Differential susceptibility of Culex territans and Aedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae) to Foleyella flexicauda (Nematoda: Filarioidea).
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Aedes↗
Biomedical subjects
J L Benach
Publications and source records attributed to J L Benach.
Considerations on the ecology of several arboviruses in eastern Long Island.
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Animals↗
The effect of age on the infection and immunoresponsiveness of mice to Babesia microti.
5he effect of age on the immunological responses to Babesia microti infection in the mouse was investigated. Aged mice experienced reduced and delayed peak parasitemias compared to younger animals; however, the old mice failed to clear the parasites from the blood and experienced fluctuating parasitemias until death. Babesiosis produced suppression of responses to nonspecific B and T cell mitogens concomitant with rising autoantibody plaque forming cells reactive with untreated and bromelain modified mouse erythrocytes. Similar observations of increased susceptibility to babesiosis with age and immunosuppression have been made in human babesiosis. Thus, the murine model for this hemoprotozoan infection is faithful to the human immunological responses.
Aging↗
Red cell exchange: treatment of babesiosis in a splenectomized patient.
A splenectomized woman with a history of hepatic disorders was diagnosed as having babesiosis. The patient was unsuccessfully treated with chloroquine and with pentamidine isothionate. A parasitemia of 15 per cent was reduced permanently to less than 1 per cent after a red blood cell exchange, but a low grade parasitemia still existed 10 months after onset. On two separate occasions, the patient was found to have selective IgA deficiency, a reduction of T lymphocytes, and a reduction in function of both T and B lymphocytes. This case represents the highest and the longest duration of parasitemia ever recorded. It reports the first use of pentamidine and red blood cell exchange transfusion in human babesiosis, one of the earliest diagnosed cases of babesiosis, and the most severe clinical case to survive.
Adult↗
Epidemiologic features of Lyme disease in New York.
During 1982, surveillance identified 207 cases of Lyme disease in New York State. Cases were clustered in two geographic areas, eastern Long Island and northern Westchester counties. Symptoms and signs of Lyme disease in cases were consistent with previous reports, with erythema chronicum migrans (ECM) being the most frequently (77 percent) reported sign of disease. Facial palsy was reported in a surprisingly high 18 percent of cases. Of 160 cases whose sera were submitted for Lyme spirochete specific IgG antibody testing, 112 (70 percent) had titers greater than or equal to 64, while 88 (55 percent) had titers greater than or equal to 128. Positive titers were not associated with any single sign or symptom of disease, but were significantly associated with symptom onset or tick bite occurring during the three-month period of June, July, and August. We conclude that the incidence of Lyme disease in New York is much higher than previously recognized. In addition, our data suggest that a serologic test for Lyme-spirochete IgG antibody lacks sensitivity, but can be useful in confirming the diagnosis of Lyme disease when antibody titers are high.
Adolescent↗
Phagocytic cell responses to in vivo and in vitro exposure to the Lyme disease spirochete.
An experimental skin lesion induced in rabbits by the bite of infected adult Ixodes dammini showed dense dermal interstitial inflammatory cell infiltrates composed of mononuclear cells (histiocytes and lymphocytes) and granulocytes. The prevalence of phagocytic cells in this experimental lesion motivated a study on the interactions of macrophages and neutrophils with Lyme disease spirochetes. Interactions as measured by uptake of radiolabeled spirochetes and by indirect immunofluorescence were enhanced by opsonization of spirochetes with immune serum and not significantly decreased by heat inactivation of the same. Phagocytosis was inhibited by treatment of cells with Cytochalasin B. Adherence of opsonized spirochetes to neutrophils was decreased by blocking Fc receptors with heat-aggregated IgG, suggesting an important role for this receptor.
Animals↗
Prevalence of the Lyme disease spirochete in populations of white-tailed deer and white-footed mice.
The prevalence of the Ixodes dammini spirochete (IDS) in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) was studied on the eastern end of Long Island, New York. Both species commonly occur in a variety of habitats, are preferred hosts of Ixodes dammini, and can harbor the spirochetes in the blood. Each animal was examined for spirochetemia, tick infestation, and IDS infection rates in the ticks that were removed from it. The results obtained suggest that in winter deer can be infected by questing adult I. dammini. Adult ticks apparently are infected through transtadial transmission of spirochetes from subadult ticks which had fed earlier in their life history on infected animals. Deer are important hosts of adult ticks and the IDS in winter and probably are a reservoir host in other seasons. The patterns of spirochete prevalence suggest that deer and mice are reservoirs of the organism and thus are fundamental to the ecology of Lyme disease on Long Island.
Animals↗