Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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Every year reported cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) and the West Nile virus surface in communities around the country, raising concerns and questions about mosquito borne-illnesses. Despite reports that children and the elderly are at greatest risk, anyone can be stricken by these viruses. But prevention is within everyone’s control.

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A seafood contaminant that thrives in brackish water during the summer works like a spy to infiltrate cells and quickly open communication channels to sicken the host, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report.

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Adenoviruses commonly infect humans, causing colds, flu-like symptoms and sometimes even death, but now UC San Francisco researchers have discovered that a new species of adenovirus can spread from primate to primate, and potentially from monkey to human.

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UC San Francisco researchers are recommending a combination of six comprehensive measures to prevent the spread of hepatitis C, in an effort to address the more than 31,000 young people they estimate may be newly infected with the virus each year in the United States due to injection-drug use.

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Pediatric cancer patients whose central lines are used to treat them at home develop three times as many dangerous bloodstream infections from their devices than their hospitalized counterparts, according to the results of a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study.

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A researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues have identified the genetic mutation in Africans with HIV that puts them at a much higher risk for tuberculosis infections.

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Michigan Tech scientist Jaroslaw Drelich has found a new way to stop dangerous bacteria like E.coli before they attack. He embeds copper nanoparticles into vermiculite, an inexpensive, inert compound. Copper has been known for centuries for its antibiotic properties.

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Whether they are invading your picnic, hitching a ride on your skin or just buzzing around your head, bugs are an annoying and unavoidable part of summer. Still, there are times when bugs are just a nuisance and times when they can cause serious illness or injury.

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The plant pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s lives on today with a different genetic blueprint and an even larger arsenal of weaponry to harm and kill plants.

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Improving vaccination rates against the human papillomavirus (HPV) in boys is key to protecting both men and women, says new research from University of Toronto Professor Peter A. Newman from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. HPV has been linked to anal, penile and certain types of throat cancers in men. Since the virus is also responsible for various cancers in women, vaccinating boys aged 11 to 21 will play a crucial role in reducing cancer rates across the sexes.

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There's no vaccine to prevent norovirus, or drugs to treat the pesky virus that sickens millions each year and is known to complicate cruise ship vacations. But a first ever small animal model developed at the University of Michigan Medical School provides a new tool for future drug studies.

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Researchers have identified a genetic mutation that causes congenital malformations of the kidney and urinary tract, a common form of birth defect and the most common cause of kidney failure in children. It is the first time that a specific genetic mutation has been linked to a non-syndromic form of urinary tract malformation. The findings were published in the July 17 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Kansas State University researchers are defeating persistent bacteria known for causing infections in hospitals. They have discovered how a regulatory system helps this bacteria resist a host's innate immune defense -- a finding that may help develop novel drug compounds to fight the bacteria.

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An analysis of West Nile virus epidemics in Dallas County in 2012 and previous years finds that the epidemics begin early, after unusually warm winters; are often in similar geographical locations; and are predicted by the mosquito vector index (an estimate of the average number of West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes collected per trap-night), information that may help prevent future outbreaks of West Nile virus-associated illness, according to a study in the July 17 issue of JAMA.

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Lyle R. Petersen, M.D., M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services, Fort Collins, Colo., and colleagues conducted a review of the medical literature and national surveillance data to examine the ecology, virology, epidemiology, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, prevention, and control of West Nile virus.

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UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have unlocked some of the mysteries of West Nile virus outbreaks and shown that use of a mosquito vector-index rating system works well to identify the best time for early intervention.

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Indiana U. researchers discuss findings involving pharmacists' increased role in customer HIV care, increased STI risk after release from prison, increased access to cervical cancer screenings and more at international STI conference.

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McGill University researchers are shedding light on the biological mechanisms by which cranberries may impart protective properties against urinary tract and other infections.

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At the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s men who were married were significantly less likely to die of HIV/AIDS than their single counterparts. For women, marital status had little impact on who was more likely to die of the disease. But race proved to be a significant risk factor.

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The emerging H7N9 avian influenza virus responsible for at least 37 deaths in China has qualities that could potentially spark a global outbreak of flu, according to a new study published today (July 10, 2013) in the journal Nature.

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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report the identification of a new cellular source for an important disease-fighting protein used in the body’s earliest response to infection.

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To investigate factors underlying the three-wave shape of the 1918 influenza epidemic, McMaster researchers developed what they describe as a simple epidemic model. It incorporates three factors in addition to natural disease spread: school terms, temperature changes during an outbreak and changes in human behavior.

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A comprehensive infection control program combined with an active surveillance process significantly reduced the incidence of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections in a long-term acute care hospital, according to a study published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality.

