Apr

21

Bio-control symbiosis involves nematodes (Steinernema, Heterorhabditis) and their specialized symbiotic bacteria (Xenorhabdus, Photorhabdus) that live with the nematodes and are essential for the nematodes to kill their prey.

Photorhabdus asymbiotica is not the first bacterial symbiont of nematodes to be associated with human disease. Wolbachia, an intracellular bacterial symbiont of the nematodes Onchocerca volvulus and Brugia malayi, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of 2 major human infectious diseases, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis (15). However, unlike Wolbachia, P. asymbiotica appears to actively reproduce in its human host. O. volvulus and B. malayi nematodes are borne by an insect vector. The insect-pathogenic nematode bearing P. asymbiotica does not appear to have been borne by an insect vector. Whether this nematode is able to penetrate intact human skin is unclear, although direct skin penetration by nematodes is well recognized (e.g., hookworm, Strongyloides stercoralis). Although the patient described here had a history of minor skin trauma, previous case reports suggest infection beginning in uninjured skin.

With continued population growth and movement, changes in human behavior, and changes in the environment, new human infectious diseases can be expected to continue to cross the species barrier. Given the dominance of invertebrate animal species in the biosphere, more invertebrate pathogens will likely emerge as agents of human infection.

Apr

18


Excellent work from a UK based sufferer of Morgellons.

April 2007
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