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Inflammatory, Hypersensitivity and Immune Lung Diseases, including Parasitic Diseases.
Published in Fred W Wright, Radiology of the Chest and Related Conditions, 2022
Coccidioidomycosis (due toCoccidioides immitis - see Illus. COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS) is endemic in the arid regions of the south-western states of the USA (including California, Arizona and New Mexico). Paracoccidioidomycosis is found in Latin America and Brazil. The fungi have two forms: (a) in living tissues as spherules or a sporangium within which several endospores form, break out and grow into further spherules, and (b) a mycelial form which grows in the soil, on pieces of wood, cactus, etc. to form myriads of minute spores. The spores may pass into the air, be distributed by wind and be inhaled. The primary site of immitis infection is usually in the lung, but about 10 to 20% of patients develop bone and joint lesions which are mostly lytic. Those worst affected are usually Negroes, Mexicans and American Indians. It also affects wild and domestic animals.
Aerobiology for the Clinician
Published in Pudupakkam K Vedanthan, Harold S Nelson, Shripad N Agashe, PA Mahesh, Rohit Katial, Textbook of Allergy for the Clinician, 2021
Fungi are ubiquitous and so are the spores of various types produced by them. They occur indoors as well as outdoors. Outdoor fungal sources are soil, water or air. Aided by high temperature and humidity, fungi grow profusely on substrates like plant debris, organic mass, fallen leaves and dead flowers or fruits. As a part of their life cycle on these substrates they produce numerous spores which are small and light in weight. They get easily dispersed in the air. Some of these airborne spores may be breathed in or land onto the skin. Depending on the sensitivity of individuals they cause immediate allergic manifestation. In view of the above, a general knowledge of common allergenic fungal airborne spores is necessary and very useful for clinicians (Nilsson 1983).
Animal Bites
Published in Firza Alexander Gronthoud, Practical Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2020
Tetanus is caused by a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium tetani, an anaerobic spore-forming, Gram-positive rod. Clostridium tetani can be present in the intestines and feces of horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs, chickens and other animals. The spores are widespread in the environment, including in soil, and can survive hostile conditions for long periods of time. Infection is acquired when tetanus spores are inoculated into wounds.
Radioimmunotherapy for the treatment of infectious diseases: a comprehensive update
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2023
Jorge Luis Costa Carvalho, Ekaterina Dadachova
The RIT of bacterial infections results are summarized in Table 2. Bacterial infections are very easily spread through various means: air, unclean food, unclean bodies of water, bodily fluids and/or physical connection from individual to individual [22]. Twenty years ago, the world saw Bacillus anthracis spores being used as a bioterrorist weapon. Such spores are found in nature, can be made in a laboratory and can survive in harsh environment conditions [23]. Anthrax has a high mortality rate [24] and, therefore, new therapy approaches against it must be considered. RIT with the antibodies to the components to the tripartite B. anthracis toxin was effective in vitro and in vivo against B. anthracis germinating spores and live cells [25,26]. While both β-emitter 188Re, and α-emitter 213Bi were used in these experiments, α-emitter 213Bi exerted more pronounced effect on bacteria. These data not only suggest that RIT can be employed to act against anthracis infection but also target toxigenic bacteria with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies.
Effect of bacterial toxin identified from the Bacillus subtilis against the Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenée (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2023
Ramakrishnan Ramasubramanian, Sengodan Karthi, Sengottayan Senthil-Nathan, Haridoss Sivanesh, Narayanan Shyam Sundar, Vethamonickam Stanley-Raja, Govindaraju Ramkumar, Kanagaraj Muthu-Pandian Chanthini, Prabhakaran Vasantha-Srinivasan, Khaloud Mohammed Alarjani, Mohamed S Elshikh, Ahmed Abdel-Megeed, Patcharin Krutmuang
Entomopathogenic bacterial spores can be effective against insect pests and act as bacterial pesticides. Research continues to demonstrate the application of bacterial-based insecticides against a wide range of insect pests across many cropping systems (Usta 2013, Ruiu 2015). Almost all groups of microbes which include fungi, bacteria, yeast and viruses have members with the potential to produce toxins that can significantly suppress insect survival (Kumari et al. 2014, Chalivendra 2021). The genome B. subtilis encrypts ten chemoreceptors recognized as ligands, which are composed of carbon, amino acids, and oxygen (Hashem et al. 2019). Species of Bacillus generally make endospores to endure under environmental conditions. Spores permit long-term storage of biological control agents and can be delivered using a variety of formulations (Hashem et al. 2019). In general, strains of Bacillus have been shown to produce a natural blend of bio-active metabolites that are effective in controlling insect pests of plants and diseases caused by plant pathogens (Asaka and Shoda 1996, Ghribi et al. 2012). The present study reported on the detrimental effects of B. subtilis on larval stages of C. medinalis when ingested with treated rice leaves.
Clinical Outcomes of Rose Bengal Mediated Photodynamic Antimicrobial Therapy on Fungal Keratitis with Their Microbiological and Pathological Correlation
Published in Current Eye Research, 2022
Bhupesh Bagga, Savitri Sharma, Lalit Kishore Ahirwar, Esther Sheba, Pravin Krishna Vaddavalli, Dilip K Mishra
Fungal isolates of five patients were preserved on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 27°C until tested. The isolates were subcultured on PDA, and fresh cultures of not more than three days were used. Standard suspensions of the fungal spores (1–1.5 × 104 CFU/ml), made in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.2), were used for the experiments. Potato dextrose agar Petri plates (85 mm) were used for spreading the fungal suspension, with or without rose bengal solution in equal volume and exposure to PDAT (5.4 Joules/cm2) for 15 minutes. A total of four plates in duplicates were included for each isolate – 1. Fungal spores (control), 2. Fungal spores + rose Bengal (final concentration 0.1%), 3. Fungal spores + rose Bengal + PDAT, 4. Fungal spores + PDAT. The plates were incubated at 27°C for 48 hours and were read with direct observation under light for fungal growth. In addition; a subset of 10 Fusarium isolates that were revived from the laboratory stock of clinical isolates, were identified by DNA sequencing of the ITS region and tested for their susceptibility to six antifungal drugs by micro broth dilution method; were tested against PDAT-RB. The patients with evidence of clinical worsening were subjected to therapeutic keratoplasty. All the corneal samples were sent for microbiological and histopathological examination.