New Method Developed for Detecting Mycobacteria in the Lungs

A research team from the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University of Zurich and the National Center for Mycobacteria has carried out a large-scale study with more than 6800 patient samples to examine molecular-based methods for the detection of mycobacterial pathogens. Because many mycobacteria only grow at a slow pace, routine detection using bacteria cultures in highly specialized and expensive high-safety labs takes several weeks to complete. The subsequent susceptibility test to determine the appropriate medicine also takes 1 to 2 weeks.

"For patients and doctors, this long waiting period is an unnecessary test of their patience", says Peter Keller, M.D., from the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the UZH. "By comparison, with molecular detection methods, most patients know after 1 or 2 days whether they have an infection with tuberculosis pathogens or with nontuberculous mycobacteria."

Mycobacteria cause various illnesses. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main representative of this genus, is the causative agent of tuberculosis, which killed around 1.5 million people worldwide in 2014.

Read more: New Method Developed for Detecting Mycobacteria in the Lungs

Mycobacterium tuberculosis in patient samples.

Source: genengnews

What's the Connection Between Multiple Sclerosis and the JC Virus?

The John Cunningham Virus, also known as the JC virus, is a typically harmless virus.

It is found in the blood samples of 70 to 90 percent of people worldwide.

Children with JC virus often show no symptoms. The JC virus can also be found in the body much later in life without complications. It is commonly found in the kidneys, bone marrow, and some body tissues.

Read more:  What's the Connection Between Multiple Sclerosis and the JC Virus?

The risk of PML is higher in people who take certain medications to treat multiple sclerosis.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Food Pathogen Detection via Handheld 'Nanoflower' Biosensor

At present, harmful pathogens in food are mostly only discovered when people get sick. Earlier detection - preferably before food reaches consumers - could prevent many cases of foodborne illness and save the cost and effort involved in food recalls. Now, a team working toward solving this problem has developed a portable biosensor based on "nanoflowers" that detects harmful bacteria.

The new technology is the work of researchers at Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, who describe how they developed and tested it in a paper published in the journal Small.

Even tiny amounts of harmful bacteria and other microbes can give rise to serious health risks, but the available sensor technology is unable to detect them easily and quickly in small quantities.

The key challenge in solving this problem is finding a way to detect the faint chemical signals that the harmful microbes emit at the molecular level.

Read more:  Food Pathogen Detection via Handheld 'Nanoflower' Biosensor

The nanoflower biosensor detects tiny chemical signals emitted by bacteria and amplifies them so they
can be picked up easily with a simple handheld pH meter.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Measles: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Measles, also known as Rubeola or morbilli, is a highly infectious illness caused by a virus - a viral infection caused by the rubeola virus.

Measles is an endemic disease; meaning it is continually present in a community and many people develop resistance. If measles enters an area where the people have never been exposed the result can be devastating.

A measles outbreak in 1592 in the island of Cuba killed approximately two-thirds of the native population who had previously survived smallpox. A couple of years later half the indigenous population of Honduras died.

Read more: Measles: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Measles symptoms can often include a reddish-brown spotty rash.

Source: medicalnewstoday

How a single blood test could identify your entire viral infection history

Researchers have created what they say is a "one-stop shop" for diagnosing infections - a test that can determine an individual's complete viral history just by scanning a single drop of blood.

The test, called VirScan, was created by Stephen Elledge and colleagues from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

"We've developed a screening methodology to basically look back in time in people's [blood] sera and see what viruses they have experienced," explains Elledge. "Instead of testing for one individual virus at a time, which is labor intensive, we can assay all of these at once. It's one-stop shopping."

Read more: How a single blood test could identify your entire viral infection history

VirScan can pinpoint past and present viruses in a person's blood by identifying the peptides antiviral
antibodies bind to.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Novel blood test could diagnose diseases with no known antigens

It may one day be possible to identify cancer, autoimmune diseases, and a wealth of other conditions from a single drop of blood, after a team from the University of Pittsburgh reveals the creation of a test that holds promise for such a feat.

In the Journal of Immunological Methods, the researchers explain how they developed a test that may be able to identify diseases for which there are no known microbial causes.

