All Articles Tagged As: bacteria

Breakthrough could help combat superbugs (9/3/2008)

Scientists have worked out a key mechanism that protects bacteria against stress in a major discovery that could lead to new ways of killing superbugs like C. difficile and MRSA. ...> Full Article

Rifamycin antibiotics attack tuberculosis bacteria with walls, not signals (8/21/2008)

Amid concerns about the rising number of new tuberculosis cases worldwide, researchers have reexamined and disproved a theory that describes how a potent class of antibiotics kills a deadly form of bacteria ...> Full Article

White blood cell uses DNA 'catapult' to fight infection (8/14/2008)

Eosiniphils help prevent uncontrolled bacterial invasion ...> Full Article

Sesame seed extract and konjac gum may help ward off Salmonella and E. coli (8/9/2008)

konjac gum and sesame seed extract may offer protection against different strains of E. coli and Salmonella bacteria ...> Full Article

New step forward in search for solution to infection puzzle (8/7/2008)

Scientists have revealed more about the way bacteria can attach to human tissues. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover how some bacteria may steal iron from their human hosts (8/1/2008)

Discovery could lead to new ways to fight tuberculosis ...> Full Article

Researchers analyze how new anti-MRSA antibiotics function (7/29/2008)

Research provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRS ...> Full Article

Hopes for TB vaccine boosted (7/28/2008)

The world's leading candidate for a tuberculosis vaccine, is to move into the next stage of development. ...> Full Article

Cranberry juice creates energy barrier that keeps bacteria away from cells, study shows (7/22/2008)

Results help explain how cranberry juice can prevent urinary tract infections ...> Full Article

Researchers use salmonella as a way to administer vaccines in the body (7/15/2008)

Researchers have made a major step forward in their work to develop a biologically engineered organism that can effectively deliver an antigen in the body ...> Full Article

Bacterial peptide provides new insight into common tumor suppressor (7/14/2008)

Scientists have identified a new antitumor drug that might prove useful in developing treatments for a multiple human cancers ...> Full Article

Being an MRSA carrier increases risk of infection and death (7/5/2008)

Patients harboring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for long periods of time continue to be at increased risk of MRSA infection and death ...> Full Article

Newly identified enzyme treats deadly bacterial infections in mice (7/4/2008)

Scientists reveal that the newly identified enzyme, Cpl-1, can successfully treat symptoms of bacterial meningitis in young mice infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae, a highly resistant and deadly strain of bacteria. ...> Full Article

Scientists Find Pathogen Uses Unique Strategy to Inhibit Human Immune Response (7/1/2008)

Researchers have uncovered a unique strategy used by some common bacteria to disrupt the human immune system, maintaining persistent infections and ensuring the bacteria's survival. ...> Full Article

Could new discovery about a shape-shifting protein lead to a mighty 'morpheein' bacteria fighter? (6/26/2008)

A small molecule that locks an essential enzyme in an inactive form could one day form the basis of a new class of unbeatable, species-specific antibiotics ...> Full Article

Getting Better with a Little Help from Our 'Micro' Friends (6/24/2008)

A naturally occurring molecule made by symbiotic gut bacteria may offer a new type of treatment for inflammatory bowel disease ...> Full Article

Test of bacteria toxin delivery system could pave way for new antibiotic drugs (6/21/2008)

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in monitoring the toxin-delivery system of highly pathogenic bacteria - an accomplishment that could help pave the way for new drugs that will be capable of neutralizing those germs. ...> Full Article

Study of syphilis bacteria yields valuable diagnostic tool (6/20/2008)

Variations in a gene within the family of bacteria that causes syphilis may hold clinical, epidemiological and evolutionary significance ...> Full Article

Researchers discover Legionnaire microbe's tricks (6/20/2008)

Researchers have shed new light how bacteria like the ones that cause Legionnaires' disease and Q-fever raise such havoc in human patients ...> Full Article

Study examines link between gut bacteria, obesity (6/16/2008)

Researchers examine the role that bacteria found in the human gastrointestinal tract play in regulating weight and the development of obesity. ...> Full Article

