Infections
Insecurity fans spread of pneumonic plague in Congo
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Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) urged its international partners to help contain an outbreak of the highly contagious pneumonic plague in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has already killed 22 people, but where insecurity is fanning the spread of the disease.
“We urgently need all actors present in the field who have the capacity to conduct active searches for suspected cases and identification of individuals in contact with suspected cases to mobilize resources,” said Jerome Souquet, MSF Head in Ituri district.
“Otherwise, we risk being confronted with an outbreak spiralling out of control. We have already seen the epidemic outbreak spreading to new areas in the last few days,” Souquet said.
Researchers Get to Heart of Tropical Disease
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A new study found that mice lacking a gene crucial to the normal functioning of their immune systems didn’t become ill when they were exposed to a pathogen that causes a horrendous infection in the liver and the spleen.
The pathogen, called Leishmania donovani, infects certain internal organs. The parasite causes visceral leishmaniasis which, if left untreated, is almost always fatal. Cases in the United States are extremely rare, but the disease, which is transmitted through the bite of a sand fly, is common in tropical and subtropical countries such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
The finding may lend insight into creating new drugs to treat different diseases that affect the liver, said Abhay Satoskar, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of microbiology at Ohio State University.
Hepatitis B virus prevalent among Asians in NY
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Approximately 15% of Asians living in New York City are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus, according to a new study by New York University School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues.
Chronic hepatitis B infection usually will lead to liver inflammation and can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The reported infection rate is 35 times higher than the rate in the general U.S. population.
The new study appears in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cancer virus protein p13 needed for successful infection and reproduction
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New research shows that a protein made by a cancer-causing virus that was thought to be unimportant for its replication is in fact critically needed by the virus to initiate an infection and to reproduce.
The study examined the human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and a protein it makes called p13. The protein is one of the virus’ so-called accessory proteins, proteins that earlier studies done in laboratory-grown cells suggested that the virus could live without.
But this new study - done using an animal model that the virus can infect - suggests that HTLV-1 needs the p13 protein to successfully infect the body and reproduce.
Could global warming be contributing to the resurgence of malaria?
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A widely-cited study published a few years ago said no, but new research by an international team that includes University of Michigan theoretical ecologist Mercedes Pascual finds that, while other factors such as drug and pesticide resistance, changing land use patterns and human migration also may play roles, climate change cannot be ruled out.
“Our results do not mean that temperature is the only or the main factor driving the increase in malaria, but that it is one of many factors that should be considered,” Pascual said. The new study is slated to be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
After being nearly or completely eradicated in many parts of the world, malaria still affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and has been on the rise in some highland regions and desert fringes.
Why some infectious diseases are limited to small outbreaks and others become full-blown epidemics
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In an important study forthcoming in the March 2006 issue of the American Naturalist, biologists from Yale University, University of Florida, and Dartmouth University explore the dynamics of pathogen survival and shed new light on a longstanding mystery: why some infectious diseases are limited to small outbreaks and others become full-blown epidemics.
“The capacity of a virus to propagate upon a novel host apparently is conditional on the recent experience of preceding generations,” the authors say. “This is intrinsically interesting, suggesting a kind of complexity in pathogen population dynamics that has not been widely regarded.”
The researchers observed viral populations on host bacteria, specifically situations where virus populations were sustained on the original hosts, but went extinct on the new hosts. Observing transmission rates, they found that viruses previously reared on an original host showed greater productivity on the new host than viruses previously reared on the new host.
Intimate Kissing Quadruples Risk of Meningitis in Teenagers
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Intimate kissing with multiple partners almost quadruples a teenager’s risk of meningococcal disease, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.
Meningococcal disease is a life threatening condition with two incidence peaks: in early childhood and in adolescence.
The incidence and fatality rate among teenagers in England and the United States rose dramatically during the 1990s, but little is known about the risk factors for this disease in adolescents.
UK to vaccinate children against meningitis disease
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Britain is to introduce a new routine vaccination for young children to help protect against meningitis, blood poisoning and pneumonia in a move it says will save lives and stop hundreds of children becoming ill each year.
Britain’s top doctor, Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson, said on Wednesday the jab, to be given in three doses at two months, four months and again at 13 months, would target pneumococcal disease, one of the most common bacterial causes of ear infection.
New tool to predict epidemics of malaria up to five months in advance
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A new tool to predict epidemics of malaria up to five months in advance has been developed by a scientist at the University of Liverpool.
The model uses predictions of climate variability to indicate the level of risk of an epidemic up to five months in advance of the peak malaria season - the earliest point at which predictions have ever been made. The model will assist doctors and health care providers in preventing and controlling the disease.
Most Common Hepatitis C Virus Type Grown in Lab for First Time
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Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have successfully grown the most common and damaging form of the hepatitis C virus in human liver cell cultures. This achievement - the first laboratory cultivation of a “genotype 1” hepatitis C virus - is expected to significantly assist antiviral drug and vaccine discovery programs.
Such efforts are critically important in devising better methods for managing a disease that chronically infects approximately 200 million people worldwide. The most effective treatment for hepatitis C, interferon-based therapy, eradicates the virus less than 50 percent of the time and causes debilitating side effects.
Ironing Out New Details of Tuberculosis Infection
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Scientists in India, led by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) international research scholar, have identified five key genes that enable Mycobacterium tuberculosis to acquire the iron it needs to sustain growth and promote infection.
“Targeting genes within this cluster represents a good strategy for preventing tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections,” said Rajesh S. Gokhale, an HHMI international research scholar at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, India, and lead investigator on the study. “Because some of these genes are conserved across a number of related bacterial families, they are promising targets for drugs to treat TB and other bacterial diseases.”
Text Messaging Speeds Up Treatment for Chlamydia Infection
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Text messaging the results of a Chlamydia test speeds up treatment for the infection and cuts down on staff time, suggests a six month study in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
The sexual health clinic at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital tried out a text messaging service for the test results of sexual health screens, including Chlamydia, for six months.
Chinese herbs no aid to SARS patients
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Adding Chinese herbs to mainstream medical treatment of SARS did not save any lives but may have eased their misery a little, Chinese researchers reported on Tuesday.
A look at 12 separate trials of 654 patients with SARS who were treated with both Chinese medicines and Western therapy found no suggestion that either single herbs or combinations improved survival.
Human body has a unique immune system response to foreign DNA
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The human body has a unique immune system response to foreign DNA, suggesting that DNA viruses and RNA viruses are detected by different mechanisms, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Immunity.
The researchers also found that DNA recognition might be used to detect invasive bacteria in addition to viruses, according to Daniel Stetson, a post doctoral fellow in the Section of Immunobiology and lead author of the study.
Hepatitis C treatment difficult in older patients
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Because of side effects, patients over the age of 60 with hepatitis C find it more difficult to stick with standard treatments than do their younger counterparts, according to a study in Japan.
Impaired heart, lung and kidney function can make older patients more susceptible to anemia induced by ribavirin, one of the drugs used for treating hepatitis C, explain Dr. Yoshiaki Iwasaki, from Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and colleagues.
