| 1. |
- Nordberg, Marika, et al.
(författare)
-
Aetiology of tick-borne infections in an adult swedish population-are co-infections with multiple agents common
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Open Journal of Clinical Diagnostics. - Scientific Research : Scientific Research Publishing, Inc.. - 2162-5816 .- 2162-5824. ; 4:1, s. 31-40
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Scandinavia, tick-borne infections affecting humans include Lyme borreliosis (LB), tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA). Each of these infections can present with unspecific symptoms. In this prospective clinical study, we recruited patients based on two independent inclusion criteria; 1) patients with unspecific symptoms, i.e. fever (≥38.0˚C) or a history of feverishness and/or any combination of headache, myalgia or arthralgia and 2) patients with erythema migrans (EM), following an observed tick bite or tick exposure within one month prior to onset of symptoms. A total of 206 patients fulfilled the study. Among these, we could identify 186 cases of LB (174 with EM), 18 confirmed and two probable cases of HGA and two cases of TBE. Thirteen of the HGA cases presented without fever. Furthermore, 22 of the EM patients had a sub-clinical co-infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum, based on serology. Both TBE cases had co-infections, one with Borrelia burgdorferi and one with Anaplasma phagocytophilum. We conclude that it is important to consider several causative agents and possible co-infections in the clinical management of infectious diseases where ticks may be suspected as vectors.
|
|
| 2. |
- Andersson, Sandra, et al.
(författare)
-
The Transcriptomic and Proteomic Landscapes of Bone Marrow and Secondary Lymphoid Tissues
- 2014
-
Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:12, s. e115911-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The sequencing of the human genome has opened doors for global gene expression profiling, and the immense amount of data will lay an important ground for future studies of normal and diseased tissues. The Human Protein Atlas project aims to systematically map the human gene and protein expression landscape in a multitude of normal healthy tissues as well as cancers, enabling the characterization of both housekeeping genes and genes that display a tissue-specific expression pattern. This article focuses on identifying and describing genes with an elevated expression in four lymphohematopoietic tissue types (bone marrow, lymph node, spleen and appendix), based on the Human Protein Atlas-strategy that combines high throughput transcriptomics with affinity-based proteomics. Results: An enriched or enhanced expression in one or more of the lymphohematopoietic tissues, compared to other tissue-types, was seen for 693 out of 20,050 genes, and the highest levels of expression were found in bone marrow for neutrophilic and erythrocytic genes. A majority of these genes were found to constitute well-characterized genes with known functions in lymphatic or hematopoietic cells, while others are not previously studied, as exemplified by C19ORF59. Conclusions: In this paper we present a strategy of combining next generation RNA-sequencing with in situ affinity-based proteomics in order to identify and describe new gene targets for further research on lymphatic or hematopoietic cells and tissues. The results constitute lists of genes with enriched or enhanced expression in the four lymphohematopoietic tissues, exemplified also on protein level with immunohistochemical images.
|
|
| 3. |
- Lindblom, Anders, et al.
(författare)
-
Seroreactivity for spotted fever rickettsiae and co-infections with other tick-borne agents among habitants in central and southern Sweden
- 2013
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0934-9723 .- 1435-4373. ; 32:3, s. 317-323
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Patients seeking medical care with erythema migrans or flu-like symptoms after suspected or observed tick bite in the southeast of Sweden and previously investigated for Borrelia spp. and/or Anaplasma sp. were retrospectively examined for serological evidence of rickettsial infection (Study 1). Twenty of 206 patients had IgG and/or IgM antibodies to Rickettsia spp. equal to or higher than the cut-off titre of 1:64. Seven of these 20 patients showed seroconversion indicative of recent or current infection and 13 patients had titres compatible with past infection, of which five patients were judged as probable infection. Of 19 patients with medical records, 11 were positive for Borrelia spp. as well, and for Anaplasma sp., one was judged as positive. Five of the 19 patients had antibodies against all three pathogens. Erythema migrans or rash was observed at all combinations of seroreactivity, with symptoms including fever, muscle pain, headache and respiratory problems. The results were compared by screening an additional 159 patients (Study 2) primarily sampled for the analysis of Borrelia spp. or Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Sixteen of these patients were seroreactive for Rickettsia spp., of which five were judged as recent or current infection. Symptoms of arthritis, fever, cough and rash were predominant. In 80 blood donors without clinical symptoms, approximately 1 % were seroreactive for Rickettsia spp., interpreted as past infection. The study shows that both single and co-infections do occur, which illustrate the complexity in the clinical picture and a need for further studies to fully understand how these patients should best be treated.
|
|
| 4. |
- Nilsson, Kenneth, Docent, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
-
Rickettsia helvetica in patient with meningitis, Sweden, 2006
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Emerging Infectious Diseases. - : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). - 1080-6040 .- 1080-6059. ; 16:3, s. 490-492
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pathogenicity of Rickettsia helvetica is relatively unknown. We isolated a spotted fever group rickettsial organism from a patient with subacute meningitis. Nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA, ompB, and 17kDa genes identified the isolate as R. helvetica. This organism may be associated with serious infections such as central nervous system disorders.
|
|
| 5. |
- Elfving, Karin, 1982-
(författare)
-
Epidemiological and Bacteriological Aspects of Spotted Fever Rickettsioses in Humans, Vectors and Mammals in Sweden
- 2013
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular gram-negative bacteria transmitted by arthropod vectors. Rickettsiae sometimes cause disease in humans, typically with high fever, headache and occasionally an eschar.In Sweden, Rickettsia helvetica, belonging to the spotted fever group, is the only tick-transmitted rickettsia found free in nature. The pathogenic roll of R. helvetica has not been fully investigated, but it has been implicated in aneruptive fever and cardiac disease.This thesis describes parts of the transmission pathways of rickettsiae in Sweden. Rickettsia infection rates in ticks collected from birds were analysed, and the birds’ role as disseminators and reservoirs was studied. We found that more than one in ten ticks was infected with rickettsia bacteria, predominantly R. helvetica, and that migrating birds contribute not only to long-distance dispersion of bacteria, but also to an inflow of novel and potentially pathogenic rickettsia species, in this case R. monacensis and R. sp. strain Davousti-like species, into Sweden.Further, wild and domestic animals were found to have seroreactivity against R. helvetica, which shows that they are exposed and susceptible to rickettsia. Their role as reservoirs has not been determined, yet they may indirectly be involved in transmission of rickettsia to humans by infected ticks feeding on them.The seroreactivity in humans was also studied. Patients investigated for suspected Borrelioses and blood donors had detectable antibodies against Rickettsia spp., with the highest prevalence detected in the suspected Borreliosis group. This shows that humans in Sweden are exposed to and develop an immune response against rickettsia. The suspicion that R. helvetica may cause severe symptoms was verified by a patient with subacute meningitis where the bacterium was shown for the first time to cause an invasive infection with CNS involvement and where the bacterium was isolated from the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid.Growth characteristics and morphology of R. helvetica were studied to better understand invasiveness and virulence. The findings indicate that the invasiveness is comparable with other rickettsia, though R. helvetica seems to have a stable but slightly slower growth. Rickettsia helvetica is endemic in Sweden and therefore needs to be considered when investigating disease after a tick bite.
|
|