Researchers Identify Biofilms That Cause Infection (6/15/2008)

Understanding the way bacterial cells "talk" to each other could lead to more effective methods for fighting the often persistent and serious infections caused by the biofilms they form ...> Full Article

New drug to stop tuberculosis epidemic (6/8/2008)

Researchers are developing a new drug against tuberculosis (TB), one of the oldest human infectious diseases, which is now threatening to reach epidemic proportions once more. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover Missing Link Between TB Bacteria and Humans: New Treatment Expected (5/16/2008)

Researchers have discovered how tuberculosis (TB) bacteria hide and multiply in the human body and are working toward a treatment to block this mechanism of infection. ...> Full Article

Researchers target virulence factors (5/4/2008)

Researchers a potent new way to treat tuberculosis, Hansen's disease (leprosy) and other bacteria-caused illnesses: by inhibiting molecular targets -- the so-called "virulence factors" that help bacteria thrive once they are in the host. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover How Some Bacteria Survive Antibiotics (5/3/2008)

Researchers have discovered how some bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment by turning on resistance mechanisms when exposed to the drugs. ...> Full Article

NIAID Describes Research Priorities to Fight Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (4/24/2008)

NIAID outlines plans to combat tuberculosis ...> Full Article

Fruit flies show how salmonella escapes immune defenses (4/20/2008)

Salmonella are wily and obnoxious bacterial invaders--escape artists capable of evading multiple immune responses and causing a harsh and debilitating intestinal infection. ...> Full Article

New Study In Mice, Rats Identifies Potential Way Botulinum Neurotoxin Migrates To The Brain (4/14/2008)

New findings add to growing evidence that botulinum neurotoxin can move from injection site into the central nervous system ...> Full Article

Nose Spray Anthrax Vaccine Effective in Early Tests (4/14/2008)

Early studies show that a new mucosal vaccine against anthrax has the potential to provide military personnel with more effective and efficient protection against a "popular" bioweapon ...> Full Article

Solving the Z ring's mysteries may lead to new antibiotics (4/11/2008)

Researchers discover how proteins control the process when bacteria multiply ...> Full Article

New Species of Infectious Disease Found in Amazon (4/5/2008)

While investigating the tropical disease leptospirosis in the Peruvian Amazon, an infectious disease specialist has uncovered new, emerging bacteria that may be responsible for up to 40 percent of cases of the disease ...> Full Article

Survival of the fattest: TB accumulates fat to survive - and spread (4/3/2008)

Scientists have published details of a new breakthrough discovery on TB. ...> Full Article

Complexities Of Genetic Susceptibility To Tuberculosis Revealed (3/31/2008)

Researchers working in Vietnam have identified a genetic variant that predisposes people to developing a lethal form of tuberculosis (TB), tuberculous meningitis, if they are infected with a strain of TB known as the Beijing strain. The work underlines the importance of studying both sides of the complex host-pathogen interaction and its role in susceptibility to disease. ...> Full Article

Ant guts could pave the way for better drugs (3/29/2008)

Scientists have discovered two key proteins that guide one of the two groups of pathogenic bacteria to make their hardy outer shells -- their defense against the world. ...> Full Article

African 'sniffer' rats used to develop TB breath test (3/25/2008)

Researchers are developing a unique breath test for tuberculosis (TB) - a disease that continues to kill more than two million people every year world-wide and is again becoming more prevalent in developed countries like New Zealand. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover how TB 'develops invincibility' against only available treatment (3/17/2008)

Scientists have uncovered a dramatic new twist in the battle against TB ...> Full Article

New chemical can kill latent tuberculosis bacteria (3/15/2008)

Eliminating this dormant but threatening form of the bacteria could prevent TB's spread, Weill Cornell researchers say ...> Full Article

Research could put penicillin back in battle against antibiotic resistant bugs that kill millions (3/15/2008)

Research led by the University of Warwick has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin. The same research could also open up MRSA to attack by penicillin and help create a library of designer antibiotics to use against a range of other dangerous bacteria. ...> Full Article

