Fighting fire with fire, scientists are harnessing the adaptability of helpful microbes to challenge the adaptability of deadly microbes. What are we talking about? Hunting with phages — viruses that attack and kill bacteria.
Being infected with HIV means a lifetime of antiviral therapy. We can control the infection with those drugs, but we haven't been able to cure people by ridding the body completely of the virus. But thanks to a new study published in Molecular Therapy by scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM) at Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh, all that may change.
Usually, we think of vaccines as preventative, a shot we get to prevent the flu or some childhood disease like measles or mumps. But there are vaccines for other purposes, such as the ones studied by researchers from the Netherlands.
Having a Clostridium difficile infection means stomach pains, diarrhea, fever, and loss of appetite, and if the symptoms weren't bad enough, the disease often reoccurs. Now, new research has found an increased risk of recurrence in people who take medication to treat their stomach acid, gastroesophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer disease, or stomach discomfort.
Ecosystem changes caused by agricultural choices in Brazil are creating a dangerous microbe mix in exploding populations of vampire bats and feral pigs.
New research suggests the bacteria that causes listeriosis may be a bigger threat in early pregnancy than previously thought. Usually considered a danger to late pregnancy, scientists suggest early undiagnosed miscarriages could be caused, in some cases, by infection with Listeria.
More and more, young athletes are developing staph infections. It's a serious topic and every coach or parent should know the basics of staph infections and preventative methods to make sure young athletes stay safe and healthy. Staph infection is MRSA — Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a staph bacteria that, overtime, has developed resistance to antibiotics like penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin) and cephalosporins. Learn more about staph infectio...
Crusty, itchy, red eyes? There is a decent chance you could have conjunctivitis, or pink eye, an infection of the thin lining around the eye and the eyelid, caused by bacteria, an allergen, virus, or even your contact lenses. Whatever the cause — you call up your doctor to get a prescription to clear it up, right? Not really.
Staphylococcus aureus is a widespread bacteria — about a third of us have it on our body right now — usually in our nose or on our skin. And it probably isn't causing an infection. But, about 1% of people who have Staphylococcus aureus present have a type that is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin.
More bad news for patients who have undergone heart surgery in the past five years. A new study suggests about one-third of heater-cooler units used in cardiac procedures remain contaminated with a slow-growing, potentially fatal bacteria.
It is not just a bad summer for ticks — it has been a bad decade for the spread of tick-borne infections. New surveillance from the CDC reports rapid expansion and increase in cases of babesiosis, a sometimes life-threatening disease, in Wisconsin.
Deadly rat lungworm parasites have found their way into Florida. The parasitic worm relies on snails and rats to complete its life cycle, but don't let this nematode's name fool you. This worm can cause meningitis and death in humans who inadvertently consume snails, frogs, or crustaceans harboring the infective parasite.
The possibility of severe tickborne illness is increasing as an aggressive tick from the American southeast moves up the Atlantic Coast.
Take a close look at the image above. These bugs spread a deadly parasite that infects thousands of people each year. They also live in the US, and it's important to know where they are and whether you need to worry that they're carrying a dangerous infection.
Over 6,500 waterfowl—mostly ducks—have died in Canyon County, Idaho, stricken by avian cholera. The outbreak started in February, and before it's over, it may not only be Idaho's largest outbreak, but one of the largest in the country.
A young child becomes very thirsty very often and seems tired all the time. A visit to the pediatrician determines she has type 1 diabetes. The onset of type 1 diabetes may seem sudden, and it can be, but the disease may actually have been triggered by common childhood viruses years earlier.
A terrifying antibiotic-resistant superbug, one thought to only infect hospital patients, has made its debut in the real world. For the first time ever, the superbug carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infected six people who hadn't been in or around a hospital in at least a year, and researchers aren't sure how they got infected.
Bacteriotherapy sounds a lot more amenable of a term than "fecal transplant," yet they're both treatments that use bacteria itself to cure or treat infections. Fecal transplants, specifically, are an up-and-coming treatment option for a potentially deadly and difficult-to-treat diarrheal infection called Clostridium difficile.
