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Study may help explain plague's rapid evolution and aid in development of therapeutics

In the evolutionary blink of an eye, a bacterium that causes mild stomach irritation evolved into a deadly assassin responsible for the most devastating pandemics in human history. How did the mild-mannered Yersinia pseudotuberculosis become Yersinia pestis, more commonly known as the Plague?

30 Aug 2011

Genetic analysis of medieval plague skeletons proves the presence of y. pestis bacteria

Genetic analysis of medieval plague skeletons proves the presence of yersinia pestis bacteria. Collaboration between the University of Tübingen and Canadian scientists proves today's plague pathogen has been around at least 600 years.

30 Aug 2011

High risk of serious complications or death in children with SP-HUS

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by infection with pneumococcal bacteria leads to severe illness—with a high rate of irreversible kidney damage—in infants and young children, reports a study in the September issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

30 Aug 2011

Black Death bacteria may be extinct - Study

The bacteria that caused the Black Death or plague, which wiped out millions in mid-14th century Europe, may be extinct, according to a new study. The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353. Until recently, it was not certain whether the bacterium Yersinia pestis - known to cause the plague today - was responsible for that most deadly outbreak of disease ever. Now, the University of Tübingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada have been able to confirm that Yersinia pestis was behind the great plague.

30 Aug 2011

Low-glycemic foods, high protein intake reduce body weight and fat mass

A new study out of Madrid, Spain shows that low-glycemic foods, and moderately high-protein intake has been shown to reduce body weight and fat mass.

29 Aug 2011

CD8 alpha+ dendritic cells can help the body beat back infection

The same trait that makes a rare immune cell invaluable in fighting some infections also can be exploited by other diseases to cause harm, two new studies show.

29 Aug 2011

Everyone is responsible to reduce risk from E Coli

E. coli O157 is the most common of the harmful strains of the bacteria and this interdisciplinary research has investigated not just its characteristics, but also how people understand E. coli O157 and how their behaviour affects the threats that it poses. E. coli O157 must be swallowed to infect people it can be contracted from food, water or by contact with farm animals, particularly sheep and cattle, and their faeces.

26 Aug 2011

Babies, toddlers with congenital heart disease more likely to have harmful toxins after surgery

Babies and toddlers with congenital heart disease are at an increased risk of having harmful toxins in their blood, particularly following surgery, according to research by a team at Imperial College London.

26 Aug 2011

Spatial light interference microscopy can measure all types of cell growth

University of Illinois researchers are giving a light answer to the heavy question of cell growth.

26 Aug 2011

RE Children's Project donates $111,000 to UCLA researchers for Rasmussen Encephalitis study

The Rasmussen Encephalitis (RE) Children's Project, a foundation that supports scientific research to find a cure for this devastating neurological disease, has donated $111,000 to researchers in the departments of neurosurgery and pathology/lab medicine (neuropathology) at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

26 Aug 2011

Cholera strain associated with latest pandemic originated in Bangladesh, researchers report

"A cholera pandemic that has swept poor countries in three waves over nearly four decades has been traced to a bacterial strain that first emerged in Bangladesh, scientists reported on Wednesday," Agence France-Presse reports.

26 Aug 2011

Injecting mosquitoes with bacterium shows potential for dengue elimination, scientists report

Injecting mosquitoes with the Wolbachia bacterium "can block them from transmitting the dengue virus and help control the spread of a disease that kills 20,000 annually in more than 100 countries," a team led by Scott O'Neill, a geneticist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, reports in two papers published in Nature on Thursday, Reuters reports.

26 Aug 2011

Saudi Arabian medical products distributor enters agreement with NMI

Nano Mask, Inc. (NMI), a healthcare product development and distribution company focused on emergency and critical care as well as infection control markets, has announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with a Saudi Arabia-based medical products distributor which will represent NMI's product line on an exclusive basis to: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Algeria, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Sudan, Yemen Lebanon, Yemen and Tunisia.

26 Aug 2011

Dengue fever mosquito trial successful

Researchers have stopped mosquitoes from spreading the dengue virus by infecting it with bacteria from flies that commonly live in kitchen fruit bowls. The two papers showed how the fruit-fly bacteria was established in wild mosquito populations, offering a practical and inexpensive way to stop transmission of dengue fever which affects 50 million people annually.

25 Aug 2011

Insight into how bacterial toxins cause human diseases may help improve treatment

A better understanding of how bacterial toxins cause common human diseases may lead to their improved treatment and prevention according to a paper just published by Irish and US scientists in Nature Reviews Microbiology.

25 Aug 2011

Redesigned vancomycin can kill deadliest antibiotic-resistant bacteria

A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have successfully reengineered an important antibiotic to kill the deadliest antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

25 Aug 2011

Cone Health uses Xenex room disinfection systems to reduce HAI rates and costs

Cone Health today announced a dramatic reduction in healthcare-acquired infection (HAIs) rates after implementing an infection prevention program which includes Xenex room disinfection systems.

25 Aug 2011

Wolbachia infection invades Aedes aegypti mosquito, blocks dengue transmission

Strains of a bacterium commonly found in fruit flies can prevent the Aedes aegypti mosquito from transmitting the virus that causes dengue fever, researchers have found.

25 Aug 2011

Researchers trace source of latest cholera pandemic

Researchers have used next generation sequencing to trace the source and explain the spread of the latest (seventh) cholera pandemic. They have also highlighted the impact of the acquisition of resistance to antibiotics on shaping outbreaks and show resistance was first acquired around 1982.

25 Aug 2011

ICU patients with MRSA infection may face 50% increased risk of death

Does the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, cause more deaths in hospitals than the bacteria that are sensitive to common antibiotics? Opinions have been varied, but now a worldwide study at, among others, Linköping University in Sweden, indicates that the mortality rate can be 50 % higher for intensive care patients infected with MRSA.

25 Aug 2011