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 Topic: OFF TOPIC - Mystery disease gives people creepies
Posted: May 27 2006 at 6:05pm |
Mystery Disease Makes Peoples' Skin Crawl
Reports of a mysterious medical condition are cropping up across the country but doctors are divided on whether it is a real disease or all in their patients' heads.
Called Morgellons Disease, patients who report having it describe sensations of creepy-crawlers beneath the skin and fibrous filaments oozing out of open wounds.
Interest in the disease was recently rekindled after afflicted Texas teenager Travis Wilson committed suicide about a month ago.
Symptoms
To date, no clinical studies have looked into Morgellons and only one paper mentioning Morgellons has been published in a medical journal. Appearing in a recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, the paper is co-authored by members of the Morgellons Research Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to raising public awareness about the disease.
As of February 2006, more than 2,000 reports of the disease have been reported on the Foundation's website. Reports come from all 50 U.S. states and 15 nations, including Canada, the UK, Australia and The Netherlands.
The majority of reports have come from Texas, California and Florida.
Patients with the disease often describe feelings of insects or parasites scuttling beneath their skin and open lesions that heal slowly and which ooze out blue and white fibers, some as thick as spaghetti strands. Attempts to remove the fibers are said to elicit shooting pains radiating from the site.
The lesions range from minor to disfiguring in appearance and fibers appear either as single strands or as bundles. Patients also sometimes report the presence of fibers or black granular specks on their skin even in the absence of lesions. Some patients even report symptoms of the disease in their pets--dogs mostly, but also cats and horses.
According to statistics from the Morgellons Research Foundation, about 95 percent of patients also report suffering from disabling fatigue, or "brain fog," that hinders their ability to pay attention. Other reported symptoms include joint pain, sleep disorders, hair loss, decline in vision, and even the "disintegration" of perfectly healthy teeth. It appears that once patients contract the disease, they have it for life. To date, there have been no reports of spontaneous remissions.
Strange fibers
A preliminary analysis of the fibers suggests they are more than just lint from household materials such as clothing, carpets or bedding, said Randy Wymore, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at Okalahoma State University and the director of research at the Morgellons Research Foundation.
"The fibers are not common textiles, nor are they black specks of pepper, as several dermatologists have proposed," Wymore told LiveScience.
Further deepening the mystery, some analyses suggest the fibers might be made of cellulose, a molecule generally found in plants.
"They're basically fibers that you wouldn't expect to see in humans," said Raphael Stricker, a Lyme disease expert at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and a medical advisor to the Morgellons Research Foundation.
The disease is named after a medical condition described in 1674 by the British author Thomas Browne. Known as "Morgellons," Browne said the disorder caused children to "critically break out with harsh hairs on their backs..." The Morgellons Research Foundation says that it is doubtful that the 17th century disease is related in any way to modern day Morgellons.
Skepticism
Despite increasing reports of the condition, many doctors have barely heard of the disease and many treat it with a heavy dose of skepticism.
Michael Giradi, a dermatologist at the Yale School of Medicine, had never heard of Morgellons but when its symptoms were described to him, he was reminded of another disorder that is well known to doctors.
"They just renamed it," Giradi told LiveScience. "We just call it delusions of parasitosis."
Also known as Eckbom syndrome, delusional parasitosis is a psychiatric disorder in which patients fervently believe their bodies are infected by skin parasites that do not exist.
"It's basically when a patient thinks that there's something coming out of their skin, a material or bug of some sort, when truthfully there's nothing there," said Stacy Beaty, a dermatologist at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
In medical schools, physicians learn to watch out for the "matchbox sign" of delusional parasitosis, when patients bring in hair, skin or clothing lint, sometimes in matchboxes, that they claim contain the insects or parasites responsible for their torment. However, when examined, the samples reveal no such thing. The lesions and scratches sometimes seen on patients with delusional parasitosis are usually self-inflicted, Beaty said.
"To rule out any infectious causes and also to put the patient's mind at ease, a lot of times we'll do skin biopsies," Beaty said in a telephone interview. "If we feel that it'll be helpful, we might also start different anti-psychotic or anti-anxiety medicines."
Beaty said she was vaguely familiar with reports of Morgellons disease, but said that other doctors she had queried had never even heard of it.
In response to rising media coverage about the condition, the Los Angeles Department of Health Services recently issued a statement that said bluntly:
"No credible medical or public health association has verified the existence or diagnosis of 'Morgellons Disease.' The current description of the disease is vague and covers many conditions."
Wymore, the Oklahoma State University researcher, says that debating whether Morgellons is a real disease or not is not the right approach.
"This population is suffering greatly," Wymore said. "A better question would be, 'Is Morgellons Disease a purely psychiatric disorder?' and the answer is 'No.' Morgellons also has physical effects on a person. In addition to the skin lesions and the unusual fibers and other shed material, there are nervous system effects that include: behavioral changes, cognitive changes and peripheral neuropathy." Microscopic Images as Art The Biggest Popular Myths FLU FEARS: A Special Report Exercise Linked to Reduced Skin Cancer Risk Mind Control by Parasites
Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Image Galleries, Science Videos, Amazing Images, Interactive Features and Reader Favorites, Trivia and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!
