Pathogen News and Research

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Natural antioxidant in green tea can help eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists at the University of Surrey have discovered that a natural antioxidant commonly found in green tea can help eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

23 Sep 2019

African bacterium resists almost all drugs

It looks like it’s time to pay the piper. The first extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of Salmonella typhimurium, called ST313 sublineage II.1, has cropped up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This fails to respond to any of the antibiotics that are commonly used in the DRC, except for ciprofloxacin. And to make things worse, one sample has been isolated that shows incomplete response even to this last drug.

22 Sep 2019

Salmonella responsible for bloodstream infections in sub-Saharan Africa exhibits extensive drug resistance

The first extensively drug-resistant strains of Salmonella Typhimurium, a pathogen which is responsible for millions of bloodstream infections per year in sub-Saharan Africa, have been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

19 Sep 2019

Ticks now carrying multiple diseases, says new study

A new study published in the journal mBio reports that ticks carry many more disease-causing agents than just those responsible for causing Lyme disease.

17 Sep 2019

Study sheds light on the metabolism of Leishmania parasite

University of York scientists are part of an international team which has discovered how a parasite responsible for spreading a serious tropical disease protects itself from starvation once inside its human host.

17 Sep 2019

Antibiotic resistance in dolphins mirrors disturbing trend in humans

Antibiotic resistance in bottlenose dolphins shows that up to 88% of pathogenic organisms in this species is resistant to one or more antibiotics. This finding offers very useful insights into the identical phenomenon in humans. This species is termed a sentinel species, which means it reflects environmental risks to humans in advance of their occurrence in humans.

16 Sep 2019

West Nile Virus samples found 10 miles apart came from different places, NAU scientist finds

After sequencing more than 400 different genomes of the West Nile Virus, an NAU scientist discovered the two reports of West Nile Virus in Coconino County came from two different places. One migrated north from the Phoenix area. The other is a bit more of a mystery.

15 Sep 2019

Multidrug-resistant bacteria may have been around longer than thought

Researchers from Osaka University have made the striking discovery that multidrug-resistant bacteria may have been around longer than we thought.

13 Sep 2019

Long-term antibiotic use in preemies promotes drug-resistant gut bacteria

Very preterm infants are often sick and require antibiotic treatment to save their lives. However, when this form of therapy lasts for 20 months or more, it may affect the gut microbiome over the long-term in addition to its acute effects.

10 Sep 2019

It’s safe to feed raw food to pets, finds new study

A large multinational study shows that pet owners don’t think feeding raw food increases the risk of infection to household members. Raw food includes all uncooked meat and other parts of a dead animal. In fact, an infection in humans could be traced to raw pet food in just 0.24% of all surveyed households.

9 Sep 2019

Raw pet food not considered as significant source of infections

An extensive international survey conducted at the University of Helsinki indicates that pet owners do not consider raw food to considerably increase infection risk in their household.

7 Sep 2019

Scientists reveal how typhoid toxin works to accelerate aging of cells

Scientists have revealed how the typhoid toxin works to hijack DNA repair machines and accelerate the aging of cells, a breakthrough that could pave the way for new strategies to combat the killer disease.

6 Sep 2019

How tuberculosis progresses: genetic factors play a major role

There are almost 1.8 billion people with tuberculosis bacilli in their body, but only about 5% to 15% develop overt infection, usually within 18 months of initial exposure. The reason behind this selective progression has been sought for decades by scientists from a variety of fields.

5 Sep 2019

Large-scale study maps the genetic underpinnings of early TB progression

While the vast majority of the 1.8 billion people infected with the TB bacterium never experience active disease, an estimated 5 to 15 percent do develop full-blown infections--roughly half of them within 18 months of exposure.

4 Sep 2019

$15 million grant funds new effort to develop universal vaccine for strep throat infections

CARB-X, an international non-profit partnership of private, academic and government institutions, has awarded SutroVax, Inc., a Northern California-based biopharmaceutical company, with an award of up to $15 million to develop a universal vaccine for Group A Streptococcus, the bacteria that causes pharyngitis or strep throat.

4 Sep 2019

Novel approach could help prevent sepsis in burn patients

Immediately following severe burns, bacteria reach the wound from different sources, including the patient's skin, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tracts and health care-related human contact.

4 Sep 2019

Pneumonia uses hydrogen peroxide to weaken the immune system

Pneumonia is a lung infection, filling up the alveoli with pus and fluid. At present, it’s the leading cause of death among children. The lung infection accounts for 15 percent of all deaths in children below five years old, killing more than 800,000 children in 2017 alone.

3 Sep 2019

Molecular mechanism by which human stomach pathogen is attracted to bleach revealed

Researchers at the University of Oregon have uncovered a molecular mechanism by which the human stomach pathogen Helicobacter pylori is attracted to bleach, also known as hypochlorous acid or HOCI.

30 Aug 2019

Cell-free DNA identifies pathogens and quantifies injuries to organs

A common problem in diagnosing infectious disease is that the presence of a potential pathogen in the body does not necessarily mean the patient is sick. This can be particularly challenging for the treatment of organ transplant recipients, who often grapple with infection as well as complications related to immunosuppression.

29 Aug 2019

A detailed map to understand how viruses infect human cells

Biologists at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have leveraged a computational method to map protein-protein interactions between all known human-infecting viruses and the cells they infect.

29 Aug 2019