This is topic 2007: Spiroplasma spp. from TSE brains or ticks in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/60435

Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
 
Note to self: don't inject TSE into brain at home!!! Bad outcome!!!
************************************88**
1: J Med Microbiol. 2007 Sep;56(Pt 9):1235-42.

Spiroplasma spp. from transmissible spongiform encephalopathy brains or ticks induce spongiform encephalopathy in ruminants.

Bastian FO, Sanders DE, Forbes WA, Hagius SD, Walker JV, Henk WG, Enright FM, Elzer PH.
Department of Veterinary Science, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, 111 Dalrymple Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. [email protected]

Spiroplasma, small motile wall-less bacteria, are linked by molecular and serological studies to the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which include scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.


In this study, two experiments were undertaken to determine the role of spiroplasma in the pathogenesis of TSE.


In experiment 1, Spiroplasma mirum, a rabbit tick isolate that had previously been shown to experimentally induce spongiform encephalopathy in rodents, was inoculated intracranially (IC) into ruminants.


S. mirum-inoculated deer manifested clinical signs of TSE after 1.5 to 5.5 months incubation.

The deer, as well as sheep and goats, inoculated with S. mirum developed spongiform encephalopathy in a dose-dependent manner.

In experiment 2, spiroplasma closely related to S. mirum were isolated from TSE-affected brains via passage in embryonated eggs, and propagated in cell-free M1D media.


Spiroplasma spp. isolates from scrapie-affected sheep brain and from CWD-affected deer brain inoculated IC into sheep and goats induced spongiform encephalopathy closely resembling natural TSE in these animals.


These data show spiroplasma to be consistently associated with TSE, and able experimentally to cause TSE in ruminant animal models, therein questioning the validity of studies that have concluded the prion, a miss-folded protease-resistant protein that builds up in TSE brains during the course of the disease, to be the sole causal agent.


The spiroplasma infection models reported here will be important for investigating factors involved in the pathogenesis of TSE since ruminants are the natural hosts.

PMID: 17761489
 
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
 
Holy Moley!!! Humans can't catch this, can they? [Eek!]
 
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
 
Spiroplasma same as spirochetes except tinier itty bitty they are also in plants and animals.
 
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
 
Spiroplasma swimming
 
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
 
******************************1: Int J Med Microbiol. 2006 May;296 Suppl 40:157-61. Epub 2006 Mar 9. Links

Isolation of Spiroplasma sp. from an Ixodes tick.

Henning K, Greiner-Fischer S, Hotzel H, Ebsen M, Theegarten D.
Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Seestrasse 55, D-16868 Wusterhausen, Germany. [email protected]

Spiroplasmas are helical mycoplasmas which are found in plants and arthropods, also in ticks.

Some Spiroplasma species are incriminated as potential pathogens for vertebrates.

During a study on Q fever in North Rhine-Westphalia, an intracellularly growing microorganism could be isolated from a pool of Ixodes ticks.


The agent replicated within cytoplasmic vacuoles similar to those of Coxiella burnetii.

PCR using coxiellae-, ehrlichiae- or chlamydiae-specific primers showed that agent Z/16 was distinct from these bacteria.

In contrast to coxiellae or chlamydiae, the agent could not be stained according to the method of Gim�nez. Also electron microscopy provided evidence that the isolate Z/16 is different from coxiellae and chlamydiae.


Determination of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences provided evidence that the isolate Z/16 can be classified as Spiroplasma sp. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an isolation of a Spiroplasma strain using a mammalian cell line.


The pathogenic potential of the organism needs further investigation.

PMID: 16524780

AND IF YOU ARE IN OREGON....

1: Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1995 Jan;45(1):23-8. Links

Spiroplasma ixodetis sp. nov., a new species from Ixodes pacificus ticks collected in Oregon.


Tully JG, Rose DL, Yunker CE, Carle P, Bov� JM, Williamson DL, Whitcomb RF.
Mycoplasma Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Maryland 21702.

Eight strains of mollicutes were isolated from pooled suspensions prepared from western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) collected in Oregon.

