Posted on 12/01/2008 2:49:11 PM PST by AuntB
M. D. Anderson scientists use genetic fingerprint to nail 'killing organism'
This release is available in Spanish.
IMAGE: Xiang-Yang Han, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor in Laboratory Medicine at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
HOUSTON - A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
All cases of leprosy, an ancient disease that still maims and kills in the developing world, previously had been thought to be caused by a single species of bacterium, said lead author Xiang-Yang Han, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Laboratory Medicine at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
“We have identified a second species of leprosy mycobacterium, and in identifying this killing organism we’ve better defined the disease that it causes, diffuse lepromatous leprosy (DLL).” Han said. DLL occurs mainly in Mexico and the Caribbean.
There are hundreds of thousands of new cases of leprosy worldwide each year, but the disease is rare in the United States, with 100-200 new cases annually, mostly among immigrants. Leprosy initially attacks skin and nerve cells.
R. Geetha Nair, M.D., a physician with Maricopa Integrated Health System in Phoenix, contacted Han in 2007 for help confirming a possible leprosy diagnosis in a patient who died that February.
The patient, a 53-year-old man originally from Mexico, was admitted that month for treatment of extensive leg wounds. While undergoing antibiotic treatment and additional diagnostic testing the next day, he was stricken with high fever and shock. He died after 10 days in intensive care.
Analysis of autopsied tissue at the Phoenix hospital suggested a diagnosis of diffuse lepromatous leprosy, a form first described in Mexico in 1852. Han said DLL uniquely attacks a patient’s skin vasculature, blocking or impeding blood flow. This leads to extensive skin death at late stage and may cause secondary infection and fatal shock. The DLL bacterium had never been studied.[snips]
“I’m a moral conservative too. ;-)”
Does it get you in as much trouble as it gets me? :-)
Let’s just say it gives me a real challenge with various people...and I love a good challenge.
;-)
Like I said, they’ll never be able to make said bacteria cause leprosy in properly controlled scientific experimentation. Ever.
It being the cause of leprosy and a “killer bacteria” is pure speculation. Pure conjecture. Absolutely no proof whatever, and there never will be.
Ping.
“No, it absolutely has not. The germ theory has NEVER been proven in properly controlled scientific experimentation.”
You sound like a member of Mary Baker Eddy’s cult. If you are, just admit it and stop wasting good people’s time with ridiculous assertions.
“Typical response from medical-brainwashed types.”
Yep, you are a Christ-Scientist cultist. I don’t give you a response because it isn’t worth the time. Like I said, leave good people alone.
Oh, and for the record. I don’t have a very high opinion of most in the medical field - but not for your silly reasons.
ping
Thanks. . .I think.. .
Dude, they can type bacteria. They can do detailed structural and genetic studies of it. They can identify the actions or toxins that result in the disease symptoms.
If you don’t believe me, go find some Clostridium Tetanii and have at it.
Normally, I fully support freedom of speech no matter how much of a whack job. But your opinions threaten to throw medical technology back 300 years. And YOU - yes YOU YOURSELF - bear the responsibility for the social chaos that might result.
So you should probably put a lid on it. Odds are very high that someone you know or love has been saved in the past by the same technologies you are criticizing hear. In other words, STFU.
“If you don’t think bacteria have been definitively linked to disease, then you wouldn’t mind if I injected you with a small amount of Yersia pestis. Then when you develop bubonic or septicemic plague in a week or so, it won’t be my fault.....it just happened.”
Was going to suggest the same thing, except with anthrax or weaponized small pox...
“Was going to suggest the same thing, except with anthrax or weaponized small pox...”
It wouldn’t even need to be weaponized if the person was not already immune. Actually, one of the hemorragic viruses (like ebola) would also do the trick. Chances of someone being immune to them is remote.
Another pale horse rider from across the southern border bump.
I did a little work with the Mycobacteria long ago in my path lab days. It was all fun until some knucklehead - not me - dropped a petri dish of the stuff on the floor. Ever see what an autoclave does to a pair of tennis shoes?
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