News • Malaria
UK and France see highest number of imported cases
An international study, led by the University of Southampton, shows the UK and France experience the highest number of malaria cases imported from other countries.
Infections
Article • Infections
Carbapenem resistant strains
The increasing numbers of bacteria resistant to the newer generations of antibiotics is a public health problem on a global scale. Bacteria have an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, mutating permanently to overcome the action of our increasingly impotent antimicrobial armamentarium. A situation further aggravated by the use of the powerful ‘large spectrum’ antibiotics, creating further…
News • Chronic Viral Infection
Inflammation triggers unsustainable immune response
Scientists at the University of Basel discovered a fundamental new mechanism explaining the inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection. These results may open up new avenues for vaccine development.
Altering the ‘flavor’ of humans could help fight Malaria
A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that a specialized area of the mosquito brain mixes tastes with smells to create unique and preferred flavors. The findings advance the possibility, they say, of identifying a substance that makes “human flavor” repulsive to the malaria-bearing species of the mosquitoes, so instead of feasting on us, they keep the disease to themselves,…
News • Infections
‘Open Science’ paves pathway to develop Malaria drugs
Malaria remains one of the world’s leading causes of mortality in developing countries. Last year alone, it killed more than 400,000 people, mostly young children. An international consortium of researchers unveiled the mechanics and findings of a unique “open science” project for malaria drug discovery that has been five years in the making.
Mobile fridge could save lives
A mobile fridge invented by a British student could help save countless lives across the globe. The “Isobar” has been designed to keep vaccines at the required temperatures when being transported around developing countries.
News • Infection
Evidence of Zika virus found in tears
Researchers have found that Zika virus can live in eyes and have identified genetic material from the virus in tears, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research, in mice, helps explain why some Zika patients develop eye disease, including a condition known as uveitis that can lead to permanent vision loss.
News • Tissue Infection
Curetis launches next generation CE-IVD Unyvero Implant
Curetis N.V. announced the successful completion of the CE Performance Evaluation study of the next generation of its Unyvero ITI Implant and Tissue Infection Application Cartridge (Unyvero ITI).
News • Infection
Why does MRSA ‘superbug’ kill influenza patients?
Researchers have discovered that secondary infection with the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium (or “superbug”) often kills influenza patients because the flu virus alters the antibacterial response of white blood cells, causing them to damage the patients’ lungs instead of destroying the bacterium. The study suggests that inhibiting this response may help treat…
News • Related Fears
The impact of Ebola on facility-based child deliveries
The first known household survey examining the collateral harm to pregnancy services in areas affected by the West African Ebola epidemic suggests a significant slide backwards in child and maternal health. The study, conducted in Liberia, points to the deep disruptions caused by the Ebola epidemic — even in parts of the country with relatively limited transmission.
News • Watson
Predicting flu epidemics with Twitter data
Osnabrueck cognitive scientists and their students are developing new and intelligent expert systems, which help to effectively utilize the flood of daily information in everyday life. To enable working with large amounts of data, the Institute of Cognitive Science at Osnabrück University has engaged in a cooperation with the global corporation IBM, and will be able to access the IBM computer…
News • Study
Link between Zika virus and severe joint condition at birth?
A study published by The BMJ provides more details of an association between Zika virus infection in the womb and a condition known as arthrogryposis, which causes joint deformities at birth, particularly in the arms and legs.
News • Infection
Antibodies identified that thwart Zika virus
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified antibodies capable of protecting against Zika virus infection, a significant step toward developing a vaccine, better diagnostic tests and possibly new antibody-based therapies. The work, in mice, helps clarify recent research that also identified protective Zika antibodies but lacked important details on how the…
News • Infection
Zika: 1.6 million childbearing women are at risk
Research by scientists in the US and UK has estimated that up to 1.65 million childbearing women in Central and South America could become infected by the Zika virus by the end of the first wave of the epidemic. Researchers from the WorldPop Project and Flowminder Foundation at the University of Southampton and colleagues from the University of Notre Dame and University of Oxford have also found…
News • Urgent threat
Why is new C. difficile strain so deadly?
A new, epidemic strain of C. difficile is proving alarmingly deadly, and new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine not only explains why but also suggests a way to stop it.
News • Infection
Siemens Zika test receives FDA emergency use authorization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc. (Siemens) an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its real-time PCR Zika Virus assay, the VERSANT® Zika RNA 1.0 Assay (kPCR) Kit. With respect to Zika in vitro diagnostic tests, FDA has been authorized to issue EUAs to allow for use of unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical…
News • Staphylococcus aureus
Women more likely to die within 30-days from bacterial blood infection
Clinicians around the world have long suspected that bacteraemia due to Staphylococcus aureus has a worse outcome in women compared to men, but direct evidence has been elusive. A study just published confirms that significantly more women than men diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) – a blood infection of the common bacteria – die within 30 days.
Article • Difficult foe
Clostridium difficile: Fresh insight into an old pathogen
Hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is on the rise. Symptoms range from non-typical mild diarrhoea that can develop into pseudomembranous colitis up to a toxic megacolon, which often leads to death.
Article • Wound infection
The importance of suture material
Wound infections after surgery are not uncommon and can be fatal. In Germany, postoperative wound infections are now the most common type of hospital acquired infection (HAI), with a proportion of 24%.
News • Anti-fungal
A new way to protect against lethal fungal infections
Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) in Vienna have discovered a new way to turn the immune system’s weapons against fungal invaders. This knowledge could lead to the development of new and improved anti-fungal treatments.
News • Fight inflammation
Stem cells engineered to grow cartilage
With a goal of treating worn, arthritic hips without extensive surgery to replace them, scientists have programmed stem cells to grow new cartilage on a 3-D template shaped like the ball of a hip joint. What’s more, using gene therapy, they have activated the new cartilage to release anti-inflammatory molecules to fend off a return of arthritis. The technique was demonstrated in a collaborative…
News • Bacteria
New discovery could change ICU care
No one knows for sure how they got there. But the discovery that bacteria that normally live in the gut can be detected in the lungs of critically ill people and animals could mean a lot for intensive care patients.
When suppressing immunity is a good thing
A receptor, first known for its role in mediating the harmful effects of the environmental pollutant dioxin in our body, is now understood to play other important roles in modulating the innate immune response.
News • E. Coli
The ideal transport vehicle for next-gen vaccines?
Most people recoil at the thought of ingesting E. coli. But what if the headline-grabbing bacteria could be used to fight disease? Researchers experimenting with harmless strains of E. coli — yes, the majority of E. coli are safe and important to healthy human digestion — are working toward that goal. They have developed an E. coli-based transport capsule designed to help next-generation…
Protein fragment could provide a defense when antibiotics fail
Bacterial infections that don't respond to antibiotics are of rising concern, as is sepsis - the immune system's last-ditch, failed attack on infection that ends up being lethal itself. Reporting online in "Nature", researchers at Boston Children's Hospital describe new potential avenues for controlling both sepsis and the runaway bacterial infections that provoke it.