Rickettsia Australis

	Rickettsia Australis ''Rickettsia australis'' is a bacterium that causes a medical condition called Queensland tick typhus. The probable vectors are the tick species, ''Ixodes holocyclus'' and '' Ixodes tasmani''. Small marsupials are suspected reservoirs of this bacterium. Early Scientific History In 1946 this bacterium was discovered and isolated as a new tick-borne illness that began to present in Australian soldiers stationed in northern Queensland. This illness was designated as the North Queensland tick typhus. From here, researchers began to continue this work. After many experiments were completed, such as cross-protection and serological assays in guinea pigs, it was concluded that the isolate previously seen in 1946 was a new addition to the spotted fever group. Although it wasn’t until 1950 when the organism was officially discovered and named ''Rickettsia australis'' by a scientist with the surname Philip. Role in Human Disease ''Rickettsia australis'' causes Queensland tick typhu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic rela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Queensland Tick Typhus Queensland tick typhus is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium ''Rickettsia australis''. It is transmitted by the ticks ''Ixodes holocyclus'' and '' Ixodes tasmani''. Signs and symptoms Queensland tick typhus is a tick-borne disease. Onset of the illness is variable; there is an incubation period of 2 to 14 days after being bitten by the infected tick. The clinical features of this illness include fever, headache, an eschar at the site of the tick bite, erythematous eruption and satellite lymphadenopathy. Queensland tick typhus symptomatically resembles Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a less severe tick-borne disease. If left untreated for longer than one to two weeks, the disease can take longer to recover from and pose a heightened risk of pneumonitis, encephalitis, septic shock, or even death. In some cases, even after the initial rash is cleared, the person may still experience prolonged lethargy or fatigue, which is common in such rickettsial infections. Causes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Ixodes Holocyclus ''Ixodes holocyclus'', commonly known as the Australian paralysis tick, is one of about 75 species in the Australian tick fauna and is considered the most medically important. It can cause paralysis by injecting neurotoxins into its host. It is usually found in a 20-kilometre wide band following the eastern coastline of Australia. Within this range ''Ixodes holocyclus'' is the tick most frequently encountered by humans and their pets. As this area also contains Australia's most densely populated regions, bites on people, pets and livestock are relatively common. Paralysis ticks are found in many types of habitat particularly areas of high rainfall such as wet sclerophyll forest and temperate rainforest. The natural hosts for the paralysis tick include koalas, bandicoots, possums and kangaroos. Common names The use of common names has led to many colloquial expressions for ''Ixodes holocyclus''. The most generally accepted name used within Australia is ''Australian paralysis ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
	Ixodes Tasmani ''Ixodes tasmani'', colloquially known as the common marsupial tick, is an Australian species of hard-bodied tick. It is a common vector for certain pathogens. There are around 70 species of ticks found in Australia, 16 of which, ''Ixodes tasmani'' included, are able to parasitize humans. Taxonomy The ''Ixodes tasmani'' was formally described in 1899 by the French parasitologist Louis Georges Neumann. He chose the specific epithet to honour the memory of the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman who had discovered Tasmania. Anatomy, life cycle and behavior ''Ixodes tasmani'' exhibits a few anatomical differences compared to other ticks species. The most important is that they tend to have a much shorter mouthpiece, and to compensate for this, this species can produce cement that attaches them more firmly to their host. ''Ixodes tasmani's'' entire life cycle can be completed in as little as four months. It has been found on 42 species of hosts, with most being the Australian marsupi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Marsupials Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a pouch. Marsupials include opossums, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, bandicoots, and the extinct thylacine. Marsupials represent the clade originating from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, the group containing all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. They give birth to relatively undeveloped young that often reside in a pouch located on their mothers' abdomen for a certain amount of time. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur on the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). The remaining 30% are found in the Americas—primarily in South America, thirteen in Central America, and one species, the Virginia opossum, in North Ameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Base-pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA and RNA. Dictated by specific hydrogen bonding patterns, "Watson–Crick" (or "Watson–Crick–Franklin") base pairs (guanine–cytosine and adenine–thymine) allow the DNA helix to maintain a regular helical structure that is subtly dependent on its nucleotide sequence. The complementary nature of this based-paired structure provides a redundant copy of the genetic information encoded within each strand of DNA. The regular structure and data redundancy provided by the DNA double helix make DNA well suited to the storage of genetic information, while base-pairing between DNA and incoming nucleotides provides the mechanism through which DNA polymerase replicates DNA and RNA polymerase transcribes DNA into RNA. Many DNA-binding proteins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Base Pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA and RNA. Dictated by specific hydrogen bonding patterns, "Watson–Crick" (or "Watson–Crick–Franklin") base pairs (guanine–cytosine and adenine–thymine) allow the DNA helix to maintain a regular helical structure that is subtly dependent on its nucleotide sequence. The complementary nature of this based-paired structure provides a redundant copy of the genetic information encoded within each strand of DNA. The regular structure and data redundancy provided by the DNA double helix make DNA well suited to the storage of genetic information, while base-pairing between DNA and incoming nucleotides provides the mechanism through which DNA polymerase replicates DNA and RNA polymerase transcribes DNA into RNA. Many DNA-binding prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]