Emerging fungal infection mimics cancer and IBD, accorading to Mayo Clinic researchers. Fungus, found ini soil and GI tracts of fish, reptiles, amphibians and bats, appears to cause basidiobolomycosis. 44 cases around the world were studied, 17 from Arizona. Symptoms can be abdomal pain or a mass that mimics abdominal cancer. Early detection is key.
A lake’s ecological traits influence how zooplankton Daphnia dentifera evolve to survive epidemics of a yeast parasite Metschnikowia bicuspidate. Daphnia populations evolve enhanced resistance or susceptibility to infection depending on the nutrient concentration and predation levels in the lake.
A two-drug combination is one of the most promising advances in decades for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) — a disease that kills 2 million people annually — a scientist reported today at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The treatment, which combines two medications already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), delivers a knockout punch to forms of TB that shrug off other antibiotics.
Spring has only just arrived, but tick season is well under way. Physicians are seeing new cases of tick-borne illness several weeks earlier than usual, likely because a mild winter in much of the country made life easier for ticks and their offspring.
New biological research reveals how an invading virus hijacks a cell’s workings by imitating a signaling marker to defeat the body’s defenses. By manipulating cell signals, the virus destroys a defensive protein designed to inhibit it.
Escherichia coli – a bacteria considered the food safety bane of restaurateurs, grocers and consumers – is a friend. Cornell University biomolecular engineers have learned to use E. coli to produce sugar-modified proteins for making pharmaceuticals cheaper and faster. (Nature Chemical Biology, March 25, 2012.)
UCLA scientists have pinpointed a new mechanism that potently activates T-cells to fight leprosy. Specifically, the team studied how immune cells located at the site of infection, called dendritic cells, become more specialized to fight leprosy. Dendritic cells deliver key information about an invading pathogen that helps activate the T-cells in launching a more effective attack. The finding may have applications in combating other infectious diseases and cancer.
Discovery helps researchers advance future TB vaccine design.
Paul Curtis, a professor of natural resources and an Extension wildlife specialist at Cornell University, focuses his research on human-wildlife conflicts and minimizing the potential for disease transmission. He comments on a “bad tick year” and the increased danger of Lyme disease infection.
Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have produced the first high resolution structure of a molecule that when attached to the genetic material of the hepatitis C virus prevents it from reproducing.
People in the US may be at higher risk for Chagas disease than previously understood. A new study finds that 38% of kissing bugs collected in Arizona and California contained human blood and that more than 50% of the bugs also carried the parasite that causes this life-threatening disease. This upends the view that US kissing bug species don’t regularly feed on people and suggests that Chagas could spread, driven north by climate change.
Research done by Australian scientist Jack da Silva, PhD, and published in the March issue of the journal GENETICS, suggests that even in early infection, when the virus population is low and has reduced genetic variation, HIV rapidly evolves to evade immune defenses and treatment.
A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center reveals that the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria is associated with elevated levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), an important biomarker for blood glucose levels and diabetes. The association was even stronger in obese individuals with a higher Body Mass Index (BMI). The results, which suggest the bacteria may play a role in the development of diabetes in adults, are available online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In the E coli outbreak in Germany in May 2011, treatment with azithromycin was associated with a lower frequency of long-term carriage of the bacteria and shorter duration of shedding of the bacteria in stool specimens, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA.
A national team of AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere say they are surprised and dismayed by results of their new study showing that the yearly number of new cases of HIV infection among black women in Baltimore and other cities is five times higher than previously thought. The data show that infection rates for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among this population are much higher than the overall incidence rates in the United States for African-American adolescents and African-American women.
Using human immune system cells in the lab, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins have figured out a way to kill off latent forms of HIV that hide in infected T cells long after antiretroviral therapy has successfully stalled viral replication to undetectable levels in blood tests.
A common sexually transmitted bacterial infection more than doubles the risk of HIV infection in African women, reports a study in the March issue of AIDS. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Only about 75 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States remain in care consistently, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in AIDS. The study of patients across the United States is the first to provide a comprehensive national estimate of HIV care retention and information about patients who are most likely to continue their treatment over time.
Leading AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and other institutions around the world have issued new guidelines to promote entry into and retention in HIV care, as well as adherence to HIV treatment, drawn from the results of 325 studies conducted with tens of thousands of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A drug once taken by people with HIV/AIDS but long ago shelved after newer, modern antiretroviral therapies became available has now shed light on how the human body uses its natural immunity to fight the virus—work that could help uncover new targets for drugs.
A new study conducted by researchers from McGill University, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, has put the accuracy of rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) under the microscope. The meta-analysis of 159 studies showed three key findings: that RIDTs can be used to confirm the flu, but not to rule it out; that test accuracy is higher in children than it is in adults; and that RIDTs are better at detecting the more common influenza A virus than they are at detecting influenza B.
In a study published in Nature Medicine, Loyola researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer.
Scientists find that the unfolded end of a protein can kill E. coli-like bacteria selectively. The results, which will be presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, may one day help scientists find new, more targeted ways to kill antibiotic-resistant microbes.