Inhaled tuberculosis vaccine more effective than traditional shot (3/14/2008)

A novel aerosol version of the most common tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, administered directly to the lungs as an oral mist, offers significantly better protection against the disease in experimental animals than a comparable dose of the traditional injected vaccine, researchers report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

Is a cup of tea really the answer to everything - even anthrax? (3/14/2008)

A cup of black tea could be the next line of defense in the threat of bio-terrorism according to new international research ...> Full Article

Screening For Mrsa At Hospital Admission Not Associated With Reduced Rates Of Infection In Surgical Patients (3/13/2008)

New findings do not support the recommendation for universal screening on hospital admission for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections in surgical patients ...> Full Article

Scientists seek to disarm TB's 'molecular weapon' (3/9/2008)

Researchers seek to gain edge in war against ancient foe ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Possible Target to Treat Deadly Bloodstream Infections (3/3/2008)

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a possible target to treat bloodstream bacterial infections. ...> Full Article

Bacterial 'battle for survival' leads to new antibiotic (3/2/2008)

Holds promise for treating stomach ulcers ...> Full Article

Scientists Identify Proteins That Help Bacteria Put Up A Fight (2/29/2008)

Scientists have identified the role of two proteins that contribute to disease-causing bacteria cells' versatility in resisting certain classes of antibiotics. ...> Full Article

Silica smart bombs deliver knock-out to bacteria (2/26/2008)

Bacteria mutate for a living, evading antibiotic drugs while killing tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. But as concern about drug-resistant bacteria grows, one novel approach under way at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks to thwart the bug without a drug by taking a cue from nature. ...> Full Article

Biochemists reveal details of mysterious bacterial microcompartments (2/25/2008)

Biochemists have answered an important question about the structure of microcompartments - the mysterious molecular machines that seem to be present in a wide variety of pathogens and other bacteria. ...> Full Article

Fighting hospital 'superbugs' with math modeling (2/21/2008)

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria. ...> Full Article

Technique Promises to Aid Doctors' Ability to Identify, Treat Bacterial Infections (2/21/2008)

A new technique developed by a University of Central Florida chemist will help physicians more quickly identify the bacterial infections patients have so they can be treated in hours instead of days. ...> Full Article

Key to TB's 'staying power' unlocked (2/21/2008)

The first report of a biomolecular structure resolved using the Oxfordshire Diamond synchrotron is giving vital help in the fight against tuberculosis. ...> Full Article

'Invisible' bacteria dupe the human immune system (2/20/2008)

Scientists at the University of York have characterised an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover new compounds active against tuberculosis and malaria (2/16/2008)

Researcher has discovered new compounds active for treating tuberculosis and malaria. Her thesis, defended at the School of Sciences, describes the synthesis and characterisation of 65 derivatives of quinoxaline, the structure of which is similar to a number of antimalalarial and antituberculosis pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market. Of the molecules prepared, four stand out for their antimalalarial activity and 15 for their antituberculosis activity. ...> Full Article

New approach may render disease-causing staph harmless (2/15/2008)

Researchers at the University of Illinois helped lead a collaborative effort to uncover a completely new treatment strategy for serious Staphylococcus aureus ("Staph") infections. The research, published Feb. 14 in ScienceXpress, the online version of Science magazine, comes at a time when strains of antibiotic-resistant Staph (known as MRSA, for methicillin-resistant S. aureus) are spreading in epidemic proportions in hospital and community settings. ...> Full Article

Bacterial Toxin Closes Gate on Immune Response, Researchers Discover (2/14/2008)

Implications for Finding New Ways to Fight MRSA ...> Full Article

New company Inspiralis to search for cancer drugs and antibiotics (2/14/2008)

A new company has joined the fight against MRSA and cancer. Researchers at the John Innes Centre (Norwich) have launched a new company, Inspiralis Ltd, based around their expertise in DNA topoisomerases - a group of enzymes that help DNA molecules to unravel and wind up properly and not to become tangled during replication. ...> Full Article

