Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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15-Jan-2009 11:10 AM EST
E. coli Persists Against Antibiotics Through HipA-Induced Dormancy
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Bacteria hunker down and survive antibiotic attack when a protein flips a chemical switch that throws them into a dormant state until treatment abates, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan.16 edition of Science.

Released: 8-Jan-2009 4:25 PM EST
Study Finds More Effective Treatment for Pneumonia Following Influenza
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated a more effective treatment for bacterial pneumonia following influenza. They found that the antibiotics clindamycin and azithromycin, which kill bacteria by inhibiting their protein synthesis, are more effective than a standard first-line treatment with the "beta-lactam" antibiotic ampicillin, which causes the bacteria to lyse, or burst.

Released: 8-Jan-2009 12:00 AM EST
New Malaria Drug May Meet Resistance Says Expert
PolyMedix

According to University of Pennsylvania pharmacologist Doron Greenbaum, Ph.D., although the exact mechanism by which artemisinin kills parasites is still open to considerable debate, the drug likely acts against one or more biochemical targets that may make it susceptible to resistance that has developed to every other drug that acts via a biochemical mechanism of action. Drug resistance has been shown to occur in the laboratory , and reports have already surfaced about potential resistance in southeast Asia.

Released: 6-Jan-2009 5:10 PM EST
Scientists Discover Dangerous New Method for Bacterial Toxin Transfer
NYU Langone Health

Scientists have discovered a new way for bacteria to transfer toxic genes to unrelated bacterial species, a finding that raises the unsettling possibility that bacterial swapping of toxins and other disease-aiding factors may be more common than previously imagined.

26-Dec-2008 12:35 PM EST
Scientists Isolate Genes That Made 1918 Flu Lethal
University of Wisconsin–Madison

By mixing and matching a contemporary flu virus with the "Spanish flu" "” a virus that killed between 20 and 50 million people 90 years ago in history's most devastating outbreak of infectious disease "” researchers have identified a set of three genes that helped underpin the extraordinary virulence of the 1918 virus.

Released: 16-Dec-2008 1:50 PM EST
Researchers Hunting Drugs for Devastating Parasitic Disease
University of Illinois Chicago

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered that compounds derived from a natural product can be used in developing a new drug to treat leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by the bite of infected sand flies.

Released: 16-Dec-2008 10:35 AM EST
Genes Involved in Antibiotic Resistance Vary within a Species
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine scientist leads comparative analysis of six genomes of Acinetobacter baumannii; First genome sequence to be completed in Cleveland.

Released: 12-Dec-2008 4:40 PM EST
Maryland Researchers Take Aim at Avian Flu Vaccine
University of Maryland, College Park

Researchers at the University of Maryland are hot on the trail of a universal flu vaccine for animals - which could ultimately help prevent or delay another avian flu pandemic in humans.

Released: 10-Dec-2008 4:00 PM EST
Scans Show Immune Cells Intercepting Parasites
Washington University in St. Louis

Researchers may have identified one of the body's earliest responses to a group of parasites that causes illness in developing nations and is infecting soldiers on patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Released: 3-Dec-2008 12:05 AM EST
Interferon Needed for Cells to 'Remember’ How to Defeat a Virus
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that the immune-system protein interferon plays a key role in "teaching" the immune system how to fight off repeated infections of the same virus.

   
Released: 25-Nov-2008 4:05 PM EST
Synthetic Virus Supports a Bat Origin for SARS and Establishes Response Strategy for Emerging Infections
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

SARS "“ severe acute respiratory syndrome "“ alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century. The coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that sickened more than 8,000 people "“ and killed nearly 800 of them "“ may have originated in bats, but the actual animal source is not known.

Released: 25-Nov-2008 10:40 AM EST
Researchers Recreate SARS Virus, Open Door for Potential Defenses Against Future Strains
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003.

Released: 24-Nov-2008 9:00 AM EST
Transporting Broiler Chickens Could Spread Antibiotic-Resistant Organisms
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found evidence of a novel pathway for potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from intensively raised poultry"”driving behind the trucks transporting broiler chickens from farm to slaughterhouse.

