Audrey Odom John MD PhD Profile picture
Nov 26, 2019 7 tweets 13 min read Read on X
THREAD

A little parasitology #MedEd inspired by d1 @CHOP_ID:

Diarrhea after contact with baby cows? Think #cryptosporidiosis! 💩+ 🐄 = #crypto

The other big exposure risk? Recreational water, especially pools and lakes 🏊‍♂️

cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…

/1 Image
@CHOP_ID Calf exposure is such a big risk b/c calves are very likely to have #crypto. My favorite outbreak is this 2013 overturned cattle truck carrying 100s of calves. RR for diarrhea 3.0 in first responders who "carried calves":

cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/m…

/2
@CHOP_ID T-cell immunity is important to #crypto control - think uncontrolled HIV and cyclosporin inhibitors (tacro, CsA).

First key to management - restore immune function.

Antiparasitic treatment with nitazoxanide also helpful - but often not enough if IC

cdc.gov/parasites/cryp…
@CHOP_ID That's why we need better antiparasitics for #crypto! But the parasite couldn't even be cultured not that long ago. Huge props to superheroes @striepenlab @pennvet , David Sibley @WUSTLmed, @SaterialeLab and Chris Huston @uvermont and others for their groundbreaking work!

/4
@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont Fun fact: #Crypto is an Apicomplexan parasite, a distant cousin of the #Plasmodium #malaria parasites. But it has lost the canonical #apicoplast characteristic of the genus!

Since #apicoplasts are important to make #isoprenoids, you might think - how does #crypto get IPP? /5
@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont Why, from its host cell, of course! Nice work in 2013 from Kovi Bessof, @SaterialeLab, and Chris Huston found that statins (inhibitors of human #isoprenoid biosynthesis) have anticryptosporidial activity:

aac.asm.org/content/57/4/1…

/6 Image
@CHOP_ID @striepenlab @pennvet @WUSTLmed @SaterialeLab @uvermont A final note - while #crypto is a pesky infection here in the US, it remains an important cause of life-threatening diarrhea in children worldwide - and very understudied.

It's "time to tackle" #cryptosporidiosis @striepenlab nature.com/articles/50318…

/fin Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Audrey Odom John MD PhD

Audrey Odom John MD PhD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @odomjohnlab

Aug 2, 2020
Oh, look at these VERY GOOD DOGS! 🐶

Covid-sniffing puppers from PennVet @pennvet @PennVetWDC, happily working hard on our pediatric SARS-CoV2-infected samples! @CHOP_ID @CHOP_Research

nbcnews.com/nightly-news/v… Image
The whole video is just adorable - look at their tails go! (And the data is looking good, too)

nbcnews.com/nightly-news/v…
Read 5 tweets
Jul 19, 2020
Day 2 of #IDSARacialEquityChallenge. Today, I’m borrowing these great podcast recs:



@IDSAInfo @PIDSociety #dothework https://t.co/SgPhfwULci
Day 3 of #IDSARacialEquityChallenge.

With fellowship interview season coming up, time to look in the mirror and retake the Harvard Implicit Association Test. Takes <10 min, and IMHO should be required for all academic selection committees:

implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selec…
Read 31 tweets
Jun 11, 2020
So excited to share some new work @PLOSPathogens from our group – on zoonotic staphylococci!

So, how’d we get from #malaria parasites to pathogens of puppies 🐶?

🧵

journals.plos.org/plospathogens/…
We’ve been collaborating w/Cindy Dowd at GWU (@GWtweets) making new antimalarials called MEPicides = cool prodrugs that target the DXR enzyme of the MEP pathway -- an essential biosynthetic pathway that humans and other mammals just don’t have/2

see:
nature.com/articles/s4159…
Turns out, malaria parasites aren’t the only bugs with the MEP pathway. We were totally inspired by Dan Beiting @hostmicrobe @pennvet – they found that staphylococci have either the mevalonate pathway (like people) or the MEP pathway (like parasites)/3

msphere.asm.org/content/1/5/e0…
Read 8 tweets
Nov 27, 2019
#IDTwitter, a clinical pearl from d2 @CHOP_ID

Retropharyngeal abscess (RPA) is increasing in incidence (data from 2000 - 2012).

How likely is MRSA? Do you need to empirically cover? /1

academic.oup.com/jpids/article/…
@CHOP_ID To guide us, fortunately we have really nice data - from our own institution (from otolaryngologist Lisa Elden @CHOP_Research)!

A consecutive case series review of 178 kids with deep space neck infections:

…s-sagepub-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/doi/full/10.11…

/2
@CHOP_ID @CHOP_Research We consider most infections polymicrobial, even though only 6.7% actually grew >1 organism. Common bugs in kids with surgical cultures?

☑️S. aureus (MSSA and MRSA)
☑️Group A strep
☑️other resp/oral colonizers (Hflu/S. milleri)

/3
Read 5 tweets
Nov 15, 2019
Let me tell you about our newest preprint – a story of heat shock and prenylation in Plasmodium falciparum!
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

[Thread]
Most people with malaria get fever - how do malaria parasites survive that stress? /1
First of all, P. falciparum has a ton of heat shock proteins. In particular the DnaJ/Hsp40 family is very expanded – there are 49 Hsp40 family members in P. falciparum!! /2

Reviewed here: mdpi.com/2218-273X/9/7/…
We have previously found that one of these Hsp40s in Plasmodium is farnesylated – that is, modified by a 15-carbon isoprenyl group. We call it HSP40 and it is the canonical Hsp40 in malaria parasites. /3

more on the "prenylome" of malaria parasites: nature.com/articles/srep3…
Read 5 tweets
Jul 18, 2018
New article on the "leaky pipeline" of #WomeninSTEM. Once female faculty get their first big grant, they tend to stay in science - yay! But...[thread]
pnas.org/content/early/…
Senior author Greenberg is quoted in @nature: "[Women] should realize that, sure, it is not easy in academia, but they are not going to have any more difficulty than men once they get their first grant.”
nature.com/articles/d4158…
Given the percentages of women in leadership positions, in named professorships, and even full professors at many institutions, this seems a surprising conclusion. Our own institution has had equal # of women medical trainees for >15 yrs - not reflected in our leaders.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(