Outbreaks of Ebola virus infection are associated with hemorrhagic fever and high mortality rates. There are currently no preventive or protective treatments for Ebola infections, although some progress has been made in vaccine development. Development of strategies for managing infection once a person has been exposed to the virus has been much slower. One researchContinueContinue reading “New protection against Ebola virus”
Tag Archives: infectious disease
VLP vaccine for Chikungunya
Chikungunya virus is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that causes severe arthritis. Since re-emerging in 2004, it has infected millions of people. Attempts to develop vaccines had only limited success until recently, when researchers developed a vaccine using virus-like particles (VLPs). The VLP vaccine protected macaques from Chikungunya viral infection. Lab Anim. (NY) 39, 63 (2010).ContinueContinue reading “VLP vaccine for Chikungunya”
How mosquitoes fight malaria
Malaria infects as many half a billion people every year and kills between 1 and 3 million people annually, many of them children living in sub-Saharan Africa. It is caused by Plasmodium spp. protozoans transmitted between humans and mosquitoes via the blood. When a mosquito consumes infected human blood, its immune system attacks Plasmodium andContinueContinue reading “How mosquitoes fight malaria”
Bacterial infection may limit spread of dengue fever
Dengue fever is a viral febrile disease caused by flaviviruses carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito vector. It affects tens of millions of people per year, primarily in tropical and African countries. The primary mode of prevention is through mosquito control, but typical mosquito control measures, such as using bed nets and draining areas ofContinueContinue reading “Bacterial infection may limit spread of dengue fever”
Fishing for toxic bacteria
Bacterial pathogens in food and water cause more than 76 million infections per year in the US, which have symptoms ranging from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to severe illness and even death. Accurate detection of these pathogens is essential for avoiding infection. Although molecular and immunological detection methods have progressed, they do sometimes fail to identifyContinueContinue reading “Fishing for toxic bacteria”
Training cells to control AIDS
A new treatment for AIDS has shown promise in controlling the infection in macaques. The new technique is a form of immune therapy that uses the subject’s own blood cells. Cells are exposed to proteins extracted from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV, which is similar to the human version, HIV) in vitro and then infusedContinueContinue reading “Training cells to control AIDS”
Killing two parasites with one drug
Toxoplasmosis may be the most common parasitic infection worldwide, affecting more than two billion people. Existing treatments have serious side effects, can cause hypersensitivity in some patients and are ineffective during some of the parasite’s life stages. There is no preventative vaccine. New treatments for toxoplasmosis are desperately needed. Now it seems that need mayContinueContinue reading “Killing two parasites with one drug”
New vaccine against filoviruses
Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg viruses) are highly infectious pathogens that cause hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. Their mortality rates approach 90% in humans. There are currently no approved vaccines against filoviruses. New research presented at the 2008 American Society for Microbiology’s Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting in Baltimore, MD, shows that aContinueContinue reading “New vaccine against filoviruses”
Antibodies against avian flu
With the threat of an avian flu pandemic lingering, the search for agents with prophylactic or therapeutic potential continues. Now, Antonio Lanzavecchia (Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland), Kanta Subbarao (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD), and colleagues report that neutralizing antibodies from humans who had recovered from avian flu (H5N1) protected mice against H5N1ContinueContinue reading “Antibodies against avian flu”
Fluent in Science 