Latest Tropical diseases Stories
Olfactor Laboratories, Inc. receives Federal research grant to further technology proven to inhibit mosquitos' ability to seek humans. Riverside, CA (PRWEB) April 15, 2013 Olfactor Laboratories, Inc. (OLI), an ieCrowd venture, was awarded a research grant from the United States National Institutes for Health (NIH), for the further development of OLI’s breakthrough technology proven to inhibit a mosquito’s ability to seek humans and animals by disrupting the insect’s CO2...
Researchers have discovered that rising temperature induces key changes in the dengue virus when it enters its human host, and the findings represent a new approach for designing vaccines against the aggressive mosquito-borne pathogen. The researchers found that the dengue virus particles swell slightly and take on a bumpy appearance when heated to human body temperature, exposing "epitopes," or regions where antibodies could attach to neutralize the virus. The discovery is significant...
Potential weakness identified in make-up of these deadly agents can immediately yield a sensitive test By screening a library of a billion llama antibodies on live Ebola viruses in the Texas Biomedical Research Institute's highest biocontainment laboratory, scientists in San Antonio have identified a potential weakness in the make-up of these deadly agents that can immediately yield a sensitive test. "Detecting single viral protein components can be challenging, especially at very low...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Nearly 400 million people are infected with dengue fever each year, meaning that the world’s fastest-spreading tropical illness is affecting three times more people than the World Health Organization (WHO) had previously estimated. Following several years of research, experts from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust revealed those statistics, as well as a detailed map of regions affected by the mosquito-borne virus,...
Griffith University researchers map out new approach An international study, involving researchers from Griffith University's Eskitis Institute, has discovered a molecule which could form the basis of powerful new anti-malaria drugs. Professor Vicky Avery from Griffith University's Eskitis Institute is co-author of the paper "Quinolone-3-Diarylethers: a new class of drugs for a new era of malaria eradication" which has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine....
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online A vial containing a potentially deadly strain of virus has disappeared from a secure laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, various media outlets reported on Sunday. According to Click2Houston.com, the virus, which was contained in a locked freezer at UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory, contained less than one-fourth of a teaspoon of a virus known as Guanarito – a virus native only to...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Two Virginia Tech researchers successfully altered the eye color of a mosquito in an ongoing effort to develop genetic strategies with the specific goal to disrupt the transmission of disease such as malaria and dengue fever. Zach Adelman and Kevin Myles, associate professors of entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) have been studying vector-borne disease transmission on a genetic level to develop...
Congress Passes Bill Maintaining Full Support for Global Fund WASHINGTON, March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Today Congress reinforced the United States' commitment to global health, passing a continuing resolution (CR) that secures robust funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Despite a constrained budget environment, the bill recognizes the critical needs met by the Global Fund and its partners, providing $1.65 billion for the fight against these...
Drug may be major advance as malaria has developed resistance to existing treatments Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Medical Center have developed a drug that may represent one of the world's best hopes for treating and preventing malaria — a disease that kills more than one million people each year. The scientists have described the drug, and its effectiveness against mice infected with malaria, in the March 20 issue of Science Translational...
NEW YORK, March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NetsforLife® Inspiration Fund has successfully exceeded its $5 million goal due to the incredible generosity of supporters across the Episcopal Church and beyond. Over the 2010-12 triennium, thousands of individuals joined congregations, dioceses, schools and organizations in this church-wide, grassroots effort to unite Episcopalians in the fight against malaria. Since 2006, Episcopal Relief & Development's NetsforLife®...
Latest Tropical diseases Reference Libraries
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease with a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family. It is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes and is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa, but not in Asia. Primates and a few kinds of mosquitoes are the only known hosts. The origin of the disease is most likely Africa. From there it was introduced to South America through the slave trade in the 16th century. There...
West Nile virus (WNV) is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. It is part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses and is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It primarily infects birds but can infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, and other mammals. Humans are generally infected through the bites of mosquitoes and about 90% of West Nile Virus infections are without symptoms. The virion is 45-60 nm and covered with a relatively smooth protein surface. It is...
Marburg virus, or Marburg, is the standard name for the genus of viruses Marburgvirus which contains the species, Lake Victoria Marburgvirus. It causes Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever (MHF) which originated with primates. It originated in Africa and can infect humans and primates. It is in the same taxonomic family as Ebola and both are identical structurally although they elicit different antibodies. It was named after the location of the first outbreak in Marburg, Germany in 1967. The...
Lassa fever, first described in 1969 in Lassa, is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever. Clinical cases were known a decade before this but were not associated with this viral pathogen. It is endemic in West African countries and causes approximately 5,000 deaths. The Natal Multimammate Mouse is the primary animal host. The rodent is a source of protein but the virus is usually transmitted by the contact with the feces and urine of animals accessing grain stores in residences. The lassa virus...
Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), caused by the dengue virus, is among the spectrum of acute febrile tropical disease and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Occurring mainly in the tropics it can be life threatening and is caused by four closely related virus stereotypes of the genus Flavivirus. It was identified and named in 1779. It has a nickname of "breakbone fever" due to it causing sever generalized bodyache. It tends to be more prevalent in the urban districts of its range...
