahr said. “The convergence of animal, human, and environmental health dictates that the one-health concept must be embraced.”

While climate change was the focus of the symposium, some speakers’ presentations or portions of their presentations related more to the general need for collaboration across disciplines.

Dr. Slenning said public health has to be recognized as a part of food supply veterinary medicine. Food supply veterinary medicine and animal agriculture, however, are not seen as the public goods they are because food animals, their processing and marketing, and their health delivery systems are privately held.

As a result, federal and state funding of animal health is incorrectly viewed as separate from public health, Dr. Slenning said.

Inadequate funding for animal health work could also put the public health at risk, Dr. Slenning said. He cited an AVMA map that showed U.S. counties with large livestock populations and no identified food animal veterinarians. The AVMA maps of livestock populations and food animal veterinarians are available at www.avma.org/fsvm/maps/.

“The last time the federal government put any significant money into veterinary medicine was in the ’70s,” Dr. Slenning said. “Since then, we’ve had mad cow, we’ve had SARS, we’ve had food safety issues, we’ve had environmental and ecologic issues, on down the line.”

Dr. Slenning said internationally sourced food contaminations, West Nile virus’ incursion into the United States, and the rapid spread of SARS are examples of such complex issues.

George Luber, PhD, associate director for Global Climate Change in the National Center for Environmental Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the planet will continue warming even if emissions responsible for global temperature rise were to stop instantly.

The change in climate will result in shifts in plant hardiness zones, receding Arctic ice caps, more intense heat waves and cyclones, and increases in harmful algal blooms or “red tides,” Dr. Luber said. Increased temperatures and the resulting increase in capacity for the atmosphere to hold water will lead to heavier precipitation.

About two-thirds of waterborne disease outbreaks between 1948 and 1994 were preceded by above-average precipitation events, Dr. Luber said.

Shifts in temperatures can also expand the range of vectorborne diseases, with Lyme disease soon becoming the United States’ latest export to Canada, Dr. Luber predicted.

Because of climate change’s impact, public health officials need to help form energy policies, he said.

Dr. Pablo Beldomenico, a wildlife epidemiologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said climate change’s impact on wildlife is complex, and it is difficult to prove it affects disease spread and severity. There is, however, a great probability some pathogens, their vectors, or both may be favored by climate change.

Vectors such as ticks may move to higher latitudes with increased temperatures, and increased rainfall can help parasites such as nematodes proliferate.

Dr. Beldomenico said climate change can also increase susceptibility of hosts, leading to increased exposure to pathogens through changes in behavior and concentration of animals in some areas. Increased susceptibility to disease may also be caused by impairment of host resistance to infection.

Wild animals live in pathogen-rich environments, and their immunologic systems are constantly challenged, Dr. Beldomenico said. Increased stress in animals leads to a drop in immunocompentence in a cycle that diminishes health.

Most emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and Dr. Beldomenico said 72 percent of those zoonoses have wildlife origins. Humans impact disease spread and prevalence through introduction of domestic animals, invasive species, or environmental stress.

Patricia Tester, PhD, branch chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C., said potential effects of climate change on North Carolina can be seen by examining conditions on the Florida coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Harmful algal blooms have periodically shut down shellfish harvests because of the risk of neurotoxic shellfish poisoning for humans, and they have caused mass deaths among finfish, marine mammals, and birds.

The most prevalent harmful algal blooms in Florida also cause respiratory tract problems in humans, dogs, cats, and marine mammals, Dr. Tester said.

Kenneth Gage, PhD, supervisory research biologist and chief of fleaborne diseases activity for the CDC, said increased temperatures can also increase the number of generations of vectors—such as mosquitoes—in a year or the number of pathogens carried by those vectors. He said regional changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity can affect the survival and development of vectors, pathogen development, and transmission dynamics.

“For some of these diseases—like plague, for example—if you get the host level above a certain threshold of density, you’re liable to kick off epizootics,” Dr. Gage said.

David R. Easterling, PhD, chief of the Scientific Services Division for the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said China and India are rapidly developing their economies, and he does not expect large declines in carbon dioxide production in the next several decades.

Dr. Easterling said global temperatures have increased 0.7 C since the late 1800s, and tropospheric temperatures recorded in the past three decades show warming consistent with surface warming. Slightly less warming has occurred in water than on land, but it has occurred at a similar rate, he said.

