EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases

Starve a virus, feed a cure?

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Rochester Medical Center) A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate. While researchers hope the work will one day lead to a way to make anti-HIV drugs more effective by increasing their potency against the virus, they're also excited about its implications for our knowledge of other pathogens, such as herpes viruses.

Georgetown hosts forum to discuss government request of journals to redact scientific data

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Georgetown University Medical Center) Georgetown University hosts "Censoring Research on Contagious H5N1 Influenza in 2012? -- A Panel Discussion on Global Public Health, Legal, and Policy Controversies" on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the New Research Building Auditorium on the campus of Georgetown University Medical Center. The panel is free and open to the public.

UofL receives Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges TB biomarkers grant

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Louisville) The University of Louisville has been awarded its first Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, $576,800 over two years to pursue an innovative research project to identify and validate tuberculosis biomarkers, titled "Disposable Sampling Plate and Breath Test to Identify Patients with Active Tuberculosis."

SomaLogic Inc. receives Grand Challenges tuberculosis biomarkers grant

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(SomaLogic, Inc.) SomaLogic Inc. announced today that it will receive a tuberculosis biomarkers grant through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, an initiative that seeks to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world. Urs Ochsner, head of the Infectious Diseases Research Group at SomaLogic, will pursue an innovative research project to identify and validate TB biomarkers, titled "SOMAmer-based detection of tuberculosis biomarkers."

Secrets of immune response illuminated in new study

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Arizona State University) In research appearing in this month's issue of the journal Nature Immunology, Roy Curtiss, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University investigates the coordination of a particular type of immune response, involving the release of of IFN-λ -- a cell-signaling protein molecule known as a cytokine.

Decoding the molecular machine behind E. coli and cholera

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Queen Mary, University of London) Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered the workings behind some of the bacteria that kill hundreds of thousands every year, possibly paving the way for new antibiotics that could treat infections more effectively.

Substance P found to cause seizures in patients with pork tapeworm

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Public Library of Science) A neuropeptide called Substance P is the cause of seizures in patients with brains infected by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium, according to Baylor College of Medicine researchers. Their results appear Feb. 9 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

Seizures in patients with pork tapeworm caused by Substance P

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Baylor College of Medicine) A neuropeptide called Substance P is the cause of seizures in patients with brains infected by the pork tapeworm, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers.

Deadly bird parasite evolves at exceptionally fast rate

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent)) A new study of a devastating bird disease that spread from poultry to house finches in the mid-1990s reveals that the bacteria responsible for the disease evolves at an exceptionally fast rate. What's more, the fast-evolving microbe has lost a key chunk of its genome since jumping to its new host. The missing portion contained the genes that made up the microbe's immune system, researchers report in the journal PLoS Genetics.

Scientists sound alarm over threat of untreatable gonorrhea in United States

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Washington) The threat of multi-drug resistant gonorrhea is rising. Cephalosporins, the last line of defense, are rapidly losing effectiveness. The likelihood of treatment failures in the United States calls for urgent action to control the spread of gonorrhea, medical research leaders say. Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported communicable disease in the United States.

Continental mosquito with 'vector' potential found breeding in UK after 60 year absence

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) A species of mosquito has been discovered breeding in the UK that has not been seen in the country since 1945. Populations of the mosquito, found across mainland Europe and known only by its Latin name Culex modestus, were recorded at a number of sites in the marshes of north Kent and south Essex in 2010 and 2011.

Developing new vaccines for hookworm among topics at UH lecture

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Houston) Dr. Peter J. Hotez, an internationally recognized clinician and investigator of neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, will be giving a lecture at the University of Houston from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Hotez is one of many prominent scientists with broad appeal who will be hosted by UH in support of the university’s health initiative. The talk is free and open to the public.

Treatment for tuberculosis can be guided by patients' genetics

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Washington) Determining TB treatment based on a patient's sequence at gene called LTA4H could improve outcomes. This gene controls the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory substances produced during an infection. Mutations leading to a tilt in either direction increases TB severity. Drugs helpful for a hot responder could be ineffective for cool responders.

Chlorhexidine umbilical cord care can save newborn lives

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) Cleansing a newborn's umbilical cord with chlorhexidine can reduce an infant's risk of infection and death during the first weeks of life by as much as 20 percent, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is the latest in a series of studies showing that umbilical cord cleaning with chlorhexidine can save lives.

Lauren Sciences LLC awarded MJFF grant to develop a V-SmartTM therapeutic for Parkinson's disease

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Lauren Sciences LLC) Lauren Sciences LLC, a privately held biotechnology company furthering development of its new V-SmartTM nanovesicle platform technology, announced today the award of a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The grant from MJFF will support development of the novel V-SmartTM nanovesicles for systemic, targeted delivery of GDNF (glial-derived naturetic factor) across the blood brain barrier (BBB) to the brain for treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Pneumonia wonder drug: Zinc saves lives

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(BioMed Central) Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia, are the most common cause of death in children under the age of five. In a study looking at children given standard antibiotic therapy, new research published in BioMed Central's open-access journal BMC Medicine shows how zinc supplements drastically improved children's chances of surviving the infection. The increase in survival due to zinc (on top of antibiotics) was even greater for HIV-infected children.

More focus on men needed in HIV prevention

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Public Library of Science) Edward Mills of the University of Ottawa, Canada and colleagues argue in this week's PLoS Medicine that the HIV/AIDS response in Africa needs a more balanced approach to gender, so that both men and women are involved in HIV treatment and prevention.

Transmission of Clostridium difficile in hospitals may not be through contact with infected patients

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Public Library of Science) Contrary to current convention by which infection with the organism Clostridium difficile is regarded as an infection that is acquired by contact with symptomatic patients known to be infected with C. difficile, these may account for only a minority of new cases of the infection.

'Test and Treat' model offers new strategy for eliminating malaria

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) Researchers found that actively identifying undiagnosed malaria and then treating those with the disease resulted in significantly lower prevalence of malaria cases compared to a control group.

Whole-genome sequencing of 2011 E. coli outbreaks in Europe provides new insight

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Harvard School of Public Health) Using whole-genome sequencing, a team led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute has traced the path of the E. coli outbreak that sickened thousands and killed over 50 people in Germany in summer 2011 and also caused a smaller outbreak in France.

Study shows electron-beam irradiation reduces virus-related health risk in lettuce, spinach

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Texas A&M AgriLife Communications) The recent study by scientists from the National Center for Electron Beam Research (Texas A&M University) and other entities has quantified the theoretical health-risk reduction from virus-related food-borne illness through the use of electron-beam irradiation.

School closures slow spread of pH1N1

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(McMaster University) 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.

Why bad immunity genes survive

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Utah) 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 susceptible to infections and to autoimmune diseases.

UBC researchers discover key to immune cell's 'internal guidance' system

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of British Columbia) UBC researchers have discovered the molecular pathway that enables receptors inside immune cells to find, and flag, fragments of pathogens trying to invade a host.The discovery of the role played by the molecule CD74 could help immunologists investigate treatments that offer better immune responses against cancers, viruses and bacteria, and lead to more efficient vaccines.

Combined approach to global health has benefits

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - San Francisco) A new analysis published this week in the open-access journal PLoS ONE demonstrates that confronting several diseases at once is a viable way to make the most of thinly stretched donor dollars and national health care budgets, and help save more lives.