Antibiotic medications have a tricky job: kill the target single-celled organisms without causing so much damage to the host animal that it would be better off with the infection. Many treatments that seem promising in a petri dish can’t make that leap. So how do antibiotics work anyway? Before the era of modern broad-spectrum antibiotics, […]
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is not the only Rickettsiosis
Rickettsia species cause moderate to severe symptoms ranging from fever to internal hemorrhaging. The symptoms and their severity depend on which species is present and how long the patient has been infected. Like Bartonella and Ehrlichia, Rickettsia species are intracellular bacteria, which means that they can live inside cells in the host. Rocky Mountain spotted […]
Are You Aware of Anaplasmosis?
Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne illness that is reported across the globe in areas such as North America, Europe, and China. Known infections in the United States have been on the rise ever since becoming a nationally notifiable disease to the CDC in 2000. Like bartonellosis and Lyme borreliosis, patients with this condition can present with [...]
Could it be Babesia?
Patients and physicians managing chronic illnesses are often unsure of what is causing the mysterious symptoms. They could be caused by autoimmune diseases or difficult-to-diagnose stealth infections. Flea-and tick-borne pathogens cause a variety of similar non-specific symptoms despite their distinct morphologies and pathogeneses. Furthermore, more than one pathogen can be transmitted during a single bite […]
Galaxy Diagnostics Co-Founder Reflects on Differences Between Research and Commercial Diagnostic Testing
We asked Dr. Ricardo Maggi, co-founder and chief technical officer at Galaxy Diagnostics and research professor at North Carolina State University, “Galaxy Diagnostics is celebrating our 10-year anniversary in 2019. As one of the co-founders, what have you learned about laboratory medicine over the years?” In his reply, Dr. Maggi focused on the difference between […]
Galaxy Celebrates 10 Years of Advanced Diagnostics For Flea-and Tick-borne Diseases
How did we get here? In 2008, Galaxy Diagnostics began commercializing the patented BAPGM (Bartonella alphaproteobacteria Growth Medium) technology. This technology was developed at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine by our co-founders, Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt and Dr. Ricardo Maggi. When Dr. Amanda Elam, now President of Galaxy Diagnostics, joined the company the […]