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bigdaddy
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Posted: May 27 2006 at 9:20pm |
I read an article on this just this morning. They talked about how an A's pitcher came down with this last year then his family came down with it. Very unusual stuff to say the least. Here's the article:
Doctors Make Progress With Mysterious Disease
UPDATED: 3:21 pm EDT May 25, 2006
OAKLAND -- A horrifying and fascinating disease is affecting thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay area, along the Gulf Coast and in Florida, San Francisco television station KTVU reported.
Though some doctors have claimed the malady is psychosomatic, other scientists are making headway unraveling the mystery of Morgellons disease.
Former Oakland A's pitcher Billy Koch has it. And so do his wife and their three children. And though they can afford top medical care, doctors have no answers.
It started in Oakland four years ago. Koch saved 44 games and was the top reliever in the major leagues. His fastball wowed crowds. And then the strangeness began.
"He freaked out. He wanted to ignore it ... I wanted to, too. But when it comes to your kids, you gotta stop ignoring it," said Koch's wife. Brandi.
She described their symptoms: "It was the scariest thing I had ever realized in my entire life. There was matter and black specks coming out and off of my skin."
Within two years -- at age 29 -- Billy Koch was out of baseball, partly because of the uncontrollable muscle twitching that went on for months at a time and often kept up him up all night.
The disease is characterized by slow-healing skin lesions that often extrude small, dark filaments, especially after bathing.
"That's when it would really just ooze, literally, ooze out of my skin," explained Brandi Koch.
The couple was at wit's end after numerous doctors not only provided little in the way of relief, but actually were skeptical about their health problems.
"There's no reasonable explanation for it. I'm not seeing things. I'm watching it happen. We're pretty sane people," said Billy.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Neelam Uppal sympathized with the Kochs' plight.
"They've seen several doctors, [and] everybody's told them they're crazy. It's in their head. They're delusional," he said.
Uppal gave the Kochs and 15 other patients a powerful anti-parasite medicine and antibiotics that helped temporarily. But the filaments came back.
Testing of the filaments brought no results, according to Dr. Uppal.
"I've seen [it]; sent it to the lab. They can't identify it. They'll say, 'They're nothing,'" he said.
The reaction of medical professionals has made a difficult situation even harder for Brandi Koch.
"It's not enough that you're suffering and hurting. It's 'You're an idiot!' and 'You're crazy!' on top of it. I'm really hurt and sad and scared," she said.
The Kochs may be the most recognizable of more than 3,000 families nationwide reporting these same unexplained symptoms. There are curious clusters in Florida, along the Gulf Coast and in the San Francisco Bay area. That's where the station began its investigation into new clues to this medical mystery.
San Francisco physician Rafael Stricker took samples last spring from Bay Area sufferers. Patients reported pustules and filaments that most doctors dismiss. Dermatologists claimed the filaments were all delusions, although none had studied them.
Oklahoma State University Professor Randy Wymore was the first scientist to conduct research on the disconcerting disease. He said it's the biggest mystery he's ever been involved in.
The UC Davis-trained physiologist is leading a medical team researching what is now called Morgellons disease with cooperation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wymore's first finding disputes the frequent diagnosis of delusions.
"Pathologists and dermatologists and lab reports [said] that these were textile fibers appearing in the skin of the sufferers. Now that's just not true, to be perfectly blunt about it," said Wymore.
Wymore said his tests rule out not only textile fibers but also worms, insects, animal material and even human skin and hair. He said the filaments are not an external contamination.
Instead, they are a substance that materializes somehow inside the body, apparent artifacts of something infectious. More results are expected soon. And Wymore said skin problems are not the worst symptoms.
He said a neurotoxin or micro-organism may disturb muscle control and memory.
"The neurological effects are the much more severe, life-altering and much more dangerous of the conditions," he said.
This month, Georgia began a statewide Morgellons registry. Wymore said he is about to begin a clinical trial and offered sympathy to sufferers.
"We know there's something going on here. You're not delusional," he said.
Wymore has just released an open letter to doctors treating patients with Morgellons symptoms. It asks physicians to take it seriously, saying these patients are likely suffering from a still-untreatable, emerging disease.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
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Ravendawn
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Posted: November 16 2006 at 4:13am |
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Video link,check out the visitors to the site,seems a little odd,Some serious players seem concerned.
www.silentsuperbug.com/themes/blueish/logo.gif
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Posted: November 17 2006 at 12:17am |
I was trying to find an article where the person had killed himself as he could not cope with this horror ..............This poor lady say calls like it is .
Morgellon's skin ailment surfaces in Mississippi
http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/115494575334270.xml
Mysterious skin ailment surfaces here
Monday, August 07, 2006
By NATALIE CHAMBERS
PASCAGOULA -- A Pascagoula woman, who asked for anonymity, said she had never been sick a day in her life until a year ago when Hurricane Katrina struck.
Now the 55-year-old woman's body is plagued with a type of stringy-grayish parasite that continues to multiply within her body.
The woman's husband and family dogs also exhibit the same signs.
Pulling "worms" out of her head, face, body and even the bottom of her feet has become a daily, mind-maddening and traumatic experience, she said.
