Leprosy in Biological News

New drug targets may fight tuberculosis and other bacterial infections in novel way

... -- so-called "virulence factors" that bacteria use to thrive once they are in the host -- present an alternative, potent means of stopping TB, leprosy and other bacterial illness. "We have developed the first inhibitor of a key small molecule from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium ...

Once-dreaded leprosy 'replaced' by tuberculosis, say researchers

... What caused leprosy ?a widely dreaded disease in medieval Europe ?to ... examinations, the scientists found traces of both leprosy and tuberculosis bacteria in 42 percent of the cases. The findings on the relationship between leprosy and tuberculosis were reported in a recent ...

International Team Determines Geographic Origin of Leprosy

... leprosy likely originated in East Africa and spread to ... and contradict a commonly held view that leprosy spread to West Africa directly from East Africa, ... case M. leprae, and to develop a picture of how leprosy spread from its point of origin. The team looked ...

Leprosy genome tells story of human migrations, French researchers report in Science

... The findings indicate that the world's existing leprosy infections are all caused by a single bacterial ... trade. One of the oldest known human diseases, leprosy is still a significant problem in parts of the ... Historically, it's been thought that leprosy originated in the Indian subcontinent and was ...

Leprosy microbes lead scientists to immune discovery

... With the unusual opportunity that human leprosy infections provide for study of human immune ... explain why, when threatened by microbes like the leprosy bug, this initial defense sometimes succeeds in ... when the scientists studied different forms of leprosy for the presence of the two cell types. (One of ...

ASU researchers test antibacterial effects of healing clays

... and western Africa. Buruli ulcer has been declared to be "an emerging public health threat" by the World Health Organization (WHO). Related to leprosy and tuberculosis, the Mycobacterium ulcerans produces a toxin, lesions, and destroys the fatty tissues under the skin. "The toxin is ...

Scientists discover gene that controls speed of tuberculosis development

... this happens. The new research focused on NRAMP1--a gene already known to be involved in many other illnesses, including diseases as diverse as leprosy and rheumatoid arthritis. "We discovered that variants (alleles) of the NRAMP1 gene control the speed at which tuberculosis develops, rather than ...