Whooping cough persistence traced to key toxin
December 19, 2005
Laptop Battery A key toxin associated with whooping cough helps the germs
resist the human immune system and infect vaccinated populations.
Discovery of this resistance mechanism could lead to potential new
treatments for the disease, according to researchers at Penn
State.
----- False Lab Tests May Explain Rising Whooping Cough Numbers False lab tests may be behind a reported surge in whooping cough (pertussis) cases in the United States, according to researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that a regularly used lab test for whooping cough misdiagnosed cases among suspected outbreaks in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Tennessee, the Associated Press reported.
Thinkpad Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory
disease caused by the germ Bordetella pertussis. Whooping cough can
occur at any age but is generally considered a childhood disease
marked by severe spells of coughing and a characteristic whooping
sound while inhaling. Though the widespread use of vaccines has
helped reduce disease drastically, recent surveys reveal that the
disease is increasingly being diagnosed in a large number of
vaccinated adults, posing a serious
health risk to unvaccinated
children and infants.
The Iroquois used a decoction of the root for whooping cough, diarrhea, liver disease, fever, sour stomach, flatulence, pneumonia, and with whiskey for heart trouble.
Microsoft "One of the great mysteries of pertussis is how it persists
within populations despite high vaccination rates," says Eric
Harvill, assistant professor of microbiology and infectious disease
in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
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Laptop Computers Tests on infected mice show that serum antibodies are usually
able to clear the germ from the lungs by recruiting large numbers
of neutrophils, a type of white blood cells that kill germ cells,
by surrounding and absorbing them. But while the technique is
successful against B. bronchiseptica - a closely related germ that
causes kennel cough in dogs - within a day, it takes
longer to clear B. pertussis.
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Laptop Computer Antibodies produced by the vaccines are effective only seven
days after they are administered, says Harvill, who is part of Penn
State's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. "The bacterium
appears to have a mechanism to resist the effects of antibodies
during the first week of infection," he adds.
As evidenced by the recent whooping cough outbreak in SA, the only Australian state which actually records vaccination status in cases of infectious illness, 87% of all those who contracted whooping cough and whose vaccination status was known were fully and appropriately vaccinated.
Desktop Computer Harvill's group theorized that one or more genes specific to
pertussis were somehow delaying the effectiveness of the vaccine.
They looked specifically at the genes encoding Pertussis toxin,
PTx, and hypothesized that this toxin somehow interfered with
antibody-mediated bacterial clearance.
Notebooks To test their theory that those pertussis germs without the
toxin would be more susceptible to antibodies, Harvill and his
colleagues inoculated one set of mice with genetically engineered
B. pertussis that lacked the toxin, and another set with the
naturally occurring strain. Both strains grew well in these mice,
but when antibodies that recognize B. pertussis were given to each
group they rapidly eliminated only the strain lacking the
toxin.
Lenovo Further tests suggest that the toxin acts directly on white
blood cells to temporarily prevent their movement across tissues
that line various organs.
Hard Drive "This is a particular strategy by B. pertussis," says Harvill,
whose findings are published in the current (December) issue of
Journal of Clinical
Investigation.
Travelstar The Penn State researcher says the mechanism for preventing the
migration of white blood cells is a key adaptation by B. pertussis
to prolong the infection period in immune and vaccinated hosts.
Gateway "B. pertussis effectively avoids the immune system during the
first week of infection, giving it enough time to successfully
grow, and potentially spread to more people," explains Harvill.
Laptop Parts Acute infections are like forest fires, says Ottar Bjornstad,
associate professor of entomology and biology at Penn State and a
co-author of the study. He notes, "And while highly infectious
pathogens will spread rapidly, they may burn through the
susceptible population so quickly that they run the risk of
extinction."
Software "Pertussis cleverly avoids this by using a toxin to allow
re-infecting of those who have been vaccinated or infected
earlier," adds Bjornstad, also co-director of the Center for
Infectious Disease Dynamics.
Hard Drives According to Harvill, the new understanding could lead to
potential new treatments for whooping cough.
Electronics "The most direct treatment could involve inactivating the toxin,
or simply having vaccines that produce more antibodies specific to
the toxin," notes the Penn State researcher.
Canon Penn State
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