Research Paper on Microbiology

Borrelia Bacteria

According to Saint Girons et al., (1994), Borrelia recurrentis was discovered to have caused epidemic relapsing fever. Thus, individuals were familiar with the genus Borrelia many years ago. Borrelia is a type of bacteria that belong to spirochete phylum. The bacteria is the causative factor for the Lyme disease that is transmitted by infected ticks. In human beings, the transmission of bacteria is facilitated by ticks bites, which contain the Ixodes genus that is already contaminated by Borrelia bacteria (Corona, & Schwartz, 2015). The bacteria has a very small genome that can be approximated to 0.91 megabases as compared to the other types of bacteria. The bacteria have few housekeeping genes that are responsible for cellular functions. Idyllically, this makes the bacteria to the low rate of metabolic and biosynthetic functions. Consequently, the Borrelia bacteria has the inadequate capacity to synthesize the fatty acids, nucleotides, and amino acids. Besides, borrelia infects myriad animals especially the vertebrates including the lizards, small mammals, and birds. The bacteria can invade the mammalian tissue and causing diseases that last for at least a month (Mestrovic, 2018). Borrelia and Bartonella are both associated with Lyme disease and are transmitted via bites, arthropods or cat scratches. Most clinical, epidemiological cases indicate transmission of Bartonella bacteria by ticks (Mietze et al., 2011). Thus, Bartonella and Borrelia bacteria can be transmitted by the same agent.

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Babesia Bacteria

Babesia bacteria are microorganisms that are perceived to reproduce within mammalian red blood cells, and they resemble malaria protozoans. The bacteria is transmitted through the bites of Ixodes scapularis, which is in the same species as the ticks that cause the Lyme disease (Karasartova et al., 2018). The babesia bacteria is associated with Borrelia bacteria because it is transmitted by the same tick species. Moreover, babesia causes the babesiosis infection, which results in low blood pressure, kidney failure, red blood cells break down, and liver problems. There are various species of Babesia parasite in which babesia microti is the most common type that causes diseases in human beings as indicated by the CDC. Other types of Babesia parasites cause infections in cattle, pigs, horses, goats, and sheep. The parasite Babesia microti live in the gut of Ixodes scapular or the deer tick that transmit diseases. In most cases, the hard ticks transmit babesia microorganisms (Rawls, 2017). The major features of Babesia is that it causes a severe infection that is linked to chronic immune dysfunction, it is very hard to diagnose, it poorly responds to the vaccines and antibiotics, its growth rate is very low, and it has the ability of altering the genotype at any time in case of changes in its environment.

Bartonella Bacteria

Bartonella is a microorganism that is slightly curved, has a slow growth rate and have no flagella that support the movement, but it indicates signs of twitching motility. Just like the babesia bacteria, Bartonella is also associated with the cat scratch disease. The bacteria live in the lining of the blood vessels and causes infectious diseases to people, other types of mammals and wide animals. Bartonella causes an ailment called bartonellosis. Ideally, the symptoms of bartonellosis include fever, poor appetite, the swelling of different glands that are located around the neck and head, numbness in the extremities and balance challenges. The cats are the major carriers of Bartonella bacteria. However, according to (Lymedisease.org, 2018), the bacteria is also carried by ticks, lice as well as fleas. Individuals who have tick bites and are not exposed to cat scratch have been found to be infected by bartonellosis (Celiker et al., 2018). This is a clear indication that the ticks are the key transmitters of Bartonella bacteria in human beings. Bartonella presents itself in numerous types of species such as sand flies, sheep ticks and Ixodes pacificus ticks.

Tularemia Bacteria

Tularemia is a granulomatous and an infectious zoonosis, which is caused by Francisella tularensis (Cleveland, 2018). The bacteria are capable of surviving in water, soil and animal carcasses for several weeks. The bacteria is carried by ticks, and thus, tick bites can infect individuals with the ailment. Numerous animals have been discovered to become ill with tularemia. The bacteria is transmitted to individuals via the skin in the process of handling animal tissues that have been infected. Specifically, the transmission occurs during activities such as skinning infected animals such as prairie dogs, rabbits, and other rodents. Besides, people can acquire tularemia via infected tick bits, dealing with infected animal carcasses as well as drinking contaminated water and eating poorly cooked wild animal meat. The infected people should be treated with antibiotics to avoid dying because the disease causes serious health risks. When tularemia is not treated at the right time, it can cause lung inflammation, heart irritation, meningitis, and osteomyelitis. Moreover, these bacteria infection lead to panic as well as social disruption although it is not passed from one person to another. Tularemia bacteria is associated with other bacteria such as Bartonella and Borrelia. All these bacteria are spread by ticks (Tomaso et al., 2018). The symptoms of tularemia infections include chills, skin ulcers, severe headaches, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue.

References

Corona, A., & Schwartz, I. (2015). Borrelia burgdorferi: carbon metabolism and the tick-mammal enzootic cycle. In Metabolism and Bacterial Pathogenesis (pp. 167-184). American Society of Microbiology.

Cleveland, K. (2018, September 5). Tularemia. Retrieved from https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/230923-overviewCeliker, H., Kazokoglu, H., Eraslan, M., Cerman, E., & Karabas, L. (2018). Bartonella henselae neuroretinitis in patients without cat scratch. Japanese journal of infectious diseases, JJID-2017.

Karasartova, D., Gureser, A. S., Gokce, T., Celebi, B., Yapar, D., Keskin, A., ... & Mumcuoglu, K. Y. (2018). Bacterial and protozoal pathogens found in ticks collected from humans in Corum province of Turkey. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 12(4), e0006395.

Lymedisease.org. (2018). Bartonella. Retrieved from https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-basics/co-infections/bartonella/ BIBLIOGRAPHY Mestrovic, T. (2018, August 23). What is Borrelia burgdorferi. Retrieved from https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Borrelia-burgdorferi.aspx

Mietze, A., Strube, C., Beyerbach, M., Schnieder, T., & Goethe, R. (2011). The occurrence of Bartonella henselae and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato co-infections in ticks collected from humans in Germany. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 17(6), 918-920.

Rawls, B. (2017, 3 January). Understanding Babesia. Retrieved from https://rawlsmd.com/health-articles/understanding-babesia

Saint Girons, I., Old, I. G., & Davidson, B. E. (1994). Molecular biology of the Borrelia, bacteria with linear replicons. Microbiology, 140(8), 1803-1816.

Tomaso, H., Otto, P., Peters, M., Suss, J., Karger, A., Schamoni, H., ... & Hotzel, H. (2018). Francisella tularensis and other bacteria in hares and ticks in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Ticks and tick-borne diseases, 9(2), 325-329.