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New, possibly deadly bacteria believed to have originated in Peru

(LIP-jl) -- A medical team led by Dr. Jane Koehler, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, discovered a new, possibly deadly strain of bacteria in a 43 year-old American woman who traveled to Peru and returned with numerous insect bites on her legs.

According to Peruvian daily Peru21, the American tourist had gone on a trekking trip throughout the Peruvian Andes, which included the southern regions of Cuzco and Arequipa where the insect bites occurred.

The new bacteria, named Bartonella rochalimae, is believed to be a genetic cousin to the Bartonella quintana strain, commonly referred to as Trench Fever (spread by body lice) and was responsible for causing high fever in thousands of soldiers during World War I.

Fortunately, the unnamed American woman recovered from her infection with a commonly administered dose of antibiotics.

The case was published in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine.

- related articles -
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	Peru trekker's mystery bug is new to science (SF Chronicle, June 7, 2007)
	New Bacterium Discovered -- Related To Cause Of Trench Fever (Science Daily, Jun 6, 2007)
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# Jason W. Smith, Ph.D. says :
8 June, 2007 [ 17:20 ]

The circumstances are suspicious. Gringos, infectious epidemic disease, highlands of the Andes...
When I was in Habana Cuba four years ago I saw  a show on Mesa Redonda where commentators and scientists discussed evidence for US CIA saboteurs spreading of deadly brucella organisms by aerial spraying. Perhaps this is a new version of something similar aimed at the popular forces behind Ollanta Humala. Greetings from George Bush?

# Thomas says :
8 June, 2007 [ 18:45 ]

Jason W. Smith = Gimmick Account.  Humala will never be elected in Peru, please get over it.

# Steve Blankenship says :
8 June, 2007 [ 18:50 ]

Is George Bush behind everything??? Gobal warming, the price of oil and now this- please!

# Alan Duncan says :
8 June, 2007 [ 18:58 ]

Dr. Smith and a Ph. D yet. I join with the other comments in judging yours as ridiculous!!!

# Perro Rabioso says :
8 June, 2007 [ 19:28 ]

Actually, there is a mountain of evidence smoking like a volcano. As with all smoking guns, however, one should try and isolate real causes and processes. Imperialists in the 20th century made a practice of exterminating populations that got in their way. Why would US imperialism be any different in the 21st century?  We have seen the atrocities they commit routinely in places like Iraq.
At any rate look at this website for more information on the secret work of US biowarfare specialists.

http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/aids.html

# Alan Duncan says :
9 June, 2007 [ 10:58 ]

There is a long way between the Black Panthers and the spread of AIDS virus in Africa and accusations against 'supposed' US government policy and secret agencies spreading deadly virus' in Latin America to stop Ollanta Humala or Hugo Chavez.

The site "The Talking Drum" mentioned above does not deal with the secret work of presumed US biowarfare specialists. It discusses the problem of the spread of AIDS virus in Africa.

Who's paranoid. Perro Rabioso and Jason Smith or the average level headed reader?

# Perro Rabioso says :
9 June, 2007 [ 12:10 ]

Biological Weapons Gateway

Welcome to the Biological Warfare Agents Gateway Page.

From this page you can access information about biological agent properties and uses, and defenses against them, information about agents that can distribute these agents (such as mosquitos and fleas), and some background on general concepts of biological warfare.http://cbwinfo.com/Biological/BWList.shtml

http://cbwinfo.com/Biological/BWList.shtml

Bartonella was named in 1997 (again) and had been known as Trench Fever as you can see from the sites above and is now considered a BIOLOGICAL WEAPON!

# Jason W. Smith, Ph.D. says :
9 June, 2007 [ 14:39 ]

It seems as if Bartonella is one of those germs weaponized by US researchers. I found simply by routine google research some of the following available on this US germ warfare agent at:

http://groups.msn.com/JasonSmithcom/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_Message=346

Frankly, this is beyond me, but as I said to begin with the circumstances are highly suspicious.

# David says :
10 June, 2007 [ 18:21 ]

I'll add this, It seems funny that the mans father in law (a scientist)works for the CDC (Center for disease control).

Maybe he just didn't like the man.

David

# A. Sol says :
10 June, 2007 [ 19:18 ]

Are these comments for real, or just a joke. Are some of you saying that the U.S. and/or Pres. Bush may be responsible for this bacteria? Thats so ludicrous that I dont even know where to begin.

 I personally think it was Bin Laden, makes sense huh, infect countries where western tourist frequent so they can bring back to their countries. Thats the truth, I read it on the internet...

# Jason W. Smith, Ph.D. says :
12 June, 2007 [ 13:56 ]

It seems somewhat disingenuous to me to act as if the idea of the USA regime spreading germs should be surprising to anyone. After all the North Americans are the ones who pioneered most of this post-World War II bioweapons stuff anyway and according to publically available information have also weaponized Bartonella. However, that may be here is the original story:

From Biology News Net http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2007/06/07

A close cousin of the bacterium that debilitated thousands of World War I soldiers has been isolated at UCSF from a patient who had been on an international vacation. The woman, who has since recovered, suffered from symptoms similar to malaria or typhoid fever, two infections that can occur in returning travelers.

But genetic detective work revealed that she was infected with a new bacterium that had never before been isolated from a human.

A UCSF infectious disease team, in collaboration with colleagues from other institutions, found that the new microbe is genetically similar to one spread by body lice in the trenches during World War I. That bacterium, called Bartonella quintana, caused a disease known as trench fever, and debilitated tens of thousands of soldiers with severe leg and back pain and recurrent fevers.

