Antibiotics Arthropods

Phenoxazines — The microbial phenoxazines like actinomycins are well-known antibiotics. Actinomycin D produced by Streptomyces anibioticus is an effective antineoplastic agent that inhibits nucleic acid synthesis. The main function of ommochromes is to act as screening pigments in the eyes of insects and other arthropods, as pattern pigments in the integument, and as excretion products of excess tryptophan. ... 

Antibiotic curing experiments provide a powerful approach in investigating endosymbiont effects on host biology and have been widely used in work on arthropod Wolbachia. A number of such experiments have been inadvertently conducted on filarial worms, in the course of testing... 

As part of a screening program for bioactive compounds from endosym-biontic microorganisms, Zeeck et al. successfully isolated a group of new, structurally related phenazine antibiotics, the so called endophenazines A (74), B (75), C (76), and D (77) from the arthropod-associated endosymbiont Strepto-... 

Another structural variation replaces a hydroxyl group with an amine group and its derivatives. These amino sugars are components of some antibiotics. They also occur in polysaccharides contained in the exoskeleton of arthropods and are components of blood group antigens. The polysaccharide found in lobster shells contains the iV-acetyl derivative of d-2-glucosamine that is, it is A -acetylglucosamine. 

Response to potential illness resulting from infection by arthropod-bome pathogens is as important as attempts to prevent the exposure. Individuals who inform thanselves about the threat of disease associated with arthropods in their area should learn the simple, initial symptoms of those diseases. Unusual rash, fever up to 2 weeks after exposure to the biles, or even a feeling of illness out of the ordinary should be the occasion to seek medical attention and to point out to the physician that bites have occurred. Bacterial pathogens such as those that cause typhus, spotted fever, Lyme disease, and the ehrlichioses can be treated with antibiotics. Malaria usually respouds well to treatment with special drugs for that purpose. Delay in treatment can result in much more serious cou-sequences. Viral infections such as dengue. West Nile, or yellow fever can only be addressed with supportive therapy, but in some cases, that therapy can make the difference between life and death. 

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