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Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Immunology and Infectious Disease
Oroya Fever And Verruga Peruana: Bartonelloses Unique To South America, Michael F. Minnick, Burt E. Anderson, Amorce Lima, James M. Battisti, Phillip G. Lawyer, Richard J. Birtles
Oroya Fever And Verruga Peruana: Bartonelloses Unique To South America, Michael F. Minnick, Burt E. Anderson, Amorce Lima, James M. Battisti, Phillip G. Lawyer, Richard J. Birtles
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
Bartonella bacilliformis is the bacterial agent of Carrión's disease and is presumed to be transmitted between humans by phlebotomine sand flies. Carrión's disease is endemic to high-altitude valleys of the South American Andes, and the first reported outbreak (1871) resulted in over 4,000 casualties. Since then, numerous outbreaks have been documented in endemic regions, and over the last two decades, outbreaks have occurred at atypical elevations, strongly suggesting that the area of endemicity is expanding. Approximately 1.7 million South Americans are estimated to be at risk in an area covering roughly 145,000 km2 of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. Although disease …
Inactivation Of Genes For Antigenic Variation In The Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia Hermsii Reduces Infectivity In Mice And Transmission By Ticks, Sandra J. Raffel, James M. Battisti, Robert J. Fischer, Tom G. Schwan
Inactivation Of Genes For Antigenic Variation In The Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia Hermsii Reduces Infectivity In Mice And Transmission By Ticks, Sandra J. Raffel, James M. Battisti, Robert J. Fischer, Tom G. Schwan
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
Borrelia hermsii, a causative agent of relapsing fever of humans in western North America, is maintained in enzootic cycles that include small mammals and the tick vector Ornithodoros hermsi. In mammals, the spirochetes repeatedly evade the host’s acquired immune response by undergoing antigenic variation of the variable major proteins (Vmps) produced on their outer surface. This mechanism prolongs spirochete circulation in blood, which increases the potential for acquisition by fast-feeding ticks and therefore perpetuation of the spirochete in nature. Antigenic variation also underlies the relapsing disease observed when humans are infected. However, most spirochetes switch off the bloodstream …