Case control study for MERS-CoV risk factors
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a study on Risk Factors for Primary Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Illness in Humans, Saudi Arabia, 2014. Read the full article in CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases, Volume 22, Number 1—January 2016., Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), this highly-magnified, digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) reveals ultrastructural details at the site of interaction of numerous yellow-colored Middle East respiratory...
Lyme disease risk analysis
Researchers with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control have just completed the province’s first systemic analysis of the threat of Lyme disease carried by certain types of ticks. Dr. Muhammad Morshed, program head of zoonotic diseases and emerging pathogens at the B.C. CDC, said 150 traps were placed at 12 different locations around the province — Belcarra, Burnaby Mountain, Coquitlam, Cranbrook, Cultus Lake, Duncan, Nanaimo, Okanagan, Penticton, Sechelt, Squamish and West...
Genetically modified mosquito can resist malaria infection
US scientists say they have bred a genetically modified (GM) mosquito that can resist malaria infection. The scientists put a new "resistance" gene into the mosquito's own DNA, using a gene editing method called Crispr. And when the GM mosquitoes mated - their offspring inherited the same resistance, PNAS journal reports. In theory, if these mosquitoes bite people, they should not be able to pass on the parasite that causes malaria. Read the full...
Link between Zika Fever and birth defects in Brazil
The Brazilian health ministry has confirmed a link between a mosquito-borne virus from Africa, Zika Fever, and a high incidence of birth defects. The fever, it said, is behind a spike in cases of micro-encephalitis - an inflammation of the brain contracted in the first months of pregnancy. It has recorded two adult deaths and 739 cases of the disease, which can stunt the growth of the foetus's head. A World Health Organization...
Canada Communicable Disease Report: focus on antibiotic resistance
In the latest issue of CCDR, read about how normal flora can now be manufactured to treat Clostridium difficile and potentially other conditions, learn how optimal vaccine use can minimize the need for antibiotics, and see how the Canadian Institutes of Health Research has been funding research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) innovation. In the ID News section read about the use of nanotechnologies to treat HIV, tuberculosis and yeast infections, and learn...
Antibiotic resistance: gene that enables resistance to spread between bacteria
The last line of antibiotic defence against some serious infections is under threat, say experts who have identified a gene that enables resistance to spread between bacteria in China. The gene, called mcr-1, allows a range of common bacteria, including E coli, to become resistant to the last fully functional class of antibiotics, the polymyxins. This gene, they say, is widespread in bugs called Enterobacteriaceae carried by both pigs and people...
Meningitis A vaccine in Africa
The MenAfriVa, introduced into Africa in 2010, has been a huge success: the caseload of Meningitis A has plummeted to zero in 16 countries that organized mass vaccination campaigns. However, health experts now worry that this one-off success will not, at least in some countries, be followed by the introduction of MenAfriVac into routine schedules of infant vaccination. A study just published in Clinical Infectious Diseases by Andromachi Karachaliou of Cambridge University and her colleagues shows...