Essay Sample on Prototheca: Characteristics of the Organism

Prototheca is a unicellular alga that lacks chlorophyll; hence their survival depends on the saprophytic lifestyle. The organisms can nourish well in a warm and humid environment where there is the presence of decaying matter to provide them with nutrients. In real life, the bodies are found in saltwater sources, fish tanks, animal excrement, and sewage. Chlorine cannot be used to inactivate the organism. The organism has an oval shape with a thick cell wall and reproduces asexually by internal division.

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Description of the Disease

The disease caused by prototheca organisms is called protothecosis. The disease can be found in dogs, cats, cattle, and human beings. The condition is caused by a green alga known as prototheca, which does not possess chlorophyll. The disease is rare concerning high exposure. It is also associated with a highly defective immune system. It is the dogs, the females, and the collies that are commonly affected by the disease. The organism has been established to undergo mutation related to chlorella within a single cell of green alga (McMullan et al., 2016). Unlike chlorella that has galactose and galactosamine, prototheca does not have any of them. Prototheca is saprotrophic in the sense that it feeds on dead decaying organic matter.

In humans, protothecosis appears in two forms: progressive ulcerative and as a subcutaneous tissue on exposed skin. The other manifestation of prototheca is chronic olecranon bursitis that has pain with swelling. In goats, prototheca displays itself in nasal discharge. Inspiratory dyspnoea. Goats also show signs of frequent sneezing with cheeks being inflated during the expiration process (Pal et al., 2014). There is a reduction of the nostrils and the presence of the proliferative nodules. In cattle, prototheca exhibits signs of lesion development in the bovine mammary glands associated with lymph nodes. Prototheca can persist in tissues of cattle even in dry periods or up to the next lactation period.

Treatment and Prevention

Excision

Treatment of the disease caused by prototheca continues to be controversial due to the regimens that have been attempted. There is also no consistency in the clinical responses that have been tried in research. Therapies of the disease are linked to weak, isolated case reports, few case series, and in vitro studies. In most cases, the treatment of the disease involves the medical and surgical approaches. It is because there are usually minimal failures that are associated with treatment. There are no tendencies to self-healing of the disease (Lass & Mayr, 2007).

Excisions may be performed on localized tissues on acceptable superficial infections. However, viruses that are deeper and consistent require a therapy that is systemic together with removal. In the case of oral treatment for the disease, it is advised that an azole antifungal agent be taken into account. The treatment of the disease using this method is administered for at least two months or more.

Bursectomy

On the other hand, there is also the successful treatment of the disease using bursectomy. It is established that treatment using drainage is ineffective. However, drainage that accompanies the instillation of amphotericin B has cured victims. Patients with olecranon bursitis are entitled to undergo bursectomy, while those who cannot undergo surgery should be subjected to intramural amphotericin B.

Other types of drugs have been rendered insignificant because of their minimal effects on the disease. Removing foreign bodies or rather excision of an infected area from either human beings or other animals combined with antifungal therapy is the best option for the prototypical severe infection. Using azole is discouraged and questionable since it is associated with many failures of the disease treatment.

The treatment of the disseminated form of the disease is severe. However, the administration of antifungal medications can yield positive results in a few cases. The prognosis for protothecosis is attributed to and depends on the surgical options that can be advanced to the victim. The prognosis for the disseminated form is most likely to be dead when it takes a long time (Nelson & Neafie, 2020). However, for a short period, the disease can infect other tissues of the body and, hence, require carrying out surgical options. The above can be caused by a delay in recognizing the disease's presence and treatment.

Adverse effects of treatment

There are usually failed treatments associated with the disease courtesy of using certain drugs such as tetracycline, itraconazole, flucytosine, and ketoconazole. Due to the above, the victims might suffer from persistent and more deep-seated infections that might require surgery. In other instances, animals can experience loss of weight, inflammation of the eyes, and seizures. On the extreme, the victims might die if the problem is not recognized in good time, and the treatment is delayed.

Preferred Treatment

The best treatment of the disease is removing the foreign bodies from the organism or the affected areas. However, this should be done concurrently with the administration of antifungal medications. The above has been established to be the best compared to the application of azole since it is associated with many treatment failures.

References

Lass-Flörl, C., & Mayr, A. (2007). Human protothecosis. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 20(2), 230-242. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:p8ry56KaD4sJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&scillfp=12193477851369468553&oi=lle

McMullan, B., Pollett, S., Biswas, C., & Packham, D. (2016). Successful treatment of cutaneous protothecosis with liposomal amphotericin and oral itraconazole. Medical mycology case reports, 12, 21-23. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211753916300422

Nelson, A. M., & Neafie, R. C. (2020). Protothecosis. In Hunter's Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Diseases (pp. 659-661). Content Repository Only! https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/protothecosis

Pal, M., Abraha, A., Rahman, M. T., & Dave, P. (2014). Protothecosis: an emerging algal disease of humans and animals. International Journal of Life Sciences Biotechnology and Pharma Research, 3(4), 1. http://www.academia.edu/download/36498310/62.Proth.Algal.pdf