Exploiting the arthropod vector: novel mechanisms of Mycobacterium leprae transmission

项目总结 汉森病(HD)，通常被称为麻风病，被认为是一种古老的 疾病已经被根除，但在2019年，全球向世卫组织报告的新病例数量 是20多万。来自世界各地的高达80%的新麻风病例是 无法描述曾与其他麻风病患者接触过的情况。缺乏一种 看似合理的生物接触来源会在新诊断的患者中引发深度焦虑，并 有助于将麻风病污名化为神秘的诅咒或惩罚。在美国， 螳螂是麻风分枝杆菌和同一种细菌的大型天然储存库 也是造成54%的土著病例的原因；因此，麻风病 在美国被确认为人畜共患病。人们认识到麻风杆菌在中国不稳定。 环境，因此中间宿主，如节肢动物媒介，可能对 麻风的传播。这个项目的总体目标是确定血液的媒介潜力- 喂食扁虱以获取并传播具有传染性的麻风杆菌给脊椎动物宿主。此外， 麻风杆菌在节肢动物寄主背景下的转录活性将与麻风杆菌在节肢动物寄主背景下的转录活性进行比较。 脊椎动物寄主中的麻风转录组。结合在一起，这个项目可能会确定一个 麻风传播的替代途径和推测与麻风有关的麻风杆菌分子 这个传播周期。建议的研究所产生的数据将大大加强我们的 了解麻风病的流行病学，因为这将是对麻风病生物学的第一次评估 麻风分枝杆菌感染和Amblyomma ticks传播。基于实地调查和实验 有证据表明Amblyomma ticks是麻风杆菌的合格媒介。刻度向量 在受控的实验室条件下，麻风杆菌的能力还没有得到彻底的探索。 因此，这个项目的发现的相关性将提供新的信息，可以 与麻风的生态学和流行病学有关。

PROJECT SUMMARY Hanson’s disease (HD), more commonly known as leprosy, is thought of as an ancient disease that has been eradicated, yet in 2019, the number of new cases reported globally to the WHO was more than 200,000. Up to 80% of the new leprosy cases presenting from around the world are unable to relate ever having come in contact with another person who had leprosy. The lack of a plausible biological contact source can provoke profound anxiety in newly diagnosed patients and contributes to the stigmatization of leprosy as a mystical curse or punishment. In the United States, armadillos are a large natural reservoir of Mycobacterium leprae and the same strain of bacteria that circulates among armadillos also is responsible for 54% of the indigenous cases; thus, leprosy is recognized as a zoonosis in the United States. It is realized that M. leprae is not stable in the environment, so an intermediary host, such as an arthropod vector, may contribute to the transmission of leprosy. The overall goal of this project is to determine the vector potential for blood- feeding ticks to acquire and transmit infectious M. leprae to vertebrate hosts. Additionally, the transcriptional activity of M. leprae in an arthropod host background will be compared to the M. leprae transcriptome while in a vertebrate host. Combined, this project will potentially identify an alternate route of leprosy transmission and the M. leprae molecules putatively associated with this transmission cycle. The data generated from the proposed studies will greatly enhance our understanding of the epidemiology of leprosy as it will be the first assessment of the biology of M. leprae infection and transmission by Amblyomma ticks. Based on field surveys and experimental evidence we suspect that Amblyomma ticks are competent vectors for M. leprae. Tick vector competence for M. leprae has not been thoroughly explored under controlled laboratory conditions previously, so the relevance of the findings from this project will provide novel information that can be related to the ecology and epidemiology of leprosy.