MicrobeWorld

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit,  Read More

As far as bacteria are concerned, other living creatures are just another niche to exploit, which means that pretty much every animal and plant has a set of bacterial pathogens that come along with it. These bacteria have made the animal in question their speciality, and are highly adapted to li... Read More

Current influenza vaccines are limited because they can only stimulate immunity to specific strains of the virus, which is constantly evolving. This means a new vaccine must be developed every year to target the strains public health officials believe will be most prevalent that season. If an un... Read More

This episode: Each kind of animal needs its own specific microbes!

Downloa... Read More

Thousands of German schoolchildren have fallen ill with a vomiting and diarrhea bug. Officials are still awaiting laboratory results, but the norovirus has been found in some cases.

More than 8,300 preschoolers and schoolchildren in eastern Germany, as well as a few teachers, have fallen ill ... Read More

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

If you're a pet-owner who kisses your dog on the mouth, you might want to think twice.

A new study in the journal Archives of Oral Biology suggests that it's possible for disease-causing oral bacteria to be exchanged between dogs and their owners.

Japanese researchers examined dental plaqu... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and ... 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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