Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Genetic Mapping of Lyme Disease Bacteria Offers New Diagnostic and Treatment Possibilities

A genetic analysis of Lyme disease bacteria may pave the way for improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the tick-borne ailment.

19 Aug 2024

New ProDOL Technique Revolutionizes Protein Counting in Living Cells

Scientists have developed a new way of counting labeled proteins in living cells that could become a standard and valuable tool in the field of biomedical research.

12 Aug 2024

Study Reveals 70 Million Years of Host-Parasite Genetic Arms Race

Hosts and their parasites are in constant competition. Through genetic diversity, the host can change in such a way that infection is no longer possible.

8 Aug 2024

Swabbing Technique Reveals Diversity of Immune Cells in the Upper Airway

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have published the first-ever, in-depth analysis of immune cell memory in the upper airways of adult volunteers. Among these immune cells, the researcher spotted "tissue resident" memory cells, which stand ready to defend the airway from SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory diseases.

1 Aug 2024

Artificial Warming Chambers Combat Chytrid Fungus in Frogs

Infectious diseases have disproportionately affected amphibians as global diversity continues to decline due to a variety of factors. An unhealthy fungus known as chytridiomycosis, or simply "chytrid," has caused the extinction of 90 amphibian species and the decline of 500 more.

30 Jul 2024

Researchers Discover How Common Bacteria can Accelerate Wound Closure in Diabetics

There are many important reasons for keeping cuts and sores clean, but new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that a certain bug, Alcaligenes faecalis (A. faecalis), can facilitate healing of hard-to-treat wounds among people with diabetes.

26 Jul 2024

Macrolones Offer Promising Strategy for Combating Resistant Bacteria

New research from the University of Illinois Chicago suggests that a novel antibiotic that disrupts two distinct cellular targets would make it 100 million times harder for bacteria to evolve resistance.

24 Jul 2024

PUMA: A Breakthrough in CRISPR-Cas12 for RNA Biomarker Detection

CRISPR-Cas systems, defense systems in bacteria, have become a plentiful source of technologies for molecular diagnostics.

17 Jul 2024

Using Mobile Data to Track the Spread and Evolution of Superbugs

Key insights into the global spread, evolution, and resistance patterns of a major bacterium causing pneumonia and meningitis have been revealed through the combination of genomic data and human travel patterns over 14 years in South Africa.

4 Jul 2024

Researchers Develop New Way to Simulate Personalized, Microbiome-Mediated Diet Responses

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are beneficial molecules created by the bacteria residing in our gut that are closely tied to improved host metabolism, lower systemic inflammation, better cardiovascular health, lower cancer risk, and more.

25 Jun 2024

The Link Between Climate Change and Drug-Resistant Fungal Infections

In a recent study on fungal diseases in Chinese hospitals, researchers discovered that two individuals were infected by a previously undocumented fungus affecting human health.

20 Jun 2024

Discovery Speeds Up Cyclic Peptide Production for Antibiotic Development

A discovery made by scientists at King's College London could speed up efforts to produce new antibiotics in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

11 Jun 2024

New Trojan Horse Virus Potentially Linked to Severe Toxoplasmosis

An international team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has found a new RNA virus that they believe is hitching a ride with a common human parasite.

3 Jun 2024

CRISPR Screening Reveals Peptide in Human RNA Regulating Inflammation

UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered a peptide in human RNA that regulates inflammation and may provide a new path for treating diseases such as arthritis and lupus.

27 May 2024

Study Reveals How tRNA Modification Influences Malaria Drug Resistance

Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG) at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have discovered a link between malaria parasites’ ability to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs – specifically artemisinin (ART) – through a cellular process called transfer Ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modification.

20 May 2024

Herpes Gene Therapy Achieves 90% Viral Reduction in Pre-Clinical Studies

Researchers at Fred Hutch Cancer Center have found in pre-clinical studies that an experimental gene therapy for genital and oral herpes removed 90% or more of the infection and suppressed how much virus can be released from an infected individual, which suggests that the therapy would also reduce the spread of the virus.

16 May 2024