MicrobeWorld

New research suggests that just one or two individual herpes virus particles attack a skin cell in the first stage of an outbreak, resulting in a bottleneck in which the infection may be vulnerable to medical treatment.

Unlike most viruses that spread to new cells by bombarding them with mill... Read More

About a month and a half ago, the 19th International AIDS Conference was filled with ambitious suggestions that the beginning of the end of AIDS was near.

The tone of the meeting was hopeful: the tools were clear, the successes were growing and there seemed to be little to stand in the way of... Read More

Malaria is a tropical disease, right? Actually, malaria parasites can be found as far north as Alaska—at least in birds. And a warming climate may push avian malaria even farther north by the end of the century, according to a study in the journal PLoS ONE.

Click "source" to listen to podcas... Read More

A harmless virus that lives on our skin could be used as a treatment for acne, scientists believe.

The virus, called a phage, is naturally built to target and kill bacteria that cause acne - Propionibacterium acnes.

Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Univer... Read More

Some gut microbes help the body absorb more dietary fat, which means their host takes in more calories from the same amount of food.

“This study is the first to demonstrate that microbes can promote the absorption of dietary fats in the intestine and their subsequent metabolism in the body,” ... Read More

Bacteria talk to each other using N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) as quorum sensing (QS) signals. This signaling allows the bacteria to control gene expression of virulence factors and biofilms once a critical density has been achieved. This phenomenon, quorum sensing, is important when an infe... Read More

Physicians should pay attention to their "gut feeling" that something may be seriously wrong when assessing a child with an infectious disease -- even if the clinical appearance is reassuring -- an observational study suggested.

Among 3,369 children whose primary care evaluation did not sugge... Read More

Angela writes:

Hello Twiv,

Welcome to the great state of Wisconsin! I hope you enjoy your stay. I suggest in your free time that you try some fresh cheese curds from a local creamer and maybe some fried ones too. I'm sure that those from the area can let you k... Read More

The UK’s first laboratory confirmed case of Crimean Congo Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (CCVHF) has died. Even so, health officials are stressing that this will not become a public outbreak. The Health Protection Agency is adamant the 38-year-old unnamed man poses no threat to others.

“It can be ac... Read More

Pfizer Inc.’s Zithromax or a generic version of the antibiotic pill should be added to the standard treatment for gonorrhea to fight multidrug-resistant strains of the sexually transmitted bacterium, doctors in Europe said.

New European guidelines for sexually transmitted infections recommend... Read More

George Mason University researchers can find out if a tick bite means Lyme disease well before the bite victim begins to show symptoms.

"If you are bit by a tick, you can't be sure if you will get Lyme disease ― that is the biggest problem right now," says Alessandra Luchini, research assista... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and  Read More

The death toll from the outbreak of legionnaires’ disease increased by one to a total of nine in Quebec City on Wednesday, as public-health authorities sought additional help in their inspection of buildings that are suspected of harbouring the deadly Legionnella bacteria.

Authorities also re... Read More

Interim poor results of RTS,S vaccine trial in African children raise question marks over deployment.

A vast phase III clinical trial in Africa of the malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S/AS01 reported disappointing results this morning. The vaccine failed to show substantial protection in the key... Read More

Another fatality from a growing outbreak of a rare form of meningitis was reported Thursday, raising the death toll to five people, officials said.

In all, 35 people in six states have been sickened from a steroid that was distributed to 23 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventi... Read More

The first Ontario case of a human contracting the H1N1 variant influenza virus from a pig has been confirmed, the province’s chief medical officer said Tuesday.

“It is a first for us in Ontario,” Dr. Arlene King told the Star.

King said an adult male, who is in critical but stable conditio... Read More

The Gram stain is commonly used in epidemiologic and clinical studies. It involves smearing a sample onto a slide, staining the material using dyes that bind to bacterial cells, and visually inspecting under a microscope. Many epidemiologic and clinical studies of pregnancy, sexually transmitted... Read More

There are lots of things I enjoy about studying bacteria. I love their biochemistry and the secret inner workings of their metabolic pathways. I love that everything they do they manage within the confines of a single cell, and I love that you can go into a bacterial cell fairly easily and just ... Read More

Genetic exchange of antibiotic resistance occurs about 10 million times more effectively in the nose than in the blood of animals, report researchers.

Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria’s uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. B... Read More

It now appears that the new coronavirus found on the Arabian Peninsula is more widespread than initially thought, even though only two people are known to have gotten sick from it.

At first it seemed likely that the two known cases of illness from the new cousin-of-SARS virus may have been ex... Read More