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LSTM and University of Liverpool receive GHIT Fund to target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) together with colleagues at the Department of Chemistry (University of Liverpool (UoL)) and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund to develop new drugs to target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.

20 Mar 2014

Genetically modified bacterial treatment approach reduces or eliminates sleeping sickness

A tag team of two bacteria, one of them genetically modified, has a good chance to reduce or even eliminate the deadly disease African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, researchers at Oregon State University conclude in a recent mathematical modeling study.

4 Oct 2013

Human filariasis research: an interview with Professor Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Filariasis refers to a group of diseases caused by parasitic worms, which are transmitted by blood feeding insects. Two species infect the lymphatic and blood systems causing lymphatic filariasis, which in some people can lead to gross swelling of the limbs and 'elephantiasis'.

18 Jul 2013

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine receives US$ 10 million to continue research against human filariasis

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has received US$ 10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue their breakthrough drug discovery and development research against human filariasis - parasitic worm infections which cause river blindness and elephantiasis, some of the world’s most debilitating diseases affecting up to 150 million people in 83 countries throughout the tropics.

1 Jul 2013

Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Mosquitoes are deadly efficient disease transmitters. Research conducted at Michigan State University, however, demonstrates that they also can be equally adept in curing diseases such as malaria.

10 May 2013

Scientists reveal new technique to introduce disease-blocking bacteria into mosquitoes

Scientists have revealed a new technique to introduce disease-blocking bacteria into mosquitoes, with promising results that may halt the spread of diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and potentially malaria.

11 Apr 2013

Top ten tips for keeping bed bugs at bay

Bed bugs are on the rise and $1,000 per day ordinances are being suggested in cities like Chicago to enforce combat of the pests. "Know thy enemy," says Jorge Parada, MD, medical director, infection control, Loyola University Health System. "There are lots of myths out there about bed bugs and people may be getting caught up over nothing."

30 Jan 2013

Detrimental effect of tetracycline on male reproductive function, sperm viability of pseudoscorpions

In a paper published today in Nature's open access journal Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno report that male pseudoscorpions treated with the antibiotic tetracycline suffer significantly reduced sperm viability and pass this toxic effect on to their untreated sons. They suggest that a similar effect could occur in humans and other species.

30 Apr 2012

Wolbachia study reveals novel approaches to control insects transmitting deadly diseases

Researchers at Boston University have made discoveries that provide the foundation towards novel approaches to control insects that transmit deadly diseases such as dengue fever and malaria through their study of the Wolbachia bacteria.

21 Oct 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

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

New way to combat dengue fever

The spread of Dengue fever in northern Australia may be controlled by a bacterium that infects mosquitoes that harbor the virus, Australian and U.S. researchers report Aug. 25 in two papers published in the journal Nature.

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

NIAID team completes analysis of most proteins produced by elephantiasis parasite worm

A team led by Thomas B. Nutman, M.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has completed a large-scale analysis of most of the proteins produced by Brugia malayi, one kind of parasitic worm that causes lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis.

24 May 2011

Trial to eliminate deadly Dengue begins

The 12 week programme costing $18 million named ‘Eliminate Dengue’ has commenced. Mosquitoes bearing a special bacteria would be released into the wild around Cairns as part of a trial to rid the area of the insects that carry Dengue fever.

4 Jan 2011

Bacterium used to tackle Dengue fever

This January Australian scientists will start deploying a strange bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis in an attempt to halt disease transmission by mosquitoes especially Dengue fever. They are targeting the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits Dengue. Dengue is a viral disease that leads to high fever, severe muscle and joint pain and can also be fatal.

9 Dec 2010

Bacteria that will kill Dengue bearing mosquitoes on the way

Dengue is a deadly viral fever spread by mosquito bites that kills thousands around the world each year. Now researchers from James Cook University and University of Queensland are working on a bacterium called Wolbachia that can stop the spread of this virus.

6 Jul 2010

DNA barcoding-sequencing of gene in sand flies identifies two species carrying Leishmania naiffi

In the first survey of sand flies in Panama to use genetic barcoding, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Gorgas Memorial Laboratories identified 20 sand fly species from Barro Colorado Island. Two species carried Leishmania naiffi, a parasite that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis: persistent, itchy skin lesions. Three species carried Wolbachia, a bacterial parasite of insects that could contribute to a strategy to control the flies and limit disease transmission.

7 Apr 2010

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) announced Tuesday that it has been forced to halt "aid distribution to about 1 million people in southern Somalia because of attacks against staff and demands by armed groups that aid groups remove women from their teams," the Associated Press reports.

5 Jan 2010

Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria increases their resistance to human disease-causing viruses

Earlier this year, researchers showed that they could cut the lives of disease-carrying mosquitoes in half by infecting them with a bacterium they took from fruit flies. Now, a new report in the December 24th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, suggests that their strategy might do one better: The Wolbachia bacteria also makes the mosquitoes more resistant to infection by viruses that are a growing threat to humans, including those responsible for dengue fever and Chikungunya.

28 Dec 2009

Wolbachia News and Research

LSTM and University of Liverpool receive GHIT Fund to target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis

Genetically modified bacterial treatment approach reduces or eliminates sleeping sickness

Human filariasis research: an interview with Professor Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine receives US$ 10 million to continue research against human filariasis

Study shows malaria transmission can be controlled by using bacteria

Scientists reveal new technique to introduce disease-blocking bacteria into mosquitoes

Top ten tips for keeping bed bugs at bay

Detrimental effect of tetracycline on male reproductive function, sperm viability of pseudoscorpions

Wolbachia study reveals novel approaches to control insects transmitting deadly diseases

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

Dengue fever mosquito trial successful

New way to combat dengue fever

Wolbachia infection invades Aedes aegypti mosquito, blocks dengue transmission

NIAID team completes analysis of most proteins produced by elephantiasis parasite worm

Trial to eliminate deadly Dengue begins

Bacterium used to tackle Dengue fever

Bacteria that will kill Dengue bearing mosquitoes on the way

DNA barcoding-sequencing of gene in sand flies identifies two species carrying Leishmania naiffi

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria increases their resistance to human disease-causing viruses

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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