All Posts Tagged With: "endocarditis"

Full article: http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/3/500.htm

Excerpt:

We describe a new Bartonella species for which we propose the name Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis. It was isolated from native aortic valve tissue of a person with infective endocarditis. The new species was identified by using PCR amplification and sequencing of 5 genes (16S rRNA gene, ftsZ, rpoB, gltA, and internal transcribed spacer region).

Bartonella species are small, fastidious, gram-negative, intracellular bacteria that cause culture-negative infective endocarditis. Six species have been documented to cause endocarditis in humans: B. quintana (1), B. henselae (2), B. elizabethae (3), B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii (4), B. koehlerae (5), and B. alsatica (6). We report a case of culture-negative endocarditis caused by a new Bartonella species, for which we propose the name Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis.

Bartonellosis: an emerging infectious disease of
zoonotic importance to animals,and human beings.

J Vet Emerg Crit Care (San Antonio). 2010 Feb 1;20(1):8-30.

Bartonellosis: an emerging infectious disease of zoonotic
importance to animals and human beings.

Breitschwerdt EB, Maggi RG, Chomel BB, Lappin MR.

Department of Clinical Sciences, Center for Comparative Medicine
and Translational Research, College of Veterinary Medicine, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606.

Objective- To provide a review of clinically relevant
observations related to Bartonella species as emerging pathogens
in veterinary and human medicine. Data
Sources- Literature as cited in PubMed and as generated by each
of the authors who have contributed to various aspects of the
clinical understanding of bartonellosis. Human Data Synthesis-
Important historical and recent publications illustrating the
evolving role of animal reservoirs as a source of human
infection. Veterinary Data Synthesis- Comprehensive review of the
veterinary literature.

Conclusions- In addition to inducing life-threatening illnesses,
such as endocarditis, myocarditis, and meningoencephalitis and
contributing to chronic debilitating disease, such as arthritis,
osteomyelitis, and granulomatous inflammation in cats, dogs, and
potentially other animal species; pets and wildlife species can
serve as persistently infected reservoir hosts for the
transmission of Bartonella spp. infection to veterinary
professionals and others with direct animal contact.

http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pu
bmed&id=20230432&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
PMID: 20230432  [PubMed – in process]

Linda’s comments:  Stricter regulation and accreditation requirements are also needed of which I agree with, but the Acupuncture I have had in the past has always been with fresh needles.  However, this should be something that a patient would question.

Full article: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/mar18_1/c1268

Excerpt:

Acupuncture, which is based on the theory that inserting and manipulating fine needles at specific acupuncture points located in a network of meridians will promote the harmonious flow of “Qi,” is one of the most widely practiced modalities of alternative medicine. Because needles are inserted up to several centimetres beneath the skin, acupuncture may pose risks to patients. One of the most important complications is transmission of pathogenic micro-organisms, from environment to patient or from one patient to another.

In the 1970s and 1980s most infections associated with acupuncture were sporadic cases involving pyogenic bacteria.1 So far, more than 50 cases have been described globally. In most cases, pyogenic bacteria were transmitted from the patient’s skin flora or the environment because of inadequate skin disinfection before acupuncture. In localised infections, meridian specific and acupuncture point specific lesions were typical. About 70% of patients had musculoskeletal or skin infections, usually in the form of abscesses or septic arthritis, corresponding to the site of insertion of the acupuncture needles.1 2 A minority had infective endocarditis, meningitis, endophthalmitis, cervical spondylitis, retroperitoneal abscess, intra-abdominal abscess, or thoracic empyema.3 4

Excerpt:

We previously identified ebpR, encoding a potential member of the AtxA/Mga transcriptional regulator family, and showed that it is important for transcriptional activation of the Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis and biofilm associated pilus operon, ebpABC. Although ebpR is not absolutely essential for ebpABC expression (100-fold reduction), its deletion led to phenotypes similar to those of an ebpABC mutant such as absence of pili at the cell surface and, consequently, reduced biofilm formation. A non-piliated ebpABC mutant has been shown to be attenuated in a rat model of endocarditis and in a murine urinary tract infection model, indicating an important participation of the ebpRABC locus in virulence. However, there is no report relating to the environmental conditions that affect expression of the ebpRABC locus.