Infections
Airborne legionnaires bug can travel miles
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The bacterium responsible for causing legionnaires disease can spread up to 6 kilometers from its source by airborne transmission, French researchers report.
Legionella pneumophila likes to live in hot water, such as in industrial cooling towers or the water systems of large buildings where it can then cause pneumonia-like infections. Now it seems that a wider area may be at risk.
Stomach bacteria linked to iron deficiency
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Helicobacter pylori infection, which affects about one third of adults in the US, is associated with an increased risk of iron deficiency and related anemia, according to the results of a new study.
Moreover, this relationship holds true even in the absence of peptic ulcer disease, which can cause iron-deficiency anemia through hemorrhage, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
New Vaccine Candidate Against Hepatitis C
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Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) have developed a vaccine candidate for hepatitis C, leading to hope in the fight against a disease for which no vaccines are yet available.
VIDO is the first in Canada to show that this vaccination technique may be effective against HCV. The study was published in this month’s Journal of General Virology.
Scientists identify early signs of meningitis
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British scientists said on Wednesday they have identified early signs of meningitis that could improve detection of the disease and save lives.
Leg pain, cold hands and feet and abnormal skin colour develop within 12 hours after infection—long before the more classic signs of the illness such as a rash, headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light and impaired consciousness.
Viral infections linked to cerebral palsy
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Exposure to certain viral infections around the time of birth is linked to cerebral palsy, Australian scientists said on Friday.
Findings by researchers at the University of Adelaide suggest that neurotropic infections—viral infections that target nerves, which include the herpes viruses, mumps and measles—could trigger brain damage and cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that impairs the control of movement.
Discovery reveals how malaria infects humans
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Researchers at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in India and a unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in France have made a key discovery about a molecule that helps the malaria parasite infect human cells. India is one of the countries most affected by this disease, which has infected 300 million people across the world and leads to over one million fatalities per year. The breakthrough, which was achieved at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, may represent an important step towards finding new therapies. The study appears in this week’s online edition of Nature (December 21).
Malaria is caused by a one-celled organism called Plasmodium, which is passed to humans through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes.
Bacterial vaginosis makes viral shedding more likely
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Women with bacterial vaginosis are four times more likely to shed cytomegalovirus in their lower genital tract than women without bacterial vaginosis, a new study shows.
Bacterial vaginosis, the most common type of vaginal infection in women of childbearing age, occurs when there is imbalance in the bacteria of the vagina favoring certain “bad” microbes over “good” ones. A foul-smelling vaginal discharge is a common symptom of the disease, which if not treated with antibiotics can lead to complications, such as infection of the womb.
Problem of Emerging Infectious Diseases Likely to Worsen
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Emerging infectious diseases pose a global threat to human and animal health, and the problem is likely to worsen, warns an expert in this week’s BMJ.
The recent emergence of diseases, such as AIDS, SARS and avian flu, have catapulted emerging infectious diseases to the top of the medical and political agendas, and have highlighted the importance of wildlife as reservoirs or vectors for disease, writes Dr Andrew Cunningham.
Trichomoniasis: a common STD in young US adults
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More than 2 percent of young adults in the United States have a sexually transmitted disease (STD) called trichomoniasis—including more than 10 percent of young black women, according to a new report.
Trichomoniasis, a parasitic infection caused by Trichomonas vaginalis, “is more common than we usually think,” Dr. William C. Miller from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Reuters Health. “We need to consider routinely testing young adults.”
Unknown Bacteria Found in Women With Vaginosis
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Women with bacterial vaginosis appear to play host to about twice as many species of bacteria as previously suspected, reported researchers here.
In addition, 19 of 35 species of bacteria detected in the vaginal fluid of women with bacterial vaginosis appear to be newly identified, reported David N. Fredericks, M.D., and colleagues of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington, both in Seattle.
Breastfeeding does not raise the risk of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus
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Breastfeeding does not raise the risk of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to two new studies published in the December 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
One study found that infant girls are twice as likely to be infected as infant boys. Both studies provide new information with which to counsel pregnant women infected with HCV. Taken together, the two new studies expand upon preliminary data from smaller studies of mother-to-child transmission of HCV.
Pinworms, an Easily Treated but Persistent Infection
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One of the prices of having children is pinworm (Enterobius vermiculari), a small white intestinal parasite that makes the human cecum and appendix its home.
The pinworm is generally innocuous, though insidious and persistent. During the night, while an infected person sleeps, a female pinworm creeps from the anus and deposits eggs on the surrounding skin, perhaps 10,000 of them. Then she dies.
Chronic stress linked to recurrent yeast infection
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Women who suffer from frequent vaginal yeast infections show biochemical signs of being under chronic stress, a Swedish study has found.
Dr. Sophia M. Ehrstrom, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and colleagues, reporting in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, note that the problem of recurrent yeast infections is on the rise.
Expats in China fight SARS hospital move
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Expatriates living in plush suburban estates near the site of a planned new infectious diseases hospital in Beijing are circling their wagons, determined that it be built elsewhere.
It is a rare case of foreigners borrowing from the Chinese right to “petition”, one of the few avenues for the disgruntled to seek redress which has increased in recent years with the widening gap between rich and poor.
Mad cow disease may spread in urine: animal study
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The agent that causes mad cow disease, scrapie and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk may sometimes be spread through urine, Swiss researchers reported on Thursday.
They found that, under certain conditions in mice, the brain proteins known as prions that transmit the disease could be found in urine.
