CAS BI 114 Lecture 16: BI114 Infectious Diseases and the Global Environment
30 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Infectious Diseases and the Global Environment:
Global Climate Change
•Increasing the overall annual temperature
•Increasing the incidence of extreme weather events (ex: major “named” storms)
Examples of impacts on Infectious Disease:
•Mild Winters: increase in tick population
•Severe Winters: decrease in bat population —> increase in mosquito population —> vector borne
illness (ex: lyme disease, West Nile Virus, Eastern Encephalitis)
•Warm Winters: more cholera outbreaks
•Increased range of Aedes Mosquitoes - Dengue observed for the first time in Florida
•Wet Winters: increase in certain plant life —> increase in certain mouse populations —> increase in
Hanta virus infection
How can microbes help reverse these trends? Compost, Bioremediation, Sewage/Wastewater Treatment
Ubiquity of Bacteria
•Bacteria and, to a lesser degree, Viruses and Fungi are everywhere
•Found on every surface, person, animal, food, clothing, etc.
•Roughly 1 in every 50,000 bacteria cause disease
Cleaner is better?
•Risk is minimal, but isn’t no risk better than minimal risk?
•Let’s sterilize everything!
•Not a great method because…
•Antibiotic Resistance (bacteria will learn how to fight specific drugs)
•Immune System (will be stronger if we have constant confrontation)
•Healthy Microbiome (promotes competition between healthy bacteria and harmful bacteria)
Ecology
•Symbiosis - an interdependent of mutually beneficial relationship between two individuals or species
•Not only do we live in intimate contact with microbes but we depend on them (ex: penicillin
antibiotics, vitamins, supplements, foods)
•We all use and consume biological products made by microbes (ex:sugars, enzymes and proteins)
•Fermented products/Risen breads are made using yeasts and bacteria to transform the ingredients
into something new
•As humans we have been using microbes and their products forever (ex: Streptococcus genus make
the enzyme streptokinase, Aspergillus/Candida genus make citric acid)
•Our lives and diets are dependent on the work of microbes
Microbes in Medicine and Food
•We use microbes to make new products as well
•Bacteria and Viruses are masters of genetic recombination, using genetic material from two different
sources to make something new
•We use bacteria and viruses to do this for us and engineer new products (ex: engineer plasmids)
•Bacteriophages can function as antibiotics
•Gene Therapy: viruses are experts at delivering genetic material to cells and “fixing” genetic
disease
•Bacteria can deliver drugs to “hard to reach spots” in the body
•Anaerobic bacterial species have been modified to deliver products to low O2 environments (ex:
tumors)
What is a Biome?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
•Biome - areas of the earth where the environmental factors are similar so that particular groups of
species and survive and thrive
•Biomes/Ecosystems are made up of many different species and organisms that exist in a tangled,
interconnected web
•Climate/Geography/Symbiosis are interweaved
•For every 1 human cell in the body there are 10 microbial cells
ex: Case Study: Wolves in Yellowstone
•Wolf hunting lead to wolf elimination in the 1920s
•By decreasing wolf population there was in increase in deer and elk population
•By increasing deer and elk population there was a a decrease in plant life (herbivores)
•By decreasing plant live this changed fungal and microbial populations that were found in soils,
wood, water
•By changing fungal and microbial populations this decreased the beaver population
•By decreasing the beaver population this decreased the amount of dams created
•This ultimately effected human water supply
Important Message
•Ecological home factors (both biotic and abiotic) determine species survival
•It is a tangle web and almost impossible to predict all the repercussions
•The human body is an ecosystem with species-species interacts and biotic and abiotic factors that
influence them
•Biotic - a living factor (ex: bacterial species)
•Abiotic - a nonliving factor (ex: rain, temperature)
Our Ecosystem
•The human microbiome is incredibly complex
•In reality there are several ecosystems (ex: there are vast differences between the gut microbiome and
the skin microbiome)
•At average, we each carry around 1000 species
•Both conscious and unconscious changes can have big impacts on the species within us which can
impact us
Human Microbiome
•The diversity of microbial species that live in/on us
•They influence: metabolism, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, behavior, autism, GI disease, allergies,
autoimmunity, cancer
Human Microbiome Project
•National Heath push to increase research within the human microbiome
•5 different microbial ecosystems within the body: Nose, Mouth, Skin, Gut, Urogenital
•Environmental factors that influence our biome:
•Nose - pollen, weather, work environment, nasal sprays, flu
•Mouth - food, cigarettes, kissing, dental hygiene
•Skin - products, sun exposure, clothes, tattoos, sweating, exercise routine
•Gut (small & large intestine) - medicines, probiotics/prebiotics, alcohol consumption, hydration,
•Urogenital - sexual contact, bathroom usage, clothes, menstruation, childbirth, birth-control/
hormones
Importance of the Gut Microbiota
•99% of our microbiome is in the gut
•Majority of established knowledge is here
•All healthy adults share most of the same gut bacterial species - core microbiota
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Global climate change: increasing the overall annual temperature, increasing the incidence of extreme weather events (ex: major named storms) Ubiquity of bacteria: bacteria and, to a lesser degree, viruses and fungi are everywhere, found on every surface, person, animal, food, clothing, etc, roughly 1 in every 50,000 bacteria cause disease. Human microbiome: the diversity of microbial species that live in/on us, they influence: metabolism, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, behavior, autism, gi disease, allergies, autoimmunity, cancer. Where do we get our micro-biome: largely established in the first 3 years of life, 1. Where we"ve been: c-sections (through skin) vs. Vaginal birth (through vaginal canal: longer lactobacillus - lower changes of skin diseases (ex: eczema, skin-to-skin contact with parents, home environment (ex: pets, breast milk, ex: when are solid foods introduced, 2. Our healthy micro biome promotes healing, decreases inflammation and autoimmune reactions (ex: asthma, eczema) How scared should i be about : the next human pandemic, relatively scared.
