Virulence in Medical News

Genes key to staph disease severity, drug resistance found hitchhiking together

... that genetic factors that affect Staphylococcus virulence and drug resistance can be transferred from one ... to another. Staph bacteria also can exchange virulence genes using the same mechanism, but this was ... "The discovery that bundled genes determine virulence and antimicrobial resistance suggests a new ...

MRSA study suggests strategy shift needed to develop effective therapeutics

... of certain proteins such as toxins affects its virulence in humans. NIAID scientist Michael Otto, ... identical in virulence, as is their level of virulence gene production. This suggests that the ... long believed to play key roles in USA300 virulence have no significant impact, because while USA300 ...

Space Research May Help Explain Salmonella Illness

... causes a short-term alteration in Salmonella virulence -- the bacteria cultured in space were more ... helped researchers identify ways to counter the virulence effect. A research team led by Cheryl Nickerson ... bacteria's environment can turn off the rise in virulence caused by spaceflight. The space experiments ...

Key to virulence protein entry into host cells discovered

... have identified the region of a large family of virulence proteins in oomycete plant pathogens that enables ... RXLR and dEER and has the ability to carry the virulence proteins across the membrane surrounding plant ... to progress. The work, which focused on the virulence protein Avr1b from the soybean plant pathogen ...

Salmonella: Trickier than we imagined

... than we imagined." Sun's team found that a virulence protein known as AvrA dampens the inflammatory ... cultured human cells. AvrA is one of several virulence proteins that Salmonella has at its disposal, ... like the gut and bears close resemblance to a virulence protein known as YopJ that is active in Yersinia ...

Microscopic 'astronauts' to go back in orbit

... new experiment, called Microbial Drug Resistance virulence is part of the STS-123 space shuttle Endeavor ... us the opportunity to independently replicate the virulence studies of Salmonella typhimurium from our last ... effect of spaceflight on the gene expression and virulence potential of other model microorganisms, ...

JCI online early table of contents: Feb. 7, 2008

... EDITOR'S PICK: The key to survival and virulence for a fungal pathogen is autophagy Autophagy ... Atg8 expression was knocked down showed reduced virulence in mice. The authors therefore suggested that more detailed understanding of this virulence pathway might lead to new drugs for treating ...

Key Anthrax Virulence Factor Discovered

... could be met, they may have knocked out the virulence of the organism, as they showed in the mouse ... "We expected some effect." But with a decrease in virulence of almost 1,000-fold, he explained, "This implies bNOS is an essential virulence factor in anthrax." The results present an ...

Winemaking waste proves effective against disease-causing bacteria in early studies

... stents, by forming biofilms. GTFs are a main virulence factor responsible for S. mutans biofilm ... to interfere with many. A second linked set of virulence factors for S. mutans are its abilities to ... "Overall, the phenolic extracts disrupt essential virulence traits for a widespread, destructive oral ...

Bacteria 'See' the Light

... on its ability to sense light to maximize its virulence once it's out of a host. "It wasn't expected ... fact, activate with light, and it increases the virulence when activated by light." The finding is ... by which detection of light turns on its virulence response," Kennis explained. Kennis said this ...

K-State Researcher, Collaborators Study Virulence of Pandemic H1N1 Virus; Work at K-State Would Protect Pig Industry If the Virus Jumps to Swine Populations

... Richt said. His work with outside collaborators is testing the virulence of pandemic H1N1 in animal models. In pigs, Richt and his fellow ... to validate our testing systems." The researchers also studied the virulence of two strains of the pandemic H1N1 virus in a nonhuman primate model as a ...

Swine Flu Likely to Return to U.S. Next Winter

... so far that it's appearing to be mild, at least in the U.S., as far as virulence and susceptibility to antivirals is concerned," he said. "It could change. ... "We have completely sequenced the genome of the virus, and it shows low virulence at this point. We know about it. We can prepare," he said. "If nothing ...

Newly Identified Compounds May Inhibit Strep Infection

... with this problem involves new antimicrobial agents that suppress bacteria virulence (ability to cause disease), according to background information in an ... the researchers determined that the protein streptokinase was a critical virulence factor for group A streptococcus (GAS), which causes more than 700 million ...

