MicrobeWorld

For all of its planetary missions, NASA has established a principle of planetary protection to avoid contaminating potentially habitable worlds with microbes from Earth. By destroying itself, Juno will eliminate any chance of crashing into one of Jupiter's moons and allowing microbial stowaways ... Read More

Bacteria infecting parasitic worms that cause river blindness and elephantiasis in people, as well as heart worms in dogs, lead to bigger egg batches in some infected insects.

Wolbachia bacteria are widespread parasites, infecting both insects and nematode worms. Infected worms are linked to... Read More

In episode 55 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Washington, D.C., on February 18, 2011, Dr. Stan Maloy talks with Read More

Researchers announced Wednesday that they've managed to reconstruct the genome of the Black Death, the illness that wiped out around half of Europe's population in just a few years in the mid-1300s. Ray Suarez discusses the developments with geneticist Hendrick Poinar of McMaster University.

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Scientists from California and Hong Kong genetically engineered bacterial cells so that they spontaneously grow in concentric rings. The number of rings can be controlled by altering expression of a single gene. They say the findings could shed light on the complex patterning that takes place du... Read More

Researchers at UC San Diego who last year genetically engineered bacteria to keep track of time by turning on and off fluorescent proteins within their cells have taken another step toward the construction of a programmable genetic sensor. The scientists recently synchronized these bacterial “ge... Read More

Episode 54 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy on September 17, 2011, features a live recorded video episode of This Week in Microbiology (TWiM), a podcast about life on Earth.

Host  Read More

The PLoS blog "Take as Directed" has started an interesting discussion based on science journalism and fact checking that was generated by the popular science podcast This Week in Virology that was streamed live at ASM's International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) i... Read More

Participants discuss various emerging issues in the field of infectious disease including drug-resistant malaria; epidemiology and management of cholera in Haiti and other topics.

Guests:

Arjen Dondorp, MD, PhD, Mahidol-Oxford, Res. Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
Scott Dowell, Centers fo... Read More

Watch a live streamed scientific session at ICAAC hosted by Vincent Racaniello and co-host Michael Schmidt. Audience participation was encouraged so many questions came from MicrobeWorld readers.

Guests:
Stuart B. Levy, MD,Professor, Tufts Univ. School of Medicine/CSO, Paratek Pharmaceut... Read More

Despite high infant immunization rates, pertussis infection rates are increasing in many countries and pertussis outbreaks have occurred. Recent control strategies for pertussis have focused on immunizing adolescents and adults with pertussis booster vaccines in an effort to provide herd immunit... Read More

The Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) is the annual infectious diseases meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Watch Dr. Jeff Fox, Features Editor for Microbe magazine... Read More

The launch of new antibiotics in the 1980s led many in the scientific field to believe that fight against bacteria had been won. Since then, at least one group of bacteria known as Gram-negatives (which includes pathogens responsible for hospital-acquired pneumonia and bloodstream infections as ... Read More

Episode 53 of MicrobeWorld Video, filmed at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy on September 17, 2011, features a live recorded video episode of This Week in Virology (TWiV), a podcast about viruses.

Host  Read More

Needle-based vaccine injections require highly trained health workers and an optimally performing system for effective mass vaccination campaigns. The universal fear of needle sticks is an indicator of the need of convenient and viable alternative modes of delivery. New technologies are making n... Read More

Clostridium difficile infection is an important cause of intestinal disease, primarily affecting hospitalized patients exposed to antibiotics. Infection has been associated with prolonged hospital stays and excess healthcare expenditures.Recent changes in epidemiology of this disease show a rise... Read More

Members of the ICAAC Program Committee give an overview of the ICAAC meeting and discuss sessions of particular interest. Read More

ICAAC is traditionally a venue for presenting data on new drugs and new drug combinations. Program Committee member Karen Bush, David Shlaes, MD, PhD, Anti-Infectives Consulting, Stonington, CT, and J. Kevin Judice, Ph.D., CEO, Achaogen, present an overview of new drugs and clinical trial data b... Read More

Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL's) are enzymes that enable bacteria to resist multiple antibiotics. In the past few years ESBL-producing enteric bacteria (such as E. coli) have become an increasingly common cause of community acquired infections worldwide. The source of these organisms i... Read More

For germaphobes, seeing the movie “Contagion” will probably induce chronic hand-washing and self-imposed solitary confinement. The Matt Damon-led thriller is about a disease outbreak that pretty much consumes the entire world. To promote the film, Warner Bros. Canada embraced the film’s the... Read More