hacked by p@3t_b@y for turks

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune, July 29, 2009 - 7:27 PM

Picture: From left to right: wood tick, female deer tick and nymph of deer tick which is about as large as a period at the end of a sentence.

Two serious tick-borne diseases have surfaced in Minnesota, with one of them claiming the life of a child in Dakota County this month, state health officials said this afternoon.

The child most likely was bitten — in Dakota County — by a tick infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the state Health Department said. This is the first reported fatality from this disease in Minnesota this year, the department said.

The other disease, Powassan (POW) encelphalitis, struck an adult in Cass County this year and a child in the same county last year, the department said.

“Both individuals were hospitalized with severe neurological symptoms and have made some improvement but are requiring ongoing care,” the department said today.

Since this virus was first identified in 1958 in Powassan, Ontario, about 50 cases have been identified in the United States and Canada. The patients in Minnesota represent the western-most human cases identified in North America, state health officials said.

Sporadic cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever have been reported around Minnesota in past years, the department said. About 2,000 cases are reported annually in other parts of the United States.

“Rocky Mountain spotted fever is quite rare in Minnesota compared to Southeastern states,” said Melissa Kemperman, an epidemiologist specializing in tick-transmitted diseases with the state Health Department, “but this recent fatality and the high numbers of American dog ticks in our state underscore the need to be aware of this serious disease and to prevent bites from any kind of tick.”

The American dog tick, the Rocky Mountain wood tick, and the brown dog tick can all carry the bacteria. “Here in Minnesota, the American dog tick — also called the wood tick — is very common throughout the state, and it often bites people,” Kemperman said.
Signs and symptoms for both diseases arise within two weeks of an infectious tick bite. Many patients never see the tick that bit them.

People with POW encephalitis or meningitis may have fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, loss of coordination, speech difficulties, and memory loss. Long-term problems are common, and about 10 percent of reported cases have died from their illness.

Signs and symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever include high fever, headache and a rash. Patients may also have muscle pain, joint pain, malaise, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. About 5 percent of patients die from their infection.

“Although we believe that the overall risk of these two diseases is low in our state,” said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota’s state epidemiologist, “it is really important to take measures to prevent tick bites and to seek prompt medical care if you develop illness soon after spending time in tick habitat.”

To prevent tick-borne diseases, people are encouraged to use tick repellents containing DEET (up to 30 percent concentration) or permethrin.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

http://www.startribune.com/local/52007327.html?page=2&c=y

Authors: Merav Lidar a;  Noga Lipschitz b;  Pnina Langevitz a; Yehuda Shoenfeld c

Affiliations:   

a Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Rheumatology Unit, Sheba Medical Center (SMC), Tel Hashomer and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
 b Center for Autoimmune Diseases, SMC, Tel-Hashomer, Israel
 c Medicine B and Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center (SMC), Tel Hashomer, Israel

Abstract

Infectious agents have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of various vasculitides via numerous and overlapping mechanisms including direct microbial invasion of endothelial cells, immune complex mediated vessel wall damage and stimulation of autoreactive B and/or T cells through molecular mimicry and superantigens. While the causative role of hepatitis B virus in polyarteritis nodosa and hepatitis C virus in mixed cryoglobulinemia is clearly established, evidence for the association of other infectious agents with vasculitis, including human immunodeficiency virus, parvovirus B19, cytomegalovirus, varicella zoster virus, Staphylococcus aureus, rickettsiaceae, Treponema pallidum and Borrelia burgdorferi, among numerous others, is accumulating. The spectrum of association of infectious agents; bacteria, viruses and parasites, with systemic vasculitides, will be reviewed herewith. 

Keywords: Infection; vasculitis; pathogenesis 

DOI: 10.1080/08916930802613210

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a913141312~db=all~jumptype=rss

Simulation tools used to train next generation of scientific researchers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – July 28, 2009 — University of Rhode Island Professor Annie De Groot has been awarded a $13 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pioneer the development and application of an integrated gene-to-vaccine program targeting emerging infectious diseases. It is the second multi-million dollar NIH grant awarded to URI researchers in recent months, coming on the heels of an $18 million award to a pharmacy professor in May.

De Groot, who joined the faculty of the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences just six months ago and who directs the University’s Institute for Immunology and Informatics, said the new Translational Immunology Research and Accelerated Vaccine Development (TRIAD) program will integrate vaccine design studies in silico (via computer simulation) with in vitro and in vivo research.

