News by Subject Biology

A vaccine used to prevent dogs from contracting the deadly, parasitic disease canine leishmaniasis also can be used to treat currently infected dogs, found Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at the University of Iowa, providing a new avenue of treatment for millions of infected dogs globally.

A new comprehensive map of mosquito DNA has been assembled using long-read sequencing technology from California-based Pacific Biosciences. The improved reference genome assembly, published in Nature, could help scientists combat the pest and infectious diseases it spreads, including Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

Mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles are well known as primary vectors of malaria. But a new study suggests that Anopheles species, including some found in the United States, also are capable of carrying and transmitting an emerging pathogen, Mayaro virus, which has caused outbreaks of disease in South America and the Caribbean.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have shown that a single 'cocktail' of three pill-based anti-parasite medications is significantly more effective at killing microscopic larval worms in people diagnosed with lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, than other standard two-drug combinations previously used in the global effort to eliminate this infectious disease. A combination of all three drugs given simultaneously had never been tested until now.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a life-threatening disease transmitted by the bite of a sand fly. Between 3,700 to 7,400 people in Ethiopia are infected annually, particularly in the northern, agricultural regions with favorable climate and environment to sand fly vectors. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Rebecca Coulborn from Epicentre, France, and colleagues suggests that transitory populations in Ethiopia may be particularly vulnerable to acquisition of and death from VL infections.

The largest genomic study of parasitic worms to date identified hundreds of thousands of new genes and predicted many new potential drug targets and drugs. Research from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and collaborators will help scientists understand how these parasites invade, evade the immune system and cause disease. Reported in Nature Genetics today (5th November), the study could lead to new de-worming treatments to help prevent and treat diseases caused by parasitic worms worldwide.

Prenatal exposure to malaria considerably alters the newborn's innate immune response (i.e. its first line of defence), particularly when the placenta has been infected, according to a study led by ISGlobal, the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN) and the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM). The results, published in BMC Medicine, could help explain why some babies are more susceptible to malaria than others during their first year of life.