• Researchers move a step closer toward universal flu vaccine and therapies

    Researchers describes three human antibodies that provide broad protection against Influenza B virus strains; the same team had previously reported finding broadly neutralizing antibodies against Influenza A strains; the work is a key step toward “universal” vaccine and therapies against flu

  • Deadly E. coli strain decoded

    The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has been decoded; the deadliest E. coli outbreak ever, which caused fifty-four deaths and sickened more than 3,800 people, was traced to a particularly virulent strain that researchers had never seen in an outbreak before

  • Demystifying viruses' copying mechanism allows new vaccines for elusive viruses

    Certain kinds of viruses such as those that cause the common cold, SARS, hepatitis, and encephalitis, copy themselves using a unique mechanism, according to researchers; the discovery sheds light on a previously identified, but never-before-understood region of an enzyme associated with the process of replicating genetic material

  • Poultry vaccines found to combine into new viruses

    Researchers found that two different vaccine viruses — used simultaneously to control the same condition in chickens — have combined to produce new infectious viruses, prompting early response from Australia’s veterinary medicines regulator

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  • A world free of foot-and-mouth disease within sight

    The Departments of Homeland Security and Agriculture have developed a novel vaccine for one of the seven strains of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), paving the way for the development of the others; FMD is one of the most economically devastating diseases in the world for those who raise cows, sheep, pigs, goats, deer, and other cloven-hoofed animals is foot-and-mouth disease

  • Improving malaria control and vaccine development

    Each year more than 250 million people worldwide contract malaria, and up to one million people die; malaria is particularly dangerous for children under five and pregnant women; Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal of the four Plasmodium species, and is responsible for most clinical disease

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  • Expanding the reach of an innovative virus-tracking software

    SUPRAMAP is a Web-based application which synthesizes large, diverse datasets so that researchers can better understand the spread of infectious diseases across hosts and geography; researchers have restructured this innovative tracking software to promote even wider use of the program around the world

  • Bacteria's strength in numbers challenged

    Scientists have opened the way for more accurate research into new ways to fight dangerous bacterial infections by proving a long-held theory about how bacteria communicate with each other

  • New plan would control deadly tsetse fly

    The tsetse fly is an African killer that spreads “sleeping sickness” disease among humans and animals and wipes out $4.5 billion in livestock every year; the tsetse, which feeds on the blood of vertebrate animals, lives in thirty-seven sub-Saharan countries and infects thousands of people and millions of cattle every year

  • Early detection of malaria saves lives

    The timely diagnosis of malaria maximizes the likelihood of successful, life-saving treatment; it also minimizes the chances that inappropriate therapy will be given, which would help combat the growing problem of drug resistant malaria

  • Bacteria found in caves could offer key to new antibiotics

    Resistance to antibiotics among bacteria is a growing concern for human health; antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in one of the deepest, most isolated caves in the world could help scientists in the battle against superbugs

  • New technology sheds light on viruses

    Scientists develop diagnostic tests that rapidly detect disease-causing viruses in animals and humans; the scientists using a new technology called surface-enhanced Raman scattering, or SERS

  • Handheld plasma flashlight rids skin of pathogens

    Scientists develop a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant; the device could be used in ambulance emergency calls, natural disaster sites, military combat operations, and many other instances where treatment is required in remote locations

  • Inovio Pharmaceuticals gets DoD continuation grant for synthetic DNA vaccine delivery device

    The U.S. Department of Defense has given a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Inovio Pharmaceuticals to continue developing a  low-cost, non-invasive surface electroporation (EP) delivery device; the testing of the device in conjunction with Inovio’s  synthetic DNA vaccines against viruses with bioterrorism potential, including hanta, puumala, arenavirus and pandemic influenza

  • Detection technology detects viruses, pathogens within 24 hours

    New detection technology could enable food safety professionals, law enforcement, medical professionals, and others to detect within twenty-four hours any virus or bacteria that has been sequenced and included among the array’s probes