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MICROBIOLOGY
CURRENT EVENTS
Sarah Fisher
Babies' Weak Immune Systems Let In
"Good" Bacteria
• Infants have notoriously weak
immune systems
• Study done by Sing Sing Way, an
infectious disease pediatrician shows
that their vulnerability is in place on
purpose so that beneficial microbes
can colonize in a baby’s stomach,
gut, skin, mouth and lungs
• By learning exactly how this system
works, Way believes it could be
manipulated to better the healthcare of
infants
• Way tested his theories on mice and
found that baby mice have a much
higher proportion of red blood cells
and a protein known as CD71 than do
adult mice
Babies' Weak Immune Systems Let In
"Good" Bacteria
• The CD71 cells were found to make it difficult for the mice
to fight off infection but are necessary to keep the mice’s
intestinal cells from becoming inflamed when coming in
contact with normal intestinal bacteria
• The same was found to be true for human babies—high amount of
CD71 found in the umbilical cord
• Another pediatrician, Ofer Levy says that, “reducing
inflammation must be the body’s main logic for initially
suppressing immunity”
Babies' Weak Immune Systems Let In
"Good" Bacteria
• Way and his colleagues are now looking into ways to
improve the treatment of newborn babies by manipulating
this new knowledge
• Way believes that if doctors were able to temporarily reduce the
number of CD71 cells in newborns it would allow for them to be
able to be vaccinated immediately after birth instead of months
later
• Could potentially aid in healthcare of premature babies as well—to
avoid necrotizing enterocolitis (when their intestines fall apart),
doctors could introduce them to active CD71 cells
Dear Evolution, Thanks for the Allergies
• Allergies were always seen as a misdirected immune
response
• New studies suggest that they are in fact a good thing
because they are the body’s way of protecting us against
harmful toxins in the environment
• Researchers found that just as with vaccination, initial
exposure to small doses of the snake or bee-sting
venoms lead to immune responses that produced
antibodies to fight off further attacks by the venom giving
mice a higher chance of survival the second time they
received the venom at much higher doses
Dear Evolution, Thanks for the Allergies
• Study suggested that mice receiving a
small initial dose of the venom
developed allergen-specific antibodies
• These antibodies then attach themselves to
cells throughout the body making them
ready to quickly react to any further
venoms
• Common allergy symptoms such as
itching, coughing or vomiting as a result
of exposure to an allergen are now
thought to signal that the body creating
a response to help you survive the
effects of 3these irritants in the future
• Study falls short: Doesn’t explain why
the immune system sometimes fatally
overreacts (anaphylaxis)
Flying the Coop: Antibiotic Resistance
Spreads to Birds, Other Wildlife
• According to a study done by Julie Ellis, a scientist at
Tuft’s University, crows posses a gene that makes them
resistant to antibiotics
• Drug-resistant infections are a widespread threat to
human health—at least 2 million people each year fall ill
to drug-resistant infections
• Due to overuse of antibiotics
• Julie Ellis’ study as well as those of other scientists
suggests that this threat is now spreading to wildlife as
well—could potentially quicken the spread of drug
resistant diseases
Flying the Coop: Antibiotic Resistance
Spreads to Birds, Other Wildlife
• Resistance genes have also been
detected in gulls, houseflies, moths,
foxes, frogs, sharks, whales and in
sand and coastal water samples from
California and Washington
• A professor at George Washington
University is concerned that we could
enter into a post-antibiotic era in
which our bodies are so resistant to
drugs that even routine infections
become dangerous
Bibliography
• Reardon, Sara. "Babies' Weak Immune Systems Let In "Good"
Bacteria: Scientific American." Babies' Weak Immune Systems Let In
"Good" Bacteria: Scientific American. Nature Magazine, 06 Nov.
2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
• "Dear Evolution, Thanks for the Allergies: Scientific American." Dear
Evolution, Thanks for the Allergies: Scientific American. Immunity, 14
Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
• Konkel, Lindsey. "Flying the Coop: Antibiotic Resistance Spreads to
Birds, Other Wildlife: Scientific American." Flying the Coop: Antibiotic
Resistance Spreads to Birds, Other Wildlife: Scientific American.
Environmental Health News, 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.