‘Bacterial vampirism’: Deadly pathogens attracted to human blood, study finds – National | 24CA News
Some of the world’s most threatening micro organism exhibit a peculiar longing for human blood, a discovery shedding new gentle on the mechanics of bloodstream infections and doable remedies.
Termed “bacterial vampirism” by researchers, this phenomenon, detailed in a research revealed Tuesday within the journal eLife, discovered that sure micro organism are drawn to the liquid element of blood, referred to as serum, the place they scavenge for important vitamins.
“This chemical that’s in our blood that we use for food is also something that these pathogenic bacteria recognize as food… they are attracted to human blood and that’s why they’re swimming towards it,” defined Arden Baylink, a professor at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and corresponding writer for the analysis.
“This includes a lot of bacteria that people are probably familiar with… E coli and salmonella,” he advised Global News.
The micro organism the researchers checked out are referred to as multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, which the World Health Organization has labelled “priority pathogens.” These pathogens belong to a bunch of 12 bacterial households deemed essentially the most important menace to human well being due to their antibiotic resistance, the WHO acknowledged.
Enterobacterales may also be “opportunistic pathogens that cause different types of infections such as urinary tract infections, pyelonephritis, sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis,” in accordance with Health Canada.
The researchers found that at the very least three sorts of Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, generally present in individuals’s intestinal tracts — salmonella, E. coli and Citrobacter koseri — are drawn to human blood.
Baylink defined that folks with inflammatory bowel illnesses (IBD), equivalent to Crohn’s illness and ulcerative colitis, are notably weak to those micro organism, which usually reside within the intestine.
“For normal healthy people, they’re not going to be exposed to a lot of blood in the intestinal tract. But there are certain individuals where they’re at higher risk,” he mentioned.
“There are some people that have chronic bleeding within their intestinal tract. These people, including those with inflammatory bowel disease, basically have little cuts inside of their intestines that are bleeding. Potentially that source of blood could be a food source for these pathogens.”
And finally, Baylink mentioned, micro organism moving into the bloodstream may cause demise.
What is ‘bacterial vampirism’?
While it’s acknowledged that folks with IBD are at an elevated danger of an infection, understanding the exact mechanisms that make these micro organism extra more likely to enter the bloodstream stays a problem, he mentioned.
So the researchers at Washington State University needed to dig deeper.
To do that, the crew used a high-powered microscope and simulated intestinal bleeding by injecting microscopic quantities of human serum and watching because the micro organism navigated towards the supply.
“Bacteria are microscopic organisms and they do not have eyes and they do not have the ability to hear. But they actually do have something analogous to the sense of smell. And so the sense of smell that bacteria have is this behaviour called chemotaxis. A main function of chemotaxis is they look for food,” Baylink mentioned.
“So if you can imagine these bacteria are swimming around, they’re using this behaviour called chemotaxis to be able to seek out nutrients.”
It seems there’s a chemical in our blood, serum, that gives a wealthy reservoir of vitamins for micro organism: sugars and amino acids and important metals like iron and zinc. One of the chemical substances the micro organism appeared notably drawn to was serine, an amino acid present in human blood that can also be a typical ingredient in protein drinks.
When the researchers regarded on the outcomes by means of the microscope, Baylink mentioned they have been “very surprised,” noting that the micro organism appeared to eat our blood.
“Within seconds they are clearly moving toward it, and in one minute there’s an absolute swarm of them at the source. So there’s really no question that they’re highly attracted to the serum,” he mentioned.
This thirst for blood is why the crew referred to as the micro organism “bacterial vampirism.”
Given that the micro organism the researchers examined are recognized to own multidrug-resistant strains, the researchers emphasize the essential want for creating new therapies sooner or later.
“To develop new therapeutics, we have to come up with strategies about how we might be able to block their infection,” Baylink mentioned.
“The idea is that this kind of research can potentially, in the future, lead to new therapeutics. And, that could potentially lower the risk of these bacteria being able to enter the bloodstream.”
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