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Persistent Infection Keeps Immune Memory Sharp, Leading to Long-Term Protection

Many infectious diseases are one and done; people get sick once and then they are protected from another bout of the same illness. For some of these infections - chickenpox, for example - a small number of microbes persist in the body long after the symptoms have gone away. Often, such microbes can reactivate when the person's immunity has waned with age or illness, and cause disease again. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis studying leishmaniasis, a tropical disease that kills tens of thousands of people every year, believe they have found an explanation for the seemingly paradoxical connection between long-term infection and long-term immunity. By constantly reminding the immune system what the parasite that causes leishmaniasis looks like, a persistent infection keeps the immune system on alert against new encounters, even while it carries the risk of causing disease later in life, the researchers found.

Viral 'Escape Hatch' Could be Treatment Target for Hepatitis E, Study Finds

The technique that the hepatitis E virus -- an emerging liver virus historically found in developing countries but now on the rise in Europe -- uses to spread could present a weak spot scientists can exploit to treat the disease, according to a Princeton University-led study. The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Nanoparticle Exposure Can Awaken Dormant Viruses in the Lungs

Nanoparticles from combustion engines can activate viruses that are dormant in in lung tissue cells. This is the result of a study by researchers of Helmholtz Zentrum München, a partner in the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), which has now been published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology.

Product Evaluation & Purchasing Series: Patient Skin Prep and Hygiene

In this new series for 2017, we offer insights from experts in industry and in healthcare delivery regarding smart evaluation and purchasing of infection prevention and control-related products. In this installation, we address patient skin prep and patient hygiene products.

New Mathematical Model Proposes Study Sizes Needed to Help Eliminate Malaria

To find an effective vaccine against malaria it is crucial to test candidate vaccines on larger groups of people than previously thought - according to a new study published in PLOS Computational Biology. The researchers from Erasmus MC Rotterdam and Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen developed a mathematical model to determine the minimum number of people required for a good vaccine trial.

NCI-Designated Cancer Centers Endorse Updated HPV Vaccination Recommendations

Recognizing a critical need to improve national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV), Yale Cancer Center has again united with each of the 69 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers in issuing a joint statement in support of recently revised recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Cholera Bacteria Infect More Effectively With a Simple Twist of Shape

The bacteria that cause the life-threatening disease cholera may initiate infection by coordinating a wave of mass shapeshifting that allows them to more effectively penetrate the intestines of their unwitting victims, according to a study led by Princeton University.

Penn Vet Research Identifies New Target for Taming Ebola

Viruses and their hosts are in a eternal game of one-upmanship. If a host cell evolves a way to stop a virus from spreading, the virus will look for a new path. And so on and so forth. A team of scientists led by Ronald Harty, a professor of pathobiology and microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, has identified a mechanism that appears to represent one way that host cells have evolved to outsmart infection by Ebola and other viruses. In a new paper, he and colleagues reveal that host cells sequester viral proteins away from the plasma membrane within the cell, thus preventing viruses from spreading.

Researchers Discover That T Cells Play a Crucial Role in Control of Zika Infections

The worst of the global Zika virus outbreak may be over but many key questions remain, such as why the virus persists in certain tissues after the systemic infection has cleared; how does the immune system counteract the virus and protect against reinfection; what determines the likelihood of long-term complications? New research from La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology lays the groundwork to parse how the virus interacts with its host and causes disease by pinpointing CD8+ T cells, a subset of T cells more commonly known as cytotoxic or killer T cells, as important gatekeepers that control Zika infection or limit the severity of disease. The findings mapping the structural landmarks or epitopes recognized by CD8+ cells appear in the January 12, 2017, issue of Cell Host & Microbe and provide an important tool to track Zika-specific T cells in the context of different disease models.

Heat and Humidity Levels Explain Why Lyme Disease is Common in the North, Rare in the South

The ticks that transmit Lyme disease to people die of dehydration when exposed to a combination of high temperature and lowered humidity, a new USGS-led study has found. In an earlier related study, the researchers found that southern black-legged ticks, unlike northern ones, usually stay hidden under a layer of leaves, where they are less likely to encounter people. The research group, whose findings were published Jan. 11 in the journal PLOS ONE, hypothesizes that southern ticks typically shelter under leaves to retain moisture, and that this behavior is a key reason why Lyme disease is very uncommon in the South.