'Good Bacteria' in Women Give Clues for Slowing HIV Transmission (2/10/2008)

Beneficial bacteria found in healthy women help to reduce the amount of vaginal HIV among HIV-infected women and might make it more difficult for the virus to spread, boosting the possibility that "good bacteria" might someday be tapped in the fight against HIV. ...> Full Article

Novel Molecules Developed at UB Can Boost Vaccine Potency (2/6/2008)

Two novel proteins studied by a University at Buffalo professor of microbiology and immunology appear to have the potential to enhance the production of antibodies against a multitude of infectious agents. ...> Full Article

Bug guts map brings scientists closer to understanding different bugs' role in the body (2/6/2008)

Scientists have made a major step towards understanding precisely which bugs in the gut are involved in which processes in the body, by mapping the different species of bugs living in seven members of the same Chinese family. ...> Full Article

Targeting gut bugs could revolutionise future drugs, say researchers (2/4/2008)

Revolutionary new ways to tackle certain diseases could be provided by creating drugs which change the bugs in people's guts, according to a Perspective article published today in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. ...> Full Article

Anthrax Cellular Entry Point Uncovered (1/27/2008)

The long-sought-after biological "gateway" that anthrax uses to enter healthy cells has been uncovered by microbiologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. ...> Full Article

Unique Fungal Collection Could Hold Key To Future Antibiotics (1/24/2008)

Scientists to screen fungi for potential new antibiotics. ...> Full Article

Team IDs weakness in anthrax bacteria (1/24/2008)

Researchers have identified a weakness in the defenses of the anthrax bacterium that could be exploited to produce new antibiotics. ...> Full Article

Study to Identify Risk Factors for Staph Bloodstream Complications (1/20/2008)

The Staphylococcus aureus bacterium is one of the most common and most important disease-causing organisms in humans. ...> Full Article

Battling TB, and E. coli, centre receives increased funding (1/19/2008)

Research that has led to an antidote to the E. coli toxin and a possible drug to combat Alzheimer's disease were just two of the highlights of a centre that received $12.5 million in funding today. ...> Full Article

Plague Remains A Threat In Many Parts Of The World (1/18/2008)

Although plague is often thought of as a disease of the past, it remains a current threat in many parts of the world, and the number of countries reporting plague has increased in recent decades, says a team of researchers. ...> Full Article

Hand washing helps prevent illness (1/17/2008)

Proper hand washing is the most effective action you can take to protect yourself from many common illnesses, including the cold, influenza and gastrointestinal illnesses (often mistakenly called the stomach flu). Washing your hands also helps protect those around you if you are sick. ...> Full Article

Probiotics affect metabolism, says new study (1/17/2008)

Probiotics, such as yoghurt drinks containing live bacteria, have a tangible effect on the metabolism, according to the results of a new study published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology. ...> Full Article

Sexually-active Gay Men Vulnerable To New, Highly Infectious Bacteria, Study Suggests (1/17/2008)

Sexually active gay men are many times more likely than others to acquire a new, highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the so-called MRSA bacteria widely know as the "superbug," a UCSF-led study shows. ...> Full Article

Researchers Uncover Key Trigger for Potent Cancer-Fighting Marine Product (1/6/2008)

Discovery could lead to new versions of drug being tested as a cancer treatment in humans ...> Full Article

New Drug Targets May Fight Tuberculosis and Other Bacterial Infections in Novel Way (12/29/2007)

Research Into 'Virulence Factors' Expands War Against Infectious Disease Beyond Antibiotics ...> Full Article

First Look at an Enzyme Target for Antibacterial and Cancer Drugs (12/25/2007)

The veil has finally been lifted on an enzyme that is critical to the process of DNA transcription and replication, and is a prime target of antibacterial and anticancer drugs. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) at Berkeley have produced the first three-dimensional structural images of a DNA-bound Type II topoisomerase (topo II) that is responsible for untangling coiled strands of the chromosome during cell division. ...> Full Article

Molecular 'trip switch' shuts down inflammatory response (12/19/2007)

