TIPSHEET
Highlights from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
November 1997
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VACCINE FOR ULCERS?
Scientists have developed a potential strategy for an oral vaccine to protect against infection with Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes peptic ulcers and may contribute to the development of stomach cancer. The researchers, from the University of New South Wales and CSL Ltd. in Australia, report their findings in the November issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.
The researchers identified an enzyme, known as catalase, that may be present on the surface of the bacterium and developed a oral vaccine based upon it. They innoculated groups of mice and experimentally infected them with H. pylori. The vaccine protected 9 out of 10 mice from infection.
"This study provides the first available data on the efficacy of protective immunization with the new Sydney strain of H. pylori in a mouse model," say the researchers. "These data also provide indirect evident that proteins which are normally intracellular, such as catalase, may be present on the surface of H. pylori and thus may provide targets for immunization." (F.J. Radcliff, S.L. Hazell, T. Kolesnikow, C. Doidge, and A. Lee. 1997. Catalase, a novel antigen for Helicobacter pylori vaccination. Infection and Immunity. 65:4668-4674.)
EVIDENCE OF INFECTION IN HEART DISEASE
Researchers from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, provide additional evidence that cardiovascular disease can be caused by an underlying chronic infection with the common human respiratory pathogen Chlamydia pneumoniae. Their results appear in the November 1997 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.
In the study the researchers experimentally infected rabbits with C. pneumonia. The animals were reinfected 3 weeks later and after an additional 2 to 4 weeks they were checked for indications of coronary heart disease (CHD). Of 9 rabbits tested, 6 showed signs consistent with CHD.
"The association between C. pneumoniae infection and athersclerosis has been demonstrated via several different methodoloical approaches by a number of laboratories around the world," say the researchers. "However, the possible causal relationship between chronic C. pneumoniae infection and the development of atherosclerosis, and the exclusion of the possibility that it is merely an innocent bystander,' can be verified only by animal experiments and intervention trials." (K. Laitinen, A. Laurila, L. Pyhala, M. Leinonen, and P. Saikku. 1997. Chlamydia pneumoniae infection induces inflammatory changes in the aortas of rabbits. Infection and Immunity. 65:4832-4835.)
AIRLINES TRANSPORT DISEASES IN SEWAGE
Airlines don't just carry people around the world, they may also be carrying infectious disease agents, known as enteroviruses, in airplane lavatory sewage which is typically discharged into local municipal sewer systems.
In the November 1997 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology researchers from University of North Carolina report on a new and improved method of detecting enteroviruses in sewage. In addition to sewage from treatment plants the researchers tested chemically treated sewage from international airplane lavatories. Despite the use of commercial sanitizers by airlines, 44% of the samples tested contained infectious enteroviruses.
Enteroviruses are a group of viruses that include the poliovirus and are responsible for a wide variety of diseases including viral meningitis and conjunctivitis. They are commonly transmitted by the oral-fecal route.
"The finding of infectious enteroviruses in chemically treated airplane lavatory sewage suggests that current disinfection strategies are inadequate and that international air travel may promote the dissemination of enteric viruses," say the researchers. (Y.-S. C. Shieh, R.S. Baric, and M.D. Sobsey. 1997. Detection of low levels of enteric viruses in metropolitan and airplane sewage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 63:4401-4407.)
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