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04 October 2011 Martina Bünnige
From Aspergillus to Zygomycetes: Invasion of the Fungi
It sounds like a scene out of a horror movie: Tiny spores of rot-eating fungi, finely dispersed in the air, are inhaled and reach the pulmonary alveoli. There, they mature into fungus mycelium, decompose the lungs and keep growing in the bloodstream, to beset other vital inner organs and destroy them. Yet, systemic fungal infections are a real risk in many medical fields. The course of the disease is serious and any delay in its treatment increases the mortality. Which is already high: Depending on the fungus, the health status of the patient and the concomitant treatment, it lies between 30 and 90 percent.
03 March 2011 Martina Bünnige
New Strategies to Fight Infectious Diseases - Arms Race on a Microscale
They live in and on us: bacteria, viruses and other parasitic microorganisms. Our body has numerous effective defense mechanisms at the ready, so that unwanted intruders don’t become a problem in the first place. But pathogenic microorganisms probably have just as many clever tricks up their sleeves to evade their hosts’ immune defense. Antibiotics provide massive support to eukaryotic organisms as they resist pathogens. Unfortunately, they also select bacterial strains that show resistance to the chemicals. Is it just a consequence of the improper use of this former panacea? Or a kind of arms race on a microscale?
29 September 2010 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
The malaria agenda: new hopes on the horizon
You think your life is crazy? Try juggling between five different tissues in two separate hosts, while reproducing both sexually and asexually in a life cycle that involves ten morphological transitions. It sounds like the invention of a very imaginative science fiction writer, but the complex life of Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, is a very real – and incredibly successful – creation of Mother Nature.
21 June 2010 | Anna Holzscheiter
Infectious disease governance – a globalised yet divided world
The swine flu pandemic once again highlighted the wide gap that exists between developing and developed countries in terms of their ability to provide the drugs, health services, logistics and wider medical infrastructure necessary for the rapid protection of citizens from communicable diseases. While industrialised countries were able to develop and acquire large quantities of vaccinations, particularly for most at risk populations, the health systems and health budgets of many developing countries would not be able to shoulder the burden of disease of such a pandemic, facing large numbers of deaths.
22 March 2010 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
Farming out Antibiotics: The fast track to the post-antibiotic era
There was a time when a simple cut could be a death sentence and when untreatable bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and syphilis claimed men and women in the prime of their lives. Antibiotics changed the world. It’s hard for us now to imagine a world without these “wonder drugs”, but with the dramatic increase in antibiotic resistance, it has unfortunately become less of a stretch of the imagination. And for some unlucky individuals who get the wrong resistant infection at the wrong time, the post-antibiotic era has become reality.
17 January 2010 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
Getting down to the core of the problem: Microbiota and diseases of the modern world
Its depths are teeming with life, an ancient and complex ecosystem that we don’t fully know or understand. Over thousands of years, this community has evolved to ward off pathogenic microorganisms, participate in digestion, synthesize essential nutrients and train the immune system. However, it seems that a fragile balance has been damaged, and it’s probably affecting our health.
27 November 2009 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
An indefinable risk: when microbes become weapons
You feel miserable. Fever, headache, backache, nausea, exhaustion…maybe it’s that virus that’s been going around the office. Then your fever goes down, but a red rash appears on your face and then your arms and legs. You’re not prepared for what happens next: hospital, quarantine, tests… others with the same symptoms! And then you hear a word that you’d almost forgotten: bioterrorism.
29 October 2009 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
The Art of Infection
Pablo Picasso once wrote, "Painting is just another way of keeping a diary". Artists often find their inspiration in everyday life, and since infectious diseases have been faithful and dedicated companions of the human race, it’s probably safe to assume that most artists encountered – and were influenced by - infection. But given the deep and mysterious ways of artists, it’s often difficult to "find" that influence in their works; it’s a job best left to the endless debates of art historians. There are diseases, however, that have taken hold of society, clearly affecting all facets of human life. Including expression through art.
22 September 2009 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
Tuberculosis: A long story with an open ending
Most epidemics come and go again. It might take weeks, months or even years, but the time can be marked – no comfort to the afflicted, of course – in a fraction of a lifetime. For epidemics of tuberculosis (TB), however, another scale must be adopted: centuries can go by before the disease loses its hold on the population. The Great White Plague, the TB epidemic that hit Europe in the 17th century, lasted for more than two centuries and was responsible for up to 25% of deaths at times.
25 August 2009 Dr. Kristen Kerksiek
Shape Matters: Why bacteria care how they look
Rods, cocci, spirals... Bacteria are found in a wide array of different shapes. It doesn't occur by chance, but scientists are only starting to understand how selective pressures in the environment "shape" bacterial morphology.
