Immunology

Preventing Malaria By Impeding Parasite Sexual Maturity

Researchers have demonstrated the possibility of preventing the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for more than a million malaria deaths a year, from becoming sexually mature. The discovery could have implications for cont ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 2 2008 - 10:50pm

Disrupting Potassium Channel In Malaria Parasite Blocks Transmission

By disrupting the potassium channel of the malaria parasite, a team of researchers has been able to prevent new malaria parasites from forming in mosquitoes and has thereby broken the cycle of infection during recent animal tests. By genetically altering t ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 9 2008 - 6:05pm

Endemic Leprosy In Europe- A Call For Information

Leprosy, attributable to infection with Mycobacterium leprae, was once endemic over much of the world. Though now often considered a “tropical disease,” cases occurred north of the Arctic Circle just 100 years ago. The disease has gradually disappeared fro ...

Article - Camillo Di Cicco - Jun 20 2008 - 1:56pm

Warming A 'Perfect Storm' For Infectious Diseases, Says Study

A new study of African lions says climate extremes, which would include the increased frequency of droughts and floods predicted by global warming models, can create conditions in which diseases that are tolerated individually might converge and cause mass ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 24 2008 - 8:46pm

Are Africans Genetically Predisposed To HIV?

A genetic variation which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 per cent, according to new research published today in Cell Host & Microbe. The work ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2008 - 1:39am

Cocktails, HIV And Hepatitis C

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have disproved a long-standing clinical belief that the hepatitis C virus slows or stunts the immune system's ability to restore itself after HIV patients are treated with a combination of d ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 25 2008 - 9:49am

Defining DNA Differences Tackles Typhoid Fever

Typhoid fever kills 10–30% of untreated people. One of the best-known cases was that of Mary Mallon, a healthy carrier of typhoid, who worked for many years in the food industry in New York and is thought to have infected almost 50 people. She was eventual ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 27 2008 - 5:30pm

Stopping A Biological Weapon

Scientists hope a vaccine is on the horizon for tularemia, a fatal disease caused by the pathogen Francisella tularensis, an organism of concern as a potential biological warfare agent. Until recently we knew very little about this bacterium. However, acco ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 27 2008 - 6:29pm

Deported Mexican Drug Addicts Have Higher Risk Of Contracting HIV Back In Tijuana

Tijuana, with an estimated population of 1.4 million, is the largest city on the U.S./Mexican border. In addition to being a major transportation route for migrants headed to the United States, Tijuana is also situated on a major drug trafficking route. It ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 29 2008 - 9:05pm

Why Treatment Isn't Effective For HIV

University of Minnesota researchers have answered a key question as to why antiretroviral therapy isn't effective in restoring immunity in HIV-infected patients. Once a person is infected with the virus, fibrosis, or scarring, occurs in the lymph node ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 5 2008 - 10:08pm