13-Nov-2008 2:35 PM EST
Novel Regulatory Step During HIV Replication
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

A previously unknown regulatory step during human immunodeficiency (HIV) replication provides a potentially valuable new target for HIV/AIDS therapy, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Released: 4-Nov-2008 7:00 AM EST
Novel Antibiotic Class Also Active against Malaria Parasite
PolyMedix

A new class of antimicrobial agent with broad-spectrum activity has been found to also kill Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the most lethal form of human malaria.

Released: 29-Oct-2008 8:00 AM EDT
Universal Vaccination Associated with Reductions in Influenza-related Deaths, Hospitalizations and Doctor Visits
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

A long awaited Canadian study on the effectiveness of universal vaccination for seasonal influenza was published by Canadian researchers yesterday in the open access journal PLoS Medicine. The study was led by Dr. Jeff Kwong, a CIHR-funded researcher at the Institute of Clinical and Evaluative Sciences and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.

Released: 29-Oct-2008 6:00 AM EDT
What the World Needs Now: Safe Non-Antibiotic Anti-Infectives
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

At the upcoming first-ever joint meeting of the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (48th Annual ICAAC/IDSA 46th Annual Meeting, October 25-28, 2008, in Washington, D.C.), Emeryville, CA.-based NovaBay Pharmaceuticals presented four posters and an oral presentation regarding the company's topical anti-microbial program.

22-Oct-2008 4:00 PM EDT
Researchers Downplay MRSA Screening as Effective Infection Control Intervention
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

Three Virginia Commonwealth University epidemiologists are downplaying the value of mandatory universal nasal screening of patients for MRSA, arguing that proven, hospital-wide infection control practices can prevent more of the potentially fatal infections.

Released: 22-Oct-2008 3:00 PM EDT
Researchers Find Clue to Antibiotic Resistance
University of Alabama at Birmingham

UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) researchers have discovered how one highly effective antibiotic finds and destroys its targeted bacteria. The findings could have great implications for combating antibiotic resistance and promoting antibiotic efficiency. In research published online Oct. 22 in Nature, the UAB team pinpointed the place on bacteria where an antibiotic called myxopyronin launches its attack, and why that attack is successful.

17-Oct-2008 6:00 PM EDT
Study Shows How Breastfeeding Transfers Immunity to Babies
Brigham Young University

A BYU-Harvard-Stanford research team has identified a molecule that is key to mothers' ability to pass along immunity to intestinal infections to their babies through breast milk.

17-Oct-2008 4:20 PM EDT
Research Identifies Promising Type of TB Vaccine
Saint Louis University Medical Center

A recombinant vaccine against tuberculosis shows promise, Saint Louis University researchers find.

13-Oct-2008 8:30 PM EDT
Bugs in the Gut Trigger Production of Important Immune Cells
NYU Langone Health

A new study reveals that specific types of bacteria in the intestine trigger the generation of pro-inflammatory immune cells, a finding that could eventually lead to novel treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other diseases.

9-Oct-2008 8:00 PM EDT
Pandemic Flu Models Improve Food, Quarantine Strategies
Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications

A presentation on October 12 at the INFORMS Annual Meeting will describe pandemic flu models that can help organizations improve their food distribution and school closing strategies in the event of such an emergency. The models are flexible so that multiple scenarios can be investigated to see which options meet an organization's specific goal.

6-Oct-2008 8:30 PM EDT
Research Decodes Genome For Species Of Malaria
NYU Langone Health

In research aimed at addressing a global epidemic, a team of scientists from around the world has cracked the genetic code for the parasite that is responsible for up to 40 percent of the 515 million annual malaria infections worldwide, Nature reveals in its October 9 cover story.

Released: 3-Oct-2008 12:00 PM EDT
Tuberculosis Hospitalizations Fall 41 Percent
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Hospitalizations for tuberculosis fell from 15,000 in 1995 to 8,800 in 2006. However, the number of hospitalizations for patients who were hospitalized for other conditions but who also had tuberculosis only fell about 10 percent, from 55,500 in 1995 to 49,700 in 2006.

Released: 1-Oct-2008 4:00 PM EDT
Rethinking Who Should Be Considered “Essential” During a Pandemic Flu Outbreak
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics

Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers. That's the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University article to be published in the Journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.

