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Extreme Pathogens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

S. E. Miller  and
D. N. Howell
S. E. Miller
Affiliation:
Departments of Microbiology and Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710
D. N. Howell
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, and , V. A. Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27705
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Extract

Organisms are generally designated as “extreme” when they possess adaptations that allow them to flourish when one or more environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, ionizing radiation, oxygen, water, nutrients, inorganic ions) are at unusually high or low levels. A trade-off for this extraordinary resilience is that such organisms often grow poorly (if at all) in more conventional milieus. As a result, few of them are mammalian pathogens. (Anaerobic bacteria, which frequently thrive in the hypoxic conditions afforded by devitalized tissue, are an exception to this rule.)

A broader definition of “extremity” encompasses all organisms that occupy narrow or unusual environmental niches. In this more inclusive scheme, a wealth of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites with pathogenic potential in humans can be considered extreme. These organisms often pose formidable diagnostic challenges. Many have extremely narrow host ranges, rendering passage in animals and development of model systems for infection difficult or impossible.

Type
Microorganisms: The Good, The Bad, The Unusual
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 6 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis 2000, Microscopy Society of America 58th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 34th Annual Meeting, Microscopical Society of Canada/Societe de Microscopie de Canada 27th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania August 13-17, 2000 , August 2000 , pp. 638 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

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