Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bulky biofilms found in kids' ears
news@nature.com ^ | 11 July 2006 | Helen Pearson

Posted on 07/11/2006 9:21:52 PM PDT by neverdem

news@nature.com - the best science journalism on the web Close window



Published online: 11 July 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060710-6

Bulky biofilms found in kids' ears

Drug-resistant bugs argue against use of antibiotics.

Helen Pearson




Nasty bugs: ear infections may hold bugs in tough biofilms that are hard to treat.© Punchstock
Bacteria clumped into tough biofilms are behind the widespread and persistent ear infections that vex kids, researchers have confirmed, supporting the idea that deploying antibiotics against these conditions is futile.

The middle-ear inflammation called otitis media is the most common reason for children's doctor visits and antibiotic prescriptions in the United States alone. Some are acute infections that clear up rapidly with a dose of antibiotics. But others persist for weeks or months, and doctors have struggled to pin down their cause because it is hard to extract and culture microbes from the ear.

Now researchers have confirmed that bacteria are indeed to blame, but they are clustered into biofilms that are almost impossible to grow in the laboratory and are impervious to antibiotics.

"We need to start thinking about ear infection in a different way," says Joseph Kerschner, one of the lead researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Listen up

Researchers began to suspect that biofilms were responsible for chronic middle-ear infections more than a decade ago, when they pulled out telltale traces of bacterial DNA from the ears of patients.

To prove it, Kerschner and his colleagues painstakingly collected minuscule tissue samples from the ears of 26 children with either a recurring or a chronic ear infection. They added stains that would highlight several species of bacteria and then pieced together three-dimensional images under the microscope.

The team found that 92% of infected ears harboured biofilms containing many different types of microbe. Samples taken from the ears of eight healthy children and adults showed no sign of biofilms. The researchers publish their results in the Journal of the American Medical Association1.

The finding strengthens the argument that prescribing antibiotics in the face of chronic infection is pointless, as some doctors already know. Many long-term ear infections are treated instead by surgically inserting a small tube that, the authors of the study now suggest, may help to disrupt the biofilm.

It is even possible that treating acute infections with antibiotics could encourage the survival of hardy microbes. "It may push them to adopt a biofilm mode," says Garth Ehrlich, at the Allegheny-Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, who co-authored the paper. The idea has not been extensively tested, however.

Targeted attack

Researchers would now like to probe these infectious biofilms to find more effective treatments.

One plan is to identify exactly which of their 40 or 50 species provoke the most inflammation, says biofilm expert Bill Costerton of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Drugs could then target specific microbes or block them from forming biofilms. Or probiotic therapy could inoculate the nose and ear with healthy bacteria to keep malicious ones from gaining a foothold.

The study adds to a list of chronic infections now attributed to bacterial biofilms, including inflammation of the prostate gland and the lung infections that plague sufferers of cystic fibrosis. "We're sure many other chronic conditions will turn out to be biofilms as well," says Ehrlich, such as those in sinus infections and burn wounds.

Visit our newsblog to read and post comments about this story.

 Top
References

  1. Stoodley L.H., et al. J. Am. Med. Assoc., 296. 202 - 211 (2006).

 Top

Story from news@nature.com:
http://news.nature.com//news/2006/060710/060710-6.html

Nature Publishing Group, publisher of Nature, and other science journals and reference works © 2006 Nature Publishing Group | Privacy policy


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: health; medicine; otitismedia
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last
Direct Detection of Bacterial Biofilms on the Middle-Ear Mucosa of Children With Chronic Otitis Media
1 posted on 07/11/2006 9:21:54 PM PDT by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem
I did research on the biofilm growing on the inside of waterpipes. There's plenty of critters growing there. Should you be scared? No, not really.

On a related note, I showed this film in grad school about fungal infections. this kid in the film got an infection on a slip n' slide that ate part of his skull in a couple of days. He lived, but he obviously had a weakened immune system.

It's a crazy world. Someone ought to sell tickets.
2 posted on 07/11/2006 9:28:35 PM PDT by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mysterio

new tagline...


3 posted on 07/11/2006 9:30:11 PM PDT by null and void (It's a crazy world. Someone ought to sell tickets.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: null and void

Credit "Raising Arizona."


4 posted on 07/11/2006 9:31:59 PM PDT by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
Mice born from stem-cell sperm

Genetic Engineering Fuses Spider Silk and Silica

Novel nanocomposites from spider silk–silica fusion (chimeric) proteins the whole magilla in HTML.

