Disease/Infection News

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Research reveals physiological events leading to successful enterovirus infection

Enteroviruses are one of the most common human pathogens leading to high number of acute and chronic infections worldwide.

19 Aug 2019

Targeted pancreatic cancer drug shows promise in clinical trials

Researchers have conducted clinical trials with a new drug targeting pancreatic cancer and the initial results are promising.

16 Aug 2019

Regular exercise may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

Regular exerciss may help prevent cognitive decline seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

16 Aug 2019

MRI scans show how ADHD medication affects brain structure in children

MRI scans have revealed that children taking the medication methylphenidate experience alterations in the distribution of white matter in the brain.

15 Aug 2019

Scientists find a potent weapon against antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a big threat to global health, and a growing number of infections are now becoming harder to treat. The usual treatments, like antibiotics used to treat them, becomes less effective. Now, a team of researchers may have found a potent weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can help treat persistent infections.

15 Aug 2019

Herpes treatment greatly improved by adding charcoal

A novel charcoal-based drug-delivery system to treat herpes infections topically shows greatly improved efficacy over conventional treatment. Here, the medication called acyclovir, commonly used for herpes infection, was combined with activated carbon particles.

15 Aug 2019

FDA approves effective new treatment for extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is the leading infectious killer in the world, far above AIDS. It kills about 1.6 million of the 10 million it affects every year. About 30,000 patients worldwide now have XDR tuberculosis (that fails to respond to any of the four antibiotic categories in use at present).

15 Aug 2019

Removal of a critical enzyme may help cases of sepsis finds research

Scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shown that removal of an enzyme called the PH domain Leucine-rich repeat Protein Phosphatase 1 (PHLPP1) could help laboratory mice with sepsis in a model they had created for their experiment. The study titled, “PHLPP1 counter-regulates STAT1-mediated inflammatory signalling,” was published this week in the journal eLife.

15 Aug 2019

Mortality risk from yellow fever can be identified sooner

Approximately ten out of every 100 people who are bitten by mosquitos infected by the yellow fever virus develop symptoms of the disease. Although most infected people do not develop the disease, it is lethal to approximately 40% of those who do.

14 Aug 2019

FDA approves new drug for specific type of highly treatment-resistant tuberculosis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Pretomanid Tablets in combination with bedaquiline and linezolid for the treatment of a specific type of highly treatment-resistant tuberculosis of the lungs.

14 Aug 2019

Chlamydia vaccine shows promise after a successful clinical trial

A vaccine against the sexually transmitted infection (STI) chlamydia is now a substantial step closer to reality after successfully passing its Phase 1 clinical trial.

14 Aug 2019

Discovery of molecular mechanism behind spread of leishmania infection

Researchers from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) have made a breakthrough in understanding the reason behind the virulence of leishmania parasite. The leishmania parasite is responsible for causing leishmaniasis which affects over 12 million people across the globe and is a chronic parasitic disease.

14 Aug 2019

Removing single enzyme improves outcomes in mouse model of sepsis

Sepsis occurs when the body goes overboard in its attempt to fight off an infection. Immune cells rush in, overreact and wreak havoc on tissues and organs, often resulting in organ failure and death.

14 Aug 2019

Researchers identify molecular switch that impacts immune responses to viral infections

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have identified a molecular switch that impacts immune responses to viral infections, and whether or not protective antibodies are produced.

14 Aug 2019

Study shows how cervicovaginal microbiome can elicit resistance to chlamydia

The vaginal microbiome is believed to protect women against Chlamydia trachomatis, the etiological agent of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections in developed countries.

13 Aug 2019

Scientists step closer to an Ebola cure

The Ebola virus has killed thousands of people in Western Africa between 2014 and 2016. Recently, another outbreak in Congo emerged, killing roughly a thousand people. Now, scientists are a step closer to an Ebola cure, thanks to two new drugs that appear to be highly effective in treating people with the virus.

13 Aug 2019

Researchers examine how superbug fights last-resort antibiotics

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today. A new study shows how superbugs adapt to combat 'last-resort antibiotics'.

13 Aug 2019

Human apolipoprotein E promotes hepatitis B virus infection

Human apolipoprotein E (apoE) promotes hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and production, according to a study published DATE in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Luhua Qiao and Guangxiang (George) Luo of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

From PLOS ONE 13 Aug 2019

Scientists point to enterovirus infection as cause for acute flaccid myelitis

Scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the University of California San Diego report antibody evidence in cerebrospinal fluid that points to enterovirus infection as a cause for acute flaccid myelitis, a disease responsible for partially paralyzing more than 560 children in the United States since 2014. Results of the study appear in the journal mBio.

13 Aug 2019

Resistance to two critical antibiotics widely distributed in Southeast Asia

Resistance to two critical antibiotic types, one a "drug of last resort" when all others fail against some "superbugs," are widely distributed in Southeast Asia, raising the risk of untreatable infections, say a team of investigators led by Georgetown University Medical Center.

13 Aug 2019