Disease/Infection News

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Scientists discover biomarkers for Zika-related birth defects

Scientists at USC have discovered biomarkers for fetal birth defects in the blood of pregnant women infected with Zika.

2 Nov 2018

Anti-parasite drug may improve long-term prognosis of Chagas patients

Researchers have found that the anti-parasite drug benznidazole may improve the long-term prognoses of patients with chronic Chagas disease, according to a study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, by Clareci Silva Cardoso at the Federal University of São João del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil, and colleagues from the SaMi-Trop study, a project funded by NIAID/NIH.

2 Nov 2018

Lymph nodes serve as reservoirs of prolonged bacterial persistence during Mtb infection

Lymph nodes can contain large numbers of tuberculosis-causing bacteria and serve as long-term reservoirs of bacterial persistence, according to a study published November 1 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by JoAnne Flynn of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues.

2 Nov 2018

Wild monkeys in the Americas transmit Zika virus to humans via mosquitoes, reports study

A collaborative group of researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Faculty of Medicine of Sao Jose do Rio in Brazil is the first to report that wild monkeys in the Americas are transmitting the Zika virus to humans via mosquitoes, making complete eradication of the virus in the Americas very unlikely.

2 Nov 2018

Four mild forms of adenovirus cases at Voorhees Pediatric Facility under control and no new cases reported

Voorhees Pediatric Facility, a pediatric special care nursing facility located in Voorhees, New Jersey, has had four patients with chronic lung disease contract a mild form of adenovirus.

2 Nov 2018

Rubella eliminated from Australia confirms WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that Australia has managed to eliminate the viral infection rubella from its population. This is a significant achievement on part of the country’s healthcare system. WHO defines elimination of a disease as “reduction to zero of the incidence of infection caused by a specific agent in a defined geographical area”.

2 Nov 2018

Antibiotic found in dirt can destroy mutant mycobacteria responsible for TB, study suggests

For decades, doctors have been using antibiotics to fight tuberculosis. And consistently, the microbe responsible for the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has been fighting back. When confronted with current drugs, such as the antibiotic rifamycin, the bacterium often mutates in ways that make it resistant to the treatment.

1 Nov 2018

Measles can be deadly for people with weakened immune systems

Last year, a 26-year-old man receiving treatment for leukemia went to a Swiss hospital's emergency room with a fever, a sore throat, and a cough, and was admitted. His condition worsened, and 17 days later, he died from severe complications of measles.

1 Nov 2018

Tick-borne disease is multiple microbial in nature

A study recently published in Scientific Reports discovered that 65% of Lyme disease patients irrespective of their disease stage respond to several microbes.

1 Nov 2018

New study to evaluate human immune system's response to influenza

The key to lasting protection against influenza may be in your bones. The cells that naturally protect you against illness originate and live in your bone marrow - and that is one spot where scientists will be looking to understand the human immune system's response to influenza in a groundbreaking new study led by the Human Vaccines Project.

1 Nov 2018

Researchers cross-reference historical divergence of Aedes aegypti populations

The BioScience Talks podcast features discussions of topical issues related to the biological sciences. Mosquito-borne diseases have plagued humanity for centuries, and a prolific offender has been Aedes aegypti, commonly known as the "yellow fever mosquito."

1 Nov 2018

UC Scientist receives NIH grant for developing new malaria therapeutic strategies

A scientist at the University of California, Riverside, who researches the malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is the principal investigator, or PI, on two grants from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, totaling nearly $6.6 million. Funding from each grant is for five years.

1 Nov 2018

Rising temperatures may boost number of cases of Lyme disease, finds study

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in North America and its incidence has risen sharply in the last decade.

1 Nov 2018

Doctors find no association between autism and drugs taken during pregnancy

A new study has found that babies exposed to medications in the womb are at no more risk of developing autism than babies who are not exposed to any drugs.

31 Oct 2018

University of Missouri receives NIH grant for continued operation of NSRRC

The University of Missouri has received $7.229 million for continued operation of the National Swine Resource and Research Center.

31 Oct 2018

Dogs trained to sniff out malaria

It is already known that dogs with their sharp noses can sniff out a host of human diseases including cancers.

31 Oct 2018

Relapses are common in patients with drug-resistant urinary tract infections

Patients with a certain drug-resistant urinary tract infection were more likely to have a relapse of their infection within a week than those with non-resistant infections and were more likely to be prescribed an incorrect antibiotic according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

30 Oct 2018