Wee Beasties

By: Christian Railsback and Dr. Kimothy Smith
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  • Summary

  • Wee Beasties is a monthly podcast inspired by Anton Van Leeuwenhoek's clever description of the "cavorting" specimens beneath his microscope as "wee beasties." Our episodes feature informal discussions about all things pathogens, offering scientific information and playful perspectives. Our seasons are thematic, and will center around subjects like epidemiology, microbiology, biotechnology, and cell biology. Find out more about the show at weebeastiespodcast.com.
    © 2021 Nephros, Inc. and the Wee Beasties Podcast
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Biological Sciences Earth Sciences
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Episodes
  • The Scoop About Poop

    The Scoop About Poop
    Jan 6 2022
    Water, like everything else on Earth, including you, is full of bacteria. But not all bacteria are created equal, with many being more harmful than others. Yes, Escherichia coli (E. coli) pollutes our ground and surface water through fecal contamination, but the bacteria is also simply found and widely distributed in nature. As one of our hosts, Christian, bid adieu to us, his last pathogen of choice is E. coli. Listen in as the bacteria-loving buds discuss strains and characteristics, causes, effects, and environments of this curious bug. More about E. coli: CDC’s summary of E. coli What is E. coli O157:H7? Coliform Bacteria in Drinking Water Supplies Stay tuned for more episodes, posting on the first Thursday of each month. Subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts and find more info at weebeastiespodcast.com  The Wee Beasties podcast is a production of Nephros, Inc., a company committed to improving the human relationship with water through leading, accessible technology *** SHOW TRANSCRIPT: Christian:  Kimothy… Kimothy:  Christian… Christian:  Happy New Year. What a year it has been, eh? Kimothy:  Happy New Year, Christian.  Yeah, what a great year.  And a big year ahead – lots of changes.  Including for you – this is your last podcast today, right? Christian:  Yeah, that’s correct. Really sad to have to move on – I think this is such an important forum to have these conversations, and I will miss the opportunity to share microbiology with our audience. Kimothy:  Well, what do you think our Swan Song should be for your last episode? Christian:  I thought E. coli might be a good one to end on.  A well-known, and often misunderstood, waterborne pathogen. Kimothy:  Yeah, no doubt, Christian.  Christian:  So, when I think of E. coli, I immediately go to headlines about spinach recalls and announcements about contaminated meat at restaurants.  But E. coli bacteria can just as easily contaminate a municipal water supply, right?  And E. coli is a gut bacterium, so when something is contaminated, are we just saying that it has gut bacteria or, really, just poop in the water? Help me understand this, is water contaminated with E. coli, just water that has fecal matter in it? Kimothy:  [laughs] Well, yes, essentially.  But, let’s back up for a moment and outline a few things.  So, E. coli is a bacterium that lives in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, and most strains of E. coli bacteria are not harmful and are an essential part of the gut flora for healthy digestion. That said, there are several pathogenic strains, the most common one in the U.S. being a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli called, O157:H7. Now, all E. coli is part of a group I mentioned during our last episode, called coliforms.  Coliforms are a kind of rod-shaped bacteria that are found in soil, plants, and intestinal tracts of animals – in this group you have total coliforms and fecal coliforms.  The most prevalent fecal coliform species is E. coli. And the most dangerous fecal coliform is E. coli O157:H7, so to get back to your question. Yes, it’s poopy water. Christian:  Ahh, I knew it.  So that’s the scoop on poop?  Kimothy:  Well, the gut microbiome has a lot more to it than that, but that’s the scoop on E. coli in water. Christian:  Okay, okay…so, a couple of things at which I’d like to take a closer look. I got that if water has E. coli in it, it is because the water has been contaminated with fecal matter, but you mentioned Shiga toxin E. coli and coliforms.  What is Shiga toxin and why do we care about coliforms? I mean, I don’t want coliforms in my drinking water, but you’ve mentioned coliforms in two episodes now, so I just wanted to pause and ask a little more. What’s the importance here? Kimothy: Sure, Christian.  So, coliforms, as I mentioned encompasses a group of rod-shaped bacteria, and the reason they’re important is, first, they always exist in the digestive tracts of animals and their waste; and second, they are a great ‘indicator’ organism. That is, you can test for coliforms as a diagnostic tool that can give you a read on the probability of other pathogenic organisms being present in your sample.  If you conduct a coliform test and it’s positive, you know on a list of probable outcomes, that there is some risk of contracting a waterborne illness or disease.  Okay, now for the Shiga toxin: The E. coli that produce Shiga toxin are called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli or STEC for short.  The most common type of STEC is O157:H7 and has emerged as one of the most serious causes of severe human gastrointestinal disease. Now, the pathogenesis involves the E. coli bacterium releasing the Shiga toxin in the gut of a human which attacks and destroys the lining of the intestinal tract, resulting in bloody diarrhea. According to the CDC, there are about 70,000 cases of hospitalization from O157:H7 every year in the US. Christian:...
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    10 mins
  • My gal Sal and Typhoid Mary