Morphologic examination by electron and dark-field microscopic techniques showed that each strain consisted of a mixture of motile, tightly coiled helical cells, small coccoid cells with diameters ranging from 300 to 500 nm, and pleomorphic, straight or branched filamentous forms.

All cellular forms were surrounded by a single cytoplasmic membrane, and there was no evidence of a cell wall.


The organisms were filterable and fastidious in their growth requirements. The optimum temperature for growth was 30 degrees C, but multiplication occurred at temperatures ranging from 23 to 32 degrees C. The strains catabolized glucose but did not hydrolyze arginine or urea.

The eight isolates were serologically related to each other but were not related to 37 other type or representative strains belonging to the genus Spiroplasma. Strain Y32 (= ATCC 33835) is the type strain of Spiroplasma ixodetis sp. nov.

PMID: 7857803
 
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
 
1: Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2002 May;240(5):348-53. Epub 2002 Apr 9. Links


First evidence of an endogenous Spiroplasma sp. infection in humans manifesting as unilateral cataract associated with anterior uveitis in a premature baby.


Lorenz B, Schroeder J, Reischl U.
Department of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Ophthalmogenetics, University of Regensburg, Germany. [email protected]

PURPOSE: To elucidate a previously unknown aetiology of rapidly progressive unilateral cataract in a premature baby associated with severe anterior uveitis.


METHODS: The lens and vitreous material were saved as part of a special protocol in a 4-month-old premature baby at the time of pars plana lensectomy with anterior vitrectomy. We performed (1) microbiological cultures to detect viable bacterial and fungal organisms; (2) PCR reaction to viral, bacterial and fungal agents; (3) transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, serological examinations were performed for HSV-1 and -2, CMV, VZV and Mycoplasmainfection.


RESULTS: PCR detected Spiroplasma sp.; TEM confirmed the presence of Spiroplasma within the lens fibres. Serological testing and microbiological cultures of the vitreous and lens were negative.


CONCLUSION: Endogenous Spiroplasma infection in a premature baby may manifest as rapidly progressive acquired unilateral cataract with anterior uveitis.


Beyond this, Spiroplasma infection has never been reported to occur naturally in vertebrates, although experimentally Spiroplasma mirum produces panophthalmitis associated with cataract in a wide range of rodents and in chicks.


In acquired infantile cataract with inflammatory signs, PCR and TEM should be performed in the lensectomy/vitrectomy material to detect infectious agents not evident on routine laboratory and microbiological examinations.

PMID: 12073057
 
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
 
SMCA is a spiroplasma strain!!! So cataracts and uveitis-
*************************************************
1: Invest Ophthalmol. 1976 Aug;15(8):640-7. Links

Ocular pathology induced by the suckling mouse cataract agent.

Friedlaender RP, Barile MF, Kuwabara T, Clark HF.

The eye disease caused by SMCA may be best characterized as an endophthalmitis, with early retinitis followed by subsequent posterior uveitis.

Pathologic features of lens included: proliferation and abnormal posterior extension of lens epithelium, increased accumulation of lens capsule material, and production of aberrant lens substance.


Cataractous change appears to be secondary to intraocular inflammation.


In addition to the above pattern, in roughly 20 per cent of all cases, 3 weeks after inoculation, lens capsule is destroyed giving rise to a foreign body granulomatous reaction.

PMID: 1085291
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
Spiroplasmas, first found in ticks on rabbits, and thought of as a mycoplasma or slow virus:

Nature 259, 117 - 120 (15 January 1976); doi:10.1038/259117a0

Letters to nature

Suckling mouse cataract agent is a helical wall-free prokaryote (spiroplasma) pathogenic for vertebrates

JOSE PH G. TULLY*, ROBERT F. WHITCOMB�, DAVID L. WILLIAMSON� & H. FRED CLARK�
*Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
�Plant Protection Institute, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705
�Department of Anatomical Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794
�Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

THE suckling mouse cataract agent (SMCA) is a filterable organism originally isolated from a pooled extract of rabbit ticks (Haemaphysalis leporis-palustris) collected near Atlanta, Georgia in April 1961 (ref. 1).

