Electron microscopy and serological features of a patient with Q fever prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Isalska, B.; Curry, Alan; Stanbridge, T. N.; Tweddle, DA; Caul, E.O.

doi:10.1136/jcp.49.8.679

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Most pathologic descriptions of Q fever endocarditis are based on individual case reports or series with few patients [7,[10][11][12][13][14]32]. In this study, the largest cohort of patients with Q fever endocarditis was investigated at the histopathologic level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cardiac Valves in Patients with Q Fever Endocarditis: Microbiological, Molecular, and Histologic Studies

et al. 2003

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The pathologic features of Q fever endocarditis, which is caused by Coxiella burnetii, were histologically evaluated in cardiac valves from 28 patients. We used quantitative image analysis to compare valvular fibrosis, calcifications, vegetations, inflammation, and vascularization due to Q fever endocarditis with that due to non-Q fever endocarditis and valvular degeneration. We also studied the presence of C. burnetii in valves by immunohistochemical analysis, culture, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Histologically, Q fever endocarditis was characterized by significant fibrosis and calcifications, slight inflammation and vascularization, and small or absent vegetations. Despite antibiotic treatment, non-statistically significant variations at the histologic level were observed. These pathologic features could be confused with noninfectious valvular degenerative damage. We found that the detection of C. burnetii in cardiac valves by immunohistochemical analysis, culture, and PCR decreased significantly only after 1 year of antibiotic treatment, which emphasizes the long persistence of this organism in valve tissues. Pathologic and immunohistochemical analyses may contribute to the diagnosis of Q fever endocarditis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cardiac Valves in Patients with Q Fever Endocarditis: Microbiological, Molecular, and Histologic Studies

et al. 2003

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“…Electron microscopy improved knowledge of viruses (23) and bacteria (24), with the assistance of greatly improved resolution. Nevertheless, electron microscopy has been used more in bacterial research to observe microorganisms for the first time, to study the structure and function of cells (25), or by environmental microbiologists (26)(27)(28).…”

Section: Detection Of Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rebirth of Culture in Microbiology through the Example of Culturomics To Study Human Gut Microbiota

et al. 2015

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SUMMARY Bacterial culture was the first method used to describe the human microbiota, but this method is considered outdated by many researchers. Metagenomics studies have since been applied to clinical microbiology; however, a “dark matter” of prokaryotes, which corresponds to a hole in our knowledge and includes minority bacterial populations, is not elucidated by these studies. By replicating the natural environment, environmental microbiologists were the first to reduce the “great plate count anomaly,” which corresponds to the difference between microscopic and culture counts. The revolution in bacterial identification also allowed rapid progress. 16S rRNA bacterial identification allowed the accurate identification of new species. Mass spectrometry allowed the high-throughput identification of rare species and the detection of new species. By using these methods and by increasing the number of culture conditions, culturomics allowed the extension of the known human gut repertoire to levels equivalent to those of pyrosequencing. Finally, taxonogenomics strategies became an emerging method for describing new species, associating the genome sequence of the bacteria systematically. We provide a comprehensive review on these topics, demonstrating that both empirical and hypothesis-driven approaches will enable a rapid increase in the identification of the human prokaryote repertoire.

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“…Parvoviruses are 21-26 nm in diameter. microscopy (Isalska et al, 1996). However, such use of electron microscopy is not routine.…”

Section: ) Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of transmission electron microscopy to the clinical study of viral and bacterial infections: Present and future

Curry

Appleton²,

Dowsett

2006

Micron

111

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Transmission electron microscopy has had a profound impact on our knowledge and understanding of viruses and bacteria. The 1000-fold improvement in resolution provided by electron microscopy (EM) has allowed visualization of viruses, the existence of which had previously only been suspected as the causative agents of transmissible infectious disease. Viruses are grouped into families based on their morphology. Viruses from different families look different and these morphological variances are the basis for identification of viruses by EM. Electron microscopy initially came to prominence in diagnostic microbiology in the late 1960s when it was used in the rapid diagnosis of smallpox, by differentiating, on a morphological basis, poxviruses from the less problematic herpesviruses in skin lesions. Subsequently, the technique was employed in the diagnosis of other viral infections, such as hepatitis B and parvovirus B19. Electron microscopy has led to the discovery of many new viruses, most notably the various viruses associated with gastroenteritis, for which it remained the principal diagnostic method until fairly recent times. Development of molecular techniques, which offer greater sensitivity and often the capacity to easily process large numbers of samples, has replaced EM in many areas of diagnostic virology. Hence the role of EM in clinical virology is evolving with less emphasis on diagnosis and more on research, although this is likely only to be undertaken in specialist centres. However, EM still offers tremendous advantages to the microbiologist, both in the speed of diagnosis and the potential for detecting, by a single test, any viral pathogen or even multiple pathogens present within a sample. There is continuing use of EM for the investigation of new and emerging agents, such as SARS and human monkeypox virus. Furthermore, EM forms a vital part of the national emergency response programme of many countries and will provide a frontline diagnostic service in the event of a bioterrorism incident, particularly in the scenario of a deliberate release of smallpox virus. In the field of bacteriology, EM is of little use diagnostically, although some bacterial pathogens can be identified in biopsy material processed for EM examination. Electron microscopy has been used, however, to elucidate the structure and function of many bacterial features, such as flagellae, fimbriae and spores and in the study of bacteriophages. The combined use of EM and gold-labelled antibodies provides a powerful tool for the ultrastructural localisation of bacterial and viral antigens.

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Electron microscopy and serological features of a patient with Q fever prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Cardiac Valves in Patients with Q Fever Endocarditis: Microbiological, Molecular, and Histologic Studies

Cardiac Valves in Patients with Q Fever Endocarditis: Microbiological, Molecular, and Histologic Studies

The Rebirth of Culture in Microbiology through the Example of Culturomics To Study Human Gut Microbiota

Application of transmission electron microscopy to the clinical study of viral and bacterial infections: Present and future

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