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Anonymous ID: 5f067b Dec. 20, 2021, 4:47 p.m. No.15227750   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>7776 >>7783 >>7785

Apr 16, 2003 (CIDRAP News) – The genetic blueprint of Coxiella burnetii, a category B bioterrorism agent that causes Q fever, has been decoded and analyzed, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced this week.

 

Q fever is a debilitating and highly infectious flu-like disease that afflicted thousands of soldiers in World War II, NIAID said in its announcement. "C. burnetii is of concern as a potential bioterrorist threat because early diagnosis of the disease is difficult, and the microbe is a hardy organism that can be aerosolized," the agency said.

 

A report on the sequencing project will be published online this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and will appear in the journal's Apr 29 print edition, NIAID said.

 

"This genome sequence offers a treasure trove of information that will allow scientists to develop a much higher-resolution picture of Coxiella's biology and its ability to cause disease," said John Heidelberg, PhD, who supervised the sequencing project at the Institute of Genomic Research in Rockville, MD. Heidelberg and Rekha Seshadri, PhD, collaborated with researchers from several other labs. NIAID and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported the research.

 

C burnetii is hard to manipulate genetically because it replicates only inside mammalian cells, NIAID said. It lives primarily inside human macrophages, which are known as indiscriminate microbe eaters. The microbe is unusual because "it has an uncanny ability to survive in the environment and resist being degraded by macrophages," the announcement said.

 

Robert A. Heinzen, PhD, of NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., said the genetic blueprint will allow investigators to study genes involved in the organism's pathogenicity and should reveal targets for improved diagnostic tests and possible vaccine candidates. The analysis identified genes that appear to be involved in the microbe's virulence and interactions with its human or animal host, the NIAID statement said.

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2003/04/genetic-blueprint-q-fever-pathogen-decoded

Anonymous ID: 5f067b Dec. 20, 2021, 5:17 p.m. No.15227956   🗄️.is đź”—kun

In most cases, Q fever doesn't progress beyond flu-like symptoms. But in about one in 20 cases, the chronic, more serious phase of the disease can take hold. Localized infections of the heart, veins or bones can occur, with life-threatening consequences.

 

A former British soldier is suing the Ministry of Defense after contracting Q fever while serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Wayne Blass claims he contracted the disease while diving into ditches where farm animals had been—and that antibiotics would have prevented him from getting it. But what exactly is this disease?

 

Q fever earned its name because it was originally called query fever. Doctors in Australia, who were the first to characterise it, didn't know what was causing the disease. We now know it's caused by a bacterium called Coxiella burnetii, which is a member of an unusual family of bacteria that must get inside cells and steal energy from them in order to survive, replicate and spread to another host.

 

Q fever infections have been reported in humans and animals in every geographical area, with the exception of New Zealand and Antarctica. It's usually caught from farm animals—mainly cattle, sheep and goats—by inhaling the bacterium in air that has been contaminated with their birthing fluids, urine or faeces. Tick bites and contaminated milk can also transmit the infection, but human-to-human transmission is very rare.

 

It's not surprising that people who become infected are more likely to have occupations where they have plenty of contact with animals or animal products, such as farm workers, veterinary surgeons, butchers and slaughterhouse workers. Similarly, people living within ten miles of a farm where animals are infected and people who travel to high-risk areas, such as the Middle East, where it is often found, are all at increased risk.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/q-fever-british-soldier-helmand-province-afghanistan-sue-rare-disease-sheep-1301165