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The influenza virus’ ability to mutate quickly has produced new, emerging strains that make drug discovery more critical than ever. For the first time, researchers have mapped how critical molecules regulate both the induction and resolution of inflammation during flu infection. The results are published this month in the journal Cell.

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Researchers have taken the first steps toward a complete representation of the regulatory network for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This map will yield unique insights into how the bacteria survive in the host.

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Smokers and single men are more likely to acquire cancer-causing oral human papillomavirus (HPV), according to new results from the HPV Infection in Men (HIM) Study. Researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, Mexico and Brazil also report that newly acquired oral HPV infections in healthy men are rare and when present, usually resolve within one year.

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Using a data set spanning 40 years of dengue fever incidence in Thailand, an international team has for the first time estimated from data that after an initial infection, a person is protected from infection with other strains for between one and three years, promising more effective vaccine studies.

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A new study found drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock in the noses of industrial livestock workers in North Carolina but not in the noses of antibiotic-free livestock workers. The drug-resistant bacteria examined were Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as “Staph,” which include the well-known bug MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

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The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) have released the Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES), a collection of flexible, open-source software products developed for electronic disease surveillance in all settings.

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Scientists have discovered the role of the membrane protein TonB in bacteria that cause a wide variety of diseases, including typhoid fever, plague, meningitis and dysentery. Results may lead to new and improved human and animal antibiotics.

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Montefiore expert provides tips to avoid common summertime maladies.

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A new study in PLOS ONE that examined food poisoning infection as-it-happens in mice revealed harmful bacteria, such as a common type of Salmonella, takes over beneficial bacteria within the gut amid previously unseen changes to the gut environment. The results provide new insights into the course of infection and could lead to better prevention or new treatments.

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It’s been known for more than two centuries that pneumonia cases increase during flu epidemics.

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University veterinarians are warning pet owners to watch out for ticks carrying a disease that could kill cats.

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Hospitals are synonymous with cleanliness and now Loyola University Health System is the first academic medical center in Illinois to take disinfection to futuristic levels. Nicknamed “Ralph” by the housekeeping staff at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and “little Joe” at Loyola University Medical Center, 3-foot upright cylindrical robots provide the finishing touches to room sanitation. A rotating telescopic head emits cidal ultraviolet (UV) rays for 15 minutes in closed, unoccupied rooms to systematically kill germs dead.

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An investigative team of infectious disease experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia during an outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus reports that the virus poses a serious risk to hospitals because it is easily transmitted in health care settings.

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A research team led by David Alland, MD, of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, has discovered a drug that cripples tuberculosis bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in a novel way, by dissolving the protecting fatty coating of the bacteria. The drug killed the bacterium in culture without the emergence of drug resistance.

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An international team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has identified a highly promising new anti-tuberculosis compound that attacks the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium in two different ways.

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Mayo Clinic and other researchers have shown that a vaccine given to newborns is at least 60 percent effective against rotavirus in Ghana. Rotavirus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, which in infants can cause severe dehydration. In developed nations, the condition often results in an emergency room visit or an occasional hospitalization, but is rarely fatal. In developing countries, however, rotavirus-related illness causes approximately 500,000 deaths per year. The findings appear this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

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A new University of Michigan poll shows that 61 percent of adults say they don’t know when they were last vaccinated against pertussis, which could mean they might be unwittingly exposing vulnerable babies to the disease.

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Subtracting the sequenced human genome from blood serum, scientists sift through the remainder.

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E. coli that produce a toxin dangerous to humans may survive longer in water than benign counterparts, a new study finds.The findings have implications for water quality testing, suggesting that a lake's overall E. coli population may be a poor indicator of danger.

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A team of researchers led by the University of Iowa is recommending clinical guidelines that will cut the post-surgical infection rate for staph bacteria (including MRSA) by 71 percent and 59 percent for a broader class of infectious agents known as gram-positive bacteria. The recommendations come after an extensive review of hospital practices in the U.S. and are published in the British Medical Journal.

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New vaccine and regulations to impact patient care, prompt early vaccination.

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New Canadian surveillance system monitors tuberculosis and could be used for SARS-like outbreaks.

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A recent study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, has identified a new mechanism for PZA-resistance, which provides new insight into the how this mysterious drug works. The study is available online June 12 in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections.

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A team of Johns Hopkins researchers working with animals has developed a vaccine that prevents the virulent TB bacterium from invading the brain and causing the highly lethal condition TB meningitis, a disease that disproportionately occurs in TB-infected children and in adults with compromised immune system.

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Educating pediatricians in their offices, and auditing their prescription patterns, encourages them to choose more appropriate antibiotics for children with common respiratory infections.