New Scientist
11/20/2013
Souped-up bacteria clears hookworm from hamster guts
BACTERIA used in Japanese food have cured hookworm infections – at least in hamsters. Two billion people around the world are infected with parasitic worms, or helminths, which are found in the soil. The drugs used to treat them were developed to treat parasites in farm animals.
Healio - Infectious Disease News
11/17/2013
P. vivax may be overcoming natural resistance found in Africans
The Plasmodium vivax parasite appears to be rapidly evolving to overcome resistance conferred by a specific blood type found among millions of people in Africa, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Daily Nation (Kenya)
11/16/2013
Africans once protected against malaria face new risk
A common type of malaria that used to be powerless to infect certain groups of Africans is becoming more potent, putting tens of millions of people at risk, scientists said Friday.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
11/15/2013
CWRU, Cleveland Clinic researchers get $3.5 million to study genetic changes of parasite that causes malaria
A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute will use a five year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (part of the National Institutes of Health) to see if they can uncover more information about the genetic mutations they recently discovered on a parasite that causes more than 100 million cases of malaria each year worldwide.
BBC
11/15/2013
Climate clues as dengue fever spreads in US
Mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever are spreading across the US. But outbreaks of the disease are only occurring in some areas, and scientists are trying to find out why.
The Verge
11/14/2013
Dengue fever outbreaks in the US leave scientists looking for answers
Dengue fever was eradicated from the US nearly 70 years ago, but the devastating tropical disease has made something of a comeback in recent years, following outbreaks in Florida, Hawaii, and Texas. Unlike dengue outbreaks in other parts of the world, its American resurgence has so far been limited in reach — though researchers are still struggling to explain why it hasn't spread further.
Science's "Science Now"
11/14/2013
Treatment for Dormant Malaria Shows Promise
The first new drug in half a century to target malaria parasites in one of their best hideouts is showing encouraging results. The researchers developing the drug, called tafenoquine, said today that data from a recently completed phase II trial were promising enough that they will soon start a phase III trial—the last step before asking drug regulators for approval.
Discover Magazine
10/29/2013
Plague It Again, Sam: Plague in the Twenty-First Century
The plague is an old microbial foe that has haunted our cities and our ports for millennia, killing millions of people in waves of pandemics since antiquity. But Yersinia pestis no longer has the same presence, or stranglehold, in our society and seems negligible when we consider the current state of microbial affairs – increasing levels of antibiotic resistance and novel and emerging viral pathogens, just to name a couple of today’s most pressing issues. Even its moniker, “the plague,” has been appropriated for more contemporary microorganisms that appear to come from nowhere and quickly, fatally sweep through a population – SARS and HIV are prime examples of two new “plagues.”
NPR's Shots
10/09/2013
Activists Sue U.N. Over Cholera That Killed Thousands In Haiti
Human rights activists are suing the United Nations on behalf of five Haitian families afflicted by cholera — a disease many believe U.N. peacekeeping troops brought to Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake there.
New York Times
09/16/2013
United States Ranks 11th in Plague Cases Worldwide
The United States now ranks 11th in the world in cases of plague, according to a new survey of the disease. With 57 cases in a decade, it is far below the hardest-hit countries, Congo with 10,581 and Madagascar with 7,182. Still, it is the only wealthy country on the list; 97percent of cases are in Africa.