Ticks Associated with Macquarie Island Penguins Carry Arboviruses from Four Genera

Macquarie Island, a small subantarctic island, is home to rockhopper, royal and king penguins, which are often infested with the globally distributed seabird tick, Ixodes uriae. A flavivirus, an orbivirus, a phlebovirus, and a nairovirus were isolated from these ticks and partial sequences obtained. The flavivirus was nearly identical to Gadgets Gully virus, isolated some 30 year previously, illustrating the remarkable genetic stability of this virus. The nearest relative to the orbivirus (for which we propose the name Sandy Bay virus) was the Scottish Broadhaven virus, and provided only the second available sequences from the Great Island orbivirus serogroup. The phlebovirus (for which we propose the name Catch-me-cave virus) and the previously isolated Precarious Point virus were distinct but related, with both showing homology with the Finnish Uukuniemi virus. These penguin viruses provided the second and third available sequences for the Uukuniemi group of phleboviruses. The nairovirus (for which we propose the name Finch Creek virus) was shown to be related to the North American Tillamook virus, the Asian Hazara virus and Nairobi sheep disease virus. Macquarie Island penguins thus harbour arboviruses from at least four of the seven arbovirus-containing genera, with related viruses often found in the northern hemisphere

Study Protocol – Improving Access to Kidney Transplants (IMPAKT): A detailed account of a qualitative study investigating barriers to transplant for Australian Indigenous people with end-stage kidney disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Indigenous Australians are slightly more than 2% of the total Australian population however, in recent years they have comprised between 6 and 10% of new patients beginning treatment for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Although transplant is considered the optimal form of treatment for many ESKD patients there is a pronounced disparity between the rates at which Indigenous ESKD patients receive transplants compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. The IMPAKT (Improving Access to Kidney Transplants) Interview study investigated reasons for this disparity through a large scale, in-depth interview study involving patients, nephrologists and key decision-making staff at selected Australian transplant and dialysis sites.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The design and conduct of the study reflected the multi-disciplinary membership of the core IMPAKT team. Promoting a participatory ethos, IMPAKT established partnerships with a network of hospital transplant units and hospital dialysis treatment centres that provide treatment to the vast majority of Indigenous patients across Australia. Under their auspices, the IMPAKT team conducted in-depth interviews in 26 treatment/service centres located in metropolitan, regional and remote Australia. Peer interviewing supported the engagement of Indigenous patients (146), and nephrologists (19). In total IMPAKT spoke with Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients (241), key renal nursing and other (non-specialist) staff (95) and a small number of relevant others (28). Data analysis was supported by QSR software. At each site, IMPAKT also documented educational programs and resources, mapped an hypothetical ‘patient journey’ to transplant through the local system and observed patient care and treatment routines.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The national scope, inter-disciplinary approach and use of qualitative methods in an investigation of a significant health inequality affecting Indigenous people is, we believe, an Australian first. An exceptionally large cohort of Indigenous participants provided evaluative comment on their health services in relation to dialysis and transplant. Additionally, the data includes extensive parallel commentary from a cohort of specialists, nurses and other staff. The study considers a ‘patient journey’ to transplant within a diverse range of Australian treatment centre/workplace settings. The IMPAKT Interview study protocol may contribute to improvements in multi-disciplinary, flexible design health services research with hard to reach or vulnerable populations in Australia and elsewhere.</p

The human phylome

The human phylome, which includes evolutionary relationships of all human proteins and their homologs among thirty-nine fully sequenced eukaryotes, is reconstructed

Challenging the Wigglesworthia, Sodalis, Wolbachia symbiosis dogma in tsetse flies : Spiroplasma is present in both laboratory and natural populations

Profiling of wild and laboratory tsetse populations using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing allowed us to examine whether the “Wigglesworthia-Sodalis-Wolbachia dogma” operates across species and populations. The most abundant taxa, in wild and laboratory populations, were Wigglesworthia (the primary endosymbiont), Sodalis and Wolbachia as previously characterized. The species richness of the microbiota was greater in wild than laboratory populations. Spiroplasma was identified as a new symbiont exclusively in Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and G. tachinoides, members of the palpalis sub-group, and the infection prevalence in several laboratory and natural populations was surveyed. Multi locus sequencing typing (MLST) analysis identified two strains of tsetse-associated Spiroplasma, present in G. f. fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Spiroplasma density in G. f. fuscipes larva guts was significantly higher than in guts from teneral and 15-day old male and female adults. In gonads of teneral and 15-day old insects, Spiroplasma density was higher in testes than ovaries, and was significantly higher density in live versus prematurely deceased females indicating a potentially mutualistic association. Higher Spiroplasma density in testes than in ovaries was also detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization in G. f. fuscipe

Seroepidemiology of arboviruses among seabirds and island residents of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea.