Like a circuit breaker that prevents electrical wiring from overheating and bringing down the house, a tiny family of three molecules stops the immune system from mounting an out-of-control, destructive inflammatory response against invading pathogens, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found. ...> Full Article

Scientists find how bacteria in cows milk may cause Crohn's disease (12/15/2007)

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how a bacterium, known to cause illness in cattle, may cause Crohn's disease in humans. ...> Full Article

Center takes on North American battle against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (12/15/2007)

Multidrug- resistant tuberculosis has a new challenger, a center in the Purdue Research Park that on Tuesday (Dec. 11) became the sole North American producer of a potent antibiotic. ...> Full Article

Seeking to create better drugs, researchers chip away at how tuberculosis survives inside human defense cells (12/14/2007)

Researchers are using advanced genetic techniques to better understand the relationship between the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and the human immune system defense cells that engulf them. ...> Full Article

How the anthrax bacterium eludes our immune defenses (12/14/2007)

After having demonstrated the protective role of one of the enzymes of our natural immunity of against B. anthracis, the anthrax bacterium, researchers from the Institut Pasteur, INSERM, and the CNRS explain how the bacillus is capable of evading the bactericidal action of this enzyme: this bacterium produces a toxin that inhibits the enzyme synthesis. This research*, published in PloS Pathogens, reveals potential new therapeutic avenues against anthrax. ...> Full Article

Scientists strike blow in super bugs struggle (12/8/2007)

Scientists have pioneered new ways of tweaking the molecular structure of antibiotics - an innovation that could be crucial in the fight against powerful super bugs. ...> Full Article

Decoy makes sitting duck of superbugs (12/4/2007)

A DNA-based therapy could slash the development time of new drugs to combat antibiotic resistant superbugs. ...> Full Article

Aerosol Launches Immune Response in Lungs to Wipe Out Lethal Infections (12/4/2007)

Preclinical research presented at ASCB shows swift killing of bacteria, viruses, fungi ...> Full Article

'Superbug' infections more than doubled in hospitals, study finds (12/3/2007)

Hospitalizations related to a potentially deadly, antibiotic-resistant "superbug" more than doubled between 1999 and 2005, soaring from 127,000 to nearly 280,000, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher. ...> Full Article

Biochemist Stares Down Superbug (12/3/2007)

University of Victoria biochemist Dr. Alisdair Boraston has discovered something new about a nasty superbug-a discovery that could lead to new drugs to combat it. ...> Full Article

Scientists decode genomes of tuberculosis microbes (11/28/2007)

Work could aid research on drug-resistant TB ...> Full Article

Rogue Bacteria Involved In Both Heart Disease And Infertility (11/25/2007)

Researcher coaxes rogue bacteria to give up deadly secrets of how they cause several human illnesses ...> Full Article

Together We Stand: Bacteria Organize Into Biofilms To Survive Hostile Zones (11/20/2007)

Using an innovative device with microscopic chambers, researchers from four institutions, including Johns Hopkins, have gleaned important new information about how bacteria survive in hostile environments by forming antibiotic- resistant communities called biofilms. These biofilms play key roles in cystic fibrosis, urinary tract infections and other illnesses, and the researchers say their findings could help in the development of new treatments and preventive measures. ...> Full Article

Compounds In Cranberries May Be Antibacterial Agents (11/19/2007)

Cranberry sauce is not the star of the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, but when it comes to health benefits, the lowly condiment takes center stage. In fact, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have found that compounds in cranberries are able to alter E. coli bacteria, which are responsible for a host of human illnesses (from kidney infections to gastroenteritis to tooth decay), in ways that render them unable to initiate an infection. ...> Full Article

New technology joins the fight against super Staphylococcus bacteria (11/16/2007)

New company, recently received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to market two antimicrobial solutions, Silvion™ and Silvaklenz®, that can be used to fight multiple-drug-resistant bacteria such as Methacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find MRSA in Pigs (11/15/2007)

Pigs can now be added to the list of potential carriers of the drug-resistant "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). ...> Full Article

Biochemists add new molecular weapon to their arsenal (11/11/2007)