“The warming is unequivocal,” Dr. Easterling said. “We’re certain.”

Edward Maibach, PhD, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication and a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., said health professionals have opportunities to help others understand the issues facing them because of climate change. He encouraged attendees to carry to people a message that climate change is real, it impacts them, it can be stopped, and it is caused by humans.

“This is our fight to convince our fellow Americans that global warming is bad for people,” Dr. Maibach said.

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/feb09/090201a.asp

Posted on: Monday, 19 January 2009, 10:33 CST

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received nine reports of deaths since 2005 caused by blood transfusion due to a parasitic infection known as babesiosis.

Babesiosis, stemmed from the parasite Babesia, can be transmitted through a tick bite, the same tick that causes lime disease. However, transmission via blood transfusion has been reported to be a cause as well. This disease is hardest on the elderly and people with weak immune systems.

Dr. Diane M. Gubernot at the FDA in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues advise that doctors should consider babesiosis in immunocompromised patients fever with a history of recent transfusion.

Gubernot and colleagues ask the FDA for safety surveillance systems for trends in babesiosis reporting since 1997.  They uncovered nine deaths between 2005 and 2008, and the patients ranged from 43 to 88 years of age.

Those patients showed signs of altered mental status, developed kidney failure, or respiratory distress, with symptoms appearing anywhere from 2.5 to 7 weeks following blood transfusion. When the symptoms developed, death followed within 5 to 17 days.  The blood donations were identified, and all donors tested positive for the infection.

The number of reports of potential transfusion-transmitted Babesia infection and post-donation babesiosis rose from zero in 1999 to 25 in 2007.

Babesia species can survive blood banking procedures, including freezing, according to Gubernot and her associates.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1625118/babesiosis_causes_death_in_transfusion_cases/

14/01/2009 10:23:00

They may look small and harmless enough but if left unchecked they spell disaster for the world’s livestock population.

In fact it is estimated that only Europe, northern USA and Canada would have viable livestock industries if ticks were not controlled. Elsewhere cattle would be decimated.

But ticks don’t just spread disease and paralysis to animals. The bugs also pose a risk to human health.

People bitten by ticks – if they are carrying Lyme disease – can go on to develop arthritis and neurological problems if the infection is not treated in the early stages.

And the number of reported Lyme disease cases in people has risen in Scotland 25 fold over the last decade.

This is believed to be due to milder winters; a rise in the population of deer, which carry ticks; more people enjoying outdoors pursuits; changes in the Right to Roam laws, and an increased awareness of the problem.

Despite all of the above, ticks may actually help people.

Scientists are studying the creatures’ saliva to see if they can harness its properties and create new blood clot busting drugs as well as therapies for inflammatory and auto immune diseases.

The problems and potential of ticks are explored in-depth in the new book Ticks Biology, Disease and Control which is co edited by Dr Alan Bowman from the University of Aberdeen and Professor Patricia Nuttall at NERC’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford.

He said: “Ticks are a serious concern worrying Governments across the globe and the World Health Organisation because the creatures are becoming more and more resistant to the chemicals that we are using to treat them.

“There is a desperate need to find new control strategies for ticks which are found on 8 out of 10 cattle worldwide and have been called ticking timebombs.”

Dr Bowman is one of the scientists involved in the race for new treatments to protect livestock.

The tick expert is also involved in collaborations which are exploring the potential of the bloodfeeder’s saliva in a pursuit coined by Wall Street as “Mining Bugs for Drugs”.

“Ticks have this really neat trick where they feed on their host for two weeks and are able to do so unnoticed,” said Dr Bowman

“We are trying to find the factors that allow their saliva to deliver anticoagulants, immunosuppressants, anti inflammatories and pain killers to the host which means the animal is not aware it is being feasted on.

“If we could mimic these properties it may help us find new therapies for conditions like thrombosis, as well as new anti-inflammatory and auto-immune treatments.

“Instead of starting from scratch in developing new drugs and re-inventing the wheel we should see how Mother Nature has tackled the problem over the millions of years that ticks have been feeding on mammals ”

http://www.farminguk.com/news/Ticking-timebombs-exposed-in-new-book10105.asp