Hi Catherine,
I was wrong. I was thinking they were both Spirochatales. Did you post this correction to the Silver List? If not, do you plan to do so. If not, may I forward it? Preferably, including these comments. Do you know if Leishmania is prokaryotic or eucarotic? Some eucarotic protozoan have been said to not be susceptible to CS in some stages of their cycle. It may have to do with the particle size of the silver too, regarding being able to penetrate the cell and or nuclear membrane. Anecdotally: one observer on this list said a couple of years ago that paramecium are killed with the addition of very dilute CS to the slide during observation. I asked him if he was sure that the heat from the lamp was not killing them and he said no, they could tolerate more time in the light without the addition of the CS. If memory serves, they are eucarotic. Bottom line: the CS can do no harm, and will may kill the parasites, at least in some part of their life cycle. James-Osbourne: Holmes -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Creel [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 10:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: CS>leishmania James wrote: <<No experience, but... I it may be similar to Lyme. CS will probably kill it.>> Seeing that one is a parasite and the other a bacteria, similarity, if any, is severly restricted. Lyme disease is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a member of the family of spirochetes, or corkscrew-shaped bacteria. There are two forms of the Leishmania parasite, the intracellular amastigote form found in the vertebrate host, and the promastigote form predominately found in the insect vector. Amastigotes: are spherical in shape, only about 2.5 to 5 µm in diameter, and are contained within a parasitophagus vacuole within a macrophage. There is a prominent nucleus and kinetoplast, and the cytoplasm is vacuolated and contains lysosomes. The outer membrane has a polysaccharide component but there is no surface coat. Promastigote: The promastigote is a similar in structure, apart from the prominent flagella. The surface membrane has binding site molecules such as glycoproteins, and manose receptors have also been detected. These are important in the uptake of the promastigotes by the macrophages. Antibodies in the host serum bind to the promastigotes and facilitate uptake and entry into the macrophage. The macrophages having Fc receptors on there surface. There are 5 principal species of Leishmania causing three main forms of the disease in humans. Dermal cutaneous leishmaniasis - L. tropica, L. major Visceral leishmaniasis - L. donovani (L. chagasi) Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis - L. braziliensis, L. mexicana L. tropica and L. major These two species have very similar life cycles and result in similar clinical symptoms of disease but have different geographical distributions. Major complex- North Africa, Middle East, West India, Sudan Tropica complex - Ethiopia, India, European Mediterranean region, Middle East, Kenya, North Africa Dermal leishmaniasis, also known as tropical sore, is transmitted by the sandfly genus Phlebotomus. The infection site is usually localized to the site in which the sandfly bite occurs. The amastigotes multiply in the reticuloendothelial system of the skin. The incubation period spans from a period of day up to several months. A symptom of the developing infection is the appearance on the surface of the skin of a small red papule, the result of the development of a thin crust on the skin at the bite site which hides the developing ulcer underneath. However, several sites of infection which are close together may coalesce to form a large sore on the skin. If kept clean the sores will heal spontaneously within 2 months to 1 year. However, these sores often are the sites of secondary infections and can result in permanent disfiguration. Examples of secondary infections are a spirochete infections which causes a condition known as Yaws and a disease condition known as myiasis where the ulcers become infected with fly maggots. Once the infection has been cleared the host is immune to reinfection. In some regions, natives inoculate their children in a site normally not visible to protect the child from getting disfiguring scars latter in life. Catherine -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
