Meningitis in Biological News

Breakthrough in the treatment of bacterial meningitis

... could lead to better treatment and vaccines for meningitis and could save the lives of hundreds of children. Bacterial meningitis in childhood is almost exclusively caused by the ... unexpectedly broad protection against bacterial meningitis and may provide a therapeutic target for the ...

Fractional dose of scarce meningitis vaccine may be effective in outbreak control

... One fifth of the standard dose of a commonly used meningitis vaccine may be as effective as using the full ... in patients receiving smaller doses of a meningitis vaccine were found to be comparable to a full ... in the event of severe vaccine shortages during a meningitis epidemic. ...

Singapore nanotechnology combats fatal brain infections

... Doctors may get a new arsenal for meningitis treatment and the war on drug-resistant bacteria and fungal infections ... infections and are highly therapeutic. Major brain infections such as meningitis and encephalitis are a leading cause of death, hearing loss, learning ...

Peering inside the skull of a mouse to solve meningitis mystery

... harmless in humans with a healthy immune system. Other viruses that cause meningitis usually are associated with mild symptoms. By contrast, bacterial meningitis is a much more contagious and serious disease, particularly in young ...

New research lights up chronic bacterial infection inside bone

... Listeria infection is the third most common cause of bacterial meningitis in newborns, and can cause abortion and stillbirth. When the infection is ... potentially causing life-threatening infections, such as in bacterial meningitis in newborns. Another interesting aspect of this study is due to the use ...

Genetic switch potential key to new class of antibiotics

... "Among the bacteria now known to contain riboswitches are E. coli and streptococcus, as well as the bacteria behind forms of anthrax, gonorrhea, meningitis and dysentery. Riboswitches have not yet been found in human cells, and the hope is future riboswitch drugs will kill bacteria without side effects." ...

Ecologists question effects of climate change on infectious diseases

... have led instead to an increase in hot, dry, desert-like climates. Further, he says, infectious diseases don't all increase during warm, wet weather. meningitis peaks during the tropical dry season, for example, and influenza is an obvious staple of winter weather in temperate climes. Pascual argues, ...

New infant formula safety advice could prevent infant suffering

... Wheat-based infant follow-on formulas are better reconstituted with fruit juice and should be stored in the fridge at 4C to prevent growth of meningitis bacteria, according to recent research. The results of a study, published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology journal, Letters in ...

Research identifies type of vaccine that holds promise in protecting against TB

... children who contract a tuberculosis infection have a less severe illness. The current vaccine is about 70 percent protective against deaths or meningitis from tuberculosis and about 50 percent protective against pulmonary tuberculosis. ...

Professor Brian Greenwood awarded first Hideyo Noguchi Africa Award

... can be used most effectively to support young African scientists in the fight against the major infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and meningitis which still kill over two million African children every year. Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba, Vice-Chancellor & Principal of Kawzulu Natal ...

New discovery on role of vital protein that fights meningitis

... A University of Leicester researcher has discovered how a protein in the blood linked to defence against meningitis - plays a more vital role than previously understood in the bodys immune defence system. The published research has helped to advance medical ...

Bacterial infections in premature babies more common than previously realized

... disease are disappearing in light of the accumulating evidence that these microorganisms have been implicated in neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, meningitis and brain damage. Moreover, colonization of the neonatal respiratory tract with these organisms is a risk factor for chronic lung disease. ...

Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology

... Play Role in Central Nervous System Diseases Scientists have discovered evidence suggesting a herpesvirus may be responsible for some cases of meningitis and encephalitis. Researchers from the New York State Department of Public Health, Albany and SUNY, Albany report their findings in the December ...

AIBS to cohost symposium on evolution, disease and human health

... Ally in Fight Against Drug-resistant Strains was recently published in Harvard Focus. Sandra Romero-Steiner, senior investigator in the meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch of the Division of Bacterial Diseases at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the ...

Scientists identify specific enzymes that make meningitis hard to fight

... Two enzymes in meningitis bacteria which prevent the body from successfully ... disease. Together they repair damage done to the meningitis bacteria's DNA by the body's white blood cells, ... help scientists develop novel new treatments for meningitis and the septicaemia it can cause. Both are ...

New recommendations against a major opportunistic infection -- cryptococcosis

... absence of access to antiretroviral drugs. It is now the first cause of meningitis among adults in Africa. A vast cohort study was performed on patients ... antifungals, a treatment that is currently only recommended in cases of meningitis and severe pneumonia", concludes Dromer. The authors stress that the ...