Gut instinct: Salmonella bacteria's molecular tactics to cause illness

... Disabling either PhoP or SlyA renders Salmonella virtually impotent, its virulence severely attenuated. The bacteria lose their survivability within the ... Shi is optimistic that a firmer grasp of such regulatory mechanisms of virulence as PhoP/PhoQ and SlyA will ultimately lead to life-saving applications. "I ...

Advances in C. difficile research

... investigated the effects of antibiotics, antigens and other agents on the virulence and pathogenicity of C. difficile. Toxins were also studied; research ... C. difficile 027 strain, which could be related to its increased virulence by affecting toxin binding. The potential for a 'designer' probiotic ...

Factor key to severity of community-associated methicillin-resistant staph infections identified

... PSM-alpha protein) as playing an essential role in determining CA-MRSA virulence and, ultimately, disease severity. To understand how PSMs contribute to ... saying the psm-alpha gene cluster is the only element contributing to the virulence and survival of CA-MRSA, but it is a major factor, says Dr. Otto. Next, ...

Report Gives U.S. Good Grades for Swine Flu Response

... notice because it emerges in the Far East," said Fleming, who spoke at the news conference. "We were wrong on two counts. The swine flu was of normal virulence and we had no warning. In the first couple of days, we were adhering to our plan with policies and procedures that did not match the severity of the ...

Bacteria with a built-in thermometer

... Yersinia bacteria contain invasin as a surface protein to help them penetrate the intestinal cells. The immune cells quickly identify this so-called virulence factor as a danger and launch an immune response. To avoid this, the bacteria quickly lose the invasin soon after entering the body. The germs then ...

Closer to an effective treatment for gum disease in smokers

... gingivalis adapts and changes its DNA and membrane proteins in response to cigarette smoke. Several genes of P. gingivalis associated with its virulence (infectivity), detoxification, oxidative stress mechanisms and DNA repair are altered by exposure to cigarette smoke. As a result, the expression of ...

Thomson Reuters Web of Science(R) Provides Insights Into More than a Century of Influenza Research for Today's Health Professionals

... Source = Thomson Reuters - Web of Science(R) Although early indications(1) suggest that it will not have the virulence of the 1918 influenza epidemic, the 2009 outbreak of Swine Influenza is also the A/H1N1(2) strain, unlike the 1957 Asian Flu (A/H2N2 strain) or the ...

Why does aspirin increase the susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori to antimicrobials?

... Resent studies reported that aspirin inhibited the growth of H. pylori in a dose-dependent manner and significantly affected the activity of virulence factors of H. pylori . In addition, aspirin increased the susceptibility of H. pylori to antimicrlbials including metronidazole, clarithromycin ...

Complete Genomes of All Known Human Rhinoviruses are Published

... Specifically, nearly all the HRVs displayed a hypervariable region in the 5'UTR. In the poliovirus a similar region is found which determines the virulence of that virus, suggesting that this genomic region could determine the pathogenicity of individual HRV strains. According to Dr. Spiro this ...

Helicobacter pylori can multiply in autophagic vesicles

... host. In addition, it must also evade immune clearance. Elimination of H. pylori by phagocytes is inefficient because H. pylori exhibits several virulence factors to evade opsonization, retard phagocytosis, and disrupt membrane trafficking and phagosome maturation after internalization of the ...

Study Shows High Gum Disease Rates in Rural Appalachia, Sheds Light on Reasons for Tooth Loss

... health study ever done in Appalachia," Crout says. In addition to dramatic rates of periodontal disease, discovery of high bacterial counts and the virulence of the disease-causing organisms in the mouth surprised the researchers, Crout says. "These findings are significant in a state that leads the ...

Molecule Keeps Bacteria Like Salmonella in Check

... Killing or inhibiting the growth of some bacteria "angers" them and causes them to release toxins. LED209 allows bacteria to grow but prevents virulence that causes illness, according to the study. "The sensors in bacteria are waiting for the right signal to initiate expression of virulent genes," ...