The agent grows to high titre in the eyes and brains when inoculated intracerebrally into newborn mice in which it induces cataract, uveitis and chronic brain infection1−3. SMCA has also been grown to high titre in embryonated hen's eggs, in which it produces a lethal infection in 4−9 d (ref. 1).
The agent has not been grown in tissue culture or in artificial media, but growth in a rabbit lens organ culture has been reported4. Stained SMCA-infected tissues failed to show the presence of rickettsiae and, as a result of such negative inferences and other characteristics of the agent3−5, it was considered to be a candidate slow virus6.
Within the past few years however, ultrastructural and biological studies showed that a wall-free prokaryote was consistently associated with the acute and chronic disease in mice and with lethality in chick embryos7,8.

Although the agent resembled mycoplasmas morphologically, it differed from them in its apparent non-cultivability on conventional mycoplasma medium. We now report that the organism associated with the suckling mouse cataract syndrome is a prokaryote similar to the spiroplasmas--a group of mycoplasmas known previously only from plants and insects.

References
1. Clark, H. F., J. infect. Dis., 114, 476-487 (1964); Prog. Med. Virol., 18, 307-322 (1974).

2. Clark, H. F., and Karzon, D. T., Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med., 131, 693-696 (1969).

3. Elizan, T. S., Fabiyi, A., and Clark, H. F., Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med., 139, 51-55 (1972).

4. Fabiyi, A., Elizan, T. S., and Pounds, J. E., Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med., 136, 88-91 (1971).

5. Schwartz, J., and Elizan, T. S., Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med., 141, 699-704 (1972).

6. Hotchin, J., Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immun., 40, 33-43 (1967).

7. Zeigel, R. F., and Clark, H. F., Infect. Immun., 9, 430-443 (1974).

8. *******o, J. W., Ou, D., and Bussell, R. H., Infect. Jmmun., 9, 444-451 (1974).

9. Davis, R. E., and Worley, J. F., Phytopathology, 63, 403-408 (1973).

10. Davis, R. E., Worley, J. F., Whitcomb, R. F., Ishijima, T., and Steere, R. L., Science, 176, 521-523 (1972).

11. Chen, T. A., and Liao, C. H., Science, 188, 1015-1017 (1975).
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
The agent 277F - is it a spiroplasma or a spirochete? Are all spiroplasmas another part of the chete's life cycle.

And are we all carrying CJD?

My friend is returning to live in France, after nearly a decade of living here in the UK. She has found out she will not be able to carry on being a blood donor when she lives back in France. The French health system will not accept blood from anyone who has lived in the UK because they say all of us Brits might be carrying CJD.

BW,
Andromeda

: Yale J Biol Med. 1983 Sep-Dec;56(5-6):599-603. Links
Characterization and taxonomic status of tick spiroplasmas: a review.
� Tully JG,
� Whitcomb RF,
� Rose DL,
� Williamson DL,
� Bove JM.
Three serologically distinct groups of spiroplasmas have been recovered from ticks. Spiroplasma mirum strains (from rabbit ticks, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) and Y32 group (VI) spiroplasmas (from Ixodes pacificus) are the only spiroplasmas to have a clear association with these arthropods. Group (VI) spiroplasmas are distinguished by an unusual nonhelical morphology and their capacity to hemadsorb guinea pig erythrocytes. S. mirum strains are unique in their ability to induce cataracts or lethal brain infections in a number of young vertebrates and in their virulence for the chick embryo. The 277F spiroplasma, while initially recovered from a pool of rabbit ticks (H. leporispalustris), is related by certain serological and genetic properties to spiroplasmas in the S. citri complex (serogroup I). These relationships suggest that the 277F spiroplasma may not be a natural inhabitant of the rabbit tick.
PMID: 6382825 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
I get the impression that mycoplasmas are everywhere, in every plant and animal. Perhaps when they get into another species or kingdom they begin to do harm?

Kuru, scrapie, CJD, BSE, Chronic Wasting Disease, where did they all come from and why are there suddenly so many Emerging Infectious Diseases, just like Lyme, babesia and ehrlichia?