Stopping plants from getting sick

... outbreak of the yeast fungus Cryptococcus on Vancouver Island, applying his research on plants to help investigate how this yeast causes pneumonia, meningitis and other illnesses in humans and animals. Still, he says he expects to be kept busy studying fungi for a long time ?keeping the sooty black smut and ...

Malaria vaccine prompts victims' immune system to eliminate parasite from mosquitoes

... to detect. "With conjugate technology, NIH researchers have developed effective vaccines against such scourges as Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis and typhoid fever," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health. "The experimental malaria vaccine shows great ...

Cell wall of pneumonia bacteria can cause brain and heart damage

... Department of Infectious Diseases. S. pneumoniae is a leading cause of pneumonia, sepsis (a potentially life-threatening bloodstream infection) and meningitis (inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord). The St. Jude team found that pieces of cell wall from S. pneumoniae that ...

Hopkins study suggests commercially available antibiotic may help fight dementia in HIV patients

... excitation, which in turn can cause cell death and brain damage. Ceftriaxone, used to treat pneumonias, sexually transmitted diseases, bacterial meningitis and other infections, is a known stimulator of EAAT-2 expression and protects against neuronal injury in mice with nervous system disorders. To test ...

Outsmarting the smartie bug

... other aerosols. However, it occasionally passes from the airways to invade other tissues. This can lead to any one of a range of diseases including meningitis and infections of the sinuses, ear, lungs and blood. Why it switches to become invasive is not known. The team sequenced all genes required to ...

Research details how a virus hijacks cell signals to cause infection

... A common virus that causes meningitis and heart inflammation takes a "back door" approach to evade natural barriers, then exploits biological signals to infect human cells. Broadening ...

Scientists seek to unwrap the sweet mystery of the sugar coat on bacteria

... the bacteria. The microarray technique worked fast enough that the researchers were able to see the sugar coating change over time in the neonatal meningitis strain of E. coli. "Over time, the lectins lost their ability to see these bacteria," says Mahal. "This demonstrates that our system is able to ...

Potential vaccine developed for deadly leishmaniasis disease

... a vaccine is urgently needed there, as well." Carbohydrate vaccines already are used in everyday medicine, including vaccines to immunize against meningitis and other bacterial infections, mainly in small children in the United States. Those vaccines use carbohydrates isolated from the actual bacteria ...

Scientists look to the Bahamas as a model for coral reef conservation

... and people take the organisms with them to their graves." It's not that the organisms in question - such as the bacteria that cause pneumonia or meningitis - are innocuous, he said. It's just that most of the individuals do not get disease from being infected. The best recent example of this, said ...

Learning to love bacteria: Stanford scientist highlights bugs' benefits

... and people take the organisms with them to their graves." It's not that the organisms in question - such as the bacteria that cause pneumonia or meningitis - are innocuous, he said. It's just that most of the individuals do not get disease from being infected. The best recent example of this, said ...

Same-sex mating by fungi spawned infection outbreak, evidence suggests

... normal immunity. Symptoms include persistent headaches, coughing and night sweats. In rare cases, C. gattii causes cryptococcal disease, pneumonia, meningitis or death. While C. neoformans is found worldwide in association with pigeon droppings, the rarer C. gattii is normally restricted to tropical and ...

Researchers identify molecular anchor that allows bacterial invasion of central nervous system

... to paint a complete picture of how the bacteria invade the brain and spinal cord to produce this potentially devastating infection. Bacterial meningitis must be treated quickly and aggressively with antibiotics, since up to 25 percent of affected children may die or suffer permanent cognitive ...

Researchers find how some antibiotics kill bacteria

... development of bacterial resistance. "There is a voluntary restriction on the use of rifamycins in treating infections other than tuberculosis and meningitis due to the fear of spread of resistant mutations," said Vladimir Svetlov, a study co-author and a research associate in microbiology at Ohio State. ...

Scientists decipher genome of fungus that can cause life-threatening infections

... brain inflammation. "In developing countries, cryptococcosis has emerged as one of the most common opportunistic infections, and a leading cause of meningitis and bloodstream infection," says Joseph Heitman, a senior community collaborator on the project who is James B. Duke Professor of Molecular Genetics ...