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

5 posted on 07/11/2006 9:33:08 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mysterio
Clostridium histolyticum can reduce a human thigh down to just bone and a veneer of skin overnight. A hot strain of Yersinia Pestis can kill you in a few hours. There's plenty of dangerous bacteria. My own lungs look like hell after surviving a round of coccidiomycosis. My grad school professor insisted that we all get a skin test for tuberculosis and coccidiomycosis. My TB test disappeared as usual, but the cocciomycosis test flared into a patch almost 5 inches across. A lung X ray revealed the classic amorphous patterns of walled off infection wrapped in calcium.
6 posted on 07/11/2006 9:47:16 PM PDT by Myrddin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mysterio

Somewheres I read the actual number of bacteria the average human has compared to his own cells is like a hundred to one ratio or some fantastic amount!


7 posted on 07/11/2006 10:01:33 PM PDT by djf (I'm not Islamophobic. But I am bombophobic. Same thing, I guess...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Food grade H2O2 properly diluted, or even regular "drug store" H202 will clear up almost any ear infection. 8000mg/day (for 3 days) of vitamin C will also work.


8 posted on 07/11/2006 10:15:20 PM PDT by JSteff
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Myrddin

Sheesh! You are a lot better speler than me and I bet you can pronounce those really big words too. :>)


9 posted on 07/11/2006 10:23:17 PM PDT by TaMoDee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: JSteff

Bookmarking.
Where can I fond this?


10 posted on 07/11/2006 10:23:46 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: RandallFlagg

fond=find

I'm at work and the brain isn't with me.


11 posted on 07/11/2006 10:25:09 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: TaMoDee
Sheesh! You are a lot better speler than me and I bet you can pronounce those really big words too. :>)

You can't go to bed until you pronounce the following Welsh word properly:

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

That's a little more trouble than my favorite bacterium from the Russian steppes: Ectothiorhodospira shaposhnikovii

12 posted on 07/11/2006 10:41:24 PM PDT by Myrddin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: JSteff

I suffered through my early childhood with frequent ear infections culminating in tonsil and adenoid removal.

By the time I had children I had learned a lot about therapeutic nutrition, and sucessfully controlled my colds and allergies with Vitamin C among other nutrients. When my children exhibited signs of similar ear problems I started giving them weight appropriate quantities of therapeutic doses of Vitamin C. [If you want to know what those are check out reference materials in a good health food store.] For nighttime I would fix a baby bottle with 8 oz of water, 1000 miligrams of Vitamin C, 1/4 teaspoon of powdered garlic, and a heaping teaspoonful of honey. When they would get congested and wake up at night drinking part of the bottle would clear up the congestion and open the eustacian (sp) tubes to drain the middle ear and they would go back to sleep. We seldom had to take them to the doctor after instituting this regimen. Vitamin C is anti inflamatory and antihistaminic. Garlic is anti infective. Honey "makes the medicine go down."


13 posted on 07/11/2006 11:04:10 PM PDT by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: mysterio

A really good anti infective that gets no publicity because it is so cheap is Zephirin Chloride 750:1 dilution. I used the the same bottle for 12 years and it kills all kinds of surface infection. My baby had thrush (yeast infection in the mouth) and the doctor perscribed an expensive antibiotic that I had to swab his mouth out with 4 times a day. He absolutely hated it and fussed terribly. When I ran out I asked the Dr. if there was something else I could use and he recommended the Zepherin. This I used twice a day, they baby didn't mind it much and it cleared the thrush after 3 days. After that I used it for cuts, pimples, rashes, etc. to great effect.


14 posted on 07/11/2006 11:11:30 PM PDT by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: neverdem; All

Do kids still get potatoes growing in their ears?


15 posted on 07/11/2006 11:24:30 PM PDT by olde north church (Everybody's talking 'bout a two-way woman.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

In a few years time we probably know how to disrupt the quoring sensing system for the bugs that will prevent or dissolve the biofilm. This will be a big step forward as the bacteria are very difficult to get rid of then they are in a biofilm; up to 1000 times higher concentration of antibiotics are sometimes required.


16 posted on 07/12/2006 1:46:24 AM PDT by AdmSmith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith

here is a link http://library.albany.edu/science/newinsci_quorum_sensing.htm


17 posted on 07/12/2006 1:53:08 AM PDT by AdmSmith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: gleeaikin

Where do you get Zephirin Chloride and how do you use it?