Released: 25-Sep-2008 3:15 PM EDT
New Laboratory to Help Track and Control Tropical Diseases
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health has established a new Gillings Innovation Lab to track and map tropical infectious diseases such as malaria, using state-of-the-art molecular and demographic methods.

Released: 23-Sep-2008 8:10 PM EDT
Worm Genome Offers Clues to Evolution of Parasitism
Washington University in St. Louis

The genome of a humble worm that dines on the microbial organisms covering the carcasses of dead beetles may provide clues to the evolution of parasitic worms, including those that infect humans, say scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Max-Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany.

Released: 22-Sep-2008 3:00 PM EDT
Hidden Infections Crucial to Understanding, Controlling Disease Outbreaks
University of Michigan

Scientists and news organizations typically focus on the number of dead and gravely ill during epidemics, but research at the University of Michigan suggests that less dramatic, mild infections lurking in large numbers of people are the key to understanding cycles of at least one potentially fatal infectious disease: cholera.

Released: 15-Sep-2008 5:30 PM EDT
Physicians Warn Clostridium Difficile the Next MRSA?
Loyola Medicine

Loyola Physicians warn little-known Clostridium difficile next emerging disease threat, killing thousands in the United States.

9-Sep-2008 5:05 PM EDT
Killing Bacteria Isn’t Enough to Restore Immune Function After Infection
UT Southwestern Medical Center

A bacterial molecule that initially signals to animals that they have been invaded must be wiped out by a special enzyme before an infected animal can regain full health, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Released: 3-Sep-2008 1:00 AM EDT
Quercetin Fights Off Flu in Mouse Study
American Physiological Society (APS)

Mice given quercetin, a naturally occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, were less likely to contract the flu, according to a new study. The study also found that stressful exercise increased the susceptibility of mice to the flu, but quercetin canceled out that negative effect.

27-Aug-2008 1:35 PM EDT
Flu Shot Does Not Reduce Risk of Death
American Thoracic Society (ATS)

The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny, according to researchers in Alberta. The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of influenza, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a number of observational studies that found a very large reduction in all-cause mortality among elderly patients who had been vaccinated.

21-Aug-2008 8:00 AM EDT
Malaria Researchers Identify New Mosquito Virus
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Malaria Research Institute have identified a previously unknown virus that is infectious to Anopheles gambiae"”the mosquito primarily responsible for transmitting malaria.

20-Aug-2008 11:00 AM EDT
Researchers Uncover Molecule Keeps Pathogens Like Salmonella in Check
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a potential new way to stop the bacteria that cause gastroenteritis, tularemia and severe diarrhea from making people sick.

18-Aug-2008 12:05 AM EDT
Researchers Uncover Attack Mechanism of Illness-inducing Bacterium Found in Shellfish
UT Southwestern Medical Center

An infectious ocean-dwelling bacterium found in oysters and other shellfish kills its host's cells by causing them to burst, providing the invader with a nutrient-rich meal, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Released: 18-Aug-2008 12:35 PM EDT
Scientists Discover What Drives the Development of a Fatal Form of Malaria
Johns Hopkins Medicine

In a study described in the August 14 issue of Cell Host and Microbe, Johns Hopkins researchers reveal that when red blood cells are infected with the malaria parasite, they activate platelets to secrete the PF4 protein, which triggers the immune system to inflame blood vessels and obstruct capillaries in the brain; both are hallmarks of cerebral malaria.

15-Aug-2008 8:55 AM EDT
Survivors of 1918 Flu Pandemic Protected with a Lifetime Immunity to Virus
Mount Sinai Health System

New research has discovered that infection and natural exposure to the 1918 influenza virus made survivors immune to the disease for the remaining of their lives. Antibodies produced by cells isolated from these survivors served as an effective therapy to protect mice from the highly lethal 1918 infection. The study entitled "Neutralizing antibodies derived from the B cells of 1918 influenza pandemic survivors," was released for advanced online publication by the journal Nature.