Novel toxin receptor discovered for ulcer-causing stomach pathogen

... sphingomyelin to the same cell membranes (again, in the presence of VacA), the vacuoles returned. This is the first example of a bacterial virulence factor that uses sphingomyelin as a receptor, Blanke said. Only sphingomyelin confers sensitivity to the toxin in these cells, whereas other common ...

Researchers explore the emerging role of infection in Alzheimer's disease

... chronic inflammation and amyloid deposition. The outcome of infection is as much determined by the genetic predisposition of the patient as by the virulence and biology of the infecting agent. Environmental factors and nutrition are critical determinants of disease expression as well. In this special ...

Potential viral therapy weapon for difficult cancers is safe and effective in study

... properties while retaining its ability to damage targeted cancer cells. The rRp450 virus is different because it retains both copies of the virulence gene but is attenuated by deletion of a different gene. Earlier preclinical studies showed that deleting just the single gene increases rRp450s ...

Confronting the challenge of antimicrobial resistance

... of mechanisms of resistance and how these traits are acquired and passed on by microbes Research on factors that contribute to the virulence of pathogens such as MRSA Efforts to better understand and ultimately prevent biofilms--slimy coatings made by communities of bacteria that are ...

Scientists Engineer Protein That Could Battle Strep

... (UCSD), researchers developed the first detailed description of the structure of the streptococcal M protein, which plays a critical role in the virulence of Group A Streptococcus (GAS), which causes a number of diseases, including strep throat, rheumatic fever and necrotizing fasciitis ("flesh-eating" ...

Scientists identify proteins that help bacteria put up a fight

... it to use to perform the amino acid transfer that changes the cell membrane. This means that there is no species barrier for the spread of this virulence factor among other bacteria because this protein can recognize tRNA in any species, no matter what it looks like, Roy said. Ibba and Roy describe ...

Novel approach strips staph of virulence

... mice infected with S. aureus with one of the compounds, the bacterial population was reduced by 98 percent. Because the approach reduces the virulence of the bacteria by stopping pigment production, it may not cause selective pressures on the population, which can lead to antibiotic resistance. It ...

Isis Announces Approximately $2.8 Million in Government Grants and Contracts Awarded to its Ibis Subsidiary to Advance Ibis' Pathogen Identification Technology

... in diagnostic procedures. It is capable of identifying virtually all bacteria, viruses and fungi, and can provide information about drug resistance, virulence and strain type of these pathogens. Commercial applications for the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System include epidemiologic surveillance, monitoring of ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Jan. 30, 2008

... that were specific to MPV and eight that were specific to VV. Importantly, proteins present in MPV, but absent in VV seem to be critical for the high virulence of MPV, they point out. This knowledge may be the key to the development of new medications and vaccines for preventing and treating monkeypox, as ...

Studies suggest HIV subtype more deadly than others

... of both studies and professor in the departments of Epidemiology and International Health at the Bloomberg School. If we could understand better the virulence characteristics of these viruses, we might learn something more about why those with HIV infection progress to AIDS, usually many years after they ...

Key to MRSA Virulence in Community Discovered

... the toxins at higher levels than the hospital strains, which typically cannot infect healthy individuals. Thus, they may explain the enhanced virulence of the community-associated strains. The bacteria would fly under the immune system's radar, so to speak, by not expressing the peptides until the ...

Helicobacter pylori inhibits intercellular communication of cultured gastric cells

... this article, the researchers treated a human gastric cell line in vitro with intact bacteria and sonicated extracts of two H pylori strains with the virulence protein CagA. These were positive (CagA+) and negative (CagA-), respectively. After overnight treatment, the GJIC of the cells was measured by a ...

Evolution of HIV from African Greek Monkeys

... work suggests African green monkeys' SIVs, or SIVagm, may have lost their virulence more recently than the millions of years previously thought. Green monkeys ... sick from SIVagm. If SIVagm was once a monkey killer, the change in its virulence may shed light on the future course and timing of the evolution of HIV. ...

Latest Weapon in Battle against Drug-Resistant Bacteria

... threshold behavior changes dramatically, become aggressive, turning on virulence genes to cause infection. Besides that several bacterial colonies also set ... for new antibacterial therapies. The ability to interfere with bacterial virulence by intercepting bacterial communication networks represents a new ...