    My gal Sal and Typhoid Mary
    Dec 9 2021
    “Mary has died of Typhoid Fever”. Ah, yes. If you are of a certain generation, you remember being met with these abrupt notifications while playing Oregon Trail. While this game taught generations of young people about Western migration in 19th-century America, it also familiarized them with various diseases…and, how to avoid getting run over by wagon wheels. This month, our hosts are exploring the root of the cause – diving into species and subspecies of Salmonella. More about Salmonella: CDC’s summary of Salmonella Salmonella Nomenclature Mary Mallon (1869-1938) and the history of typhoid fever Stay tuned for more episodes, posting on the first Thursday of each month. Subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts and find more info at weebeastiespodcast.com     The Wee Beasties podcast is a production of Nephros, Inc., a company committed to improving the human relationship with water through leading, accessible technology.  *** SHOW TRANSCRIPT: Christian:  I am back with Dr. Kimothy Smith. Kimothy, welcome back! Kimothy:  Thanks, Christian. What’s new? Christian:  Well, I’ve been combing through the annals of gastroenterology in search of the origin of “Typhoid Mary” and learned a few things I’d like to share. Kimothy:  By all means. What ya got? Christian:  Alright, so check it out, in case you’re not current on your NYC history or your only reference for Typhoid fever was that Oregon Trail game back in the late ’80s…and this is literally from the Annals of Gastroenterology…I’ll throw a link in the show notes – Typhoid Mary was the name eventually given to a woman named, Mary Mallon who lived in NYC in the early 1900s and became notorious as a healthy carrier of Salmonella thypi – the bacterium that causes Typhoid fever. She was an immigrant, not necessarily well off, and was employed as a cook for wealthy families. Now, this was before a vaccine was available and before antibiotics. An investigation had started because there were many people getting sick with a fever, and the investigator trying to track down the source noticed there were pockets of families employing the same cook. Mary was leaving after the infection had occurred to move on to a new family to cook for them. In the end, there were 122 people infected, 5 dead. And that year over 3,000 people in NYC had become infected in 1907 – she was apparently the source. What’s interesting is that there was no tracking mechanism in place, so investigations had to be done just by a small group or single man. There was an assumption that a microorganism was suspected of being responsible, but nobody knew why. The investigation really corroborated that hypothesis which eventually came from a team of veterinary scientists. So, in 1880, this guy Daniel Elmer Salmon ended up naming Salmonella typhi as a consequence of this investigation. Kimothy: Sticking with your history bend for a minute, this is not so long after the cholera plague in London. Germ theory was still a controversial thing, they thought it was neighbors. So, go vets! Real doctors treat more than one species. Kimothy:  So, if you haven’t inferred already, we’re going to give you a snapshot of Salmonella today. Salmonella enterica, specifically. Christian:  Yeah, so…a query sir.  As I was sifting through literature, I didn’t see a lot of mention of enterica early in the investigation of Typhoid fever.  Can you summarize how Salmonella enterica became the catch-all for all the varieties of Salmonella? Kimothy:  Yeah, it’s a bit unusual because as you said, Christian, the initial outbreak investigation resulted in named in Salmonella typhi and now we have Salmonella enterica. It’s important to remember that science naming conventions are like kaleidoscopes – the contents remain the same, but the picture and how it’s described change depending on who’s holding the instrument. Such has been the reshuffling with Salmonella. Most of the scientific community now breaks Salmonella into two species Salmonella bongori and Salmonella enterica into 6 subspecies and over 2600 serotypes. But essentially it comes down to two groups – Salmonella that causes gastroenteritis and then those that cause enteric fevers. Christian:  Which patient populations are most at risk for acquiring Salmonella? Kimothy:  The CDC estimated that Salmonella causes 1.2 million illnesses and 450 deaths annually in the US.  Anyone can become infected with the bacteria – fecal-oral and food & water are the most common routes. The populations at greatest risk are typical demographic we’ve discussed for all our opportunistic pathogens – those under the age of 5 and over the age of 65, and those with weakened immune systems. Christian:  And how does it present? Kimothy:  So, the gastrointestinal infection that results when you ingest the bacteria is Salmonellosis, and it presents exactly how you would expect for a pathogen...
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    12 mins
  • Camp-tastic

