Alteration in Superoxide Dismutase 1 Causes Oxidative Stress and p38 MAPK Activation Following RVFV Infection

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease caused by Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). RVFV is a category A pathogen that belongs to the genus Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae. Understanding early host events to an infectious exposure to RVFV will be of significant use in the development of effective therapeutics that not only control pathogen multiplication, but also contribute to cell survival. In this study, we have carried out infections of human cells with a vaccine strain (MP12) and virulent strain (ZH501) of RVFV and determined host responses to viral infection. We demonstrate that the cellular antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) displays altered abundances at early time points following exposure to the virus. We show that the enzyme is down regulated in cases of both a virulent (ZH501) and a vaccine strain (MP12) exposure. Our data demonstrates that the down regulation of SOD1 is likely to be due to post transcriptional processes and may be related to up regulation of TNFα following infection. We also provide evidence for extensive oxidative stress in the MP12 infected cells. Concomitantly, there is an increase in the activation of the p38 MAPK stress response, which our earlier published study demonstrated to be an essential cell survival strategy. Our data suggests that the viral anti-apoptotic protein NSm may play a role in the regulation of the cellular p38 MAPK response. Alterations in the host protein SOD1 following RVFV infection appears to be an early event that occurs in multiple cell types. Activation of the cellular stress response p38 MAPK pathway can be observed in all cell types tested. Our data implies that maintaining oxidative homeostasis in the infected cells may play an important role in improving survival of infected cells

PHL6/424: Understanding and Controlling Emerging Zoonotic Diseases in an Internet Connected World - A public health veterinarian's approach

INTRODUCTION: The vast progress in communication and information in the last one hundred years has made easy the interaction of people from various parts of the planet. This has benefited the human race in healthcare. The vast leaps in chemotherapy, asepsis and immunology have had a remarkable effect on human life. Technological developments have also led to medical progress. There is however a backlash: the continuously expanding contact have brought to existence hitherto unknown or undocumented diseases - often introduced as emerging diseases. The control of emerging in the year 2000 and beyond may, for the greater part, depend on the optimal use of the Internet, as well as all other forms of advanced telecommunications, integrating a multidisciplinary approach. The new diseases would require at one point or the other the timely and invaluable inputs of the veterinarian and other health care professionals This review is an attempt to examine the vast data available on the internet in respect of zoonoses in order to further understanding and control method: an extensive and continuous search of material on the WWW is attempted. Various search engines were used in searching for relevant key words associated with the topic the discussions and digests of various news groups on the net were (and are still being) analysed in order to glean for current unfolding disease patterns and the reaction of the immediate reaction of the internet medical community to upto date information as well as the integration of the public health veterinarian as and at when required. sites were examined for details on: disease reporting; diagnoses; prevention/prophylaxis; public translation of research findings; integration of various disciplines; culture. RESULTS: Preliminary results indicate a relative progress in the integration of public health veterinarians as well as other professionals in various areas of emerging disease control. this was however more pronounced in the west. Most news groups are homologous with medical doctors being attached only to medical news groups. Very few veterinarians were found in the medical news groups. There was a direct relation between the increase in new emerging diseases and the ever expanding encroachment of our forests by tourists and farmers. Public translation of research data as well as public awareness seems to be low. DISCUSSION: Harnessing the vast potentials of the Internet vis a vis the control of emerging diseases will require the harmonisation of a lot of health input/sources on the WWW. Public health curricula should be revised to aid integration of the medical and veterinary profession

Insights into the ancestry evolution of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from analysis of Mycobacterium riyadhense

International audienceCurrent evolutionary scenarios posit the emergence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from an environmental saprophyte through a cumulative process of genome adaptation. Mycobacterium riyadhense, a related bacillus, is being increasingly isolated from human clinical cases with tuberculosis-like symptoms in various parts of the world. To elucidate the evolutionary relationship between M. riyadhense and other mycobacterial species, including members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC), eight clinical isolates of M. riyadhense were sequenced and analyzed. We show, among other features, that M. riyadhense shares a large number of conserved orthologs with M. tuberculosis and shows the expansion of toxin/antitoxin pairs, PE/PPE family proteins compared with other non-tuberculous mycobacteria. We observed M. riyadhense lacks wecE gene which may result in the absence of lipooligosaccharides (LOS) IV. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of infected macrophages reveals genes encoding inducers of Type I IFN responses, such as cytosolic DNA sensors, were relatively less expressed by macrophages infected with M. riyadhense or M. kansasii, compared to BCG or M. tuberculosis. Overall, our work sheds new light on the evolution of M. riyadhense, its relationship to the MTBC, and its potential as a system for the study of mycobacterial virulence and pathogenesis

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Bats, Saudi Arabia

The source of human infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus remains unknown. Molecular investigation indicated that bats in Saudi Arabia are infected with several alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses. Virus from 1 bat showed 100% nucleotide identity to virus from the human index case-patient. Bats might play a role in human infection