“While the NIH grant is Professor De Groot’s first award since joining the URI faculty, she has an outstanding track record of earning significant funding in her previous position at Brown University and at EpiVax, now totaling more than $25 million,” said URI President David Dooley. “We are immensely proud of her accomplishments, and I am confident that her work will continue to strengthen the research enterprise at the University and will provide exciting opportunities for technology transfer.”

“This grant is a dream come true,” said De Groot, president of the biotechnology company EpiVax. “The TRIAD grant provides a team of researchers based right here in Rhode Island with the exciting opportunity to collaborate across disciplines and to teach the next generation of scientists to use tools that are accelerating the development of vaccines and therapeutics.”

The NIH funds will enable De Groot and URI colleagues Thomas Mather and Lenny Moise to collaborate with Steve Moss and Steve Gregory of Lifespan and Bill Martin of EpiVax to develop vaccines that will address emerging infectious diseases such as Heptatitis C, Helicobacter pylori and engineered biowarfare/bioterror agents. Mather will direct a project on the development of a vaccine against a range of tick borne diseases.

“This grant will fund translational research for the development of human vaccines, thus all of the work to be performed under TRIAD funding is directed at moving vaccine products towards the clinic,” De Groot explained. “The unique area of focus will be what are called immunome-derived vaccines. Compared to traditional vaccines, immunome-derived vaccines have the potential to be safer and more effective since they focus the protective immune response on the most essential antigenic elements of the pathogenic bacteria or virus, while eliminating potentially cross-reactive and deleterious or simply inert components, reducing the potential for adverse outcomes.”

The funding will also support a training course and pilot grants for researchers interested in using new vaccine design tools developed by De Groot and Martin. The first training session will take place Aug. 24-26 at the URI Providence Biotechnology Center.

In addition, the grant will allow De Groot to hire eight new staff members for the Institute for Immunology and Informatics, and it will also result in new hires at affiliated research centers. The research being conducted at the Institute is expected to make it a magnet for attracting translational immunology researchers from around the world.

Peter Alfonso, URI vice president for research and economic development, said: “Dr. De Groot’s research has regional and national importance not only because it will lead to a significant reduction in the time and cost to create new vaccines against a host of emerging infection diseases such as Lyme disease, which is rampant in Rhode Island, but also because it makes considerable contribution to Rhode Island’s economic development efforts in two important ways; first, through the creation of technologies and products that have commercial value, and second, through the creation of a highly-skilled workforce that is absolutely essential for our economic wellbeing. Through Dr. De Groot’s leadership, URI will be recognized throughout the world for our scientific contributions in this area.”

“I commend URI for their efforts to accelerate the development of safer, more efficient vaccines,” added U.S. Senator Jack Reed, who supported De Groot’s funding proposal. “This federal funding will boost critical vaccine research to help protect public health against emerging infectious diseases. It will also provide critically important educational opportunities to further expand Rhode Island’s health care and biotech workforce.”

The Institute for Immunology and Informatics, established earlier this year at URI’s Providence Biotechnology Center, applies cutting edge bioinformatics tools to accelerate the development of treatments and cures for immune-system diseases like HIV and tuberculosis. The Institute also aims to quickly make these tools available to the global research community for the development of vaccines for tropical diseases and other infectious diseases.

De Groot has received national and international recognition for her innovative “genome–to–vaccine” approach, and has been a vocal advocate for tiered pricing of globally-relevant HIV and TB vaccines. Esquire Magazine gave her a Genius Award in Science and Technology in 2003, and she was named Rhode Island Woman Physician of the Year by Women and Infants Hospital in 2006. She is the scientific founder of the Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS (GAIA), and she and Martin declared that their GAIA HIV vaccine was a not-for-profit research program in 2001. Work on the development of the GAIA HIV vaccine trial site is ongoing in Mali, with the support of her GAIA Vaccine Foundation.
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For more information about De Groot, the Institute for Immunology and Informatics, and the TRIAD grant research, visit www.immunome.org.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/uori-ua072709.php

A bill to provide for the expansion of Federal efforts concerning the prevention, education, treatment, and research activities related to Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, including the establishment of a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee.

To read bill: CLICK HERE

At the Yale University School of Medicine, epidemiologists and public health scientists, have done some tick hot spot mapping. They found that human behavior is often a strong predictor of tick-borne disease. For instance, if a lot of people are doing things outside and they aren’t taking steps to protect themselves from bites, they have better odds of getting a tick-borne disease.

