disease

Bird flu viruses would have to make at least two simultaneous genetic mutations before they could be transmitted readily from human to human, according to research published today in PLoS ONE.
The authors of the new study, from Imperial College London, the University of Reading and the University of North Carolina, USA, argue that it is [...]

Drug companies and nonprofit organizations are joining forces to develop new drugs and vaccines to target so-called “neglected” diseases that claim millions of lives in the developing world each year. Those hard-to-treat diseases include malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever, and other conditions. That’s the topic of the cover story scheduled for the current issue of Chemical [...]

Globalisation and industrialisation are causing diseases to spread from humans to animals, a study has shown.
Researchers from The Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh have shown that a strain of bacteria has jumped from humans to chickens.
It is believed to be the first clear evidence of bacterial pathogens crossing over from humans to animals [...]

The perception that antibiotic resistance is primarily the undesirable consequence of antibiotic abuse or misuse is a view that is simplistic and inaccurate, according to a recent report by the American Academy of Microbiology. The reasons behind the spread of resistance are much more complex, including appropriate antibiotic use, lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, [...]

In a decade-long initiative to protect millions of families from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, a U.S. government-funded project helped sell 50 million bed nets in seven countries, crafted a voucher system to allow the poor to receive them for free or partial cost, and created enough incentives for private companies that they invested $88 million [...]

Researchers in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Leicester are developing a new way to make protein based drugs with potential applications in stroke, vascular inflammation, blood vessel formation, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
The research carried out by Shikha Sharma in Dr. Nick Brindle’s group in Department of Cardiovascular Sciences aims to [...]

It’s as simple as A, T, G, C. Northwestern University scientists have exploited the Watson-Crick base pairing of DNA to provide a defensive tool that could be used to fight the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria — one of the world’s most pressing public health problems.
The resistant nasty pathogens cause thousands of deaths each [...]