Wolbachia: The Man Hating Microbe

[mrs_scarborough]

Hi there. A watcher and first time poster. I did a search for Wolbachia in this comm and only turned up not one but TWO ENTRIES that teased me by offering more info on Wolbahcia later, but never delivered. So here's my humble offering.

I'm reading Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life which has been a great book for a person with more

Comments

[dragonwrites]

fascinating!

[skarygrl]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!

srsly, I learned about this in my undergrad micro course and am so happy to see it here. :) Hooray for your Wolbachia love!

[postingwhore]

Another micro person who learned about it in undergrad. :D

I ♥ Wolbachia.

[skarygrl]

I feel the geeklove!

[cloud_x_nine]

Feminazism at its finest.

[sexyairin]

slightly anthropomorphic at the end (can you call it that if its a microbe?) but yes i think we just found a feminist organism

[logansrogue]

Nnno. Feminism is the equality of the sexes. What you're describing is a Matriarchy or Female Supremacy.

But I get the joke.

[mrs_scarborough]

When I started reading about Wolbachia, this is the order in which my brain responded to the new info:

weird.
OMG!
WTF!
WOLBACHIA HAS NO USE FOR THE MEN FOLK. INSTEAD OF OPTING FOR A NICE LIVE-AND-LET-LIVE PHILOSOPHY, THE MEN FOLK ARE COMPETITION FOR THE WOMEN FOLK SO THEY MUST ALL DIE.

So I thought I'd add that last bit for flavor.

[drhoz]

they also infect parasitic worms, and make the worms dangerous to humans. recent and mind-blowing discovery

[mrs_scarborough]

Elaborate please?

[drhoz]

Wolbachia, in addition to infecting various insects, terrestrial crustaceans, etc, also infect worms that are parasitic on humans. for example, the guinea worm. Indeed, somehow the presence of the Wolbachia is what gives the worm it's virulence - so you can control the effects of the worm infestation *by killing the Wolbachia with an ordinary antibiotic*

they were VERY surprised to learn this.

[mrs_scarborough]

Can you explain what you mean by virulence here? From what I've read about guinea worms there is not an associated disease or infection with a guinea worm infestation, just pain and complications from having a prolonged open wound.

Have researchers discovered how the guinea worm's behavior changes when Wolbachia is killed?