Latest PLoS Pathogens Stories
Researchers based in Gabon and France report the discovery of a new malaria agent infecting chimpanzees in Central Africa. This new species, named Plasmodium gaboni, is a close relative of the most virulent human agent P. falciparum; it is described in an article published May 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.P. falciparum is the major human malaria agent responsible for one to three million deaths annually. In 2002, the publication of the genome of P. falciparum generated new...
UK Researchers are now reporting that the Bird flu may not have been as threatening to humans as was originally believed because our noses are too cold for the virus to thrive.A re-creation of the environment of the nose done by Imperial College London shows that at 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit the avian flu viruses lose the ability to function and spread. It is quite possible that the viruses have adapted to withstand the warmer 104 degree environment in the bowels of birds. They say that a...
Microbes in Mosquito's Gut Stimulate Immune Response Against Malaria ParasiteBacteria in the gut of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito inhibit infection of the insect with Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Scientists with the Bloomberg School's Malaria Research Institute found that removing these bacteria, or microbial flora, with antibiotics made the mosquitoes more susceptible to...
Researchers move a step closer to using virus particles as drug 'delivery' agentsIn a study published in May 2009 issue of PLoS Pathogens, Manchester and her colleagues show that CPMV interacts with the mammalian protein vimentin "” an interaction that scientists can now explore with the idea of using the virus to deliver "cargo," such as drugs, to tumors or other diseased tissues."Vimentin was not at all a likely suspect," says Kris Koudelka, a postdoctoral fellow in...
An investigation of a rare, inherited form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease suggests that disrupted regulation of copper ions in the brain may be a key factor in this and other prion diseases.Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, discovered a striking relationship between changes in the copper-binding properties of abnormal prion proteins and the clinical features of prion disease in patients with certain rare, genetic mutations. They described their findings in a paper...
Researchers have developed the first animal model of the infection caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an emerging arbovirus associated with large-scale epidemics that hit the Indian Ocean (especially the French Island of La Réunion) in 2005, later spreading to India, and Italy in 2007. Using this mouse model, scientists of the Institut Pasteur and INSERM determined which tissues and cells are infected by the virus in both the mild and severe forms of the disease it causes. They detail...