"You can feel them in your lips. They get in your nose. It drives you up a wall. You can see it if I pull it. You think you've got thin gray hair then you look at it closely. One end is thick and the tail is skinny," she said.
The sizes vary. The longest one she has pulled out of her skin is six inches, she said.
The woman said her husband bathes three times a day, generally in ammonia, just to try and rid his body of the worrisome itch.
Can the worms be killed?
"We just flush them or put them in alcohol to kill it," she said.
Bleach also has been used.
"They grow anywhere there is a hair follicle. Your body gets more hair on it and it's nothing but those white hairs. I have even pulled them out of the bottom of my feet. If we told you some of the stories ... people would think we are crazy," she said.
The woman said she does not know where she contracted the invasive matter that she now believes is Morgellons Disease -- and there is no known cure.
The disease is named after a 1674 event in which black hairs or fibers were found in children in France.
Its' physical symptoms are skin lesions, a crawling or biting sensation under the skin and fibers and granules growing out the skin, according to Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.
Sufferers also have short-term memory losses, attention deficit and mental confusion.
The woman said her family is experiencing all the symptoms, including the feel of fuzzballs in the mouths.
It is currently unknown how Morgellons is transmitted and whether its contagious.
"Katrina has taken a lot away from us. She took our home, our vehicle and our health. For me and my husband -- it's horrible," said the woman.
Cases of Morgellons' have been reported in California, Texas and Florida.
Lois Koskela, a Pascagoula relative of the two victims, said based on their research and non-ending quest for medical assistance, information about the disease is very limited in Jackson County.
She said a couple of visits to area physicians were moot because the doctors had not heard of it, either. The doctors thought they were crazy, said Koskela.
Koskela contacted The Mississippi Press because to bring the story before the public so others who are possibly afflicted will know they are not alone in their struggle.
"We can't be the only ones in town that have it," said the female victim.
Koskela said twice the couple were prescribed Lundane which is used to treat scabies. The prescription did not work, she said.
"We learned what is going on by going to a Web site and we want the story out. Doctors here need to know what is going on," she said.
Koskela said she worried about her relative because of the itching.
"I thought it was nerves the way she was picking at (hair). Then they discovered the worms," she said.
Opinions within the scientific community differs on Morgellons Disease.
Some physicians dispute it exists and considers patients as having delusional parasitosis or mental illness. Others think something is occurring but are not sure quite what. Some researchers have associated it with Lyme's Disease.
The Morgellons Research Foundation was founded in 2002 to answer lingering questions.
"Morgellons patients differ from classical, delusional parasitosis patents in several areas. They do not respond to antipsychotics and new lesions continue to appear upon complete cessation of manual excoriation," said Dr. Randy S. Wymore, director of research, Morgellons Research Foundation at OSU.
The Pascagoula victim said immediately after the storm her family, along with 11 other people, lived along the water in Moss Point and often showered outside.
"I don't know if we got it there or at our house in Pascagoula on Canty Street," she said.
It was a couple months after the storm that the real problem reared its head, she said.
It began with an itch that would not go away.
"My hair kept falling out little by little and then it kept itching a little bit more," she said.
She recalls once asking her husband to scratch her back. He spotted an abnormal growth of white hair all over her back that turned out to be "worms" she said.
Koskela said a sample was sent to a researcher at Louisiana State University. The diagnoses came back as flatworms.
Because Morgellons remains a mystery disease, much more research is needed, said Koskela.
"Health care providers are shooting in the dark as to how to treat it. Antibiotics seem to help some, but if they are stopped, the symptoms come back," said Wymore.
More information about Morgellons Disease can be obtained at Morgellons Research Foundation, www.morgellons.org or OSU Center for Health Sciences at www.healthsciences.okstate.edu/morgellons/
Reporter Natalie Chambers can be reached at nchambers@themississippipress.com or (228) 934-1429.
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Posted: November 17 2006 at 1:07am |
Sounds like Tweekers to me. That is what we call Meth addicts around here. They believe they have bugs under their skin. It is a reaction to the drug. Bad stuff. Don't ever try it. Some people get hooked after trying it once.
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Posted: November 17 2006 at 1:32am |
I posted info I found...October 9th..."Guest"
..................................................................................
Topic: OT: Is Morgellons, Chromobacterium violaceum?
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 1:19pm Another Possible Vector....?
http://www.aaem.pl/pdf/11319.pdfSTUDIES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA IN TICKS:
...................................................................................................................................................
Although the infectivity of C. violaceum is low, there have been reports of human infections resulting in septicemia and skin, pulmonary, and liver abscesses in Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the United States, Australia, and Senegal, among other places (2, 4, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20).
In the majority of patients with C. violaceum infection, the skin is the port of entry for organisms found in contaminated soil and water.
It is even possible to be infected via the oral route (14). C. violaceum can be an opportunistic pathogen and may cause diseases in immunocompromised individuals. The case fatality rate may be as high as 57%, according to a report from the United States.
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 11:26am Talk about not being on the same page. A case of what is good for Agrabusiness (zapping every pest in sight)
Just may not be what's good for Human kind.
