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Spread and Control of Microbes
Published in Jim Lynch, What Is Life and How Might It Be Sustained?, 2023
The discovery of microbes as animalcules by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was made possible with the development of the microscope as was discussed in Chapter 2. These rod or spherical (coccus) forms were bacteria of around 1 μm in size. It took much longer with the development of the powerful electron microscope by Ernst Ruska in 1931 to visualise viruses which are often only about one-tenth the size of bacteria and are not cells but packages of nucleic acids (RNA or DNA), surrounded by a protective coat called a capsid. Some larger viruses can be as big as bacteria but COVID-19, for example, is only about one-tenth of a micrometre. The science of microbiology developed with bacteria, along with cellular fungi and protozoa, in one stream, and viruses in another. In common, they all have nucleic acids which have only been characterised since James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1953. Medicine has usually been concerned with the microbes that cause disease, but some have beneficial effects such as those which aid digestion in the gut. Microbes in the environment can be harmful, such as those which cause plant diseases, or beneficial, such as those which improve plant nutrient cycling and those which break down pollutants. Most identification and early studies in the laboratory were with single species in pure culture, although viruses could only be grown with host animal or plant cells. This contrasts the real world where microbes associate with each other in microbial communities.
Necrotising Fasciitis
Published in Dorian Hobday, Ted Welman, Maxim D. Horwitz, Gurjinderpal Singh Pahal, Plastic Surgery for Trauma, 2022
Dorian Hobday, Ted Welman, Maxim D. Horwitz, Gurjinderpal Singh Pahal
Necrotising fasciitis (NF) is a life-threatening surgical emergency. It is a rapidly progressing soft tissue infection that can only be controlled by immediate debridement in theatres to save the patient’s limb/life (Figures 7.1 and 7.2).Pathophysiology: In NF bacteria release toxins that cause inflammation and necrosis of surrounding tissue. It spreads rapidly along fascial planes but does not infiltrate into muscle.Risk factors: Diabetes, obesity, immunosuppression, IV drug use, advanced age and haematological malignancy increase the risk of NF. However, it can also occur in young and healthy patients.Microbiology: NF is split into three main types according to causative organisms.
Fenugreek in Management of Immunological, Infectious, and Malignant Disorders
Published in Dilip Ghosh, Prasad Thakurdesai, Fenugreek, 2022
Rohini Pujari, Prasad Thakurdesai
Infectious diseases are one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. (Mathers 2020). Despite the significant progress made in microbiology and the control of microorganisms, sporadic epidemics and pandemics incidents emerge worldwide due to drug-resistant microorganisms and unknown disease-causing microbes (Mahady 2005; Weledji, Weledji, and Assob 2017). Fenugreek has traditionally been documented for efficacy in several infectious diseases (Malik et al. 2013), perhaps due to the presence of many antimicrobial phytochemicals such as phytoalexin, allicins, isothiocyanates, anthocyanins, tannins, essential oils, polyphenols, terpenoids (Salah, Bestoon, and Osman 2010), lysine and L-tryptophan, mucilaginous fiber, saponins, coumarin, trigonelline (Walli et al. 2015). This section of the chapter reviews the applications of fenugreek or constituents in the management of infectious diseases caused by worms and bacterial, fungal, protozoal, and vector-borne infections.
Origins of human milk microbiota: new evidence and arising questions
Published in Gut Microbes, 2020
Shirin Moossavi, Meghan B. Azad
The fact that human milk contains bacteria, even when collected aseptically, has been known since the 1920s.1 Yet, milk bacteria are often perceived in an unfavorable light, considered as contaminants introduced during handling, processing, and storage.2 In the 21st century, medical microbiology has undergone a paradigm shift from the exclusive focus on pathogenic bacteria and infectious diseases to appreciating the role of nonpathogenic bacteria and microbial communities in both infectious and noncommunicable diseases, as well as physiologic homeostasis and health.3 This shift in perspective along with the availability of next-generation sequencing has resulted in an exponential increase in the study of host-associated microbial communities (microbiota).4 The culture-independent approach to study milk microbiota is relatively new and poses unique challenges compared to other host-associated microbial niches with higher biomass, such as the gastrointestinal tract. Nevertheless, these methods offer new opportunities to study and understand the microbes present in human milk, identify their sources, mechanistically dissect their role in maternal and infant health, and help inform new microbiome-targeted strategies for health promotion and disease prevention.
The management of anti-infective agents in intensive care units: the potential role of a ‘fast’ pharmacology
Published in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 2020
Dario Cattaneo, Alberto Corona, Francesco Giuseppe De Rosa, Cristina Gervasoni, Danijela Kocic, Deborah Je Marriott
A disadvantage of traditional bacteriological culture techniques has always been the time taken between the inoculation of the agar plates and the growth and identification of the pathogenic organisms. In other areas of microbiology such as virology, the problem was even greater as routine laboratories were unable to culture viruses and many viruses were difficult to grow even in tissue culture systems. Therefore, rapid diagnostics were not possible and microbiology remained relatively unchanged for many decades. Recently there has been a remarkable effort to develop novel technologies for faster microbiological diagnosis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, enabling information on pathogen identification and, in some cases, antimicrobial resistance profiles in a shorter timeframe when compared with the conventional diagnostic workflow which involves subculture followed by identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing carried out from isolated bacterial or fungal colonies. A result could be available within hours, as opposed to the 72 hours required by conventional methods.
A retrospective analysis of infections and antibiotic treatment in patients with Stevens–Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis
Published in Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 2020
Min Diao, Christina Thapa, Xin Ran, Yuping Ran, Xiaoyan Lv
Infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in SJS/TEN patients. The lowest reported infection rate in TEN patients over the past 10 years was 62.9%, and the highest was 91.7% (4). In our study, the infection rate in TEN patients was 88.6% and in SJS patients was 48.9%. The main causes of infections in SJS/TEN patients as described in various articles were S. aureus and P. aeruginosa (9,10). The leading causes of infections in our study were S. aureus and E. coli, which may be because of the potential variation in microbiology among different hospitals and regions. In the published reports, the most common infections in TEN patients were wound infections (31.8%–78%); the incidence of sepsis was 20.1%–86%, and the mortality rate was 13.4%–38% (4). Compared with these findings, in our study the most common infections in TEN patients was pulmonary infections (23/35, 65.7%), followed by wound infections (20/35, 57.1%); the rate of sepsis was 11.4% (4/35), and the mortality rate was 17.1% (6/35). The high rate of pulmonary infection in our patients was probably because our patients were hospitalized in common wards rather than in burn units or because the number of patients treated with systemic glucocorticoids was high.