Researchers have acquired a new molecular tool that could help them transform a toxin from coral-reef bacteria into a next-generation cancer drug. ...> Full Article

Developing Kryptonite for Superbug (11/10/2007)

Researchers are crossing academic and geographical bounds to develop more effective defenses against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria and other deadly pathogens. ...> Full Article

Fine-tuning lasers to destroy blood-borne diseases like AIDS (11/9/2007)

Physicists have designed a revolutionary laser technique which can destroy viruses and bacteria such as AIDS without damaging human cells and may also help reduce the spread of hospital infections such as MRSA. ...> Full Article

Study finds deadly bacteria responds to light (11/8/2007)

Sunlight makes a vicious strain of bacteria even more dangerous, a new study has found. ...> Full Article

New Magnetic Separation Technique Might Detect Multiple Pathogens At Once (11/3/2007)

The method could lead to new technologies for medical or environmental testing ...> Full Article

Discovery of communication between bacteria may lead to new class of antibiotics (11/3/2007)

The discovery by Hebrew University researchers of a new communication factor that enables bacteria to "talk to each other" and causes their death could have significant consequences leading to development of a new class of antibiotic medications. ...> Full Article

Staph-Killing Properties of Clay Investigated (11/1/2007)

What makes some clays such powerful antimicrobial agents capable of killing MRSA and other virulent bacteria? It's a question that University at Buffalo researchers have been studying for several years. ...> Full Article

Microbial biofilms evoke Jackal & Hyde effects (10/27/2007)

Microbes such as bacteria tend to live in complex colonies called biofilms, where there can resist antibiotics and cause more problems for the immune system. Biofilms comprising millions of bacteria are at the root of many serious chronic infectious diseases such as cystic fibrosis and periodontal disease, as well as industrial contamination, biofouling and biocorrosion. ...> Full Article

New ways of fighting super bugs in hospitals (10/26/2007)

Researchers will be investigating the effects of humidity on hospital 'super bugs' such as E. coli using one of the largest known biological test chambers in the world. ...> Full Article

Feline Virus, Antiviral Drug Studied To Understand Drug Resistance (10/11/2007)

Researchers at Ohio State will spend the next two years testing their theories about just how an AIDS-like virus in cats is able to resist the powerful medicines that are thrown against it. ...> Full Article

Students use designer virus to attack bacterial drug resistance (10/11/2007)

Rice team prepares to compete at iGEM synthetic biology competition ...> Full Article

Appendix Isn't Useless at All: It's a Safe House for Bacteria (10/9/2007)

Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be – as a "safe house" for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut. ...> Full Article

Researcher Defends Against E. Coli's Deadly Kidney Punch (10/7/2007)

Researcher blocking the toxins created by the E. Coli bacteria before it doesn't damage to kidney's ...> Full Article

Scientists decipher mechanism behind antimicrobial 'hole punchers' (9/21/2007)

In the battle against bacteria, researchers have scored a direct hit. They have made a discovery that could shorten the road to new and more potent antibiotics. ...> Full Article

Sugar Helping Profs Map New Ground Against Deadly Bug (9/18/2007)

Sugar may help the medicine go down, but what about a medicine that targets sugar to "take down" disease-causing bacteria? ...> Full Article

Immune police recognize good and bad guys in the body (9/17/2007)

Immune system police are as good at recognizing bad guys, such as bacteria and viruses, as they are our own tissue, researchers say. ...> Full Article

Health System Researcher Receives $3.6 Million Grant to Combat Bacterium's Deadly Effects (9/14/2007)

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded a University of Virginia researcher a $3.6 million grant to combat a growing international health crisis. ...> Full Article

How 'superbugs' evade the immune system (9/12/2007)

MRSA and similar infections may soon be treatable, as scientists have discovered how the bacterium evades the immune system's first line of defence. ...> Full Article

Bacteria Successful In Cancer Treatment (9/10/2007)

Bacteria that thrive in oxygen starved environments have been used successfully to target cancer tumours, delivering gene therapy based anti-cancer treatments, according to scientists. ...> Full Article