If I read this correctly.... what they are saying is-
Scientists at, the Insect Biological Control Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland,
have (recently?) (they found Chromobacterium violaceum killed people in 1927)
have discovered a strain of purple bacterium, Chromobacterium violaceum.
This Chromobacterium violaceum is toxic to major insect pests
including the Southern corn rootworm, the diamondback moth, and
the Colorado potato beetle.
So folks...I guess...if they are using this Chromobacterium violaceum in
their ol pest management tool kit, if it is sprayed around .....
Then it isn't going to be a rare cause of severe, often fatal, human disease
anymore is it? It will be a common cause of a rare, severe, often fatal, human
disease.
Don't you wish that the USDA pest control and The CDC could get connected?
............................................................................................ "...to determine whether it exists."
............................................................................................. Excerpt...from the CDC-
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no09/05-0278.htm#1 Past Issue
Vol. 11, No. 9
September 2005
Chromobacterium violaceum in Siblings, Brazil
Isadora Cristina de Siqueira,*† Juarez Dias,‡ Hilda Ruf,‡ Eduardo Antonio G. Ramos,† Elves Anderson Pires Maciel,† Ana Rolim,* Laura Jabur,* Luciana Vasconcelos,* and Célia Silvany*
*Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce, Salvador, Brazil; †Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Salvador, Brazil; and ‡Health Secretariat of the State of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
Suggested citation for this article
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chromobacterium violaceum,
a saprophyte bacterium found commonly in soil and water in tropical and subtropical climates, is a rare cause of severe, often fatal, human disease.
We report 1 confirmed and 2 suspected cases of C. violaceum septicemia, with 2 fatalities, in siblings after recreational exposure in northeastern Brazil.
Chromobacterium violaceum is an aerobic, gram-negative bacillus usually found as a saprophyte in soil and water in tropical and subtropical regions (1).
Despite ubiquitous distribution, human infection with this organism is rare. Since the first human case was described in Malaysia in 1927 (2), <150 human cases have been reported worldwide, mainly in Asia, the United States, Australia, and Africa (3–6). Only 3 cases have been reported in South America, 1 in Argentina (7) and 2 in Brazil (8,9).
Human infection with this organism results in systemic and severe disease with a high fatality rate (1). C. violaceum infection may begin with cellulitis and skin abscesses (10,11), with rapid progression to sepsis and multiple organ abscesses, predominantly in lungs, liver, and spleen (3–5).
All previous case reports were of individual, apparently sporadic infections. We report 1 confirmed and 2 suspected cases of systemic C. violaceum infection in siblings who shared recreational exposure to stagnant water.
The Study
In May 2004, 3 cases of sepsis syndrome in children from the same family were reported to the State Health Secretariat of Bahia in northeastern Brazil.
The 3 patients had contact with soil and stagnant water in a lake in a rural area of Ilheus municipality, during a day of recreational activity. The 3 brothers spent several hours swimming in the lake with other children and adults, including their parents.
Sixty persons were in the group.
Fever, headache, and vomiting developed in patient 1, a previously healthy 14-year-old boy, 2 days after he swam in the lake. He was examined at a local health service; amoxicillin was prescribed and he was sent home. Six days after exposure, he was admitted to a local hospital with fever, dyspnea, and a cervical abscess.
The patient's peripheral leukocyte count was 20,000 cells/μL with 5% bands, 78% neutrophils, 14% lymphocytes, 2% eosinophils, and 1% monocytes. Hemoglobin was 11.0 g/dL, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was 225 U/L, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was 120 U/L. Chest radiograph showed diffuse bilateral consolidation, and an abdominal ultrasound showed an enlarged liver. Empiric antimicrobial treatment with oxacillin, ampicillin, and ceftriaxone was initiated. The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit and died of septic shock 36 hours after admission.
Figure 1
Click to view enlarged image
Figure 1. Colonies of Chromobacterium violaceum on a chocolate agar plate.
.............................................................
READ ON.....
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at the Insect Biological Control Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, have discovered a strain of purple bacterium, Chromobacterium violaceum, which is toxic to major insect pests including the Southern corn rootworm, the diamondback moth, and the Colorado potato beetle. Cell-free preparations were found to be lethal to these insects and to cause a weight reduction in gypsy moth larvae.
IMPACT/OUTCOME: This discovery potentially adds another bacterium, and exploitable toxins, to the pest management tool kit.
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 11:48am
Do you think the CDC should call the USDA and ask them to look into this? And ask them to please take Chromobacterium violaceum
out of their pest management tool kit?
Article In Full here....
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/attapatu_letter.htm
Letter
An Unusual Bacterium Causing a Brain Abscess
Excerpt-
A 24-year-old male farmer came to us with progressive headache, dizziness, and a low-grade fever of 2 weeks' duration. He had had a pimple on his right cheek approximately 3 weeks before, which had discharged "bluish" pus on forcible evacuation and subsequently healed without treatment. No focal neurologic signs were detected on physical examination.
Because an intracranial space-occupying lesion was suspected, a lumbar puncture was withheld. Later, a CAT scan of the patient's head revealed a right-sided temporoparietal space-occupying lesion approximately 3 cm in diameter, suggestive of a unilocular brain abscess.