Duplicate neutralization tests were done on 401 avian and 101 human sera from island residents collected in the Coral Sea and on Australia's Great Barrier Reef against 19 known arboviruses. Antibodies to a potentially harmful flavivirus, Gadget's Gully virus, were equally present (4%) in both avian and human sera. Antibodies to another flavivirus, Murray Valley Encephalitis, and an ungrouped isolate, CSIRO 1499, were also present in both populations with non-significantly different incidences. Antibodies to Upolu, Johnston Atoll, Lake Clarendon, Taggert, Saumarez Reef and CSIRO 264 viruses were restricted to seabirds. Island residents with antibodies to Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses are thought to have been exposed to these viruses on the mainland as antibody to both viruses was absent among seabirds. These results indicate that consideration should be given to tick-associated arboviruses as potential public health hazards on islands where both seabird and human activities interact

Host acquisition by

Forty percent of white-capped noddy tern, Anous minutus, nests tagged in January 1977 were re-occupied the following nesting season in February 1978. This re-use of nests allows host acquisition by O. capensis, as the ticks remain in the core of the abandoned nest during the non-nesting season

Analyse amibienne et fongique des boues résiduaires d'une station d'épuration d'Industrie laitière

Nous avons, pendant 19 mois consécutifs, avec deux mois d'interruption en avril et mai de la deuxième année, suivi une station d'épuration d'eaux usées provenant d'une industrie laitière. Ce suivi a été centré exclusivement sur les boues, après addition de polyélectrolytes, et au sortir de la presse à boues, et avait pour objectif de vérifier le rôle pathogène potentiel de ce type de boues lors de leur emploi en agriculture. Nos résultats qui devront être confirmés pour d'autres types de station d'épuration d'eaux usées agro-alimentaires, sont en faveur de l'inocuité des boues sur le double point de vue des amibes libres et des champignons kératinophiles. Il existes certes une double faune amibienne et fongique abondante, mais cette faune est dépourvue d'amibes libres thermophiles potentiellement pathogènes, et quant aux champignons microscopiques retrouvés, il s'agissait quasi exclusivement de Mucorales, avec dans de rares cas quelques Aspergillus niger et A. fumigatus, Candida tropicalis et Keratinomyces ajelloi

Characterization and ecology of mosquito spiroplasmas from atlantic biotopes in France

Field studies on the ecology of mosquito spiroplasmas (Mollicutes) were carried out on a number of swampy biotopes along the Atlantic coast of France and the banks of the Loire River (Loire-Atlantique). Spiroplasma sabaudiense and the Cantharis spiroplasma were isolated from Aedes detritus and Ae. caspius during May and June 1988 but disappeared in August and September.These data confirm the results of previous surveys performed in Savoia, Northern Alps, among other species of mosquitoes. It is possible that mosquitoes acquire their spiroplasma infections during the spring from flowers following their emergence and not from their aquatic environment

Description et transmission expérimentale de l’Haemoprotéidé

Description d’Hepatocystis levinei n. sp. parasite de Pteropus poliocephalus du Queensland (Australie). La sporogonie obtenue expérimentalement chez Culicoides nubeculosus évolue en 6 à 7 jours. L’infection des Pteropus sains débute 20 jours après l’inoculation des sporozoïtes, elle est élevée pendant un mois et demi puis décroît pour persister à un taux très faible. La plus grande infectivité pour les Culicoides est observée le 9e jour après le début de la parasitémie et l’infectivité reste élevée pendant 2 mois. H. levinei se distingue de l’espèce la plus proche, H. garnhami par des microgametocytes « en cocarde » et non « diffus » et, semble-t-il, par des schizontes hépatiques plus petits ; dans les 2 cas, les schizontes jeunes ont un aspect étoilé caractéristique. La sporogonie s’effectue à la surface de l’estomac ; les oocystes sont de grandes tailles et contiennent de très nombreux sporozoïtes qui ne pénètrent pas massivement dans les glandes salivaires du Culicoïde