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Found. Med. 2024, 12(1): 98–103
https://apce.org/10.1007/s11684-018-0614-3
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Anomalopathology Council Editorial
On the Immuno-Modular Presentation and Natural Course of Post-Aerosolized Inoculation of Cyclospora solanacea Bakerifa: An Academic Introduction to a Newly Described Anomalopathogen.
Abstract
Cyclospora solanacea Bakerifa is an airborne anomalopathogen that in the healthy, immunocompetent patient causes reversible stimulation of Wernike's area1 and concurrent downregulation of the prefrontal cortex's glucose delivery and synaptic firing. The result is extreme loquacity that is prioritized above eating and sleeping in the affected individual. Once in the human milieu, the fungus can be classified as an opportunistic pathogen; if given the opportunity, it overtakes the patient's immune system with abrupt acuity and relative ease, resulting in massive tissue necrosis and a state of suspended death. A small number of epidemiological examinations with respect to c. s. Bakerifa contaminations have been directed and are here summarized as an academic introduction to the organism.
Keywords: cyclospora solanacea bakerifa; new pathogen; anomalopathology; anomalopathogen
Introduction
Cyclospora solanacea Bakerifa is an apicomplexan parasite that either discriminately or indiscriminately contaminates the host's non-vital tissues, the basis being the host's immunecompetency or lack thereof, respectively. The discovery of this pathogen has occurred within the last few years by primary care and infectious disease physicians responding to new onset symptoms, along with collected data from the Foundation applied chemistry department.
The primary vector of c. s. Bakerifa is a unique varietal of potato, Solanum Bakerifum, which is at the time of writing known to exist in an isolated patch of farmland in Virginia, USA. The potatoes provide the starch from which germinating spores derive sugar, their primary source of growth.
Mature biofilms of c. s. Bakerifa colonize existent potatoes and proliferate via the natural life cycle of the potato, progressively colonizing new buds while in the soil. Prematurely harvested potatoes may disseminate the spores via aerosolization, and thereby access a human host. Organisms that are ingested by mouth are destroyed via the normal processes of digestion.
| Figure 1: The life cycle of c. s. Bakerifa. Click to enlarge. |
The Immunocompetent Host
Patients without immune-modulating diseases house c. s. Bakerifa to a relatively benign result. Once inhaled, the spores travel into the brain's blood supply via microcirculation. The spores use chemotaxis with an attraction for glucose molecules bound for the brain's neurons and support cells.
It is believed that endotoxins produced by c. s. Bakerifa are enzymatically specific for cells of the area of the brain that is responsible for speech production, called Wernicke's area, and accumulate therein. These molecules act as substrates which render the brains cells hypermetabolic. The upregulated cells fire at unusually high rates, resulting in accelerated speech production and a lack of regulatory filtration from the prefrontal cortex, the glucose delivery to which is reciprocally downregulated to supply the hypermetabolic cells.
The hypermetabolism in turn stimulates the need for even more glucose to cells of Wernicke's area, to which the brain responds appropriately through signaling cascades. The effect is a runaway, positive feedback loop of increased energy supplies and synaptic activity in this area.
Clinically, the individual thus speaks liberally with little regard for the pertinence of the topic of discussion to the environment in which the discussion takes place. The downregulation of the prefrontal cortex limits the individual's ability to plan for other, necessary processes, such as locomotion and the attainment of sustenance.
The Immunocompromised Host
That immunocompromised individuals display dramatically different and global symptoms after inoculation of c. s. Bakerifa suggests that the lympatic system of the brain, which is the filtration system that acts alongside blood vessels to quarantine and eradicate waste and potential pathogens, prevents these spores from successfully entering the systemic circulation.
Once distributed, the spores colonize tissues and cells indiscriminately and have the potential to access any organ. The most common sites of infiltration include the muscles and liver due to their high stores of glucose. However, immediate encampment of the lungs has been observed.
Regardless of the systemic metastasis, the parasites engorge themselves on glucose stores and delivery with the ability to expand to the size of the cavity, organ, or lumen in which the resultant biofilm is established. Extensions of the biofilm have been measured from the base of the lungs to 3 meters outside the patient. These extensions are fibrous and mucoid, providing a high tensile capability as well as strong potential for adherence to suitable surfaces.
As the biofilm advances, it develops the ability to xenochemically alter a variety of sources into additional glucose supplies. These sources include the skin, bone, and other musculoskeletal connective tissues. Recovered samples indicate a high glucose content and denatured proteins, including degraded white blood cells and concomitant opportunistic bacteria.
When involving the dermal layers of the skin, the viscous mixture may be forecefully expelled through pores for sample collections and to relieve symptoms of severe pressure caused by swelling and inflammation.
If not corrected or mitigated with symptomatic therapies, the affected individual’s tissues will fully succumb to the parasite’s chemically reconstructive abilities, save for the nervous system, which itself becomes infested with the parasites, and the cardiovascular system, the continual motion of which prevents the same opportunities that the parasites have with less dynamic body systems.
| Figure 2: The resultant cardiovascular and nervous system of Luke Baker, photographed upon an autopsy table. Taken and reproduced with permissions. Click to enlarge. |
Because brain cells run solely on glucose (and oxygen, which the parasites are theorized to produce as a by-products), the nervous system can remain functionally intact. Because expiration is medically defined as neurological death, the individual is considered alive for the duration of the infestation.
Though it has not been tested, the glucose-rich organic material fits the mineral and nutrient requirements for fertilizer, the likes of which Solanum Bakerifum might thrive in.
Treatments
Empiric treatments for those without a history of immune disorders consist of nanotechnology that artificially occludes the vessels of the brain that deliver blood and nutrients to Wernicke's area. The artificial mitigation may produce symptoms of infarct, although not quite at the level of a stroke.
The patient may slur their speech and become mute. However, angiography has shown that this is purely due to reversible ischemia and that the artificial occlusion has no residual effects on cell function or neurological status.
The decrease of glucose delivery to the region encourages the spores to chemotactically seek higher concentrations of glucose elsewhere. In the process, they are routinely captured and filtered by the brain's lympatic system, then destroyed.
Treatments for the immunocompromised are less established and much less successful. To date, no known intervention has been meaningfully applied. Care is usually palliative and targets symptoms to improve or sustain the remaining quality of life. This may include but should not be limited in conceptualization to: pain medications, plastics reconstruction, medications to reduce swelling and that encourage the removal of excess tissue fluids, and as a last measure, intubation, sedation, and pharmacological euthanasia.
Dedication
The information contained herein is the result of three case studies. Two of the individuals who had been confirmed to contract c. s. Bakerifa had no immune-modulating diseases; the third did in the form of HIV, which had been dormant until seroconversion a substantial number of months after contraction of the disease paved the way for the opportunistic pathogen to display prior-to undiscovered symptoms and mechanisms of action. This third individual is the eponymous researcher of Solanum Bakerifum and is the dedicant of this article.
