Spring Break
TB Day has world learning about epidemic
SHANESSA FAKOUR
Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: News
With today's celebration of World Tuberculosis Day, many health officials will use the day to teach people about the global epidemic - but for some University researchers, it's a daily lesson.
The Tuberculosis research lab, located in the College of Veterinarian Medicine, works with three forms of the bacterial disease, said Fred Quinn, professor and head of the department of infectious disease.
One species, Mycobacterium shottsii (pronounced SHOT-see-eye) is a pathogen of fish that causes ulcers. Researchers want to discover how this bacterium spreads and causes the unsightly skin legions.
"Because M. shottsii is a pathogen of fish, it is killed at human body temperature," Quinn wrote in an e-mail Monday.
The species closely resembles the TB that infects humans, and it can potentially trick the immune system and might make an ideal human TB vaccine, Quinn said.
Tuhina Gupta, a postdoctoral fellow, is working on multiple projects involving this TB pathogen of fish.
"M. shottsii was isolated in the Chesapeake Bay in striped bass fish," Gupta said.
But researchers are stumped as to how the disease spreads. Gupta said she suspected the amoeba might be a likely host to this bacterium because both are located in the water and the amoeba absorbs many things in its environment.
For her project, Gupta grew an amoeba and infected it with M. shottsii. Using electron microscopy, she observed what occurred within the amoeba cell.
After a year of research, Gupta's preliminary results show that the amoeba was not a likely medium for the pathogen to enter the fish. The importance of her work in discovering how the disease spreads is significant, as fish are a food source of humans.
TB is an airborne infectious disease that can spread when people cough, according to the World Health Organization. Upon early detection and full treatment, the disease can become non-infectious and be cured. Most deaths from TB occur in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. In 2006, an estimated 1.5 million people died from TB, according to the WHO Web site.
The Tuberculosis research lab, located in the College of Veterinarian Medicine, works with three forms of the bacterial disease, said Fred Quinn, professor and head of the department of infectious disease.
One species, Mycobacterium shottsii (pronounced SHOT-see-eye) is a pathogen of fish that causes ulcers. Researchers want to discover how this bacterium spreads and causes the unsightly skin legions.
"Because M. shottsii is a pathogen of fish, it is killed at human body temperature," Quinn wrote in an e-mail Monday.
The species closely resembles the TB that infects humans, and it can potentially trick the immune system and might make an ideal human TB vaccine, Quinn said.
Tuhina Gupta, a postdoctoral fellow, is working on multiple projects involving this TB pathogen of fish.
"M. shottsii was isolated in the Chesapeake Bay in striped bass fish," Gupta said.
But researchers are stumped as to how the disease spreads. Gupta said she suspected the amoeba might be a likely host to this bacterium because both are located in the water and the amoeba absorbs many things in its environment.
For her project, Gupta grew an amoeba and infected it with M. shottsii. Using electron microscopy, she observed what occurred within the amoeba cell.
After a year of research, Gupta's preliminary results show that the amoeba was not a likely medium for the pathogen to enter the fish. The importance of her work in discovering how the disease spreads is significant, as fish are a food source of humans.
TB is an airborne infectious disease that can spread when people cough, according to the World Health Organization. Upon early detection and full treatment, the disease can become non-infectious and be cured. Most deaths from TB occur in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. In 2006, an estimated 1.5 million people died from TB, according to the WHO Web site.
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