Infection Control Today Magazine

Parasitic Diseases

Drug Found for Parasite That is a Major Cause of Death Worldwide

Research by a collaborative group of scientists from UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Francisco and Wake Forest School of Medicine has led to identification of an existing drug that is effective against Entamoeba histolytica. This parasite causes amebic dysentery and ...More
3 days ago
Posted in News
Can Alcohol Consumption Protect Against Infectious Disease, Bloodborne Parasites?

Fruit flies infected with a bloodborne parasite consume alcohol to self-medicate, a behavior that greatly increases their survival rate, an Emory University study finds. "We believe our results are the first to show that alcohol consumption can have a protective effect ...More
February 16, 2012
Posted in News
Researchers Report Fundamental Malaria Discovery

A team of researchers led by Kasturi Haldar and Souvik Bhattacharjee of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases has made a fundamental discovery in understanding how malaria parasites cause deadly disease. The researchers show how parasites ...More
January 23, 2012
Posted in News
Study Confirms New Strategy in Fight Against Infectious Diseases

New research shows that infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block a pathogen’s entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself. Historically, medications for infectious diseases have been designed to kill the offending pathogen. This new strategy is ...More
January 9, 2012
Posted in News
Researchers Discover a Potential Target for Schistosomiasis Vaccine

In the complicated life cycle of ancient flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, Case Western Reserve University researchers have identified a gene activator crucial to development of the parasites within humans – a potential target for a vaccine. A description of the ...More
January 5, 2012
Posted in News
As One Type of Malaria Declines, New Map Reveals Another Strain Holding Steady

With signs of declining malaria deaths in Africa raising hopes of eradicating the disease worldwide, researchers unveiled today at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) a new malaria map that is the first to identify on a global ...More
December 5, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Researchers Reveal New Evidence of Genetic 'Arms Race' Against Malaria

For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another. Now, University of Pennsylvania geneticists, in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have developed a new picture of one way that the human ...More
June 9, 2011
Posted in News
Mummies Tell the History of a 'Modern' Plague

Mummies from along the Nile are revealing how age-old irrigation techniques may have boosted the plague of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic disease that infects an estimated 200 million people today. ...More
May 23, 2011
Posted in News
Presence of Protein Antibody Identifies How Parasitic Infection Can Occur

Figuring out how we contracted an illness can help us determine what steps to take next. In the case of infectious disease, epidemiological studies can offer insight into treatment and prevention. Toxoplasmosis, a common parasitic infection, has provided scientists with a ...More
May 13, 2011
Posted in News
Scientists Show That HIV Drugs Can Also Target Tropical Parasites

Scientists have discovered that drugs used to treat HIV may also one day become lifesaving drugs targeted at parasitic diseases such as leishmaniasis and malaria. According to new research published in The FASEB Journal, scientists have identified the target of action for ...More
May 9, 2011
Posted in News