Scientists at The University of Nottingham are studying whether harmful bacteria found in cattle could be harnessed to protect livestock from the devastating disease bovine tuberculosis (TB).
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"Two more people in China have died from a new strain of avian influenza, bringing to 16 the number of deaths from the H7N9 virus, and the government has warned that the number of infections could rise," Reuters reports.
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Evidence of Clostridium botulinum and its toxin in milk and udder tissue samples from dairy cows has led German researchers to call for “statistically relevant testing of healthy and sick cows from healthy and affected farms.”
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Today, the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, has issued a special series of articles focused on emerging zoonoses (human diseases that originate in or are shared with animals).
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Chimpanzees from African sanctuaries carry drug-resistant, human-associated strains of the bacteria Staphlyococcus aureus, a pathogen that the infected chimpanzees could spread to endangered wild ape populations if they were reintroduced to their natural habitat, a new study shows.
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In 2011, 1,166 Danes were registered with a Salmonella infection, which corresponds to 21 cases per 100,000 citizens. This is the lowest number since the 1980s. Almost half of all these Salmonella infections were contracted abroad, in particular on travels to Egypt, Thailand and Turkey.
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New research on the bed bug’s ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding, announced today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting, provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade. These stubborn pests have developed a resistance to the insecticides, known as pyrethroids, commonly used against them.
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A Melbourne discovery of a flying fox carrying the deadly Lyssavirus has prompted a warning from health authorities about handling the animals. A resident of East Kew discovered the infected flying fox this week. It is the 10th case of the virus being discovered in flying foxes in Victoria since 1996. The virus has been found in four species within Australia, including the Grey-headed flying fox which is prevalent in Melbourne.
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Groundbreaking data presented today demonstrates, for the first time, in vitro infection and replication of swine hepatitis E virus in human hepatocytes.
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The spread of lethal diseases from animals to humans has long been an issue of great concern to public health officials. But what about diseases that spread in the other direction, from humans to wildlife. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia has just been awarded a five-year $2 million Ecology of Infectious Diseases grant from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to study the first known case of such a "reverse zoonosis" that involves the transmission of a human pathogen to a marine invertebrate, elkhorn coral.
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Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes that mainly affects animals and livestock but may also infect humans. It can lead to high rates of death and disease. While mild forms of the disease can cause fever, muscle and joint pains, headaches, loss of appetite etc., the severe form can affect the eyes, cause meningitis, severe bleeding and even death.
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The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.
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Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. (ABI) today announced that Professor Dr. Otto Haller from the Department of Virology, Freiburg University, Germany and Professor Dr. Oliver Planz from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Tubingen, Germany gave two separate presentations on the efficacy of interferon to combat influenza.
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Laboratory studies at Kansas State University and the work of a K-State researcher are making headway in the effort to control the pandemic H1N1 virus.
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Fourteen veterinarians from Indonesia are learning how to track and stop the spread of animal borne diseases in a three-week training program hosted by the University of Sydney.
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Scientists at the University of Liverpool have demonstrated how a single-celled organism, living freely in the environment, could be a source of Salmonella transmission to animals and humans.
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Researchers are developing a DNA-based vaccine against the dreaded West Nile virus (WNV), which can be transmitted from animals to humans. The unique feature of this vaccine is that it is also effective after onset of the disease, for it has therapeutic properties.
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Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced grants of more than $14 million to support partners working in Southeast Asia and Africa to prevent the next pandemic.
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Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that Salmonella bacteria found in garden birds are sensitive to antibiotics, suggesting that the infection is unlike the bacteria found in livestock and humans.
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An expert at the NIH has highlighted the threat of an emergent highly virulent form of malaria, questioning whether the disease has made the jump from animal to man.
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