Research details parasitic battles (9/7/2007)

Scientists at MIT and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have for the first time recorded the entire genomic expression of both a host bacterium and an infecting virus over the eight-hour course of infection. ...> Full Article

Bleeding, Not Inflammation, Is Major Cause of Early Lung Infection Death (8/30/2007)

Researchers believe they have discovered why a bacterial lung infection is so lethal in the early stages, and it's not what medical authorities had thought, according to research published today in the journal Immunity. The study reveals for the first time that a toxin released by bacteria causes severe bleeding in the lungs by patients with pneumococcal pneumonia. It is the bleeding, the authors argue, not inflammation as once thought, which makes the infections deadly. The same study also reveals why antibiotics often fail to help prevent early death. ...> Full Article

Ancient Probiotic Drink to be Tested in Young Children Receiving Antibiotics (8/30/2007)

Tests, being conducted by Georgetown University Medical Center researchers, will study whether kefir reduces diarrhea in children taking antibiotcs ...> Full Article

Study Finds Environmental Monitoring Helps to Predict Risk of Hospital-Acquired Legionnaires' Disease (8/26/2007)

A new study spearheaded by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has determined that environmental monitoring of institutional water systems can help to predict the risk of hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia, better known as Legionnaires' disease. Reported recently in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the 20-hospital study also calls for reconsideration of the current national infection-control policy to include routine testing of hospital water systems for Legionella, the bacterial group associated with Legionnaires'. ...> Full Article

Food supply affects bacteria's response to temperature (8/25/2007)

As a population of bacteria grows, it can become desperate. When their food supply dwindles, bacteria must either forage for new sources of nutrients or slow their metabolism. That's why, at a critical bacterial concentration, Escherichia coli use a chemical signal to collectively swim from warm areas to cooler ones where they can conserve energy. New research from Rockefeller University shows that at high concentrations, when nutrients are nearly depleted, these bacteria do not rely on chemical signals alone. They remain in cooler temperatures by reversing their expression of two key receptors that sense temperature. ...> Full Article

Light Spurs Growth of Infectious Bacteria (8/24/2007)

Photosensing proteins are used by all forms of life, from bacteria and plants to butterflies and humans. These proteins absorb blue light, change shape and trigger other events within a cell. They are involved in plant phototropism, the movement of aquatic bacteria, and the regulation of mammalian circadian rhythms. New evidence shows they can also drive the spread of infectious disease. ...> Full Article

Pets Could be Source of Multi-Resistant Bacteria Infections in Humans (8/5/2007)

The next time you have difficulty fighting a bacterial infection, your next trip to the doctor might be to the family veterinarian. A new University of Missouri-Columbia study is investigating whether the family pet could be a reservoir for infections of multi-resistant bacteria in humans. ...> Full Article

Antibiotics Given To Children Continue To Raise Resistance Levels In Population (8/5/2007)

Antibiotics such as amoxicillin given to children have no long-term effect to the child but contribute to a high level of antibiotic resistance in the population, Oxford researchers have found. ...> Full Article

Immune Mechanism Could Explain Transient Immune Suppression in Acute Infections (8/5/2007)

Scientists have discovered that at the same time the immune system is vigorously attacking invading viruses or bacteria, it is unexpectedly reducing its production of a particular type of factor that directs the movement of immune cells. The new finding, which could help explain the transient immune suppression often seen during acute infections, shows that the immune system is even more complex than previously believed. ...> Full Article

Finding A Chink In The Anthrax Microbe's Armor (8/3/2007)

U-M scientists chart events when dormant spore springs to life in lung, and find genes to investigate for better drugs, vaccines ...> Full Article

Researchers Watch Antibiotics, Bacteria Meet At Atomic Level (7/31/2007)

A new understanding of an enzyme important for the transfer of genetic information in bacteria may help scientists improve current antibiotics and also create antibiotics that are less vulnerable to resistance. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover Key Mechanism to Emergence of Deadly Strep Bacteria (7/20/2007)

