Bubonic bottleneck: UNC scientists overturn dogma on the plague
(University of North Carolina Health Care) Researchers discover that the accepted theory of how Yersinia pestis microbes travel from fleabite to lymph node is off base. Most bacteria get trapped in a bottleneck and never make it to the lymph node, where infection takes root. Finding out why could lead to new ways to stop the pathogen. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - February 12, 2015 Category: Biology Source Type: news
: Revisitation of an Enduring Human Pathogen
Yersinia enterocolitica remains a charismatic microorganism. The research findings outlined in this article have uncovered new virulence factors, such as type III secretion systems, and have advanced our understanding of the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal infections caused by Y. enterocolitica. Furthermore, a clarification of the potential capability of biovar 1A strains, long regarded as avirulent, has now proven that they cause symptomatic infections in appropriate patient settings, such as immunosuppression or hemochromatosis. (Source: Clinical Microbiology Newsletter)
Source: Clinical Microbiology Newsletter - December 23, 2014 Category: Microbiology Authors: Edward J. Bottone Source Type: news
Researchers discover exactly how the bubonic plague spread so effectively - and say it could improve our handling of Ebola
Duke researchers have discovered exactly how the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes bubonic plague spreads through the body. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - October 22, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Immune cells outsmart bacterial infection by dying, study shows
A clearer picture of the delicate arms race between the human immune system and a pathogen that seeks to infect and kill human cells has been painted through new research. The research explores the strategies by which the bacterial pathogen Yersinia, responsible for causing plague and gastrointestinal infections, tries to outsmart immune cell responses and looks at the tactics used by the immune system to fight back. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - May 5, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
A plague in your family
(Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) The first view of the Black Death bacterium's entire family tree shows some how family members evolve to become harmful. The researchers showed that Yersinia pestis and Yersinia enterocolitica, two major disease-causing species, independently acquired DNA that allowed them to become pathogenic. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - April 21, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
New strains of the Black Death could emerge
Conclusion
This study improves the understanding of the family tree of the plague-causing bacteria Yersinia pestis. It indicated the first plague pandemic was caused by a strain of Y. pestis distinct from the histories of all modern strains of the bacteria, and of the bacteria that caused two subsequent plague pandemics. This type of genetic evidence is persuasive so the conclusions are likely to be reliable.
There are two main interpretations of the results. First, the bacteria that caused the Plague of Justinian came into existence then died out. Second, the bacteria strain that caused the Plague of Justinian remains in ...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Genetics/stem cells Medical practice Source Type: news
Yersinia enterocolitica: a Rare Cause of Infective Endocarditis and Mycotic Aneurysm
Yersinia enterocolitica is a facultative, anaerobic, gram-negative coccobacillus taxonomically assigned within the family Enterobacteriaceae. The genus Yersinia consists of 11 different species; however, only 3 of these species are pathogenic for humans—Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, and two enteropathogenic species, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica. Y. enterocolitica is a food-borne pathogen typically associated with diarrhea, terminal ileitis, and mesenteric lymphadenitis. It is occasionally associated with invasive and metastatic diseases, as well (). When cultivated in the labo...
Source: Clinical Microbiology Newsletter - January 14, 2014 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jenifer C. Mason, Pankaj Lal, Francesco Torella, Asheesh Sharma, Richard Cooke, Jim Anson Source Type: news
Bacterial toxin sets the course for serious infection
Braunschweig have now discovered what makes a specific strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis - one of the main instigators for these infections - so dangerous: the bacteria produce a molecule called CNFy that facilitates the infection process for them. It changes the host cells in a manner that enables the injection apparatus of Yersinia, which injects toxins into the cells, to work more efficiently. This strengthens the infection and leads to inflammation of the tissue. Whether an immune cell divides, alarms other immune cells or dies is strictly controlled in our immune system... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - November 11, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
Bacterial toxin sets the course for infection
(Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) Braunschweig have now discovered what makes a specific strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis -- one of the main instigators for these infections -- so dangerous: the bacteria produce a molecule called CNFy that facilitates the infection process for them. It changes the host cells in a manner that enables the injection apparatus of Yersinia, which injects toxins into the cells, to work more efficiently. This strengthens the infection and leads to inflammation of the tissue. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - November 7, 2013 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Detection of anthrax and other pathogens using a unique liquid array technology - Schweighardt AJ, Battaglia A, Wallace MM.
A bead-based liquid hybridization assay, Luminex(®) 100™, was used to identify four pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis, and Yersinia pestis, and several close relatives. Hybridization... (Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated))
Source: SafetyLit: All (Unduplicated) - October 28, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Violence and Weapons Issues Source Type: news
How Yersinia spreads within infected organs
Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts have identified how one type of bacteria, Yersinia, immobilizes the immune system in order to grow in the organs of mice. To do so, the researchers extended the use of a technique and suggest that it could be used to study other bacteria that use the same or similar means of infection. The study is published in Cell Host & Microbe. Led by microbiologist Joan Mecsas, the research team studied a specific member of a family of effector proteins known as Yops... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - September 19, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
Tufts researchers identify how Yersinia spreads within infected organs
(Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus) Researchers at Tufts have identified how one type of bacteria, Yersinia, immobilizes the immune system in order to grow in the organ tissues of mice. To do so, the researchers extended the use of a technique and suggest that it could be used to study other bacteria that use the same or similar means of infection. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - September 16, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
Scientists solve structure of infection tool used by Yersinia bacterium
Abdominal pain, fever, diarrhoea - these symptoms could point to an infection with the bacterium Yersinia. The bacterium's pathogenic potential is based on a syringe-like injection apparatus called injectisome. For the first time, an international team of researchers including scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, has unraveled this molecular syringe's spatial conformation... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - August 3, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
3-D molecular syringes
(Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) Abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea -- these symptoms could point to an infection with the bacterium Yersinia. Its pathogenic potential is based on a syringe-like injection apparatus called injectisome. An international team of researchers including scientists at the HZI in Braunschweig, Germany, has now unraveled this molecular syringe's spatial conformation. The researchers demonstrated that the length of Yersinia's injectisome's basal body, which crosses the bacterial cell wall, is adjustable -- very likely an adaptation to physical stress. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 31, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
Easy and accurate identification of the Black Death
Diagnosing the presence of Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, may soon be easier than ever before. Scientists working with Peter Seeberger, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) in Potsdam and Professor at the Freie Universitat Berlin, have come up with a simple, inexpensive and reliable method of detecting the bacterium. The research team, specialising in glycochemistry glycobiology, first identified and synthesised an oligosaccharide structure on bacterial surface before combining it with a protein to heighten the immunological effect... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - July 27, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