The abscess was needle aspirated under stereotaxic guidance, and the pus was cultured aerobically and anaerobically. After 24 hours of aerobic incubation on MacConkey agar at 37°C, a pure growth of violet-colored colonies appeared, identified as Chromobacterium violaceum by the 20E API system (Biomerieux, France).
Other initial laboratory findings were as follows: blood leukocyte count, 16,200 cells/µL (84% neutrophlils, 15% lymphocytes, 1% eosinophils); erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Westergren method), 22 mm/hour; C-reactive protein concentration, 96 mg/L; and fasting blood sugar concentration, 5.1 mmol/L. Blood urea and C-reactive protein concentrations after 3 weeks of antibiotic treatment were 4.6 mmol/L and <6 mg/L, respectively.
The organism was sensitive to imipenem and ciprofloxacin and resistant to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone, by the Stokes comparative disk-diffusion antibiotic sensitivity testing method (3). Ciprofloxacin (as lactate) was administered intravenously, 400 mg twice daily, for 4 weeks. Repeated CAT scans, clinical symptoms, and serial C-reactive protein levels indicated rapid regression of the abscess followed by complete cure.
C. violaceum is a gram-negative bacillus present in soil and aquatic environments of tropical and subtropical countries or regions such as Trinidad, Guyana, India, Malaysia, Florida, and South Carolina.
It is a bacterium of low virulence,(?) occasionally causing skin infections and disseminated disease involving multiple organs in immunocompromised patients. In such cases the disease can mimic septicemic melioidosis (4,5).
In this previously healthy patient, infection probably originated from the facial abscess.
................................................
"He had had a pimple on his right cheek approximately 3 weeks before, which had discharged "bluish" pus on forcible evacuation and subsequently healed without treatment."
.............................................
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 12:13pm
In an attempt to find additional naturally occurring P. luminescens strains toxic to Colorado potato beetle larvae, we recovered bacteria which produced a purple pigment.
These bacteria, identified as Chromobacterium violaceum, were also toxic to Colorado potato beetle larvae within three days. The LC50 for second instar larvae for these bacteria was 2.0 +/- 0.79 x 10**8 cells per diet pellet. The LC50 for C. violaceum was approximately a log lower for third instar larvae. P. luminescens appeared to kill, by means of a protein toxin, which may be similar to the described lepidopteran protein toxins.
The toxin or toxins which C. violaceum produces, while not fully characterized, do not appear to be proteins. In both cases these toxins are made after exponential growth ceases.
................................................................................
If only they researched it...
Nature Biotechnology: production of polyhydroxyalkanoates, a family of biodegradable plastics and elastomers, in bacteria and plants. Yves Poirier, Christiane Nawra.
Chromobacterium violaceum
..................................................
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer
Because polymer chains are so long, these interchain forces are amplified
far beyond the attractions between conventional molecules. Also, longer
chains are more amorphous (randomly oriented). Polymers can be
visualised as tangled spaghetti chains - pulling any one spaghetti strand
out is a lot harder the more tangled the chains are.
It is established already that C. violaceum has the capacity for the
synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers (18, 19), which have physical
properties similar to propylene, making them an important
renewable source of biodegradable plastic.
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 12:20pm
Chromobacterium violaceum
...............................................................
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11247733&dopt=Abstract
We report a unique case of C. violaceum sepsis
in an infant. A 4-month-old girl presented to our institution with fever, pustular skin lesions, and distended abdomen, as well as diminished activity and mental status. Radiological investigation revealed brain, lung, and hepatic abscesses. The infant was
successfully treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin.
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 12:26pm
How frightening is this? Where have we heard it before?
"...all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism...."
..............................................................................................
Brazilian National Genome Project Consortium.
Chromobacterium violaceum is one of millions of species of free-living microorganisms that populate the soil and water in the extant areas of tropical biodiversity around the world.
Its complete genome sequence reveals (i) extensive alternative pathways for energy generation, (ii) approximately 500 ORFs for transport-related proteins, (iii) complex and extensive systems for stress adaptation and motility, and (iv) widespread utilization of quorum sensing for control of inducible systems, all of which underpin the versatility and adaptability of the organism.
The genome also contains extensive but incomplete arrays of ORFs coding for proteins associated with mammalian pathogenicity, possibly involved in the occasional but often fatal cases of human C. violaceum infection.
There is, in addition, a series of previously unknown but important enzymes and secondary metabolites including paraquat-inducible proteins, drug and heavy-metal-resistance proteins, multiple chitinases, and proteins for the detoxification of xenobiotics that may have biotechnological applications.
PMID: 14500782 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Posted: 09 October 2006 at 1:19pm
Another Possible Vector....?
http://www.aaem.pl/pdf/11319.pdf
STUDIES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA IN TICKS:
...................................................................................................................................................
Although the infectivity of C. violaceum is low, there have been reports of human infections resulting in septicemia and skin, pulmonary, and liver abscesses in Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the United States, Australia, and Senegal, among other places (2, 4, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20).
In the majority of patients with C. violaceum infection, the skin is the port of entry for organisms found in contaminated soil and water.
It is even possible to be infected via the oral route (14). C. violaceum can be an opportunistic pathogen and may cause diseases in immunocompromised individuals. The case fatality rate may be as high as 57%, according to a report from the United States.