Problems with correct condom use, such as not wearing a condom throughout sex or putting it on upside down, are common in the U.S. and have become a major concern of public health officials. Countries around the world are facing similar challenges.
A strain of the potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA has jumped from livestock to humans, according to a new study involving two Northern Arizona University researchers and scientists from around the world.
Researchers have discovered a promising alternative to common antibiotics used to fight the bacteria that causes strep throat. In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists discussed how their discovery could fight the infection with a reduced risk of antibiotic resistance.
Disease-causing bacteria’s efforts to resist antibiotics may get help from their distant bacterial relatives that live in the soil, new research at Washington University School of Medicine suggests.
University at Buffalo researchers are expressing concern about a new, under-recognized, much more potent variant of a common bacterium that has surfaced in the U.S.
Water-associated infectious disease outbreaks are more likely to occur in areas where a region's population density is growing, according to a new global analysis.
Treatment with the antibiotic amoxicillin for patients with acute uncomplicated rhinosinusitis (inflammation of the nasal cavity and sinuses) did not result in a significant difference in symptoms compared to patients who received placebo, according to a study in the February 15 issue of JAMA.
A novel discovery by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues reveals a mechanism by which the immune system tries to halt the spread of HIV. Harnessing this mechanism may open up new paths for therapeutic research aimed at slowing the virus’ progression to AIDS. The study appears online ahead of print today in Nature Immunology.
Short-term use of the antibiotic cefpodoxime for the treatment of women with uncomplicated cystitis (bladder infection) did not meet criteria for noninferiority for achieving clinical cure compared with ciprofloxacin, a drug in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics for which there have been concerns about overuse and a resulting increase in resistance rates, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.
University of Utah biologists found new evidence why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs – even though some of those genes make us sick.
Using high-quality data about the incidence of influenza infections in Alberta during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the researchers show that when schools closed for the summer, the transmission of infection from person to person was sharply reduced.
Researchers found that by actively identifying undiagnosed malaria and then treating those with the disease resulted in significantly lower prevalence of malaria cases compared to a control group.
A new analysis published this week in the open-access journal PLoS ONE (Feb. 3, 2012) focused on a combined public health campaign in Western Province, Kenya led by the Swiss-based company Vestergaard Frandsen, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The analysis looked at the cost effectiveness of simultaneously confronting the problems of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and diarrhea caused by waterborne pathogens.
Newly divorced middle aged women are more vulnerable to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to Christopher Coleman, PhD, MPH, RN, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, because they tend to let their guard down with new sexual partners and avoid using protection since they are unafraid of getting pregnant.
February is peak season for flu, colds nd other viruses. Tips from Jorge Parada, MD, director, infectious disease at Loyola University Health System on how to give viruses "the kiss-off" during the season of romance.
Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a cell-permeable peptide that inhibits a hepatitis C virus protein and blocks viral replication, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.
Researchers led by William E. Goldman, PhD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine show that the plague bacteria transform the lungs from a nasty place for microbes into a playground for them to flourish.
Clorox Professional Products Company, a division of The Clorox Company announced today the introduction of Clorox Healthcare™ Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner Disinfectant Wipes and Spray, a new line of ready-to-use, one-step cleaner disinfectants engineered with a patented activated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) formula. These activated hydrogen peroxide products are registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to kill 32 bacteria and viruses in 30-seconds to one minute, the fastest non-bleach contact time available.
UCLA researchers discovered that the leprosy pathogen Mycobacterium leprae was able to evade immune activity that is dependent on vitamin D, a natural hormone that plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections. A better understanding of how these pathogens can escape the immune system may be helpful in designing more effective therapies.
Using a combination of evolutionary biology and virology, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have traced the birth of the ability of some HIV-related viruses to defeat a newly discovered cellular-defense system in primates.
The overall prevalence of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is approximately 7 percent among men and women ages 14 to 69 years in the United States, while the prevalence among men is higher than among women, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium.
Oral HPV infection is more common among men than women, explaining why men are more prone than women to develop an HPV related head and neck cancer, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM.
A molecule embedded in the membrane of human liver cells that aids in cholesterol absorption also allows the entry of hepatitis C virus, the first step in hepatitis C infection, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
A new combination of investigational drugs successfully suppressed hepatitis C genotype 1 infection in a high percent of patients who had not responded to previous treatment in a study led by a University of Michigan hepatologist.
Researchers from the University of Utah have identified a process by which the most common types of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are able to trigger bladder cell shedding and disable immune responses.
An international team of microbiologists led by Indiana University researchers has identified a new bacterial growth process -- one that occurs at a single end or pole of the cell instead of uniform, dispersed growth along the long axis of the cell -- that could have implications in the development of new antibacterial strategies.
Garth Phibbs, MD, FACOG is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist specializing in gynecological oncology and has been practicing medicine for the past 39 years. He completed his fellowship at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Mich. and his residency at Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario. He received his Bachelor of Science and his Medical Doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, the American college of Obstetricians & Gynecologist and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, division of Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Phibbs currently heads a private practice located at ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
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