Antigens are substances - such as bacteria, viruses, or chemicals - that induce an immune response in the body, causing the immune system to produce antibodies that target and destroy these foreign invaders.

Read more: Novel blood test could diagnose diseases with no known antigens

Researchers have created a blood test that they say could diagnose a number of diseases with no
known microbial causes.

Source: medicalnewstoday

The superbug that doctors have been dreading just reached the U.S.

For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could mean “the end of the road” for antibiotics.

The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery “heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria.”

Read more: The PhD journey: A guide to applying, starting and succeeding

Source: washingtonpost

Antibiotic resistance solution proposed

A group of US scientists are confident the key to tackling antibiotic resistant bacteria is already in front of our faces – non-antibiotic therapeutic drugs.

At least 50,000 people die every year in Europe and the US due to antibiotic resistance. In other areas of the world this figure is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Professor Ashok Chopra, from the University of Texas, said: “There are no new antibiotics which are being developed and nobody really has given much emphasis to this because everyone feels we have enough antibiotics in the market.

“But now the problem is bugs are becoming resistant to multiple antibiotics. That’s why we started thinking about looking at other molecules that could have some effect in killing antibiotic resistant bacteria.”

Read more: Antibiotic resistance solution proposed

Source: labnews

Breast milk hormones found to impact bacterial development in infants' guts

Intestinal microbiome of children born to obese mothers significantly different from those born to mothers of healthy weight

A new study finds that hormones in breast milk may impact the development of healthy bacteria in infants' guts, potentially protecting them from intestinal inflammation, obesity and other diseases later in life.

The study, published Monday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examines the role of human milk hormones in the development of infants' microbiome, a bacterial ecosystem in the digestive system that contributes to multiple facets of health.

"This is the first study of its kind to suggest that hormones in human milk may play an important role in shaping a healthy infant microbiome," said Bridget Young, co-first author and assistant professor of pediatric nutrition at CU Anschutz. "We've known for a long time that breast milk contributes to infant intestinal maturation and healthy growth. This study suggests that hormones in milk may be partly responsible for this positive impact through interactions with the infant's developing microbiome."

Researchers found that levels of insulin and leptin in the breast milk were positively associated with greater microbial diversity and families of bacteria in the infants' stool.

Read more: Breast milk hormones found to impact bacterial development in infants' guts

A new study examined the role of human milk hormones in the development of infants' microbiome

Source: ricardoferrando/Fotolia

'Millions will die' from antimicrobial resistance unless we act now

From helping humans live longer and hacking our performance, to repairing the body and understanding the brain, WIRED Health will hear from the innovators transforming this critical sector.

Ten million people around the world will die each year by 2050 if more is not done to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, Jim O'Neill, commercial secretary to the treasury, has said.

Speaking at WIRED Health, O'Neill said the rise in resistance needs to be "embraced by policy makers around the world".

If it isn't then the number of people dying from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will increase dramatically.

Read more: 'Millions will die' from antimicrobial resistance unless we act now

Staphylococcus Aureus

Source: Getty Images / BSIP

Gut microbes regulate nerve fibre insulation.

Far from being silent partners that merely help to digest food, the bacteria in your gut may also be exerting subtle influences on your thoughts, moods, and behaviour. And according to a new study from researchers at University College Cork, your gut microbes might affect the structure and function of the brain in a more direct way, by regulating myelination, the process by which nerve fibres are insulated so that they can conduct impulses properly.

The surprising new findings, published today in the journal Translational Psychiatry, provide what is perhaps the strongest evidence yet that gut bacteria can have a direct physical effect on the brain, and suggest that it may one day be possible to treat debilitating demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and even psychiatric disorders, by altering the composition of the gut’s microbial menagerie in some way or another.

Gut microbe research has exploded in the past 10 years, and in that time, it has become increasingly clear that there is a two-way line of communication betweengut bacteria and the brain. The human gut microbiome seems to play important roles in health and disease, and alterations in its composition have been implicated in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, including autism, chronic pain, depression, and Parkinson’s Disease, although the links still remain somewhat tenuous.

Read more: Gut microbes regulate nerve fibre insulation.

Scanning electron micrograph showing E. coli bacteria.

Source: Wikimedia Commons