Gut Pathog
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is required to safely work with biological agents of bacterial (i.e. Mycobacterium tuberculosis) or viral origin (Ebola and SARS). COVID-19 pandemic especially has created unforeseen public health challenges including a global shortage of PPE needed for the safety of health care workers (HCWs). Although sufficient stocks of PPE are currently available, their critical shortage may develop soon due to increase in demand and depletion of existing supply lines. To empower our HCWs and ensure their continued protection, proactive measures are urgently required to develop procedures to safely decontaminate the PPEs to allow their "selective reuse" during contingency situations. ⋯ Our study, therefore, successfully establishes the utility of VHP to effectively disinfect PPE for a possible reuse as per the requirements. VHP treatment did not damage coveralls, cause physical deformity and also did not alter fabric architecture of melt blown layer. We observed that disinfection process was successful consistently and therefore believe that the VHP-based decontamination model will have a universal applicability and utility. This process can be easily and economically scaled up and can be instrumental in easing global PPE shortages in any biosafety facility or in health care settings during pandemic situation such as COVID-19.
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Inflammatory bowel disease (comprising ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease) is a multifactorial disease that is extensively associated with stool microbiome changes (dysbiosis). Appendicitis and appendectomy limits subsequent colitis, clinically, and in animal models. We wanted to examine how the appendiceal and stool microbiome fared in our spontaneous colitic Winnie (Muc2(-/-)) mice model. ⋯ The appendiceal dysbiosis observed in our Winnie mice is commensurate with, and adds to extant literature data. The presence of Helicobacteraceae (Proteobacteria) only in colitic Winnie mice (but not control mice) is consistent with reports of increased Helicobacter in IBD patients. Bacteroides (Bacteroidetes) decreases may be a reflection of reduced anti-inflammatory commensal species such as B. fragilis. Further research is warranted to expand and delineate the relationship between IBD and the appendix microbiome.
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Probiotic bacteria are live microorganisms which confer to health benefits of the host. They help to maintain the integrity of the intestinal barrier function by modulating the mucosal and systemic immune response of the host. ⋯ However to date it remains uncertain whether probiotics/synbiotics are beneficial or even dangerous to the clinical outcome of this patient group. This article reviews the current evidence of the use of bacteria in critically ill patients in intensive care settings.