Emerg affect dis: new bacteria unknown in the past can cause myasthenia gravis

May 14, 2019 / BIOON / - clinician of Neurology Department of meduni / Vienna General Hospital in Vienna found muscle weakness and severe fatigue in a previously healthy patient, so that he could only sit in a wheelchair soon These symptoms indicate that he has changed to autoimmune myasthenia gravis However, Matthias tomschik, a neurologist who performed the treatment, found other symptoms that were atypical: "laboratory tests showed that patients had increased inflammation and liver values, as well as fever These results indicate an infection, so we must study this case more carefully "Inga koneczny of the Institute of Neurology and mateusz markowicz of the Institute of health and applied immunology participated in a more detailed investigation Photo source: emerging infectious diseases previously unknown Leptospira bacteria experts finally used a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to test samples at the DNA level They identified a previously unknown genotype of Leptospira Therefore, a new strain was added to 147 known leptospiral genotypes Mateusz markowicz said: "no one would think that Leptospira causes muscle weakness The neurological symptoms of leptospirosis are very rare This newly discovered type differs from the typical symptoms of leptospirosis, such as fever, liver inflammation, and jaundice "It's also interesting that this is a very rare form of myasthenia gravis, because antibodies to the neuromuscular protein Lrp4 have been found So far, this is the only known case of Lrp4 myasthenia gravis in Austria, discovered by Inga koneczny and Romana hoftberger of the Neurological Society Doctors have successfully used antibiotics against infection and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors to treat paralysis Doctors believe the infection occurred during holidays in Vietnam and Thailand The patient reported that he had close contact with the elephant and swam under the waterfall Leptospira: Leptospira is an active mobile bacterium Leptospira exists in humans and animals, and also in the form of free-living Leptospira Hosts usually include rodents, as well as dogs and pigs The route of transmission to humans is usually through contact with urine, blood or tissues of infected animals, as well as with surface water contaminated by animal urine Infection can lead to so-called human leptospirosis Reference: Matthias tomschik et al Severe myasthenic management of leptospirosis associated with new sequence type of Leptospira interests, emerging infectious diseases (2019) Doi: 10.3201/eid2505.181591