Isolation of ultrasmall (filterable) bacteria from patients suffering from ME, and patients and staff of a paediatric hospital- Alharbi - Mar 2020

Sly Saint

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Abstract
A total of 108 blood samples obtained from 28 male and 80 female patients diagnosed with ME were diluted in sterile, Ringer’s Solution and forced (by suction) through 0.2 micron filters. Of the 28 male samples, 4 yielded filterable bacteria and of the 80 female samples, 18 gave filterable bacteria; as a result, of the total of 124 samples, 22 yielded FB. Filterable (0.4 and 0.2, but not 0.1micron filterable) bacteria were also isolated from the nose throat and skin of paediatric patients and from the throat and skin of staff at an emergency paediatric hospital. The highest percentage of bacterial passage occurred through the largest (0.4 micron) pores. The results show that ultrasmall bacteria occur in ME patients and in paediatric patients and nurses. The potential pathogenic role of such filterable bacteria is briefly discussed.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319562X20300887

(is this the study that Karl Morten refers to?)
 
It seems that aqueous environments are a soup of ultra-small microorganisms...

Another paper on the topic:
Size Matters: Ultra-small and Filterable Microorganisms in the Environment 2020
Abstract
Ultra-small microorganisms are ubiquitous in Earth’s environments. Ultramicrobacteria, which are defined as having a cell volume of <0.1 μm3, are often numerically dominant in aqueous environments. Cultivated representatives among these bacteria, such as members of the marine SAR11 clade (e.g., “Candidatus Pelagibacter ubique”) and freshwater Actinobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, possess highly streamlined, small genomes and unique ecophysiological traits. Many ultramicrobacteria may pass through a 0.2-μm-pore-sized filter, which is commonly used for filter sterilization in various fields and processes. Cultivation efforts focusing on filterable small microorganisms revealed that filtered fractions contained not only ultramicrocells (i.e., miniaturized cells because of external factors) and ultramicrobacteria, but also slender filamentous bacteria sometimes with pleomorphic cells, including a special reference to members of Oligoflexia, the eighth class of the phylum Proteobacteria.

... Therefore, filtered fractions contain a greater variety and complexity of microorganisms than previously expected. This review summarizes the broad diversity of overlooked filterable agents remaining in “sterile” (<0.2-μm filtered) environmental samples.
 
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