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Posted: November 18 2006 at 2:19am |
Everyone should watch the video (from post above).... Science gone mad.
so... if this Bacteria can grow it's plastic filaments in cells of corn ...what could it do in the human body?
DUPONT is making this now.....
It is established already that C. violaceum has the capacity for the
synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers (18, 19), which have physical
properties similar to propylene.... BIODEGRADABLE LEAF BAGS MONSANTO polyhydroxyalkanoate Biopol ...purchased by METABOLIX INC
Oliver Peoples and Anthony Sinskey were the first to show that PHA's
(Polyhydroxyalkanoates) could be produced by recombinant organisims.
..............................................................
Bacteria can also be used in the production of biodegradable plastics. Bacteria can produce granules of plastic called polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) inside their cells. These bacteria, with the genes produced, can be put into the corn, and the corn consequently manufactures plastic within its cells. (Image [4])
Bacteria can also be grown in cultures and the plastic growing in the bacteria can be harvested.[5]
http://dopamine.chem.umn.edu/chempedia/index.php/Biodegradable_Plastics
................................
Chromobacterium violaceum
..................................................
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer
Because polymer chains are so long, these interchain forces are amplified
far beyond the attractions between conventional molecules. Also, longer
chains are more amorphous (randomly oriented). Polymers can be
visualised as tangled spaghetti chains - pulling any one spaghetti strand
out is a lot harder the more tangled the chains are.
It is established already that C. violaceum has the capacity for the
synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers (18, 19), which have physical
properties similar to propylene, making them an important
renewable source of biodegradable plastic.
....................
Chromobacterium violaceum is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, non-sporing coccobacillus. It is part of the normal flora of water and soil of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It produces a natural antibiotic called violacein. It grows readily on nutriet agar, producing distinctive smooth low convex colonies with a dark violet metallic sheen (due to violacein production). It is the only member of the genus Chromobacterium. Its full genome was published in 2003.[1]
.........
The Proteobacteria are a major group of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera. Others are free-living, and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation. The group is defined primarily in terms of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences, and is named for the Greek god Proteus (also the name of a bacterial genus within the Proteobacteria), who could change his shape, because of the great diversity of forms found in it.
All Proteobacteria are Gram-negative, with an outer membrane mainly composed of lipopolysaccharides. Many move about using flagella, but some are non-motile or rely on bacterial gliding. The last include the myxobacteria, a unique group of bacteria that can aggregate to form multicellular fruiting bodies. There is also a wide variety in the types of metabolism. Most members are facultatively or obligately anaerobic and heterotrophic, but there are numerous exceptions. A variety of genera, which are not closely related, convert energy from light through photosynthesis. These are called purple bacteria, referring to their mostly reddish pigmentation.
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Posted: November 18 2006 at 2:53am |
Thank you RavenDawn for the video link... http://www.silentsuperbug.com/
I hope everyone watches it. the guy in the video says it isn't financially profitable for anyone to come up with a cure...yet. wait til it spreads.
But what many people do not understand is... Humans can contract all kinds of crazy things now that science has blurred the lines with genetic alterations... and is using bacteria as pesticides...it's everywhere...air , soil, water.
It's stranger than fiction.... but it's real. It didn't end with the oddity of cloning... now we have bacterial plastic filaments to worry about.
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Posted: November 18 2006 at 9:57pm |
...................
BRAZILIAN GENOME PROJECT
Network of 25 sequencing Labs
Objective: to sequence the genome of
Chromobacterium violaceum
Which is abundant in the waters of the Amazon Region
This is an oportunistic human pathogen
(infection is fatal)
It produces a polyester similar to propylene and polyethylene....
It is a free-living organism
.........................................
this information is current as of November 2006
......................................
Chromobacterium violaceum
..............................
.....................................
Bordetella is a genus of small (0.2 - 0.7 µm) coccobacilli of the phylum proteobacteria. Bordetella species are strict aerobes as well as highly fastidious.
(B. bronchiseptica) is also motile.
(see picture below)
B. pertussis and occasionally B. parapertussis cause pertussis or whooping cough in humans,
while B. bronchiseptica is the causative agent in infectious bronchitis.
Several other species cause similar disease in other mammals, and in birds ( B. avium, B. hinzii). A strain of Bordetella is also responsible for Kennel cough in dogs, which can be prevented by a routine vaccination.The Bordetella genus is named after Jules Bordet
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Posted: November 18 2006 at 10:35pm |
Chromobacterium violaceum
Which is abundant in the waters of the Amazon Region
This is an oportunistic human pathogen
(infection is fatal) (in Brazil?)
It produces a polyester similar to propylene and polyethylene....
Hello... it isn't carpet fuzz Doc...
..............................................
Chromobacterium violaceum infection: A rare but frequently fatal disease.Chattopadhyay A, Kumar V, Bhat N, Rao P. Department of Paediatric Surgery, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal-5765119, Karnataka, India. The authors report a rare case of Chromobacterium violaceum infection in a 2-month-old child. She presented with an apparently localized abscess, which appeared to respond well to therapy. However, the infection recurred later with a fulminant course.
