- Email: [email protected]
More about the ‘Ryan Virus’
Parasitology Today, vol. 5, no. 7, I989
214
More About the ‘Ryan Virus’
This missive serves to reassure the eminent JR. Baker’ that I too vividly remember the story of the facultative Naeglerio and its amoebic colleagues. A case of’amoebosis’2? No, Baker, JR. you have not imagined the whole thing! It is true, although it is possible that somewhere in the ‘dim recesses of my memory’ Itoo have embroidered the idea. Can someone confirm my own story so as to authenticate ].R.‘s? Replies from Texas prohibited! S.T.O. Alghali
Senior Lecturer In Parasrtology Department of Community Health Unlverslty of Sierra Leone Freetown, SrerraLeone
John Baker has neither embroidered nor imagined’. The’virus’, discovered, if I remember correctly, by Dunnebacke atthe University of Californiaat Berkeley, had been
Mass Treatment of Schistosomiasis In his recent review’, Dr Wilkrns discusses the problem of reinfection after mass chemotherapy of schistosomiasis, and points to the lack of detailed long-term studies of control programmes based on chemotherapy. Usingdrugs in the optrmal way on a community basis must surely be one of the most important areas of research in schlstosomiasis and will have a profound impact where the disease occurs. It is therefore depressing to read ‘that it may continue to be difficultto secure firm commitments for long-term support’. Perhaps donor agencies should reconsrder some oftheir priorities. One of the most important Issues of mass chemotherapy is the development of drug resistance. We pointed out its significance In a letter to Parasitology Today’ and I was therefore disturbed not to see It mentioned in the review’. Unless scientists working in control programmes, donor agencies and the World Health Organization treat the development of drug resistance with the seriousness it deserves, valuable drugs will become ineffective. It ISnot as though there is a wide selection of safe schistosomicides with different mechanisms of action. Perhaps a lesson should be drawn from the development ofanthelmintic resistance in nematodes of sheep and goats; there is now resistance to the three major types of anthelmintics - benzimidazoles, levamisole/ morantel and ivermectrn- though fortunately not yet to all three in any one
named ‘lipovirus’(Aconthomoebo indeed contain numerous vacuoles). This has always impressed me (I worked on phagocytosis by Aconthamoeba), as an illustration of the traps into which one may fall. You will find some seven references to the topic In Culbertson’s classic review ‘The pathogenicity of soil amebas3. I trust the publication is available to you. My guess is that you will receive some ten letters such as this. M. Rabinovitch lmmunoparasitologie lnstltut Pasteur 25 rue du Dr Roux 75724 ParisCedex I 5 France
I was fascinated to see your note about the Ryan virus’. In I 966 I had just started my PhD In respiratory virology when Marguerite Pereira et ok’s paper appeared4 entitled ‘Ryan virus: a possible new human pathogen’. I remember Sue Clarke atthe Bristol Public Health Laboratory Immediately saying that it was an amoeba not a virus, and she had known aboutthe problem in cell cultures for some time. The followrng year came the paper by Armstrong and Pereira: ‘Identification of “Ryan Virus” as an amoeba of the genus Hartmanella’5. The next month there was a letter from Eldridge and Tobir?.
The only other reference apart from yours that I have seen since was in the/ournalof GeneralMicrobiology in I 9867 where Ryan virus ISmentioned in passing. I have found it an interesting exercise over the past few years In my current job as a teacher of microbiology to give students reprints of the original paper and to challenge them with the question-what became of the Ryan virus? It is possible that some of my ex-students will have contacted you already. If so, I will feel that I have achieved something! J.Jacobs
Department of Medical Soencesand Health Studies Polytechnic of EastLondon Romford Road Stratford, London E I5 4Lz, UK
References
I Baker,JR. ( 1989)ParasitologyToday5,40 2 Baker,J.R.( 1989)PorasrtologyToday5,3 I-32 3 Culbertson, C.G. ( I97 I ) Annu. Rev. Mlcrobrol. 25,23 I-254 4 Pereira, M. et al. (I 966)Br. Med.]. I, I30- I32 5 Armstrong, J.A. and Pereira, M.S. (I 967) Br. Med.]. 1,212-214 6 Eldrldge, A.E. and Tobin, JO’H. (I 967) Br. Med.). I, 99 7 Chumakov, K.M. and Kavovonor, A.S. (I 986) 1. Gen. Muobiol. 132, I 127-l I33
strain of nematode. Despite the economrc Importance ofthe problem there has been relatively little coordinated effort to halt the development of resistance, even though the necessary actions to be taken are known3. We are now seeking to develop a national strategy for control of anthelmintlc resistance In the UK, but for it to work it has to be adopted by over 90 000 sheep farmers. Given the relatively small numbers of people involved In the management of mass chemotherapy of schistosomiasis, It ought to be possible to develop a strategy to reduce the development of drug resrstance. Will this opportunity to prevent drug resistance in schistosomiasls from becoming an important
practical problem be wasted, and the lessons from malana and nematode chemotherapy ignored?
