Infections

Bacteria collection sheds light on urinary tract infections

Food of animal origin, contaminated with E.coli, can lead to urinary tract infections in women, according to a team of bacteriologists. Senior author, Dr. Lee W. Riley, Uni...

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

In a project that already has benefited animportant field of biomedical research, scientists have deciphered thegenomes of two closely related strains of Cryptococcus neoformans, afungus whose importance as a human pathogen has risen in parallel withthe HIV/AIDS worldwide epidemic and the increased use ofimmunosuppressive therapies.The study, posted online January 13 in Science Express, rev...

Light therapy may combat fungal infections, new evidence suggests

A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus perceives light also plays an important role in its virulence, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. The findings suggest that changes in light following fungal invasion of the human body may be an important and previously overlooked cue that sparks infection, the researchers said.</...

New strategies to reduce hospital-aquired infections

The current goal to reduce sickness and death from infections that patients acquire in hospitals has created a renewed focus on identifying ways to reduce the problem at its source. Hospital water for drinking, bathing, showering, to make ice cubes or to rinse medical equipment is increasingly being recognized as a significant source of microbes that may contribute to many of these life-threateni...

New insight into autoimmune disease: Bacterial infections promote recognition of self-glycolipids

The immune system is a complex and powerful weapon that provides protection against bacteria and viruses that, if left unchecked, would wreak havoc throughout the human body. The ability of the immune system to recognize the body's own tissues is essential, but sometimes the immune system loses the ability to distinguish "self" from potentially harmful invaders. This can lead to autoimmune diseas...

High rates of sexually transmitted infections found in young drug users

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions found high rates of herpes simplex virus 2 and syphilis among young drug users in Baltimore, Md. The study found that women had significantly higher rates compared to their male counterparts, but did not find significant differences between injection drug users and non-injection drug users. Few of the infect...

U of M researchers discover genetic key to treating deadly fungal infections

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a prevalent fungal pathogen that causes 10,000 deaths per year in the United States overcomes the effects of antifungal drugs by duplicating a section of one of its chromosomes. Candida albicans, a type of yeast present in 80 percent of humans, is usually harmless. In otherwise healthy people, it can cause mild oral and vaginal infe...

Quantum dots provide a faster, more sensitive method for detecting respiratory viral infections

In what may be one of the first medical uses of nanotechnology, a chemist and a doctor who specializes in infectious childhood diseases have joined forces to create an early detection method for a respiratory virus that is the most common cause of hospitalization among children under five. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sends about 120,000 children to the hospital in the United States e...

Eliminating bacterial infections out of thin air

When microorganisms invade the body, immune mechanisms kick in to fight them off. The infected tissues typically show depleted oxygen levels, and a protein called HIF-1 alpha regulates this. Interestingly, the cells responsible for destroying the foreign pathogens are effective in this low-oxygen environment. In a new study appearing in the July 1 print issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigat...

New vaccine platform may fight infections with causes from influenza to bioterrorism

The development of effective vaccines for people with compromised immune systems may be feasible after all, according to a team of researchers, who demonstrated their approach could protect against pneumocystis pneumonia in mice lacking the same population of immune cells that HIV destroys in humans. The vaccine platform developed by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh researchers, working in colla...

Infant transplant patients resist infections that kill adult AIDS patients

Investigators have discovered that some type of protective system goes into action in some cases when a baby's immune system is deficient. This discovery indicates a hidden safety net that might have far-reaching consequences for treating diseases of the immune system such as AIDS. The Mayo Clinic-led study was conducted with colleagues in Toronto and Baltimore, and is reported in the early onlin...

Infections could contribute to adult brain tumours

Infections could play a key role in triggering certain types of adult brain cancer, according to results from a new statistical analysis of the disease. The British and Dutch te...

World first research to speed up cure for ear infections

Fast tracking the healing process for common ear infections will be the focus of ground-breaking research by WA's Lions Ear and Hearing Institute (LEHI). According to the Wo...

Wound monitor 'sniffs out' infections

The University of Manchester has received £1m (?.67m) to develop a new device able to 'sniff out' harmful infections. The aim is to produce a device which is able to detect harmful bacteria in the air, which may signal the first signs of infection. When...