The organism frequently is dismissed as a contaminant or not identified properly, and the fatality rates are high. A high degree of awareness about this infection needs to be created, especially among pediatricians and pediatric surgeons, because children appear to be infected more commonly than adults, and aggressive therapy is needed to save these patients. Copyright 2002 by W.B. Saunders Company.
Publication Types:
PMID: 11781998 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Ravendawn
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Joined: March 16 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
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Posted: November 19 2006 at 6:20am |
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Thanks Anharra.
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Posted: November 20 2006 at 3:52am |
 Ravendawn wrote:
Thanks Anharra. |
Anharra thanks from me too , the thread and the post from you and everyone was awesome . Every time you start recourceing info it just becomes an awesome read . I ate every word then came back for more several times just awesome . This is just going to get worse too isn't it . Everywhere . love to see some more on this hope we can keep this thread . Thanks again thats alot of work you are producing but its incredible . More please ..................... Just awesome .
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Posted: November 20 2006 at 6:49am |
Morgellens is probably one of the scariest things I've ever seen. In the conspiracy circles the widely held consensous is that Morgellens is a by product of chemtrails. Chemtrails being chemical releases into our atmosphere masked as contrails from aircraft. Hmm... I don't know about that..maybe..who knows. At any rate Morgellens scares the &*@# out of me. Everytime I hear about it my skin starts to crawl. How do we avoid it? This makes me want to crawl into a safe spot and hide.
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Posted: November 20 2006 at 6:52am |
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BTW Anharra, thanks for the video link, I'm not through watching it yet but will finish this afternoon. This disease makes me think of a lab escape, I feel like we're living in a sci-fi novel.
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Posted: November 21 2006 at 4:34pm |
Problem is it is in water and soil... problem is... Chem Company's use it to make biodegradable plastics and the USDA says it is used as ...pest control. lovely.
There is a lot of info on it now... they should be tracking how (and where) widespread it is. The CDC has it on it's list of Emerging Diseases.
It is hard for people to accept this type of bacteria... plastic like filaments...
It has to be treated very aggressively right from the start to contain it. That is the biggest sadness...that uninformed doctors are unaware of that need.
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Posted: November 23 2006 at 4:11am |
Unexplained increase in Paecilomyces variotii blood culture isolates in the UK
TL Lamagni1 (Theresa.lamagni@hpa.org.uk), C Campbell1, L Pezzoli1, E Johnson2
1HPA Centre for Infections, London, United Kingdom
2HPA Mycology Reference Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Bristol, United Kingdom
Since July 2006, a marked increase has been seen in the number of Paecilomyces variotii isolates identified by hospital laboratories across the UK. P. variotii is a common environmental filamentous fungus, present in soil and decaying vegetable matter. Although P. variotii is occasionally associated with human infection and is an emerging pathogen in immunocompromised patients, invasive infection is rare [1].
Preliminary information from the laboratories indicated that none of these isolates represented a true fungaemia. It is suspected that contamination of blood cultures explains the observed rise. Given the suspected contamination problem with its consequent implications for patient management (e.g unnecessary antifungal therapy if started), an alert was issued on the 2 November 2006 to all microbiology laboratories in the United Kingdom to determine the clinical significance of any Paecilomyces species identified. Additionally laboratories were asked to report any such isolations to the national public health authority (Health Protection Agency) [2].
Subsequent to this, 34 laboratories across England and one from Northern Ireland have reported identification of 77 Paecilomyces variotii isolates from normally sterile sites, nearly all from blood culture, to the HPA. The HPA Mycology Reference Laboratory (MRL) would usually receive only 5 or 6 P. variotii isolates per year. No source for the suspected contamination has yet been identified. Different blood culture systems are in use at the different hospitals, reducing the possibility of blood culture bottles having been contaminated.
Preliminary information on the dates of isolation indicates that isolates were mainly identified from August onwards and that the problem seems to be continuing. Antifungal susceptibility testing of isolates suggests that two distinct strains are involved, some strains having high MICs to voriconazole and caspofungin whilst others appear more susceptible to these two agents. All strains are susceptible to amphotericin B and itraconazole. However, morphologically the isolates are similar and differ in appearance from the usual P. variotii strains. Isolates identified to date have a less powdery appearance, more floccose aerial mycelium and a less distinct khaki colour than is usual for P. variotii isolates identified in the UK .
P. variotii may be misidentified by laboratories as Fusarium or Cladosporium but can be distinguished by the production of long non-branching chains of oat-shaped cells produced from long, delicate phialides.
Discussion
Further investigation of these apparent pseudofungaemias is being undertaken. HPA staff are investigating the possibility of medical device contamination and would be interested to hear from other national health authorities observing a similar rise in Paecilomyces isolates. If you have any information, please contact Lorenzo Pezzoli at the Centre for Infections, tel.: +44 (0)20 8327 6441; email: lorenzo.pezzoli@hpa.org.uk
Acknowledgements
The Incident Management Team (Colin Campbell, Georgia Duckworth, Elizabeth Johnson, Theresa Lamagni, Lorenzo Pezzoli, Ruhi Siddiqui and Andrew Swann) wishes to acknowledge the contribution of microbiologists across the UK in referring isolates to the Mycology Reference Laboratory and reporting isolates to the HPA Centre for Infections.
