Controlling Sleeping Sickness w/gut bacteria of transmitting fly
By Linda on May 24, 2010 in Interesting Stories
Excerpt:
ScienceDaily (May 11, 2010) — A new bacterial species, found in the gut of the fly that transmits African sleeping sickness, could be engineered to kill the parasite that causes the disease. The study, published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, could lead to new approaches to control this fatal infection that is becoming resistant to drug therapy.
Scientists from IRD, the French Research Institute for Development in Montpellier, France isolated the novel bacterium from the midgut of the tsete fly that also harbours the protozoan Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (Tbg), responsible for Human African Trypanosomiasis, known as sleeping sickness. The new bacterium was named Serratia glossinae after genomic analysis showed it was closely genetically linked to other bacteria in the Serratia genus. Interestingly one of the species in this genus is able to kill another trypanosome that causes Chagas’ disease in South America. This has prompted the group to hypothesise that the Serratia group of bacteria has the potential to be exploited to treat trypanosomiasis.