15-Aug-2008 4:00 PM EDT
1918 Flu Antibodies Resurrected from Elderly Survivors
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Ninety years after the sweeping destruction of the 1918 flu pandemic, researchers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt have recovered antibodies to the virus "“ from elderly survivors of the original outbreak.

Released: 31-Jul-2008 12:20 PM EDT
Rare Forms of Meningitis More Deadly than Viral Meningitis
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Hospital patients with rare types of meningitis, including fungal and parasitic meningitis, are 15 times more likely to die than patients hospitalized with viral meningitis. Meningitis is a rare but serious condition that mainly attacks younger people, or those whose immune systems are weakened from AIDS or other causes.

22-Jul-2008 9:00 AM EDT
Pandemic Flu: Most Nursing Homes Don't Have Plan
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

If influenza pandemic hits the United States, acute care hospitals are likely to be overwhelmed. Nursing homes may then be expected to assist with the patient overflow, but a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that many are not prepared for such a task.

Released: 15-Jul-2008 1:00 PM EDT
Newly Described "Dragon" Protein Could be Key to Bird Flu Cure
Argonne National Laboratory

Scientists and researchers have taken a big step closer to a cure for the most common strain of avian influenza, or "bird flu," the potential pandemic that has claimed more than 200 lives and infected nearly 400 people in 14 countries since it was identified in 2003.

10-Jul-2008 9:00 AM EDT
Stomach Bug Appears to Protect Kids from Asthma
NYU Langone Health

A long-time microbial inhabitant of the human stomach may protect children from developing asthma, according to a new study among more than 7,000 subjects led by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers. Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that has co-existed with humans for at least 50,000 years, may lead to peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. Yet, kids between the ages of 3 and 13 are nearly 59 percent less likely to have asthma if they carry the bug, the researchers report.

9-Jul-2008 8:45 AM EDT
Fruit Fly Gene Study Could Yield New Flu Treatments
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Scientists may be able to stave off influenza infection by targeting one of more than 100 proteins inside host cells on which the virus depends. These potential drug targets are the result of a study in which researchers tested the ability of a modified influenza virus to infect fruit fly cells.

Released: 8-Jul-2008 4:20 PM EDT
Scientists Discover Which Waters Egg-Laying Mosquitoes Like Best
Tulane University

Scientists at Tulane and North Carolina State universities have identified the chemical cues in water that entice yellow fever mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The research could lead to targeted lures to kill the deadly mosquitoes, which also spread dengue fever .

Released: 8-Jul-2008 4:00 PM EDT
Internet Crawling: a New Tool for Tracking Infectious Disease
Boston Children's Hospital

You needn't be a public health official to know that as of July 1, there were over 40 states with alerts on salmonella outbreaks, nor wait for traditional sources like the WHO or CDC to issue reports. An online project called HealthMap, described in the July PLoS Medicine, extracts, categorizes, filters and integrates a variety of data sources on the Web -- including blogs, listservs, chatrooms, and news reports.

Released: 8-Jul-2008 3:45 PM EDT
New Resource for Home Health Care Response During a Flu Pandemic
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

A new report called Home Health Care During an Influenza Pandemic: Issues and Resources identifies home health care as a critical component in providing care during a pandemic influenza event, and it offers resources to home health care providers and community planners to help prepare for such an event.

3-Jul-2008 3:00 PM EDT
Lay Your Eggs Here
North Carolina State University

North Carolina State University scientists have figured out one reason why pregnant yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), one of the most important disease transmitters worldwide, choose to lay their eggs in certain outdoor water containers while eschewing others.

Released: 2-Jul-2008 1:40 PM EDT
Researchers Identify Potential Drugs to Combat Bird Flu
University of California San Diego

As the specter of a worldwide outbreak of avian or "bird flu" lingers, health officials recognize that new drugs are desperately needed since some strains of the virus already have developed resistance to the current roster of anti-flu remedies.

Released: 1-Jul-2008 3:05 PM EDT
Animal Study Identifies New DNA Weapon Against Avian Flu
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

By delivering vaccine via DNA constructed to build antigens against flu, along with a minute electric pulse, researchers have immunized experimental animals against various strains of the virus. This approach could allow for the build up of vaccine reserves that could be easily and effectively dispensed in case of an epidemic.



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