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New approach may help kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Current treatment regimens for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis, are long, complex, and hard for people to sustain. Moreover, the bacteria often develop drug resistance, and many people harbor multi-drug-resistant strains. In 2018 alone, nearly 1.5 million people died from tuberculosis worldwide.

12 Nov 2019

FIRS calls for an end to preventable deaths from pneumonia

In support of World Pneumonia Day, Nov. 12, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, of which the American Thoracic Society is a member, calls for an end to preventable pneumonia deaths, ensuring equitable access to interventions for prevention and control of pneumonia.

12 Nov 2019

Two strains of the same bacterium work together to cause deadly flesh-eating disease

Two different strains of the same flesh-eating bacteria species work in combination to become more dangerous.

12 Nov 2019

A child died from Pneumonia every 39 seconds last year, poorest families most affected

New data has revealed that over 800,000 children died from pneumonia last year and that the poorest of society are most at risk.

12 Nov 2019

Bio–nano interactions help kill deadly microbes

Nanotechnology has been part of the changing world today. Nanoparticles, for instance, can help make materials lighter and stronger. They have been widely used across several industries, such as computers and medical technology.

11 Nov 2019

New way to measure white blood cell function provides prognostic information about patients with sepsis

Caring for a patient with sepsis requires walking a treatment tightrope. Clinicians must identify the pathogen that is causing a patient's infection, carefully monitor the patient's response to antibiotics and supportive measures and race against the clock to prevent potential organ failure and death.

11 Nov 2019

Researchers generate reliable maps for transmission risk of Zika virus

The spread of infectious diseases such as Zika depends on many different factors. Environmental factors play a role, as do socioeconomic factors. Recently, several attempts have be made to predict the transmission risk of the Zika virus at a global and local level, but the spatial and temporal patterns of transmission are still not well understood.

11 Nov 2019

New blood filtering system could draw disease from the body using magnets

An engineer has developed a new technology that could draw deadly infections such as malaria from the body using magnets.

11 Nov 2019

CRIPSR could be used to detect disease

CRISPR could be used to establish new diagnostic blood tests by identifying viral nucleic acids, such as Parvo or HPV.

11 Nov 2019

New point-of-care medical device rapidly and accurately detects viruses

The gene-editing tool CRISPR has been heralded as a scientific miracle destined to eradicate diseases from sickle-cell anemia to cancer, or decried as "the genetic scissors that tailor the human gene pool," an ethically risky technology driving us toward a designer babies.

11 Nov 2019

Zika virus causes altered immune responses and brain abnormalities in healthy pig offspring

Zika virus infection in the womb produces altered immune responses and sex-specific brain abnormalities in apparently healthy pig offspring, according to a study published November 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Uladzimir Karniychuk of the University of Saskatchewan, and colleagues.

From PLOS ONE 11 Nov 2019

Adding a specific immune molecule can boost efficacy of rabies vaccine

Every year, more than 59,000 people around the world die of rabies and there remains no cheap and easy vaccine regimen to prevent the disease in humans. Now, researchers report in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases that adding a specific immune molecule to a rabies vaccine can boost its efficacy.

From PLOS ONE 11 Nov 2019

Climate change spreading deadly virus in marine mammals

A deadly virus that kills thousands of European harbour seals in the northern Atlantic Ocean has now begun affecting seals, otters and sea lions in the northern Pacific Ocean. This virus is called the phocine distemper virus (PDV) that affects animals alone and does not affect humans.

10 Nov 2019

Dengue vaccine from Takeda shows promise

Officials have confirmed the initial success with trials of Dengue vaccine. Dengue, a viral disease borne by mosquitoes is considered to be one of the top ten health threats says the world Health Organization (WHO). Since the beginning of the outbreaks and the hundreds of deaths due to this infection, researchers have been on the lookout for vaccines to prevent this infection.

10 Nov 2019

Study pinpoints new weapon to fight against deadly microbes

Researchers at Monash University have gained insights into how nanoparticles could be used to identify the presence of invasive and sometimes deadly microbes, and deliver targeted treatments more effectively.

10 Nov 2019

Study finds fewer new cases of HCV in HIV-negative men who have sex with PrEP-using men

Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found fewer new cases of hepatitis C infection (commonly called HCV), despite very high rates of other sexually-transmitted infections, in HIV-negative men who have sex with men who take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatments.

10 Nov 2019