Pathogen News and Research

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Fighting influenza with 40,000 blood samples

Four million people die every year from respiratory diseases such as viral influenza. For elderly people in particular, an infection can be dangerous. What is more, the flu vaccine is not as effective with this risk group as it is with younger people.

7 Feb 2007

Research helps explain origin of self-reactive B cells

Doctors have long wondered why, in some people, the immune system turns against parts of the body it is designed to protect, leading to autoimmune disease.

7 Feb 2007

Garlic offers hope in cystic fibrosis infection

Garlic has been hailed a wonder drug for centuries and has been used to prevent gangrene, treat high blood pressure, ward off common colds and is even believed by some to have cancer-fighting properties.

31 Jan 2007

Salmonella survives better due to altered DNA

Since 1995 there has been a considerable increase in the number of infections with a specific type of Salmonella bacteria transmitted via food.

30 Jan 2007

New understanding of cholera pathogen

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered new details about how bacteria generate energy to live. In two recently published papers, the scientists add key specifics to the molecular mechanism behind the pathogen that causes cholera.

29 Jan 2007

A plasminogen-activating protease specifically controls the development of primary pneumonic plague

The deadly attack of the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague is significantly slowed when it can't make use of a key protein, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Science.

28 Jan 2007

Herpes appears to play a role in bringing about Alzheimer's disease

A gene known to be a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease puts out the welcome mat for the virus that causes cold sores, allowing the virus to be more active in the brain compared to other forms of the gene.

3 Jan 2007

Just how safe is that chicken?

A report by a consumer group in the U.S. has found that most of the chicken sold in grocery stores could contain bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses.

5 Dec 2006

Biofunctional organic nanocrystals for quantitative detection of pathogen deoxyribonucleic acid

Waiting a day or more to get lab results back from the doctor's office soon could become a thing of a past.

4 Dec 2006

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus tricks cells to become tumors

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) subverts a normal cell process in order to promote tumor growth.

8 Nov 2006

Weill Cornell findings could foil two potential bioterror agents - viral peptide prevents deadly Hendra, Nipah viruses from infecting cells

Two lethal and easily transmitted viruses -- both potential bioterror agents -- may soon be much less dangerous, thanks to research led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

31 Oct 2006

Study shows how the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis causes disease

The bacteria responsible for the plague and some forms of food poisoning "paralyze" the immune system of their hosts in an unexpected way, according to a new study in the September 8, 2006 issue of the journal Cell.

7 Sep 2006

Several factors are contributing to an increase in dengue epidemics

Scientists have long known that epidemics of dengue fever wax and wane over a period of several years, but they've never been quite sure why.

7 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

Toxoplasma may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale

A common parasite found in cats may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale, according to a scientist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

3 Aug 2006

Tuberculosis relapse due to low weight gain after initial treatment

Among tuberculosis (TB) patients who were underweight when diagnosed, those who subsequently regained less than five percent of their weight during the first two months of treatment had a significantly increased risk of disease relapse.

2 Aug 2006

Coexistence and specialization of pathogen strains on contact networks

Simple models predict that only one strain of an infectious disease can exist at one time, but observation suggests otherwise.

26 Jul 2006

Research findings may speed the development of vaccines for Chlamydia and other STDs

Using a novel mouse model that allows scientists to study how the immune system’s fighter cells respond to invaders in the genital tract during the initial stage of infection, researchers have found a way to track immunity against Chlamydia trachomatis.

26 Jul 2006

Vaccination with irradiated Listeria induced protective T cell immunity

Vaccines made with bacteria killed by gamma irradiation, rather than by standard methods of heat or chemical inactivation, may be more effective, say researchers.

26 Jul 2006

Using gamma radiation preserves T-cell responses in bacterial vaccine

Using gamma radiation to inactivate bacteria for the preparation of vaccines, instead of traditional heat or chemical methods of inactivation, appears to create a vaccine that is more effective than so-called "killed" vaccines against disease, and has the added advantage of a longer storage life than "live" vaccines.

26 Jul 2006