Infectious Disease Animations

Animal Sampling For Ebola Should Focus On Carcasses
Response efforts to outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Africa can benefit from a standardized sampling strategy that focuses on the carcasses of gorillas, chimpanzees and other species known to succumb to the virus, according to a consortium of wildlife health experts...

Potential New Drugs For Fox Tapeworm Infection In Humans
Scientists are reporting development and testing of a new series of drugs that could finally stop the fox tapeworm - which causes a rare but life-threatening disease in humans - dead in its tracks...

Common Antibiotic Found To Carry Heart Risk
Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a rare, but important risk posed by the antibiotic azithromycin, commonly called a "Z-pack." The study found a 2.5-fold higher risk of cardiovascular death in the first five days of taking azithromycin when compared with another common antibiotic or no antibiotics at all. Wayne A. Ray, Ph.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, and C. Michael Stein, M.B.Ch...

Focusing On New Directions Of Viral Hepatitis Care And Research
The editors of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, are pleased to announce the publication of this year's highly anticipated special 13th issue. Published each May, the 13th issue is devoted to a particular gastroenterological topic of broad interest; this year's topic is viral hepatitis. In conjunction with editor-in-chief M...

Accurate Prediction Of Renal Failure In Sepsis Patients Via Urine Dipstick Test
Henry Ford Hospital researchers have found that the presence of excess protein in a common urine test is an effective prognostic marker of acute renal failure in patients with severe sepsis. Researchers analyzed data from 328 sepsis patients with no previous history of protein in the urine and found the urine dipstick test predicted the presence of renal failure in 55 percent of these patients...

New UV Disinfection Device
Research from North Carolina State University will allow the development of energy-efficient LED devices that use ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The technology has a wide array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilizing surgical tools...

Scientists Discover 'Switch' To Boost Anti-Viral Response To Fight Infectious Diseases
Singapore scientists from Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have for the first time, identified the molecular 'switch' that directly triggers the body's first line of defence against pathogens, more accurately known as the body's "innate immunity"...

'Barcoding' Viruses For Rapid Detection Of Mutated Strains
Dr Julian Hiscox and Dr John Barr of the University's Faculty of Biological Sciences are working with the Health Protection Agency Porton (HPA) to build a bank of molecular signatures that will help identify the severity of virus infection from characteristic changes seen in cells...

Novel Transport Mechanism For Large Ribonucleoproteins Has Implications For Herpes
The movement of genetic materials, such as RNA and ribosomes, from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is a critical component in a cell's ability to make the proteins necessary for essential biological functions. Until now, it was believed the nuclear pore complex was the sole pathway between the cell nucleus and cytoplasm for these materials...

18% Of Deaths Among Under 5s Caused By Pneumonia Globally
Of the 7.6 million deaths worldwide among children under 5 years of age in 2010, 18% were caused by pneumonia, while 14% were the result of a complication of a preterm birth, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an international team of experts reported in The Lancet. The authors added that diarrhea is the third leading cause of deaths among very young children...

Gut Bacteria Help Fend Off Invaders, Suggesting Ways To Prevent Or Treat The Effects Of Some Dangerous Forms Of E. coli
From tiny villages in developing nations to suburban kitchens in the United States, dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria sicken millions of people each year - and kill untold numbers of children...

Infections Cause Many Cancers Globally
A new study published Online First in The Lancet Oncology reveals that from 7.5 million cancer deaths in 2008, about 1.5 million were due to infections that could have either been prevented or treated...

Study Of Marine Worm Community Improves Understanding Of Symbiosis In Human Gut
Techniques used by researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to analyze a simple marine worm and its resident bacteria could accelerate efforts to understand more complex microbial communities such as those found in humans...

Vaccine Development May Improve With Advanced Genetic Screening Method
Infectious diseases - both old and new - continue to exact a devastating toll, causing some 13 million fatalities per year around the world...

A Killer Of Superbugs
Better than antibiotics, it is being used in contact lenses to prevent infections and biomedical products are the next stage The superbugs have met their match. Conceived at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), it comes in the form of a coating which has a magnetic-like feature that attracts bacteria and kills them without the need for antibiotics...