US scientists discover new, potentially deadly bacteria
Thu Jun 7, 1:13 AM ET
In a dramatic case of microbial sleuthing, US scientists said they have discovered a new, potentially deadly strain of bacteria previously unknown to medicine.
The bacteria was found in a 43-year-old American woman who had traveled across Peru for three weeks and suffered from symptoms similar to typhoid fever or malaria. The woman has since recovered.
Named Bartonella rochalimae, the new species is a close relative of a microbe that sickened thousands of soldiers during the First World War with what became known as trench fever, spread through body lice.
It is also related to a bacteria identified 10 years ago during the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco as the cause of cat scratch disease, which infects 25,000 people a year in the United States.
It was this previous work on cat scratch disease related to AIDS that helped experts at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention isolate the new bacteria found in the female traveler.
The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Two weeks after returning to the United States from her trip to Peru, the woman experienced potentially life-threatening anemia, a rash, an enlarged spleen, insomnia and a high fever that lasted for several weeks.
Her traveling companion did not fall ill.
The Peruvian Andes is home to a related bacteria, spread by sand flies, and at first this was what experts thought was causing her illness.
Further investigation indicated the culprit was a new species altogether.
The new discovery is the sixth species identified that can infect humans, said Dr. Jane Koehler, professor of infectious diseases at UCSF and senior author of the paper.
In 1987, Koehler encountered her first patient infected with Bartonella at the AIDS Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.
"The bacteria were eating away a bone in the arm of an AIDS patient - for
months," Koehler said. "They can cause extremely painful lesions and tumors of blood vessels on the skin of immunocompromised patients."
In 1997, her team discovered that the Bartonella henselae bacterium causes cat scratch disease. Symptoms include swollen lymph nodes and fever after a person is scratched by a cat.
The new bacterium is treated with a different antibiotic that those used for cat scratch disease.
"When a patient has a high and persistent fever, we need to come up with the correct diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible - particularly for those with a weakened immune system, who can die from the infection," Koehler said.
Showing posts with label Peru '07. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peru '07. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Cusco
Kelli suggested that we get the hotel room (which last time we just booked a hotel in basically the airport in Cusco) out of the way and I think we should maybe book our tickets to Macchu Picchu. Below are the times and the ticket prices. From: http://www.orient-express.com/web/tper/journeys/4_53409.jsp
TIMETABLE
Vistadome 1
Departs Cuzco 06.00
Arrives Machu Picchu 09.40
Departs 15.30
Arrives Cusco 19.20
Vistadome 2
Cuzco 07.00
Machu Picchu 11.00
Machu Picchu 17.00
Cuzco 21.25
Backpacker
Cuzco 06.15
Machu Picchu 10.15
Machu Picchu 15.55
Cuzco 20.20
Prices:(Roundtrip)
Vistadome: $113
Backpacker:$ 73
JOURNEY
The train journey from Cuzco to Machu Picchu is a highlight of any trip to the Andes. The 3 and a half hour journey takes you through a changing landscape. First there is a steep climb out of Cuzco into the surrounding hillside, by means of a series of switchback turns known locally as "the zig zag".
The train then stops at Poroy before descending into the Sacred Valley, passing by lush, green fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes. After departing Poroy and going through Cachimayo, the train descends to the plateau of Anta, a patchwork landscape of typical Andean crops and passes lush fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes.
Far to the left, just below the horizon, the massive agricultural terraces of Jaquijahuana can be seen, close to the village of Zurite. Sadly, these great terraces are all that remain today of what was once a major Inca city, lost forever during the first years after the Spanish conquest.
Beyond the town of Huarocondo the great plain narrows dramatically as the track enters a deep gorge carved by the rushing Pomatales River down which the railway, too, is funnelled until it meets the Urubamba River, which runs through the beautiful Sacred Valley.
The train passes through extensive areas of terracing dotted with the ruins of Inca fortresses. Bisecting this are still-visible sections of an ancient, long-abandoned highway adopted by the muleteers of the late 19th century, who used it to travel between Cuzco and the rubber plantations of the Amazon lowlands. Five kilometres beyond Pachar, is the village of Ollantaytambo where farmers work with the same patience and skill that their ancestors must have employed to shape and then move the huge blocks of stone with which they built both their homes and the temples in which they worshipped.
As the train leaves Ollantaytambo to begin the last part of its journey to Machu Picchu, the temple complex known as The Fortress, dedicated sometime in the 15th century to the many deities of the Inca pantheon, can be seen to the right above the earthwork ramp once used to drag its monolithic blocks up from the valley floor. The railway follows the river into the Urubamba Gorge.
At Coriwaynachina, known simply to the generations of hikers who have begun the Inca Trail there as Km 88, a fine staircase carved into the rock leads to a series of ruined buildings where once, it is said, Inca artisans took advantage of the constant wind that rises from the valley floor to smelt gold.Emerging from a short tunnel, a series of beautiful agricultural terraces marks the ruins of Qente, which in Quechua means hummingbird. In this fertile microclimate fed by a nearby waterfall, giant hummingbirds are indeed a common sight in the early morning and bright flowers bloom all year round.