    Camp-tastic
    Nov 4 2021
    Ready to think twice about the filtration used to treat your water for consumption? Ready or not, our hosts are exploring the gut microbe, Campylobacter jejuni. This gram-negative bacterium is about 0.2um – 0.5um in size. Small, but mighty enough to warrant the use of a 0.05um filter if you want to catch this bug and potentially avoid some stomach souring symptoms. More about Campylobacter jejuni: What is Campylobacter infection? Safewater.org | Campylobacter Fact Sheet Stay tuned for more episodes, posting on the first Thursday of each month. Subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts and find more info at weebeastiespodcast.com    The Wee Beasties podcast is a production of Nephros, Inc., a company committed to improving the human relationship with water through leading, accessible technology. ***  Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter, biosurveillance, microorganisms, biotechnology, PremisePlumbing, AntonVanLeeuwenhoek, WeeBeastiesPodcast, season1, origins, CDC, pathogens, OpportunisticWaterbornePathogen *** SHOW TRANSCRIPT: Christian: I am back with Dr. Kimothy Smith. Kimothy, welcome back! Kimothy: Thanks, Christian. Christian: All right…how are we doing today Kimothy?  Kimothy: Doing well, Christian. Just recovering. Christian: Recovering from what? Kimothy: All of the candy corn I had to pick up in my front yard this weekend. The local monsters and ghouls decided it was imperative that my lawn be seeded with candy corn so they could apparently revive a Children of the Corn montage for Halloween.  Of course, nothing was going to grow except the number of birds and bugs on my lawn, so I found myself bent over cleaning that crap up all day on Sunday. Sigh. Christian: Well, hey, out of the Steven King flicks to choose from that was probably the best.  I mean, at least they didn’t choose to revive the film It, your front yard would have been littered with psychopathic clowns with red hair and pointy teeth. It can always be worse, Kimothy. It can always be worse. Well, enough with the candy corn and clowns…what is our pathogen for today? Kimothy: Campylobacter jejuni Christian: Campylobacter is always associated with camping and environmental infections for me.  I just remember the camp in Campy and immediately remember that these infections are uncommon for treated water networks, but more likely found in untreated settings like stagnant environmental samples. Kimothy: Yeah, Christian, this bacterium doesn’t tend to survive in treated water systems very well; and, if it does, it is in a viable but non-culturable state.  This is a gut microbe and it’s primarily transmitted through birds, cattle, and other livestock feces – but, poultry mainly, such as chickens and turkeys. Feces from these animals shed campylobacter in into streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. The most common route of infection is through ingestion (fecal-oral), whether that is untreated water or contaminated food. The result is campylobacteriosis – an acute illness that causes nausea, abdominal pain, fever, cramping, and diarrhea.  The abdominal pain can be so debilitating that it is often confused with appendicitis. Christian: Alright, so, in treated water there is less of a concern, but it’s still possible to become infected in untreated water sources. What about its cellular structure and behavior; is this something I can easily filter out of the water supply I’m drinking from? Kimothy: Well, this is another gram-negative, spiral, and rod-shaped bacterium that is about 0.2um – 0.5um in size, so you’ll want a 0.05-micron filter if you want to catch this bug before using the water for consumption.  Its motile by a single flagellum, and is not a good biofilm producer, so it’s constantly on the move for nutrient sources.  It’s most happy in intestinal tracts of animals, like I mentioned early, so livelihood is challenging for it in bulk water systems. That said, it doesn’t take much ingestion to make you symptomatic and acutely sick.  I believe Safewater.org reports that less than 500 cells consumed will result in symptoms. To that end, I’d like to deviate just for a moment and emphasize Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea in the U.S., affecting 1.5 million residents a year.1 And, a not well-known mode of transmission for shedding Campylobacter is our pets, in particular, our dogs. Christian: Ahhh, so all those people out there that are convinced your dog licking your face is OK, and just a warm sign of affection and love – it's probably true, but it comes with the bonus of acute diarrhea and cramps!  Nice.  Well, pooches aside, which patient populations are most at risk for acquiring Campylobacter? Kimothy: So, nothing surprising here, Christian.  Immunosuppressed or compromised patients are at greatest risk (think cancer and AIDS patients), but also pediatrics -- specifically those under the age of five are ...
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    9 mins

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