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Posted: November 23 2006 at 10:20pm |
hi Candles... that fungus ( Paecilomyces variotii ) sounds pretty yucky....
I see they find it growing in some breast implants. I had no idea....
.....................................................................................................................
Rodin...
They let school kids and college students use
Chromobacterium violaceum ....A bacteria... in labs, but no longer.
They used it because of the color, easily seen.
............................................................................................................
"How do we avoid it?"
............................................................................................................
I would swim in chlorinated pools... not live near waterways ...or the south (crop city) or near chem plants or anywhere they grow potato's
or where it is used as a pesticide.
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Posted: November 24 2006 at 7:31am |
anharra wrote:
............................................................................................................
"How do we avoid it?"
............................................................................................................
I would swim in chlorinated pools... not live near waterways ...or the south (crop city) or near chem plants or anywhere they grow potato's
or where it is used as a pesticide.
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sounds like the top of a mountain might be a safe bet, er...maybe.
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Posted: November 24 2006 at 8:22am |
right... Whats left?
......................
In places you will find a poor prognosis for this, but I have also seen when it is treated fast and aggressively the outlook is quite good.
All Doc's need to be on the same page with it.
There are Doc's out there who say they don't do internet...what? They all need to connect and get with the modern program of utilizing a huge database, if they get a patient with something unusual.
Look it up dude.
No more of this carpet fuzz stuff. It looks odd because it is odd.
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Posted: January 13 2007 at 5:21pm |
How's this .................
INVASION USA
Rare brain worms
latest border disease
Fatal disease found in developing countries
with poor hygiene habits hits South Texas
Posted: January 13, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Medical professionals in South Texas have identified another disease that has apparently slipped across the border – caused by a rare brain worm that can be fatal and is being spread by unsanitary food-handling practices.
While not yet classified as a "major outbreak," several cases of cysticercosis have been identified in South Texas, a spokesman for San Antonio's Metro Health District told KENS-TV, San Antonio.
Magnetic resonance image showing multiple cysticerci within patient's brain |
According to the Center for Disease Control, cysticercosis is an infection caused by the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. Infection occurs when the tapeworm larvae are ingested, pass through the intestinal wall and enter the body to form cysticerci, or cysts. The cysts migrate throughout the body, resulting in symptoms that vary depending on whether they lodge in the muscles, the eyes, the brain or spinal cord.
Symptoms for Renaldo Ramirez, 50, of Houston, began with mild headaches.
The tile worker, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago, told KENS-TV he had been eating most of his meals at mobile kitchens because of the convenience, but after his ordeal with brain worms, he insisted on preparing his own food.
"He's scared now. He's scared of any food from outside," his sister, who interpreted for him, said.
"It was a mild headache, but it wouldn't go away," Ramirez said. "It was just there and it wouldn't go away with Tylenol."
Clinic doctors gave him blood pressure medicine, but a few days later, he passed out and did not awaken for eight days.
Dr. Aaron Mohanty, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Medical School, found and removed a cyst caused by a tapeworm larvae living in Ramirez's brain. Undiagnosed and untreated, he could have died within hours.
According to the CDC, infection from the tapeworm, which is found worldwide, occurs most often in rural, developing countries with poor hygiene where pigs are allowed to roam freely and eat human feces. This allows the tapeworm infection to be completed and the cycle to continue.
The risk for U.S. citizens has been considered rare due to strict food processing and handling regulations, especially for pork products, and generally high levels of hygiene.
The condition is very rare in Muslim countries where eating pork is forbidden.
"The cycle starts with a human that's infected with the tapeworm," said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, of the UT Houston Medical Center.
Failure to wash hands after using the restroom can result in contaminating food and infecting further victims.
"These eggs hatch in the intestine and go through the gut-wall and into the circulation where they get stuck somewhere," Ostrosky said.
Cysticercosis joins Morgellons disease, a mysterious infection seemingly similar to one documented 300 years ago, in the list of new illnesses spreading throughout South Texas.
While Morgellons disease has not been known to kill and it doesn't appear to be contagious, WND has reported its horrible symptoms are what worry doctors.
"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," Ginger Savely, a nurse practitioner in Austin who has treated a majority of Morgellons patients, told the San Antonio Express-News.
Patients infected with the disease get lesions that never heal.
Fibers removed from facial lesion of 3-year-old boy | "Sometimes little black specks come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, a Morgellons patient.
It's those different-colored fibers that pop out of the skin that may be the most bizarre symptom of the disease.
More than 100 cases have been reported in South Texas.
"It really has the makings of a horror movie in every way," Savely said.
The South Texas outbreak's proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border comes at a time when the issues of illegal immigration, border security and possible amnesty for over 12 million illegal aliens are being debated in the U.S.
Despite Morgellons disease's distinctive symptoms and patients' tales of suffering, most of the medical community don't see the disease as real, with some doctors telling patients it's all in their head.
Morgellons disease may remain a mystery, but cysticercosis does not.
Doctors say washing hands, cooking meats thoroughly, especially pork, and washing fruits and vegetables are the best ways to avoid the disease.
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