Study indicates dramatic rise in antibiotic-resistant community-acquired staph infections

Staph infections resistant to antibiotics, previously only associated with hospitalization or prior contact with the healthcare system, are now widespread in the community and coming home. A new study from Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital, featured in the March 7, 2006 Annals of Internal Medicine, reports on a dramatic rise in antibiotic resistant community-...

A step forward in the fight against bacterial infections

Bacterial infections can strike anyone, and they can sometimes be fatal. Because more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to the pre-eminent remedy; antibiotics; the search for new remedies against bacterial infections is in high gear. Research by scientists from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to Ghent University shows that certain mice, by nature, c...

Mice lacking key immune component still control chronic viral infections

Despite lack of a key component of the immune system, a line of genetically engineered mice can control chronic herpes virus infections, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. Scientists can't prove it yet, but they suspect the missing immune system component, a group of molecules known as the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Class Ia, has a...

Blood transfusion-transmitted infections: A global perspective

Thanks to the many blood-safety interventions introduced since 1984, the overall risk for most transfusion-transmitted infections has become exceedingly small. In the September 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Morris Blajchman, professor of Medicine at McMaster University, and medical director, Canadian Blood Services (Hamilton Centre), with co-author Dr. Eleftherios V...

Three-in-one virus killer prevents common, often fatal infections

A novel combination therapy drastically reduces the infection rate of three viruses ?and risk of death ?in transplant patients with compromised immune systems. The findings, to be reported in the Nov. 1 print edition of Nature Medicine, originate from a study conducted at Baylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, and Texas Children's Hospital. The journal has posted the findings...

Hospital-acquired infections -- Inevitable?

In a press conference held earlier today at Washington D.C.'s The Press Club, David B. Nash, MD, editor of The American Journal of Medical Quality, addressed hospital-acquired infections and the widespread anchoring belief ?by both healthcare professionals and patients ?that acquiring infections in the hospital is unavoidable. This concern is addressed in a special supplement to the Novemb...

'Conversation stoppers' fight deadly bacterial infections

The study, which was directed by Scripps Research Professor Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D., is being published in the September 8 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. The new study describes a pathway-different than the one previously suggested-for the biosynthesis of neurotransmitter lipids, N-acyl ethanolamines (NAEs), which include the endogenous cannabinoid ("endocannabinoid") ananda...

Study shows antibiotic-resistant bacteria responsible for increase in muscle infections

Researchers in Houston, Texas have found two bacterial muscle infections common in tropical countries becoming more frequent occurrences along with the emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), according to a study published in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, is a common b...

'Protecting virus' offers instant flu protection and converts flu infections into their own vaccines

Research led by Professor Nigel Dimmock at the University of Warwick is developing an entirely new method of protecting against flu. This has been shown to protect animals against various strains of flu, and could offer protection against the full range of influenza A infections, including H5N1 and any new pandemic or epidemic strains infecting humans. The 'protecting virus' provides instant pro...

Study identifies risk factors for spread of respiratory infections in hospitals

The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China has lessons to teach hospitals on how to prevent the spread of other respiratory diseases, according to new research appearing in the April 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online. Hospitals were epicenters of SARS transmission in Guangzhou province and Hong Kong in 2003. In hospitals with espe...

Infection detectives use disease 'fingerprints' to track common infections in children

Infectious disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a new method for identifying suspect viruses and bacteria that cause some of the most common acute infections in children. Traditionally, researchers have looked for clues to an infection by tracking down the virus or bacteria causing it. But that doesn’t always work because the bacteria or virus may not be prese...

Synthetic peptide targets latent papilloma virus infections

While a newly marketed vaccine promises to drastically reduce human papilloma virus (HPV) infections, the major cause of cervical cancer, a new discovery by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could some day help the millions of people already infected and at constant risk of genital warts and cancer. One study found that 75 percent of sexually active men and women under 50 hav...

Drug-resistant bacterial infections serious complication after corrective eye surgery

Drug-resistant bacteria can complicate treatment after many surgical procedures. In particular, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which has been found in many healthcare settings, can be a serious post-operative complication. In a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers found MRSA infections in the eyes of 12 patients after refrac...