News

The red berries of the Brazilian peppertree -- a weedy, invasive species common in Florida -- contain an extract with the power to disarm dangerous antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria, scientists at Emory University have discovered.

Malaria mosquitoes prefer to feed -- and feed more -- on blood from people infected with malaria. Researchers from Stockholm University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have discovered why. The findings can lead to new ways to fight malaria without using poisonous chemicals. The results will be published in the next issue of the journal Science.

Viral and human genetics together account for about one third of the differences in disease progression rates seen among people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to new research published in PLOS Computational Biology. The findings suggest that patient genetics influences disease progression by triggering mutations in the HIV viral genome.

A few days after a viral infection, countless killer cells swarm out to track down and kill infected body cells. In this way, they are highly effective at preventing pathogens from being able to spread further. An international research team has now explained an important mechanism behind building this army. The work under the aegis of the University of Bonn is published in the journal Immunity.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition due to excessive immune responses to infection that damages the patient's own tissues and organs. In septic shock, the severest stage of sepsis, the blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level, often leading to multiple organ failure and death. To date, there is no effective therapy yet available for septic shock. Recent findings by Japanese scientists may be a breakthrough in developing a silver bullet for the treatment of septic shock.

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have taken an important step on the road to understanding the underlying mechanism of how and why animals can feel pain in connection with cold or heat. However, according to the study, temperature is just one triggering factor -- horseradish, mustard, cinnamon and wasabi have a similar effect.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are caused by a type of staph bacteria that has become resistant to the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections. The rise of MRSA infections is limiting the treatment options for physicians and surgeons. Now, an international team of researchers, led by Elizabeth Loboa, dean of the University of Missouri College of Engineering, has used silver ion-coated scaffolds, or biomaterials that are created to hold stem cells, which slow the spread of or kill MRSA while regenerating new bone. Scientists feel that the biodegradable and biocompatible scaffolds could be the first step in the fight against MRSA in patients.

Salmonella infections are typically the culprit behind food poisoning outbreaks, but in sub-Saharan Africa, they often cause drug-resistant, deadly bloodstream infections and meningitis. A study in mice published February 8 in Cell Host & Microbe now reveals how these so-called African nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) strains leave the gut and spread throughout the body. Ironically, loss of a bacterial gene called sseI has allowed the African NTS lineages to more efficiently hijack immune cells and travel through the blood to different organs.

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a desktop diagnosis tool that detects the presence of harmful bacteria in a blood sample in a matter of hours instead of days. The breakthrough was made possible by a combination of proprietary chemistry, innovative electrical engineering and high-end imaging and analysis techniques powered by machine learning. The team details their work in the Feb. 8 issue of Scientific Reports.

A compound extracted from a deep-water marine sponge collected near the Bahamas is showing potent antibacterial activity against the drug resistant bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Results of the study, led by researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, are published in the current issue of the journal Marine Drugs.

Humans face hundreds of decisions every day. But we're not alone. Even the tiniest viruses also make decisions, and scientists are researching how they do so, to help lead to better treatments for some diseases. In a study published Feb. 6 in the journal Nature Communications, Dr. Lanying Zeng and her team at Texas A&M AgriLife Research discovered how the lambda phage decides what actions to take in its host, the E. coli bacterium.

The most frightening aspect of Zika virus has been its ability to produce severe fetal birth defects during pregnancy, especially microcephaly--a small head. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have uncovered the details behind the virus's unique ability to cross the placental barrier and expose the fetus to a range of birth defects that often go beyond microcephaly to include eye and joint injury, and even other types of brain damage.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered a survival strategy that harmful bacteria can use to outsmart the human immune response, resulting in more severe and persistent infections and more effective spreading from person to person.

Over the past two decades there has been a sharp rise in the number and severity of infections caused by the bacteria Clostridium difficile, now the most common hospital acquired infection in the United States. But a new study suggests that the most routinely prescribed antibiotic is not the best treatment for severe cases. Scientists at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System and University of Utah School of Medicine report that patients with a severe C. diff infection (CDI) were less likely to die when treated with the antibiotic vancomycin compared to the standard treatment of metronidazole. The findings will be published online on Feb. 6 on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine website.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new 3D system to study human infection in the laboratory. The team, which includes infection researchers, engineers and bioinformaticians in Southampton and University College London, have used an electrostatic encapsulation technique to make tiny 3D spheres within which human cells are infected with tuberculosis (TB) bacteria to generate conditions that more closely reflect events in patients.