The incidence of serious strep infections has risen dramatically in the last three decades, and this increase is largely attributed to the spread around the globe of a single strain of strep known as the invasive M1T1 clone. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and the University of Wollongong in Australia have discovered that, 30 years ago, a virus infected the strep bacteria - creating a deadly strain of 'flesh-eating'ť bacteria that has evolved to produce serious human infections worldwide. ...> Full Article

New Way To Target And Kill Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Found (7/13/2007)

Putting bacteria on birth control could stop the spread of drug-resistant microbes, and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found a way to do just that. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find New Pathway To Thwart Antibiotic Resistance (6/30/2007)

Researchers at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) have new information on the structure of a key enzyme in bacteria that could lead to improved antibiotics and less antibiotic resistance. In findings published today online in two complementary papers in Nature, the research team describe the differences in an enzyme called RNA polymerase in bacterial cells as opposed to human cells. These differences provide potential new targets for drug design. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover 'Acquired' Dna Key To Certain Bacterial Infection (6/23/2007)

Researchers announced this week the discovery of a mechanism by which Mycobacterium avium - a bacterium which can result in serious lung infections and is prevalent in emphysema and AIDS patients among others - infects tissue cells or "macrophages" and thus compromises the body's immunity. ...> Full Article

Scientists Solve Genome of Marine Organism Producing Promising Disease-Fighting Agents (6/21/2007)

Bacteria discovered in Bahamian mud has potential as producer of natural antibiotics and anticancer products ...> Full Article

New Species of Bacteria Discovered (6/15/2007)

NPR's All Things Considered reports that "[a] new species of bacteria has been discovered, thanks to an American tourist who caught it while traveling in Peru. Dr. Jane Koehler, an infectious-disease specialist who led the team that found the species, named it Bartonella rochalimae, after a long-dead Brazilian scientist." NPR's Rebecca Roberts speaks with Koelher about the discovery of the bacterium, and why that particular name was selected for it. ...> Full Article

Superbug Antibiotic Defence Uncovered (6/15/2007)

McGill researcher observes how bacterium is able to resist antibiotic ...> Full Article

Study Of Staph Shows How Bacteria Evolve Resistance (6/7/2007)

Antibacterial resistance doesn't happen overnight. But until recently nobody knew exactly how long it took - or how it happened at all. Now, by studying blood taken from a single patient over a period of months, Rockefeller University researchers have been able to trace how a common strain of bacteria adapted its genes to counteract the antibiotics used to try to kill it, until it finally emerged into the kind of fully resistant microbe that is wreaking havoc in hospitals worldwide. Total elapsed time: 90 days. ...> Full Article

Fighting Cancer with Salmonella (5/22/2007)

Disease-causing bacteria can help in the fight against cancer. This may sound a little far-fetched at first, but in future bacteria could form the basis for innovative tumor therapies. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig have succeeded in planting "remote-controlled" salmonella in the tumors of cancer-bearing mice. The genetically modified microbes can produce substances on command. "Perhaps at some point," hopes Helmholtz scientist Dr. Holger Loessner, "we will be able to make these bacteria secrete cell toxins precisely where they are needed: in the middle of cancerous tissue." ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover Rare Gene-For-Gene Interaction That Helps Bacteria Kill Their Host (5/7/2007)

Scientists have discovered that a cousin of the plague bacterium uses a single gene to out-fox insect immune defences and kill its host. ...> Full Article

Arming The Fight Against Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (5/1/2007)

In 1928, Alexander Fleming opened the door to treating bacterial infections when he stumbled upon the first known antibiotic in a Penicillium mold growing in a discarded experiment. ...> Full Article

Cancer Agressiveness Triggered By Bacteria (4/21/2007)

New research in lymphatic cancer shows that bacteria can cause cancer to be more aggressive. Patients with skin lymphoma may benefit from antibiotic treatments used for bacteria-infections. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find New Superbug Weapon for Failing Antibiotics Arsenal (3/27/2007)

Imagine the desperation of trying to fight lethal infections when antibiotics fail to work. ...> Full Article