Infant's Prolonged Infection Reveals Mutation That Helps Bacteria Tolerate Antibiotics
January 3rd 2017The quest to understand a prolonged infection in an infant being treated for leukemia has led to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital discovery of a mutation that allows bacteria to tolerate normally effective antibiotic therapy. The report appears today in the scientific journal mBio.
Can Bacteria Help Stop the Spread of Disease?
December 30th 2016Mosquitoes kill an estimated 700 000 people a year. If infected with viruses that cause diseases like chikungunya, dengue and Zika, mosquitos can transmit them to humans in one bite. Researchers have now pilot-deployed a new technique to control diseases transmitted by mosquitoes by making use of nature. It is one of the new tools WHO recommends for pilot deployment as a response to Zika virus.
Deadly Sleeping Sickness Set to be Eliminated in Six Years
December 23rd 2016Gambian sleeping sickness - a deadly parasitic disease spread by tsetse flies - could be eliminated in six years in key regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to new research by the University of Warwick.
Scientists Closer to Developing RSV Vaccine
December 21st 2016Crafting a vaccine against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) has been a minefield for 50 years, but scientists believe they have found the right balance. Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta report that they have engineered a version of RSV that is highly attenuated -- weakened in its ability to cause disease -- yet potent in its ability to induce protective antibodies.
Researchers Reveal the Secret Code Language of Bacteria
December 21st 2016Antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is a growing global challenge. Danish researchers have now discovered that bacteria use a code language to avoid being controlled. Understanding this code language will be paramount to developing new antibiotics in the future.
Genetic Mutations Could Increase Risk of Cytomegalovirus Infection
December 20th 2016Experimenting with human cells and mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that a genetic mutation that alters a protein called NOD1 may increase susceptibility to human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. CMV is a common pathogen that infects almost 60 percent of adults in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and can lead to devastating developmental defects in fetuses and severe disease in people with weakened immune systems.
Researchers Strengthen the Case for Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus
December 20th 2016Aedes aegypti mosquitoes harboring parasitic Zika virus (ZIKV) are the primary transmitters of virus to humans, potentially causing catastrophic congenital microcephaly in babies born to women bitten by infected mosquitoes. But confirmation earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that ZIKV can also be sexually transmitted raised new alarm that virus could be passed between sexual partners in venues far from mosquito habitats.