14 DAY TRIAL // A new type of bacteria, similar to the one that causes tuberculosis (TB) in humans, has been identified as a primary cause for serious bone diseases. The new culprit is part of the Mycobacterium class, which also contains Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium avium, which can cause very serious lung diseases in human hosts.
Susceptibility to infection caused by this class of bacteria is usually given by rare genetic anomalies. However, patients suffering from Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrom (AIDS) are at a very high risk, because of the damage that has been done to their immune system by the HIV virus. In other words, their immune system is practically suppressed, so that the retrovirus can replicate safely inside the body.
The good news about this discovery is that the new bacterium is not yet immune to the effects of antibiotics. In lab tests, it proved unable to withstand clarithromycin and rifamycins, which is very good news, especially considering that other members of its class are impervious to this type of medicine. On the other hand, the cultures that were experimented upon showed no signs of retraction when they were inoculated with fluoroquinolones and isoniazid, another class of drugs.
The newly-discovered bacterium was named Mycobacterium arosiense, after the city of Aarhus, Denmark, where it was first identified. Dr Didi Bang, a scientist at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, said "Initial tests suggested we had found a Mycobacterium. By sequencing some of the bacterium's genes we showed that we had discovered an undescribed species."
DNA sequencing of the bacterium is now in progress, as doctors and geneticists attempt to discover exactly where the new organism is located on its "family tree." Knowledge of its position could lead to scientists being able to extrapolate cures or drugs used on similar bacteria to kill this one as well, thus saving years and years of research on the matter.