SCIENCE FILE / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment : Researchers Succeed in Growing Organism Linked to New Illness

Minnesota researchers say they have succeeded in growing the organism responsible for human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), a newly recognized, potentially deadly disease spread by ticks. HGE is spread by organisms harbored by the species of tick responsible for Lyme disease, they said. The ability to grow the bacteria-like organism may help scientists develop better tests and treatments as they study how it grows and spreads.

The discovery of a way to grow the organism was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine by a team from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. It should make possible a test that could help researchers determine whether some people become infected without developing the illness, and whether getting an infection from a related species of bacteria can protect people from HGE.