Schistosomiasis News and Research

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Schistosomiaisis is a disease caused by parasitic worms. You become infected when your skin comes in contact with contaminated freshwater in which certain types of snails that carry schistosomes are living. Schistosomiasis is not found in the United States, but more than 200 million people are infected worldwide.

World Immunization Week 2022: Striving for a Long Life for All with the International Vaccine Institute

As part of World Immunization Week 2022, News Medical speaks to the International Vaccine Institute about their fight against vaccine inequity, as well as what a “Long Life for All” means to them.

25 Apr 2022

Discovery could lead to new treatments for schistosomiasis

A team led by UTSW researchers has identified a molecule produced by male parasitic worms called schistosomes that prompts sexual maturity in females of these species.

5 Apr 2022

Texas Biomed and UAB partnership uncovers a new, potent antibody cocktail against all coronaviruses

As SARS-CoV-2 has continued to evolve and outsmart existing treatments, scientists have not let up looking for ever-more effective tools to keep people safe and successfully recover from COVID-19, and to prepare for future outbreaks.

18 Mar 2022

Mice study shows how to improve long-term effectiveness of TB vaccine

Briefly blocking a key molecule when administering the only approved vaccine for tuberculosis vastly improves long-term protection against the devastating disease in mice, researchers from Texas Biomedical Research Institute report this week in the Journal of Immunology.

11 Mar 2022

Single-cell sequencing provides detailed insight into early SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lungs

What is going on at the single-cell level in the first days of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lungs?

9 Feb 2022

How did the COVID pandemic affect the spread of other zoonotic diseases?

In new research, scientists from the Beijing University of Technology have been investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and mortality of zoonotic diseases in China. Their work is published in the journal BMJ Global Health.

12 Jan 2022

Researchers identify how a critical schistosomiasis drug works on the molecular level

Independent teams from Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the Medical College of Wisconsin have published two papers in Science Translational Medicine identifying how the only approved drug to treat schistosomiasis, a widespread parasitic worm infection, works on the molecular level.

6 Jan 2022

Research may pave the way for designing new therapies to combat schistosomiasis

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent a group of about 20 conditions that affect more than a billion people worldwide.

6 Jan 2022

A nematode infection can become severe and deadly with the use of corticosteroids

Healthcare workers in tropical and sub-tropical settings where strongyloidiasis is prevalent or caring for patients who have travelled to such areas, need to maintain a high level of awareness about the use of corticosteroids, including when this class of anti-inflammatories is given to patients suspected of infection with SARS-CoV-2.

19 Dec 2021

Gene key to excessive cell proliferation could be a potential target for fatal pulmonary hypertension

A gene that is overexpressed in some aggressive cancers also appears to be key to the excessive cell proliferation that thickens the walls of pulmonary arteries and ultimately causes the right ventricle of the heart to fail, scientists report.

16 Dec 2021

Researchers make progress towards a new diagnostic test for schistosomiasis

Researchers have made important progress towards a new diagnostic test for schistosomiasis, which could help the World Health Organization achieve its goal of interrupting transmission of the disease, and eventually eliminating it.

22 Nov 2021

Single-genome sequencing reveals malaria parasite genetics and evolution

Understanding how malaria parasites evolve after a human is bitten by an infected mosquito is very difficult. There can be billions of individual parasites in a patient's bloodstream and traditional genetic sequencing techniques can't identify the raw material for evolution: new mutations.

12 Oct 2021

New 'reporter viruses' make it easier to observe SARS-CoV-2 in real time

A version of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, has been successfully modified to glow brightly in cells and animal tissues, providing a real-time way to track the spread and intensity of viral infection as it happens in animal models, researchers at Texas Biomedical Research Institute report in the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Sep 2021

CEPI and IVI announce new research program to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the International Vaccine Institute today announced a new programme of clinical research which aims to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.

20 Jul 2021

Researchers identify proteins that contribute to the pathogenicity of COVID-19 virus

Researchers at Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) have narrowed down the proteins enabling SARS-CoV-2 to cause disease.

1 Jul 2021

Texas Biomed scientists receive $1 million NIH funding for Ebola research

Scientists have a general idea of how viruses invade and spread in the body, but the precise mechanisms are actually not well understood, especially when it comes to Ebola virus.

18 Jun 2021

Texas Biomed receives DoD subcontracts to assess SARS-CoV-2 decontamination technologies

Texas Biomedical Research Institute received two Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Health Agency subcontracts to assess the efficacy of surface coating and aerosolized decontamination technologies to combat SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens on surfaces and in the air.

11 Mar 2021

Transmission risk for schistosomiasis peaks at higher water temperature

About one billion people worldwide are at risk for schistosomiasis -- a debilitating disease caused by parasitic worms that live in fresh water and in intermediate snail hosts.

9 Mar 2021

Research shows intestinal parasite infestations reduce COVID-19 severity

Now, new research out of Mekelle, Ethiopia, examines the role of parasitic infestation on the prognosis of COVID-19. The research paper, which appears on the preprint server medRxiv, shows that intestinal parasitosis is protective against severe COVID-19.

4 Feb 2021

Scientists decipher the structure of protein found in parasites that cause neglected tropical diseases

Brazilian researchers have managed to decipher the structure of a protein found in parasites that cause neglected tropical diseases, paving the way to the development of novel medications.

8 Jan 2021