More About Canapes
which could accommodate much more food: ‘bkasse sur canape’ is still a well-known meal in certain parts of France. What is interesting is the shift in meaning from a vertical structure to a horizontal one. After all, it must be more comfortable to
I would like to come back to the letter from
David Warhurst, answered by John Baker, aboutthe connection between bednets and cannabis’. I also did some research on the French word ‘canape’. In Robert’s dictionary2. the ‘canape’ is described as follows: ‘From 12th to I 6th centuries, “conope” is a bed curtain, from Latin “conopeum”, mosquito-net, and from Greek “kgngpion”(“konops”: mosquito).’ The word takes its modern sense during the 17th century: a long seat. By association, it also came to mean a slice of bread on which food was served. The ‘canape’ described by John Baker is only a miniature ofthe real one
G.C. Coles Department of Parasitology Central Veterinary Laboratory New Haw, Weybridge Surrey KT I 5 3NB. UK References I Wilkins, H.A. (1989) Parasitology Today 5. 83-88 2 Coles. G.C. et al. (I 987) Parasrtology Today 3. 349-350 3 Coles, G.C. (I 988)j. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 192,
33c334
smoke avertical
cannabis on a modern conope.
canape than on
Please excuse
my stylo-
conops. IL Le Berre Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases
World Health Organization 121I Geneva27 Switzerland References
I Warhurst. D. (I 989) Parmtology Today 5.9 2 Robert, P. ( 1978) Dlctionnaire AlphabCtique et Analoglque de la Langue Francarse Editions Robert
214
More About the ‘Ryan Virus’
This missive serves to reassure the eminent JR. Baker’ that I too vividly remember the story of the facultative Naeglerio and its amoebic colleagues. A case of’amoebosis’2? No, Baker, JR. you have not imagined the whole thing! It is true, although it is possible that somewhere in the ‘dim recesses of my memory’ Itoo have embroidered the idea. Can someone confirm my own story so as to authenticate ].R.‘s? Replies from Texas prohibited! S.T.O. Alghali
Senior Lecturer In Parasrtology Department of Community Health Unlverslty of Sierra Leone Freetown, SrerraLeone
John Baker has neither embroidered nor imagined’. The’virus’, discovered, if I remember correctly, by Dunnebacke atthe University of Californiaat Berkeley, had been
Mass Treatment of Schistosomiasis In his recent review’, Dr Wilkrns discusses the problem of reinfection after mass chemotherapy of schistosomiasis, and points to the lack of detailed long-term studies of control programmes based on chemotherapy. Usingdrugs in the optrmal way on a community basis must surely be one of the most important areas of research in schlstosomiasis and will have a profound impact where the disease occurs. It is therefore depressing to read ‘that it may continue to be difficultto secure firm commitments for long-term support’. Perhaps donor agencies should reconsrder some oftheir priorities. One of the most important Issues of mass chemotherapy is the development of drug resistance. We pointed out its significance In a letter to Parasitology Today’ and I was therefore disturbed not to see It mentioned in the review’. Unless scientists working in control programmes, donor agencies and the World Health Organization treat the development of drug resistance with the seriousness it deserves, valuable drugs will become ineffective. It ISnot as though there is a wide selection of safe schistosomicides with different mechanisms of action. Perhaps a lesson should be drawn from the development ofanthelmintic resistance in nematodes of sheep and goats; there is now resistance to the three major types of anthelmintics - benzimidazoles, levamisole/ morantel and ivermectrn- though fortunately not yet to all three in any one
named ‘lipovirus’(Aconthomoebo indeed contain numerous vacuoles). This has always impressed me (I worked on phagocytosis by Aconthamoeba), as an illustration of the traps into which one may fall. You will find some seven references to the topic In Culbertson’s classic review ‘The pathogenicity of soil amebas3. I trust the publication is available to you. My guess is that you will receive some ten letters such as this. M. Rabinovitch lmmunoparasitologie lnstltut Pasteur 25 rue du Dr Roux 75724 ParisCedex I 5 France
I was fascinated to see your note about the Ryan virus’. In I 966 I had just started my PhD In respiratory virology when Marguerite Pereira et ok’s paper appeared4 entitled ‘Ryan virus: a possible new human pathogen’. I remember Sue Clarke atthe Bristol Public Health Laboratory Immediately saying that it was an amoeba not a virus, and she had known aboutthe problem in cell cultures for some time. The followrng year came the paper by Armstrong and Pereira: ‘Identification of “Ryan Virus” as an amoeba of the genus Hartmanella’5. The next month there was a letter from Eldridge and Tobir?.
