Lice in Biological News

Pubic hair provides evolutionary home for gorilla lice

... There are two species of lice that infest humans: pubic lice, Pthirus pubis , ... inspiration while pondering the question of why lice would separate into two groups when our ancestors ... suggesting that early humans somehow caught pubic lice from their gorilla cousins. Happily, this may not ...

Ocean fish farming harms wild fish, study says

... fish in areas with sea-cage farm fish. "Sea lice are an important example of disease transfer in ocean fish farming," explains Frazer. "Sea lice are tiny crabs that attach to marine fishes, ... tissues less salty than the ocean. Also, when lice puncture the skin they create an entry point for ...

Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration

... GAINESVILLE, Fla. lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel ... authors. DNA sequencing found the strain of lice to be genetically the same as the form of body lice that spawns several deadly diseases, including ...

Fish farms drive wild salmon populations toward extinction

... shows, for the first time, that parasitic sea lice infestations caused by salmon farms are driving ... Krkosek and his co-authors calculate that sea lice have killed more than 80% of the annual pink ... papers by Krkosek and others showed that sea lice from fish farms can infect and kill juvenile wild ...

New study sheds light on Galápagos hawk evolutionary history

... Louis used DNA sequences from feather lice to study how island populations of their host, ... island, then another and another, carrying their lice as they went. These relationships were ... variation in the hawks DNA. The rapidly evolving lice that live their entire lives on these birds have ...

Pharmaceutical use in Norwegian fish farming in 2001-2007

... in Norway from 2001-2007. The sales are shown in kilograms of active ingredient; antibacterials, anaesthetics, anthelmintics and treatments for sea lice and fungi. The figures are based on sales from wholesalers to pharmacies and from feed mills to breeders. After an increase in sales of ...

Salmon farms kill wild fish, study shows

... New research confirms that sea lice from fish farms kill wild salmon. Up to 95 per ... migrate past fish farms die as a result of sea lice infestation from the farms. The results of the ... of America. "We know that fish farms raise sea lice levels, and we know that ...

Researchers reveal the infectious impact of salmon farms on wild salmon

... science) shows that the transfer of parasitic sea lice from salmon farms to wild salmon populations is ... and measure the impact of a fish farm on sea lice outbreaks in wild salmon. The study combined new ... reaching," says lead author Marty Krkosek. "Sea lice production from the farm we studied was four ...

New bacterium discovered -- related to cause of trench fever

... disease team, in collaboration with colleagues from other institutions, found that the new microbe is genetically similar to one spread by body lice in the trenches during World War I. That bacterium, called Bartonella quintana, caused a disease known as trench fever, and debilitated tens of ...

How Rickettsial pathogens break into cells

... Their findings will be reported in the December 16, 2005, issue of the journal Cell. Rickettsial bacteria are transmitted by fleas, ticks, and lice to humans and other mammals, where they can cause dangerous and sometimes fatal infections. There are two types of Rickettsial pathogens--the spotted ...

DDT-resistant insects have additional genetic advantage that helps resistance spread

... increased enormously on a worldwide basis after World War II, primarily because of its effectiveness against the mosquito that spreads malaria and lice that carry typhus. DDT-resistant mosquitoes were first detected in India in 1959, and they have increased so rapidly that when a local spray ...