Surrounded by tall ceibos and rocky outcrops hung with orchids and bromeliads, the train passes Km 104 at Chachabamba, from where the one-day trek to Machu Picchu via the magnificent ruins of Wiñay Wayna begins.At just two km from Machu Picchu, the train arrives at Aguas Calientes. Surrounded by the high, green mountains that cradle the famous lost city, as well as myriad other Inca remains, this small town, which is well known for its thermal baths, has blossomed into a popular overnight destination for travellers to Machu Picchu.Guests disembark at Aguas Calientes for the magical ruins of Machu Picchu.
TIMETABLE
Vistadome 1
Departs Cuzco 06.00
Arrives Machu Picchu 09.40
Departs 15.30
Arrives Cusco 19.20
Vistadome 2
Cuzco 07.00
Machu Picchu 11.00
Machu Picchu 17.00
Cuzco 21.25
Backpacker
Cuzco 06.15
Machu Picchu 10.15
Machu Picchu 15.55
Cuzco 20.20
Prices:(Roundtrip)
Vistadome: $113
Backpacker:$ 73
JOURNEY
The train journey from Cuzco to Machu Picchu is a highlight of any trip to the Andes. The 3 and a half hour journey takes you through a changing landscape. First there is a steep climb out of Cuzco into the surrounding hillside, by means of a series of switchback turns known locally as "the zig zag".
The train then stops at Poroy before descending into the Sacred Valley, passing by lush, green fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes. After departing Poroy and going through Cachimayo, the train descends to the plateau of Anta, a patchwork landscape of typical Andean crops and passes lush fields and colourful villages in the foothills of the Andes.
Far to the left, just below the horizon, the massive agricultural terraces of Jaquijahuana can be seen, close to the village of Zurite. Sadly, these great terraces are all that remain today of what was once a major Inca city, lost forever during the first years after the Spanish conquest.
Beyond the town of Huarocondo the great plain narrows dramatically as the track enters a deep gorge carved by the rushing Pomatales River down which the railway, too, is funnelled until it meets the Urubamba River, which runs through the beautiful Sacred Valley.
The train passes through extensive areas of terracing dotted with the ruins of Inca fortresses. Bisecting this are still-visible sections of an ancient, long-abandoned highway adopted by the muleteers of the late 19th century, who used it to travel between Cuzco and the rubber plantations of the Amazon lowlands. Five kilometres beyond Pachar, is the village of Ollantaytambo where farmers work with the same patience and skill that their ancestors must have employed to shape and then move the huge blocks of stone with which they built both their homes and the temples in which they worshipped.
As the train leaves Ollantaytambo to begin the last part of its journey to Machu Picchu, the temple complex known as The Fortress, dedicated sometime in the 15th century to the many deities of the Inca pantheon, can be seen to the right above the earthwork ramp once used to drag its monolithic blocks up from the valley floor. The railway follows the river into the Urubamba Gorge.
At Coriwaynachina, known simply to the generations of hikers who have begun the Inca Trail there as Km 88, a fine staircase carved into the rock leads to a series of ruined buildings where once, it is said, Inca artisans took advantage of the constant wind that rises from the valley floor to smelt gold.Emerging from a short tunnel, a series of beautiful agricultural terraces marks the ruins of Qente, which in Quechua means hummingbird. In this fertile microclimate fed by a nearby waterfall, giant hummingbirds are indeed a common sight in the early morning and bright flowers bloom all year round.
Surrounded by tall ceibos and rocky outcrops hung with orchids and bromeliads, the train passes Km 104 at Chachabamba, from where the one-day trek to Machu Picchu via the magnificent ruins of Wiñay Wayna begins.At just two km from Machu Picchu, the train arrives at Aguas Calientes. Surrounded by the high, green mountains that cradle the famous lost city, as well as myriad other Inca remains, this small town, which is well known for its thermal baths, has blossomed into a popular overnight destination for travellers to Machu Picchu.Guests disembark at Aguas Calientes for the magical ruins of Machu Picchu.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
And Peru Came Tumblin' Down
Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine e-mailed me asking if she could go to Peru with us since her plans to go in May fell through. She bought a ticket and last night Kell and pored over the Peru book I picked up at the library. Since she'd never been to Cusco and Macchu Picchu, we decided to add that leg of the trip in. Kell told me, "that means we can get a picture of the two of us at Macchu Picchu and you can put that on your wall. "
You see, I have this 8x10 of Chelsea and I in Macchu Picchu. Its been on the wall facing my bedroom door for about 4 years and is the first thing people comment on when they see my room. Kell admitted she's a little jealous of it, but we never got a pic of the two of us in Macchu Picchu. Well, this morning, my roommate Megan shut the front door and Peru came tumbling down. The picture is fine, but the glass frame is destroyed. Its not a big deal--but a little ironic that it happened less than 12 hours after we decided to go back to Macchu Picchu.
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