Query: NC_017044:178395 Rickettsia parkeri str. Portsmouth chromosome, complete genome Lineage: Rickettsia parkeri; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria General Information: Animal pathogen in Mammalia (intracellular obligate). Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria mostly found in arthropods, some of which cause mild to severe diseases in humans. Rickettsia parkeri, a member of the spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR), was first isolated from the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum, in 1937. In 2004, the first confirmed human infection with R. parkeri was reported in a 40-year-old man from the Tidewater area of coastal Virginia. The agent was isolated in cell culture from an eschar biopsy specimen and designated the Portsmouth strain; recently, the first recognized case of tick bite-associated human infection was described.
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General Information: Clostridium botulinum A3 str. Loch Maree was isolated from duck liver paste during a botulism outbreak at a hotel in the Scottish highlands in 1922. This was the first and worst outbreak of botulism in the United Kingdom (UK). This organism produces one of the most potent and deadly neurotoxins known, a botulinum toxin that prevents the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, thereby inhibiting muscle contraction and causing paralysis. In most cases the diseased person dies of asphyxiation as a result of paralysis of chest muscles involved in breathing. The spores are heat-resistant and can survive in inadequately heated, prepared, or processed foods. Spores germinate under favorable conditions (anaerobiosis and substrate-rich environment) and bacteria start propagating very rapidly, producing the toxin.Botulinum toxin, and C. botulinum cells, has been found in a wide variety of foods, including canned ones. Almost any food that has a high pH (above 4.6) can support growth of the bacterium. Honey is the most common vehicle for infection in infants. Food poisoning through C. botulinum is the most frequent type of infection caused by this bacterium. The wound botulism that occurs when C. botulinum infects an individual via an open wound is much rarer and is very similar to tetanus disease. There are several types of botulinum toxin known (type A through type F), all of them being neurotoxic polypeptides. The most common and widely distributed are strains and serovars of C. botulinum that produce type A toxin.