So cute, so furry, and so chock full of parasites. While raccoons are fun to watch, they are neither friendly nor clean — and they can make you sick in more ways than one.
The number of households in the US that go hungry because they lack money for food hit a high of almost 15% in 2011. While that number continues to decline, nearly 13% of American households still go hungry.
Malaria is a massive worldwide health problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 212 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2015 and 429,000 of the infected people died.
Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of our cells because they generate energy to power them. But they also play a key role in the death of cells when they're damaged, infected, stressed, no longer needed, or at the end of their life.
An advance in the race to stop birth defects caused by Zika-infected mothers has been made by a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. They have identified the process Zika uses to gain entry into the placenta, and published their findings in the journal Biochemistry.
Tremendous strides have been made in the treatment and outlook for patients infected with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. Treatment with a combination of antiretroviral drugs can keep patients with HIV alive for decades, without symptoms of the infection. The trouble is, if HIV-infected people stop taking their medications, the virus takes over in full force again—because the virus hides out quietly in cells of the immune system, kept in check, but not killed by the treatment.
Over 1.2 million people in the US are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—and one out of eight of them don't know it. Even after decades of intense research into the virus, there's still no cure for it. One of the big problems is that the virus hides out in certain cells of the body, resisting treatments that kill it.
Despite the availability of a vaccine against it, almost 50% of men aged 18-59 in the US are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Why?
Specialized cells in the lining of the gut may provide a key to preventing an infectious brain disease caused by misfolded proteins.
You might feel the bite, you might not, but an infected mosquito has injected you with a parasite named Plasmodium falciparum, a single-cell protozoa that quickly takes up residence in your body.
This video illustrate us how to deal with broken tree branches and problems with grapes. Here are the following steps:Step 1: First of all clean the broken branch with water.Step 2; Now apply some tree primer or tree paint on the exposed area for quick healing and to prevent any infection.Step 3: To deal with problems in grapes first of all look for any infection on the leaf, stalk or the fruit.Step 4: If in case there is some infection ,identify the problem and sprinkle the pesticide for tha...
The evolution of our infection-fighting systems may have something to teach modern scientists. That's what a group from the University of Granada in Spain found when they studied a protein that's been around for over four billion years. Their work, by senior author José Sánchez-Ruiz and colleagues in the Department of Physical Chemistry, was published in the journal Cell Reports.
In the ongoing search to find better ways to use antibiotics, an extract made from maple syrup has some surprisingly important medical benefits.
The office of your physician, or your local hospital, is where you go when you need medical care. But it could also be where you could pick up a life-threatening infection.
Antibiotic use in infants has been associated with a host of childhood conditions later in life. Yet when an infection is suspected in a newborn, usually a sample of their blood is drawn to check for the presence of bacteria and 5 to 8 percent of them receive antibiotics while the diagnosis is pending.
Maternal infection with genital herpes, or other pathogens, during early pregnancy could increase risk of autism, or other neurodevelopmental disorders, says a new study.
In this video, we learn how to pierce your own lip and avoid infection. First, mark the spot on your lip where you want to pierce it and then check it in the mirror. After this, grab your needle and clean it off with antiseptic or mouth wash that has alcohol in it. Push the needle all the way through the spot on your lip and then place the jewelry into your lip. Once finished, you will need to rinse your mouth out with mouth wash that has alcohol in it. Make sure to clean this regularly so yo...
Suspect that your bundle of joy is suffering from an ear infection? This video guide from Health Guru will teach you everything you'll need to know. For all of the details, watch this video guide for new parents.
Need some help figuring out whether your newborn has a urinary tract or bladder infection? This video guide from Health Guru will teach you everything you'll need to know. For all of the details, watch this video guide for new parents.
Leaving water in your ear after a bath, shower or swimming can sometimes lead to a painful infection. Protect your health and hearing by following a few tips with a hair dryer, vinegar and rubbing alcohol to get water out of your ear.
Dr. Eric Cryan is interviewed by Audrey Barnes for CBS channel 9 about pet skin infections: their causes, symptons, and treatment options. He demonstrates with his new dog Bliss.
For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved medication to treat children with a serious infection called Chagas disease, which stealthily infects and damages the hearts of millions of victims a year.
