Bacteria linked to Crohn's disease found in shower, river water aerosols

Since I have Crohn’s disease, this article really stuck out at me. After reading it, I don’t think the findings are very definitive, but this may lead to more research on the mechanism of how the normal flora gets shifted in the intestines of Crohn’s disease patients. 

It is known that “virtually all Crohn’s patients carry Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis”. This organism is very difficult to detect and culture, but it is necessary because it is a chronic enteric pathogen. The river taff in Cardiff, Wales was tested, and found to bare this specific organism.

Since I have Crohn’s disease, this article really stuck out at me. After reading it, I don’t think the findings are very definitive, but this may lead to more research on the mechanism of how the normal flora gets shifted in the intestines of Crohn’s disease patients. 

This study tested aerosols and biofilm samples from the River Taff area in Cardiff, Wales. 5 aerosol samples and 30 domestic shower samples from 23 homes across 4 UK counties were collected with a high volume impaction sampler, along with biofilm samples from shower tubes and heads. Epifluorescence microscopy, bacterial cultures, and polymerase chain reaction assays were performed on each of these samples. Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis was detected in 1 of the 5 river samples and 3 of the 30 shower samples across all regions. 

This study concluded that the exposure to this organism could be due to aerosols from the rivers and domestic showers. This led them to the associated of aerosols in the river taff influencing human Crohn’s Disease. 

I have never been to Wales or the UK so I cannot speak on my exposure to this organism, but I am glad to see research in finding possible causative agents. 

Article Reference: Bacteria linked to Crohn's disease found in shower, river water aerosols

Advances in C. difficile Infection Research

Clostridium difficile has been on the rise for the past 10 years, and has been known to reoccur in 20% of treated patients. Recently there has been 6 discoveries in research for this infection.

 

1. Immunocomprimised patients successfully rid the infection with a fecal microbiota transplant. One of our classmates did a graduate project on these types of transplants, and the many benefits that arise from them.

 

2. Severity and outcomes of these infections have improved in US urban population. This may be due in part to clinicians following a more appropriate workup for therapy.

 

3. Functional changes and microbial structure changes occurred after a fecal microbiota transplant. This should be expected since you are changing microbial populations in the gut environment.

 

4. Utilizing probiotic drinks and withdrawing antibiotics may also resolve C. difficile infections. In some instances it has been equally effective as a fecal transplant. Antibiotic regimens should be slowly withdrawn while implement daily consumption of a probiotic beverage. This can be an easy fix in non immunocompromised patients.

 

5. Tolevamer has been found to be inferior to current C. difficile treatments. Tolevamer is a non-antibiotic, toxin - binding agent that has been tested to treat C. difficile infections. It may be used as an adjunctive treatment in the future, but for the time being it does not successfully treat the infection.

 

6. Although severity and outcomes have improved in the US, C. difficile infections have increased in Europe since 2008. Numbers have risen from 4.12 to 7.92 cases per 10,000 patient bed days. Researching these infections and possible treatments can hopefully change this trend. 

Article Link 

Anthrax Exposure!

Recently in June the CDC experienced a breach of standard protocol pertaining to Bacillus anthracis, which we all know to be extremely dangerous. 75 employees at the Atlanta headquarters came into contact with the organism outside of a biosafety III Laboratory. All of these employees are being provided with prophylactic antibiotics and monitored continuously to ensure they do not become ill. The breached protocol happened when a Roybal campus biosafety III lab prepared B. anthracis for research in lower biosafety level laboratories. The organism was meant to enter these laboratories inactivated, and be used to detect dangerous pathogens in environmental samples. The samples were not inactivated adequately, and the lower biosafety level laboratories were exposed to the live organism without proper personal protective equipment or means to handle the organism. 

I feel stories like this reiterate safety in the lab. When we receive patient specimens, we do not know the causative agent immediately. We should always take precautions because it may in fact be an extremely dangerous pathogen. All specimens in the clinical setting should be approached with universal precautions. Another important point is following protocols fully. The reason our protocols were created was to protect us, as well as the patient. Any decontamination process should be carried out fully to ensure the organisms present are killed.