Bordetella pertussis in Canada

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource

Introduction

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Bordetella pertussis

Description of the microbe

The bacterium Bordetella Pertussis is the causative agent of Whooping Cough. This small bacterium (about .8um in length and .4um by width) cannot survive in the open environment, and therefore must reside in a host, and is considered pathogenic. This host is almost always a human, where its “natural” environment is said to be the mucus in the human respiratory tract. The optimum temperature of growth for B.pertussis is about 35-37C, which is the temperature inside a living human host.

B.pertussis is an aerobic gram negative bacterium that does not produce spores. Due to its lack of flagella, it is also immotile. It resides in the phylum Proteobacteria, class Betaproteobacteria, order Burkholderiales, and family Alcaligenaceae. Because it is an aerobe, it utilizes aerobic respiration. Therefore, the bacterium consists of an electron transport chain on its membrane, and is considered a chemoheterotroph. Like other gram negative bacteria, it possesses an inner and outer membrane, with a thin peptidoglycan cell wall in between. This cell wall is attached to the outer membrane via lipoproteins. Like other gram negatives, the outer membrane of B.pertussis is coated with LPS (lipopolysachharides), which are long sugar linked and lipid-anchored polysaccharides coating the outer membrane. LPS are endotoxins, meaning that they are toxic to host (or potentially other bacteria) cells when detached from the bacteria. However, B.pertussis consists of very unusual LPS compared to other gram negatives. Namely, it contains two forms of LPS that have a different phosphate composition than standard Lipid A form LPS.

Link to MicrobeWiki Page: Bordetella pertussis http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Bordetella_pertussis

Transmission of disease

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Prevention

Why is this disease a problem in [name of country]

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What is being done to address this problem

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What else could be done to address this problem

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References

[Sample reference] Takai, K., Sugai, A., Itoh, T., and Horikoshi, K. "Palaeococcus ferrophilus gen. nov., sp. nov., a barophilic, hyperthermophilic archaeon from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 2000. Volume 50. p. 489-500.

Edited by Bryan Dieffenbach, Gorjan Hrustanovic, Patricia Lee and Andrew Chen, students of Rachel Larsen