18 posted on 07/12/2006 2:15:23 AM PDT by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
This is very interesting:

Nanowires common in bacteria?
By Charles Q. Choi

Microbes may use electrically conductive nanowires to help transport electrons


[Published 11th July 2006 06:26 PM GMT]

The practice of sprouting electrically conductive nanowires from the cell for electron transfer could be common across bacteria, not just those that reduce metal, scientists reported this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). These findings, which appear to contradict a finding from an earlier study, could have broad implications for how microbes living in communities and biofilms distribute energy, affecting both ecology and human health, according to a study author.

"It's not yet certain how far-reaching these structures are, but as a strategy to transfer electrons in a community structure we could investigate whether or not [nanowires] are found in all kinds of biofilms, from marine sediments to ones in Yellowstone to biofilms of pathogens, like in cystic fibrosis or tuberculosis," coauthor Yuri Gorby at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., told The Scientist.

As bacteria generate energy in the form of ATP, they must rid themselves of electrons. In 2005, Derek Lovley and his colleagues reported metal-reducing bacteria such as Geobacter sulfurreducens produce electrically conductive nanowires that apparently can help transfer electrons beyond the cell. Lovley's team found nanowires in one other metal-reducing bacterium (Shewanella oneidensis) and one non-metal-reducing bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa), but they appeared nonconductive.

There are instances when it makes sense for non-metal-reducing bacteria to produce conductive nanowires, Gordy and his team reasoned. For instance, cyanobacteria join carbon dioxide with electrons generated during photosynthesis to create organic compounds, and these bacteria might need to get rid of extra electrons when cultivated under limited carbon dioxide. Previous studies may have missed nanowires because bacteria in biofilms are surrounded by masses of matter that may have obscured the picture, Gorby said.

Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and tunneling spectroscopy, the researchers found the photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechocystis, when grown under limited carbon dioxide, sprouted nanowires tens of microns long in bundles 50 to 150 nanometers in diameter that were highly electrically conductive.

"It's very impressive work. The microscopy demonstrates very well the existence and function of these nanowires," James Tiedje at Michigan State University, not a coauthor, told The Scientist.

The researchers also observed highly electrically conductive wires 10 to 20 nanometers across that were produced by the thermophilic fermentative bacterium Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum. The fact that two different types of bacteria generate nanowires "suggests nanowires may be broadly distributed across many groups," Gorby said.

The ridged nanowire bundles Synechocystis produced bore a striking resemblance to electrically conductive appendages observed in the metal-reducing bacteria Shewanella oneidensis. Although Lovley and his team said the Shewanella wires were not electrically conductive, the wires are very fragile, Gorby noted, which could have muddied measurements of their conductivity.

Lovley, however, suggested that each team might be talking about different nanowires from Shewanella. "Theirs are 30 to 50 times larger in diameter," he told The Scientist.

Gorby and his colleagues also found that Shewanella mutants lacking genes for two electron transport proteins known as cytochromes displayed poorly conductive nanowires, as did mutants lacking a functional Type II secretion pathway, which helps transport cytochromes to their proper places in the cell.

However, this mutant data does not present a convincing argument that cytochromes are involved in conductivity, Lovley noted. He said the authors should also conduct genetic studies to better identify the composition of these structures, as well as complementation studies that reintroduce wild-type variants of genes linked to nanowires into mutants lacking those genes, to see if function was restored.

Daniel Bond at the University of Minnesota collaborates with both Lovley and Gorby, but did not participate in either study. He agreed that "there are a lot of strong feelings about this paper," and some researchers deem some of the evidence "circumstantial rather than confirmatory." Still, the STM imaging is convincing, he added, and the findings make sense. "Proteins are only capable of electron transfer over only short distances, and to get a bulky cell and bulky protein within nanometers or angstroms of a surface is hard, but to make a flexible appendage that can reach out solves a lot of problems," he said.

Charles Q. Choi
cchoi@the-scientist.com
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/daily/23924/
19 posted on 07/12/2006 3:14:58 AM PDT by AdmSmith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Interesting--having suffered from similar ear infections in childhood, I can relate. Also the comment about chronic prostate infection (been fighting one for two years now--but FINALLY seem to be making headway against it--thanks to the internet).


20 posted on 07/12/2006 5:10:23 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson