The culling of badgers in the UK has been a hotly debated topic over recent months. Many local governments are under the impression that these culls may, in fact, decrease the spread of Mycobacterium bovis from badger to cattle (Donnelly, et al., 2005). M.bovis is a bacterium that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle. Bovine TB is zoonotic and is easily transmitted from cattle to humans, the incidence rate of which is thought to have increased since the 1980’s (Woodroffe, et al., 2006). It
INTRODUCTION Epidemiology Soil-transmitted helminth infections are gotten through contact with soil contaminated with infected feces. STH infections were once common throughout the world, including the United States, and some occurrence are still seen in the U.S. each year. With proper sanitation, these infections are now common only in poorer countries. More than four billion people are at high risk throughout the world, with over one billion individuals already infected. The greatest numbers
Nevertheless, several crucial leaps were made in the medical field during the Victorian Era that helped to curb the toll of tuberculosis on society. Tuberculosis is a potentially lethal, contagious disease, mainly caused by a bacterium known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Mtb. This
The Mycobacterium bovis microbes were transferred from cattle to humans through the consumption of milk (Koehler). The first instances of TB found in bones coincide with the domestication and use of livestock for milk, making this a likely explanation. At around 1000 BCE, the strain of TB changed and became the pulmonary TB we know today, and that we attest to the microbe Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis is spread through droplets
Chapter I General Introduction A. Bacterial nucleoid Bacteria lacks nucleus and other membrane bound organelles. Hence all the cellular components, including proteins, DNA, RNA and other compounds are located within inside the cytosol. The region of the cell which encompasses the bacterial genomic DNA is termed ‘Nucleoid’. Nucleoid is composed largely of DNA and small amounts of proteins and RNA (Dillon and Dorman, 2010; Dorman, 2014a; Thanbichler et al., 2005). The genomic DNA is organized for