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Click here to view summaries of all of BRF's papers on the NIH's Pubmed Database
The Oregon Study
Published October 2008
Click here to read the abstract on the NIH's Pubmed database
WHO WORKED ON IT:
United States Air Force (an infectious disease lab at Travis Air Force Base)
Oregon State University
Jones M, Whipps C, Ganac R, Hudson N, Boorom K. Association of Blastocystis subtype 3 and 1 with patients from an Oregon community presenting with chronic gastrointestinal illness. Parasitol Res. Epub 2008 Oct 16.
WHAT IT IS ABOUT: In this study we used the DNA same techniques crime labs use to match criminals to evidence - Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. Instead of identifying a person, we used this method to identify an infectious disease in a group of Corvallis, Oregon residents. The technique identifies infectious diseases by the DNA that controls the organism. We used this to find that many people had Blastocystis infection even though they had tested negative for infectious diseases at laboratories in Corvallis and elsewhere.
All of the study participants had developed chronic gastrointestinal illness in the last 10 years. Almost none of them had been properly diagnosed. None of them had responded to treatment.
All of them with whom we have maintained contact are still sick today (September 2009).
Some other important findings from this study:
People with chronic
Blastocystis infection had diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, abdominal
pain, skin rashes, and joint pain.
These symptoms
occurred in civilians and veterans infected with Blastocystis.
Previously, researchers had indicated that veterans from the Gulf
War had a different disease (Gulf War Illness). This research
suggests that it is the same disease seen in civilians.
Individuals with
chronic Blastocystis infection in Oregon had been diagnosed as
having 'food allergies' or irritable bowel syndrome.
In one case, four members of the same household were all sick, all on well water, and all diagnosed with 'food allergies'.
Families with the disease are most transmitting the disease within the family. We found this by using 'genetic fingerprinting' which showed the Blastocystis isolates within families were all exactly the same, even though one family had a member born after they became symptomatic.
The Lancet Article
Read entry on NIH's Pubmed Database (not too much information here)
Read part of the full text from Lancet's web site
Boorom K. Emerging infectious diseases are not always obvious. Lancet Infect Dis. 2009 Mar;9(3):142.
This is a short entry in Lancet Infectious Diseases concerning how physicians can have difficulty properly associating an infectious disease with gastrointestinal illness.
The French
Study
Published March 2009
Click here to read the abstract on the NIH's database
WHO WORKED ON IT: The Pasteur Institute in France. This was the institution that won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 for discovering the HIV virus.
Souppart L, Sanciu G, Cian A, Wawrzyniak I, Delbac F, Capron M, Dei-Cas
E, Boorom K, Delhaes L,
Viscogliosi E.
Molecular epidemiology of
human Blastocystis isolates in France. Parasitol Res. 2009 Mar
17.
WHAT IT IS ABOUT: Just as
there are different types of flu, there are different kinds of
Blastocystis. Most human infections belong to one of four
different Blastocystis species, which are numbered (subtype 1, 2, 3, 4).
One question has been, "Does the severity of symptoms vary with the
subtype?" In this study (and other studies performed in the last
year or so), we found that all of the subtypes produce illness in
humans.
We also found that PCR testing, although it is better than
the lab tests used commercially, can miss about a quarter of the
samples. (Because of this, BRF is working to introduce a more
reliable diagnostic based on a different mechanism).
The
International Study
Published October 2008
Click here to read the abstract
Click here to read the full text
NOTE: BRF organized this study, and BRF's Vice President of Research, Ken Boorom, was the principal author.
AFFILIATIONS OF SCIENTISTS WHO WORKED ON IT:
US Center for Disease Control (on loan from Jordan)
United States Air Force / Travis AFB
China's Center for Disease Control
The Pasteur Institute
A World Health Organization (WHO) Coordinating Center for the Molecular Epidemiology of Parasitological Infections
The Scottish Parasitological Institute
National infectious
disease research groups in Greece and Thailand
Boorom KF, Smith H, Nimri L, Viscogliosi E, Spanakos G, Parkar U, Li LH, Zhou XN, Ok UZ, Leelayoova S, Jones MS. Oh my aching gut: irritable bowel syndrome, Blastocystis, and asymptomatic infection. BMC Parasites and Vectors. 2008 Oct 21;1(1):40.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: This was
a survey of all studies published on Blastocystis. We found that,
based on what is reported in medical literature, the diagnostics and
treatments used for Blastocystis infection are ineffective.
Additionally, the disease can be chronic and can become serious in some
patients who would be healthy otherwise. Patients are diagnosed
with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
by physicians.
The
Turkish Study
Scheduled to be published September 2009
Dogruman-Al F, Kustimur1 S, Yoshikawa H, Tuncer C, Simsek Z, Tanyuksel M, Araz E, Boorom K. Blastocystis subtypes in irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease in Ankara, Turkey. Memorias Instituto Oswaldo Cruz In Press
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: In this study, researchers examined the types of Blastocystis found in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, and a more serious disease, inflammatory bowel disease.
Other Articles
Boorom, KF. A Magic Bullet for IBS. Gut
Reaction, Spring 2008.
Boorom, KF. Getting to the bottom of irritable bowels. The New Scientist, April 13, 2008. Read part of the full text