But they also found that changing land use plays a role.

To read full article: CLICK HERE
 

Muscle Nerve. 2009 Jun;39(6):851- 4.

Elamin M, Alderazi Y, Mullins G, Farrell MA, O’Connell S, Counihan TJ.

Department of Neurology, University College Hospital, Galway, Ireland.

Perineuritis is an unusual cause of direct peripheral nerve injury. We describe the clinicopathologic features of a 56-year-old man with mononeuritis multiplex due to Lyme disease; sural nerve biopsy demonstrated florid perineuritis. Treatment with intravenous ceftriaxone resulted in marked neurologic improvement. This study supports the notion that perineuritis forms part of the pathogenesis in acute Lyme neuroborreliosis. Muscle Nerve, 2009.

PMID: 19441045 [PubMed - in process]

Contents include:

•Editorial: Tick-Borne Encephalitis – Still an Emerging Infection in the Region
•Epidemiology of Tick-Borne Encephalitis and Lyme Disease in the Republic of Belarus, 1998-2007
•Epidemiological Trends of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Estonia
•Tick-Borne Pathogens and Spread of Ixodes ricinus in Lithuania
•Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Denmark
•Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Norway
•Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Europe and Beyond – The Epidemiological Situation as of 2007
•Specialist Profile Series: Milda Žygutienė
•Surveillance Data in the EpiNorth Area, 2008

To access PDF file: CLICK HERE

Debate About Tick-Borne Infection Heats Up

“Lyme disease is a painful condition at the center of a heated debate in the medical community. Seventy to 80 percent of Lyme patients have a bull’s-eye rash, and are easily treated with antibiotics. But if left untreated, there’s evidence the disease can affect the brain, and change a person’s personality.”

To read full article: CLICK HERE

EID Journal Home > Volume 15, Number 8–August 2009

Letter

Nicholas J. Evans, Kevin Bown, Dorina Timofte, Vic R. Simpson, and Richard J. Birtles
Author affiliations: University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (N.J. Evans, K. Bown, D. Tomifte, R.J. Birtles); and Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre, Truro, UK (V.R. Simpson)

Suggested citation for this article

To the Editor: Tick-borne relapsing fevers caused by members of the genus Borrelia have been encountered throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas and, rarely, in southern Europe (1). The Borrelia species associated with relapsing fevers form a monophyletic group within the genus, although not all members of this group have yet been implicated as agents of human disease. For example, a novel spirochete that is closely related to the relapsing fever agent Borrelia turicatae has recently been detected in Carios kelleyi, an argasid bat tick (2,3). We report the discovery of a spirochete causing fatal borreliosis in a bat in the United Kingdom.

To read full article: CLICK HERE

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009 Jul 20. [Epub ahead of print]

Schwint ON, Ueti MW, Palmer GH, Kappmeyer LS, Hines MT, Cordes RT, Knowles DP, Scoles GA.
Program in Vector-Borne Diseases, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, School for Global Animal Heath, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-7040; Animal Disease Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Pullman, Washington 99164-6630; Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-7010; and National Equine Programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Veterinary Services, Riverdale, Maryland 20737-1234.
Antimicrobial treatment of persistent infection to eliminate transmission risk represents a specific challenge requiring compelling evidence of complete pathogen clearance. The limited repertoire of antimicrobial agents targeted at protozoal parasites magnifies this challenge. Using Babesia caballi as both a model and a specific apicomplexan pathogen for which evidence of the elimination of transmission risk is required for international animal movement, we tested whether a high dose regimen of imidocarb dipropionate cleared infection from persistently infected asymptomatic horses and/or eliminated transmission risk. Clearance with elimination of transmission risk was supported by four specific lines of evidence: i) inability to detect parasites by quantitative PCR and nested PCR amplification; ii) conversion from seropositive to seronegative status; iii) inability to transmit infection by direct inoculation of blood into susceptible recipient horses; and iv) inability to transmit infection by ticks acquisition fed on the treated horses and then subsequently transmission fed on susceptible horses. In contrast, untreated horses remained infected and capable of transmitting B. caballi using the same criteria. These findings establish that imidocarb dipropionate treatment clears B. caballi infection with confirmation of lack of transmission risk either by direct blood transfer or a high tick burden. Importantly, the treated horses revert to seronegative status using the international standard for serologic testing and would permit movement between endemic and pathogen-free countries.

PMID: 19620328 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]