One health
Communicable diseases remain one of the major causes of mortality worldwide. There are disparities in the numbers of individuals affected by disease between low-and-middle-income countries and those in developed nations. Microbes will play in important role in drug discovery: producing anticancer drugs and antimicrobials. Applying One Health principles, to understand the interaction of pathogens and the human host, development of diagnostics, treatments, and disease prevention, applied microbiologists can shape global health and wellbeing outcomes.
News
Researchers investigate soil microbes from around the world for new antibacterial drugs
A team of researchers is looking to nature to find microbes that can be used to create new antibiotics to treat the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria. They will screen soil microbes from around the world to hunt for sources of new antibacterial drugs.
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NewsNew study links gut bacteria to immunotherapy success in melanoma patients
Researchers have identified specific gut bacteria linked to better responses to cancer immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma. Patients who responded well to treatment were more likely to have a specific type of gut bacteria called Faecalibacterium.
NewsStudy finds high prevalence of hantavirus in some areas of the Pacific Northwest
A recent study conducted in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho found that nearly 30% of rodents showed evidence of past infection with the Sin Nombre virus. About 10% were actively infected, meaning they were carrying and could potentially shed the virus.
NewsSurvey highlights persistent uncertainty on STI vaccines
A nationally representative survey of empaneled adults finds that while most Americans understand how STIs spread, there are significant gaps in public knowledge about which infections can be prevented through vaccination.
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The ocean’s pharmacy: scientists chart a new path for marine peptide drug discovery
A review surveys how new extraction, chromatography, and bioinformatics tools are accelerating the discovery of bioactive peptides from the sea. Researchers provide an integrated overview of how marine bioactive peptides are produced, purified, and evaluated, and how bioinformatics is reshaping the discovery pipeline.
NewsTrial tests virus-immunotherapy combination for neuroendocrine tumors
A phase I clinical trial is testing whether a tumor-targeting virus can help immunotherapy work more effectively against aggressive neuroendocrine tumors that often resist treatment. The ongoing study has completed its first three dose levels with no severe treatment-related side effects reported to date.
NewsMicrobiome insights may help predict immunotherapy benefit in kidney cancer
City of Hope researchers report that gut microbiome composition may influence how patients respond to immunotherapy combinations in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, pointing to a potential biomarker that could help guide treatment selection in the future.
NewsBrain inflammation is unlikely to explain persistent long COVID symptoms
A new brain imaging study has found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients suffering from prolonged symptoms after COVID-19 infection. Instead, the most severe long COVID symptoms were associated with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion.
NewsPegylated interferon-based treatment improves response rates in immune-tolerant patients with chronic hepatitis B
A new study aimed to investigate the efficacy and predictive factors of a pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN)-based treatment strategy in IT patients with chronic HBV infection.
NewsModern medicine makes gut microbial diversity plummet
Even minimal exposure to modern medicine can rapidly change the human microbiome. Researchers reveal that the gut microbes of remote Amazonian Indigenous communities began shifting toward patterns more commonly seen in urban, industrialized populations after only a few medical visits.
NewsScientists make groundbreaking discovery – and find a possible new ally – in the opioid crisis
Scientists analyzed used hypodermic needles from a needle exchange program to better understand what narcotics actually were in the needles and determine if any non-viral pathogens were present.
NewsChemists use sea sponge bacteria to create new molecules for drug discovery
Chemists have synthesized new molecules derived from bacteria found in a Pacific Ocean sea sponge. They are the first to successfully synthesize two new marine natural products: tetradehydrohalicyclamine B and epi-tetradehydrohalicyclamine B.
NewsHPV self-collection boosts cervical cancer screening rates
The first major U.S. rollout of HPV self-collection shows benefits for patients and providers, including fewer pelvic exams and better follow-up for HPV-positive results.
NewsHospital wastewater reveals drug-resistant fungus strains months before patients show symptoms
A study reveals that sampling raw wastewater closer to the source — sewer lines that directly serve hospitals, retirement homes, and long-term care facilities — allows scientists to detect drug-resistant strains of Candida auris as many as five months before patients begin showing symptoms.
NewsNew clinical study shows pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila MucT supports weight loss maintenance
A clinical trial demonstrates that supplementation with pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila MucT® significantly improved weight loss maintenance in adults with overweight or obesity following an initial weight loss intervention.
NewsScientists harness T cells to help the body fight entire viral families
Scientists have discovered that combining key vaccine ingredients could give the body the tools it needs to fight the entire family of arenaviruses with a single vaccine, protecting against life-threatening infections from Lassa virus, Junin virus, and other arenaviruses with pandemic potential.
NewsSabiá virus has been circulating in Brazil for 142 years and mutating, study finds
Researchers developed a new method and identified the infection in two patients who died from acute hemorrhagic and neurological syndrome in São Paulo in 2019 and 2020.
NewsPatent targets viruses with a breakthrough from linseed oil
A common vegetable oil may hold the key to fighting some of the world’s most dangerous viruses. Scientists have patented a linseed oil polyol-derived compound shown to inhibit viral infections including HIV and SARS-CoV-2 as well as bacterial infections causing strep and staph.
NewsA hypovirulent mycovirus alters stress response and virulence in Talaromyces marneffei
A new study identifies the mycovirus TmNV1 as the first narnavirus discovered in T. maneffei, functioning as a potent virulence attenuator. Coinfection with TmPV1 further amplifies these hypovirulent phenotypes.
NewsTicks are ‘spreading like wildfire’ - and more of them are carrying Lyme
Not only are tick numbers growing in the US, but today’s ticks are more likely to carry Lyme disease bacteria and other dangerous pathogens. Researchers have noticed a greater diversity of ticks, suggesting a complex pattern of movement and perhaps the introduction or reintroduction of animals, including birds.
NewsBacterial STIs reach record highs in Europe, and congenital syphilis cases nearly double
New figures indicate a surge in bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) across Europe. In 2024, notifications of gonorrhoea and syphilis, alongside congenital syphilis, reached their highest levels in over a decade, reflecting sustained transmission across multiple countries.
NewsHealthcare utilization disruptions continue in post-COVID China
Although China’s stringent public health policy, Dynamic Zero-Covid, was lifted in late 2022, researchers have discovered substantial, long-term declines in outpatient clinic visits and hospitalizations compared to expected levels from 2020 to 2024 in China.
NewsLargest-ever Canadian clinical trial tests ‘poop pills’ to improve immunotherapy for lung cancer
For nearly half of people diagnosed with lung cancer, immunotherapy can slow the disease but not stop it. A clinical trial will pair immunotherapy with fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) with the goal of safely increasing treatment effectiveness. If successful, it could provide new treatment options for people with lung cancer.