The new species, recently named Bartonella rochalimae, is also closely related to the bacterium identified about 10 years ago as the cause of cat scratch disease: Bartonella henselae, which infects more than 25,000 people a year in the U.S.

The discovery is reported in the June 7 issue of “The New England Journal of Medicine.”

The woman had been traveling in the Peruvian Andes. She suffered from potentially life-threatening anemia, an enlarged spleen and a high fever for several weeks, as do victims of malaria and typhoid. The Andes are also home to another Bartonella species, spread by sand flies. The researchers first thought this was causing the patient’s infection.

But genetic comparisons showed that although the new bacterium is related enough to be classified with the other Bartonella bacteria, it is nevertheless distinct from all of them, the UCSF team found. The UCSF lab is one of the few in the world able to isolate and grow human Bartonella species, and culture of the new organism made study of the DNA much easier.

Also collaborating on the research were scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard Medical School and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before 1990, no Bartonella infections had been identified in the U.S. The new discovery is the sixth species identified that can infect humans, said Jane Koehler, MD, professor of infectious diseases at UCSF and senior author on the new paper.

Koehler encountered her first patient infected with Bartonella in 1987 during her first week of training in infectious diseases at the AIDS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center.

“The bacteria were eating away a bone in the arm of an AIDS patient – for months,” Koehler recalls. “They can cause extremely painful lesions and tumors of blood vessels on the skin of immunocompromised patients. But when I saw this patient, this type of infection had never been seen at UCSF, and the bacterium causing the infection was unknown.”

Koehler’s group went on to discover that two different Bartonella species can cause these disfiguring and potentially fatal infections in AIDS patients. Identification of the bacteria required laboratory studies of some of the microbes’ DNA sequences.

She was surprised to find that one of the microbes that causes severe infections in AIDS patients in the U.S was the same species that caused trench fever in WWI soldiers fighting in Europe 80 years before. The work was published in “The New England Journal of Medicine” in 1992.

Several years later, her team discovered that the Bartonella henselae bacterium causes cat scratch disease, an infection that causes swollen lymph nodes and fever after a cat scratches its owner or an unlucky visitor. They were again surprised to find that this microbe is the second Bartonella species to cause infection in AIDS patients.

Like trench fever, cat scratch disease had been described in the early 1900s, but no one knew what bacterium caused cat scratch disease until the infection was seen in the AIDS patients. This identification was published in “The New England Journal of Medicine” in 1997.

Koehler’s research group found that all pet cats of AIDS patients infected by B. henselae also had the infection in their blood. In fact, about 41 percent of all the pet cats they tested in the San Francisco area had this bacterium in their blood. This work, detailed in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” in 1994, sounded the alarm that pet cats were often infected with a microbe that could be transmitted to their owners through a scratch.

These earlier investigations taught the researchers several important lessons: new diseases and new bacteria infecting humans are still being discovered, and it is important to carefully investigate the genetic make-up of all bacteria that appear in any new or unusual infection. This kind of sleuthing allowed the researchers to discover the new organism, Bartonella rochalimae.

Koehler considers the on-going research and discovery crucial to treating patients and preventing disease.

“When a patient has a high and persistent fever, we need to come up with the correct diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible – particularly for those with a weakened immune system, who can die from the infection,” she says. “Also, different Bartonella species respond to different drugs, so it is essential to explore further and pinpoint which one is involved.”

The cat scratch bacteria and the one that brought down soldiers and AIDS patients can be reined in with the same antibiotic, but the Peruvian microbe is usually countered with different antibiotics, Koehler says. Also, caregivers, and medical staff need to know about the different species, so, for example, AIDS patients are cautioned about the dangers of cat scratches and exposure to body lice. Medical staff should know to look for Bartonella infections if someone with a persistent, unexplained high fever has a cat, has been homeless or has been in the Andes Mountains.

“As we continue to discover new pathogens and how humans get infected with them, we improve our ability to diagnose, prevent and treat our patients,” Koehler notes. “This enables us to use our work in the laboratory to benefit patients in the clinics and hospital.”

Source : University of California - San Francisco

# Dewey says :
12 June, 2007 [ 14:05 ]

I knew it!!!! It was Pres Bush himself dipping cat claws in newly weaponized diseases so he can take over the world.

# David Kraatz says :
13 June, 2007 [ 10:38 ]

It was the 1st Pres. Bush that uttered the words "New world order" and "One world government". Maybe this is part of the master plan. After all America has done some wild things over the years. Infecting 50,000 Americans with V.D. in order to study the effects. Pearl Harbor, 911, the Kennedy asasination. The list could go on and on.

# Alan Duncan says :
13 June, 2007 [ 16:29 ]

You guys that believe this to be a dastardly plot by the USA must start to get objective!

If it is a plot, it has produced one victim that was promptly treated and cured.

Knockout blow to US foreign policy.

End of story.

# David Kraatz says :
13 June, 2007 [ 17:27 ]

Alan,

Relax! Life is to short! This in itself is/was not designed to kill off any major population. However it could have been a test, a dry run you might say. Just to see how easy it would be for some infected     person(S) to board planes even though they are on the do not fly / admit list.

P.S. Why not add this to the forum where others may join in the debate.

# fred says :
14 June, 2007 [ 08:40 ]

yah, thats it...a test, just a test. But compared to the tsunami machine test and hurricane generator test, this one was a complete failure.

# David says :
14 June, 2007 [ 09:36 ]

How do figure it was a complete failure? The infected man made his way back to the US even though there were safety measures in place. It could have been 10 or 20 people sent to various locations in the world.
And the fact that the media got wind of this story means squat.

Ever heard of reverse psychology? I'm not saying that this is the case only that it is possible. If you think it impossible I don't even feel sorry for you.