Vet Rec. 2001 Apr 28;148(17):531-6.

Evidence for the transmission of scrapie to sheep and goats from a vaccine against Mycoplasma agalactiae.

Caramelli M, Ru G, Casalone C, Bozzetta E, Acutis PL, Calella A, Forloni G.

Centro per le Encefalopatie Animali, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Torino, Italy.

An accidental infection from a vaccine was suggested as the explanation for the sudden increase in outbreaks of scrapie in Italy in 1997 and 1998.

This paper describes a recent outbreak of scrapie in sheep and goats which were exposed to the same vaccine. No ewes or goats had been imported into the herd since 1992, but a vaccine against Mycoplasma agalactiae had been administered twice, in 1995 and 1997.

High rates of crude mortality and scrapie incidence were experienced by both species, all birth cohorts were involved and a large proportion of aged animals was affected.

A pattern of brain lesions was observed, with slight differences between the sheep and goats, which was very similar to the pattern observed in animals previously exposed to the same vaccine but clearly different from that observed in the brains of sheep with scrapie in a flock not exposed to the vaccine.

Regardless of their exposure status, genotype analysis of the sheep showed the presence of polymorphism only at codon 171. The patterns of both incidence and brain lesions provide evidence that the epidemic of scrapie was due to the use of the vaccine.
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
Spiroplasmas are found in horse and deer flies, wasps and other biting stinging insects such as gnats and mosquitos, as well as ticks.

BW,
Andromeda

Pathol Biol (Paris). 1986 May;34(5):360-3.

[Sensitivity to various antibiotics of spiroplasmas isolated from mosquitoes in France]
[Article in French]

Abalain-Colloc ML, Le Goff F, Abalain JH, Chastel C.
Spiroplasmas are helical mycoplasmas that play a significant role in plant diseases. They are also found in arthropods that are likely to bite humans, such as ticks and mosquitoes.
These arthropods can act as vectors and therefore may be of epidemiologic significance.

Furthermore, mainly on the grounds of morphologic evidence, spiroplasmas have been incriminated in the genesis of human Creutzfeld-Jacob disease.

We recovered six strains of Spiroplasma sp. from 1927 female mosquitoes. In vitro susceptibility of each strain to the following antibiotics was studied: tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, rifampin, kanamycin, gentamicin and pefloxacin.

Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by dilution in liquid SP4 medium using microtiter plates. Plates were incubated for 24 to 48 hours at 30 degrees C. The inoculum contained approximately 5 X 10(5) CFU/ml.

Each of the six strains was found to be highly susceptible to tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, erythromycin, chloramphenicol and pefloxacin (MICs less than or equal to 0.16 microgram/ml, 0.63 microgram/ml, 0.08 microgram/ml, 0.16 microgram/ml and 0.32 microgram/ml respectively).

On the opposite, the strains exhibited resistance to rifampin and variable degrees of susceptibility to kanamycin (12.5 micrograms/ml less than MIC less than 50 micrograms/ml) and gentamicin (3.12 micrograms/ml less than MIC less than 50 micrograms/ml).

From our results, spiroplasmas seem to have more or less the same susceptibility to antibiotics as mycoplasmas.
PMID: 2877430 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
Posted by caat (Member # 2321) on :
 
Wow, thanks for posting this Calyme!

Years ago Cave and I were speculating about CWD/Mad cow etc. We thought there was something fishy about prions and also thought the "info" that mad cow was not killed by very high temps was weird. I googled that info and came up with just ONE study coming to that conclusion and we thought it might be just contamination that gave that result. Maybe something wasn't very steril or a tool missed being in the pressure cooker (autoclave).

[ 19. November 2007, 12:52 AM: Message edited by: caat ]
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
Here's another theory, about bacteria making autoimmune ptoteins.

Agrobacteria always seem suspicious to me because they are used as the gene carriers for genetically modifying everything!


Environ Health Perspect. 1997 Nov;105(11):1172-4
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy: is it an autoimmune disease due to bacteria showing molecular mimicry with brain antigens?