The only other reference apart from yours that I have seen since was in the/ournalof GeneralMicrobiology in I 9867 where Ryan virus ISmentioned in passing. I have found it an interesting exercise over the past few years In my current job as a teacher of microbiology to give students reprints of the original paper and to challenge them with the question-what became of the Ryan virus? It is possible that some of my ex-students will have contacted you already. If so, I will feel that I have achieved something! J.Jacobs
Department of Medical Soencesand Health Studies Polytechnic of EastLondon Romford Road Stratford, London E I5 4Lz, UK
References
I Baker,JR. ( 1989)ParasitologyToday5,40 2 Baker,J.R.( 1989)PorasrtologyToday5,3 I-32 3 Culbertson, C.G. ( I97 I ) Annu. Rev. Mlcrobrol. 25,23 I-254 4 Pereira, M. et al. (I 966)Br. Med.]. I, I30- I32 5 Armstrong, J.A. and Pereira, M.S. (I 967) Br. Med.]. 1,212-214 6 Eldrldge, A.E. and Tobin, JO’H. (I 967) Br. Med.). I, 99 7 Chumakov, K.M. and Kavovonor, A.S. (I 986) 1. Gen. Muobiol. 132, I 127-l I33
strain of nematode. Despite the economrc Importance ofthe problem there has been relatively little coordinated effort to halt the development of resistance, even though the necessary actions to be taken are known3. We are now seeking to develop a national strategy for control of anthelmintlc resistance In the UK, but for it to work it has to be adopted by over 90 000 sheep farmers. Given the relatively small numbers of people involved In the management of mass chemotherapy of schistosomiasis, It ought to be possible to develop a strategy to reduce the development of drug resrstance. Will this opportunity to prevent drug resistance in schistosomiasls from becoming an important
practical problem be wasted, and the lessons from malana and nematode chemotherapy ignored?
More About Canapes
which could accommodate much more food: ‘bkasse sur canape’ is still a well-known meal in certain parts of France. What is interesting is the shift in meaning from a vertical structure to a horizontal one. After all, it must be more comfortable to
I would like to come back to the letter from
David Warhurst, answered by John Baker, aboutthe connection between bednets and cannabis’. I also did some research on the French word ‘canape’. In Robert’s dictionary2. the ‘canape’ is described as follows: ‘From 12th to I 6th centuries, “conope” is a bed curtain, from Latin “conopeum”, mosquito-net, and from Greek “kgngpion”(“konops”: mosquito).’ The word takes its modern sense during the 17th century: a long seat. By association, it also came to mean a slice of bread on which food was served. The ‘canape’ described by John Baker is only a miniature ofthe real one
G.C. Coles Department of Parasitology Central Veterinary Laboratory New Haw, Weybridge Surrey KT I 5 3NB. UK References I Wilkins, H.A. (1989) Parasitology Today 5. 83-88 2 Coles. G.C. et al. (I 987) Parasrtology Today 3. 349-350 3 Coles, G.C. (I 988)j. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 192,
33c334
smoke avertical
cannabis on a modern conope.
canape than on
Please excuse
my stylo-
conops. IL Le Berre Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases
World Health Organization 121I Geneva27 Switzerland References
I Warhurst. D. (I 989) Parmtology Today 5.9 2 Robert, P. ( 1978) Dlctionnaire AlphabCtique et Analoglque de la Langue Francarse Editions Robert