Infection biology: How one pathogen evades the immune system
(Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit ä t M ü nchen) A research team of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munch led by Nicolai Siegel has uncovered a mechanism that enables theparasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans to escape the attention of the immune system. The finding may also be relevant to other infectious diseases. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - January 13, 2021 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Togo overcomes ‘sleeping sickness’ as a public health problem
The West African nation of Togo has eliminated human African trypanosomiasis or “sleeping sickness” as a public health problem, becoming the first in the continent to achieve the milestone, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has said. (Source: UN News Centre - Health, Poverty, Food Security)
Source: UN News Centre - Health, Poverty, Food Security - August 27, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Africa: Togo is First African Country to End Sleeping Sickness as a Public Health Problem
[WHO] Brazzaville -- Togo has received validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis or "sleeping sickness" as a public health problem, becoming the first country in Africa to reach this milestone. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - August 27, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
New Technology Can Improve Tsetse Fly Traps And Help Prevent Sleeping Sickness Outbreaks
A new paper details the development of an inexpensive “yeast brew” which produces chemical compounds that attract the tsetse into traps and can be easily produced locally in the Sub-saharan rural communities most affected by sleeping sickness. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - June 23, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Allison Gasparini, Contributor Tags: Science /science Innovation /innovation Healthcare /healthcare Source Type: news
Tsetse flytraps: Biotechnology for Africa's rural population
(Goethe University Frankfurt) Because the tsetse fly can transmit sleeping sickness, it is commonly combatted with insecticides or caught in traps. Bioscientists at Goethe University have now developed a method for producing the attractants for the traps in a biotechnological procedure. The Frankfurt scientists hope that in the future, the attractants can then be produced locally in rural areas of Africa at low cost. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 22, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Ute Hellmich receives Exploration Grant for research into membrane proteins of parasites
(Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz) Professor Ute Hellmich of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has launched a new research project investigating essential membrane proteins of parasites, some of which can cause a neglected tropical disease (NTD) such as African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 4, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Neglected Diseases Kill More People than COVID-19 – It’s Time to Address Them
Credit: UNBy Ifeanyi Nsofor and Adaeze OrehABUJA, Mar 30 2020 (IPS) As COVID-19 surges globally and leaves fear and panic in its wake, global efforts are underway to find a cure. Yet, the same level of response is lacking for several other infectious diseases that kill millions annually. These kinds of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a broad group of communicable diseases which affect more than two billion people and cost developing economies billions of dollars every year.
Lassa Fever is an example and is endemic in Nigeria and other West African countries such as Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - March 30, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Ifeanyi Nsofor and Adaeze Oreh Tags: Global Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Source Type: news
Clemson researchers ID protein function in parasites that cause sometimes fatal diseases
(Clemson University) In the quest to develop more effective treatments for parasitic diseases, scientists look for weaknesses in the organisms' molecular machinery. A team of College of Science researchers at Clemson recently contributed to that understanding by discovering the function of a specific protein in the three related parasites that cause African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis -- diseases that are sometimes fatal and afflict millions worldwide. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - February 24, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
A tsetse fly ’s bite can be fatal — new YSPH research could change that
New Yale research has identified a family of proteins that significantly reduce the number of sleeping sickness-causing parasites found in the blood. (Source: Yale Science and Health News)
Source: Yale Science and Health News - February 6, 2020 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Nigeria: 100 Million Nigerians Threatened By Tropical Diseases, Says Ehanire
[This Day] Abuja -The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said about 100 million Nigerians are currently faced with the risk of some tropical diseases such as Guinea worm, leprosy, elephantiasis, river blindness, rabies and sleeping sickness. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - January 31, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Yale researchers identify protein that could help neutralize deadly bite of the tsetse fly
(Yale School of Public Health) Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health have identified a family of surface proteins that could be promising new vaccine candidates to help control African sleeping sickness, a devastating disease passed on by the bite of infected tsetse flies. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - January 31, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Research team finds possible new approach for sleeping sickness drugs
(Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) Using ultra-bright X-ray flashes, a team of researchers has tracked down a potential target for new drugs against sleeping sickness: The scientists have decoded the detailed spatial structure of a vital enzyme of the pathogen, the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. The result provides a possible blueprint for a drug that specifically blocks this enzyme and thus kills the parasite, as the team reports in the journal Nature Communications. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - January 30, 2020 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Insight into the neglected tropical disease sleeping sickness
(Lancaster University) Researchers have shed light on how the parasite which causes sleeping sickness multiples inside its host. Human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, only occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa where an estimated 60 million people in 36 countries are at risk. The infection attacks the central nervous system and is fatal without treatment. Lancaster University researchers have found that the parasite's cell division differs from that of humans and animals. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - December 12, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
He was ‘perfectly healthy’ before the mosquito bite. Nine days later, he was brain dead.
The Michigan man reportedly contracted Eastern equine encephalitis, or "sleeping sickness," a rare, mosquito-borne virus. (Source: Washington Post: To Your Health)
Source: Washington Post: To Your Health - September 19, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Marisa Iati Source Type: news
The Dengue Dance?
Discussion
Dengue is an important arboviral infection that affects about 40% of the world population. It is found mainly in topical and subtropical areas of the world mainly in developing countries but it range is spreading including the United States. A review of common arboviruses can be found here. It is a flaviavirus with 4 distinct serotypes named DENV-1 through DENV-4 and is spread by A. aegypti a day biting mosquito. Infection with one serotype confers immunity to that serotype but not the others. It does offer some protection for cross-infection but this only lasts a few months. Incubation period is 3-14 days with ...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - July 29, 2019 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news