Ebringer A, Thorpe C, Pirt J, Wilson C, Cunningham P, Ettelaie C.
Division of Life Sciences, Infection and Immunity Group and Department of Computing, King's College, Campden Hill Road, London, United Kingdom.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) could be an autoimmune disease produced following exposure of cattle to feedstuffs containing bacteria showing molecular mimicry between bacterial components and bovine tissue.

Analysis of molecular sequence databases (Genbank and SwissProt) shows that three bacteria (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus,Ruminococcus albus, and Agrobacter tumefaciens) share sequences with the encephalitogenic peptide of bovine myelin, while three molecules in Escherichia coli show molecular mimicry with host-encoded prion protein.

Immune responses against these bacteria at both T and B cell levels may cause neurological tissue injury resembling BSE. The role of these bacteria in BSE, if any, merits further investigation.

PMID: 9370514 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
 
Iam with ya on that one Andromeda13
Three serologically distinct groups of spiroplasmas have been recovered from ticks. Spiroplasma mirum strains (from rabbit ticks, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) and Y32 group (VI) spiroplasmas (from Ixodes pacificus) are the only spiroplasmas to have a clear association with these arthropods. Group (VI) spiroplasmas are distinguished by an unusual nonhelical morphology and their capacity to hemadsorb guinea pig erythrocytes. S. mirum strains are unique in their ability to induce cataracts or lethal brain infections in a number of young vertebrates and in their virulence for the chick embryo. The 277F spiroplasma, while initially recovered from a pool of rabbit ticks (H. leporispalustris), is related by certain serological and genetic properties to spiroplasmas in the S. citri complex (serogroup I). These relationships suggest that the 277F spiroplasma may not be a natural inhabitant of the rabbit tick.
 
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
 
We recovered six strains of Spiroplasma sp. from 1927 female mosquitoes. In vitro susceptibility of each strain to the following antibiotics was studied: tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, rifampin, kanamycin, gentamicin and pefloxacin.

Iam on Minocin and Tindamax was on Minocin and Bactrim
 
Posted by Andromeda13 (Member # 8314) on :
 
Hi Treepatrol,

There's certainly been a lot of tinkering around with anything that grows in ticks. I just found this re "louping ill", which is a tick-borne virus that is found uniquely in Britain, although I believe it might be related to the Russian tick borne encephalitis virus.

I read that louping ill is unusual in the viruses because it is made of DNA, not RNA. Formalin did not stop it being active, just like formalin will not kill CJD/BSE/etc.


Scrapie transmission via vaccine - Shorts
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, April, 2003 by Jule Klotter

At the 1946 National Veterinary Medical Association of Great Britain and Ireland Annual Congress, W. S. Gordon, PhD, presented evidence of scrapie transmission by way of a vaccine for louping-ill.

Louping-ill is a viral disease spread by the tick Ixodes ricinus L. Scrapie is considered the sheep equivalent of 'mad cow disease.'

Dr. Gordon developed an effective vaccine to prevent louping-ill during 193 1-32. After four years of field trials, his vaccine was produced in three batches for widespread use in 1935.

The vaccine was made from brain, spinal cord, and spleen tissues taken from sheep five days after they had received an intracerebral inoculation of louping-ill virus. Formalin was added to the 10% saline suspension to inactivate the virus.

During 1935 and 1936, no ill effects were noted in inoculated animals. Then two owners reported scrapie in their Blackface sheep who had been inoculated with louping-ill vaccine (batch 2) two and a half years earlier.

Scrapie had not been seen in the Blackface breed before this. Upon investigation Dr. Gordon discovered that 8 lambs used to make batch 2 had been born to ewes who had been exposed to scrapie; some of the ewes developed scrapie in 1936-7.

Dr. Gordon hypothesized that an "infective agent of scrapie" was present in the lambs' tissues used to make batch 2 and that this agent "could withstand a concentration of formalin...which inactivated the virus of louping ill; it could be transmitted by subcutaneous inoculation; it had an incubative period of two years or longer."
 
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
 
Geez [Frown]
 
Posted by sizzled (Member # 1357) on :
 
Wow. Interesting information. Am interested in following this research. Thank-you for the articles!
 


Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3