News

Campylobacter and Salmonella caused the most reported bacterial foodborne illnesses in 2016, according to preliminary data published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) report provides the most up-to-date information about foodborne illnesses in the United States.

Fungi are a potential goldmine for the production of pharmaceuticals. This is shown by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, who have developed a method for finding new antibiotics from nature's own resources. The findings, which could prove very useful in the battle against antibiotic resistance, were recently published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities report new evidence that proteins created by defective forms of HIV long previously believed to be harmless actually interact with our immune systems and are actively monitored by a specific type of immune cell, called cytotoxic T cells.

Viruses that specifically kill bacteria, called bacteriophages, might one day help solve the growing problem of bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotic treatment. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center have determined that phages can effectively reduce bacterial levels and improve the health of mice that are infected with deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacterial 'superbugs.' The study appears in Scientific Reports.

Q: In reviewing our manual high-level disinfection (HLD) records, I noted that on several occasions, the temperature of the solution did not reach the manufacturer’s recommended temperature. The technician did not notify the supervisor of this problem and the following technicians never noted this error on the log. What should we do?

Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued the following statement regarding a report, "Ten Years in Public Health 2007-2017," that chronicles the evolution of global public health over the decade that she has served in WHO leadership.

There are many processes that take place in cells that are essential for life. Two of these, transcription and translation, allow the genetic information stored in DNA to be deciphered into the proteins that form all living things, from bacteria to humans to plants. Scientists have known for half a century that these two processes are coupled in bacteria, but only now have they finally had a look at the structure that makes this possible. In a paper published in Science on April 13, 2017, biochemists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany have revealed the defined architecture of what is called the "expressome."

Head lice have been stigmatized, quickly conjuring images of infested school children and parents combing through their hair. This social stigma reaches many of the estimated 14 million people who are annually infested in the U.S. alone. However, these blood sucking lice have had a long and complex evolutionary history tied to humans and other mammals. In total, there are 532 species of blood sucking lice and each species parasitizes one or just a few mammal species. In the past, scientists have taken advantage of the close associations of lice to their hosts to approach questions of human evolution. Research is now moving to the bacteria associated with these lice.