14 May 2013 - SUPER-RESOLUTION IMAGING
HIV, Shigella, immune evasion
Superresolution optical microscopy is revolutionizing biology. The pioneers of this nanoscopy used clever tricks to enhance the established methods of fluorescence microscopy and push beyond the once insurmountable resolution limits of optical microscopy. For the first time, researchers could even watch molecules perform their biochemical tasks, image virus particles in detail and visualize infection processes. [ more ]
24 April 2013 - MALARIA
malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, Artemisinin
The Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné is one of the leading institutes in the world for the fight against malaria. Most of the population in the neighbouring villages, however, cannot afford transport to the hospital. To accommodate these people, the hospital has set up a mobile clinic that comes to them in the villages. Our author Nadine Querfurth accompanied them and learned just how important education is in these locations. [ more ]
30 January 2013 - FOOD-BORNE INFECTIONS
EHEC, outbreaks, food-borne diseases
The World Health Organization estimates that every year, about 30 percent of the population in industrialized countries fall ill as a result of food-borne infections after consuming contaminated groceries. However, the burden of disease remains largely unknown, as evidenced in spring 2011, when enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) was identified as the culprit behind an epidemic of unusually severe diarrheal disease in Germany. By Martina Bünnige. [ more ]
30 September 2012 - HIV 2012
AIDS, HIV, HIV vaccine
Timothy Brown is from Seattle, he works as a translator – and he is a symbol of hope for millions of people. Brown is none other than the “Berlin Patient”. The man who is supposed to be the first and only completely cured HIV patient. Even though his is a special case, Brown has given physicians and infected persons new hope. Because the search for a cure for HIV/AIDS as well as for a vaccine is a story of hope and frustration. By Alina Schadwinkel [ more ]
4 October 2011 - FUNGAL INFECTIONS
Candida albicans, fungal infections, neutropenia, anitmycotic therapies, Aspergillus fumigatus
It sounds like a scene from a horror movie: Tiny spores of fungi dispersed in the air are inhaled and find their way into the pulmonary alveoli. There, they mature, decompose the lungs and continue growing in the bloodstream, to beset other vital inner organs. Thanks to medical progress, recovery prognoses for fungal infections are continually improving. Except for immunocompromised patients. For them, systemic fungal infections are life threatening. By Martina Bünnige [ more ]
3 March 2011 - NEW STRATEGIES AGAINST BACTERIA
antibiotic resistance, immune evasion, microbiome, bacterial defence, Listeria
More and more bacteria are resisting antibiotics. Modern research no longer views pathogens as mere illness-causing intruders, but as organisms optimally adapted to life in the host. Studying the biochemical interactions of hosts and bacteria may be the key to finding novel strategies to fight the diseases that result from them. The main question the researchers want to answer is: How do pathogens manage to circumvent immune defences? By Martina Bünnige [ more ]
29 September 2010 - MALARIA
malaria, DDT, malaria vaccine, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale
You think your life is crazy? Try shifting 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 highly imaginative science fiction writer, but the complex life of Plasmodium parasite, the causative agent of malaria, is a very real – and incredibly successful – creation of Mother Nature. By Dr. Kristen Kerksiek [ more ]
21 June 2010 - PANDEMICS
influenza, HIV, AIDS, H1N1, outbreaks, neglected diseases
The outbreak of the global influenza A pandemic (H1N1) revealed the difficulty for governments to control sudden outbreaks of highly infectious diseases effectively in an age where the mobility of people is higher than ever. The swine flu pandemic also highlighted the wide gap that exists between developing and developed countries in terms of their ability to provide the drugs and health services necessary to protect their citizens. By Anna Holzscheiter [ more ]
22 March 2010 - FARMING OUT ANTIBIOTICS
antibiotic resistance, MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, veterinary antibiotics, tetracyclines
The post-antibiotic era is already here. While the lax application of antibiotics in human medicine is most certainly a deciding factor in the development of antibiotic resistance, less than half of all antibiotics produced are used in humans; the majority are given to pigs, cattle, poultry and other livestock. Farmers are therefore widely contributing to the resistance of life threatening bugs against these former “wonder drugs”. By Dr. Kristen Kerksiek [ more ]
17 January 2010 - GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTIONS
microbiome, T-cells response, Helicobacter pylori, commensals, gastrointestinal bacteria, gastrointestinal infections
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. By Dr. Kristen Kerksiek [ more ]
