Microbiology

A recent paper examined 45,079 cases of toxoplasmosis in wild mammals—a disease that has been linked to nervous system disorders, cancers and other debilitating chronic conditions—using data from 202 global studies and found wildlife living near dense urban areas, where there are lots of cats carrying the pararsite, were more likely to be infected. One infected cat can excrete as many as 500 million Toxoplasma oocysts (or eggs) in just two weeks. The oocysts can then live for years in soil and water with the potential to infect any bird or mammal, including humans. Toxoplasmosis is…

It used to be that allergies were somewhat rare but if you go to an allergist today, you are almost certain to be declared allergic, or at least sensitive, to something. How much of that is actual biological change versus how much is that the country that purchases 85% of the world's prescription medication loves to get medical diagnoses is unclear. Now the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology believes that nearly half of the population of the EU have allergies to something. A survey of Americans in 2020 estimated that approximately 30 percent of Americans of all ages have…

In 2019, three free-ranging cheetahs in the Namib Desert died within 24 hours of each other. Scholars set out to determine why. On October 5th 2019, the carcass of a GPS-collared cheetah in the Namib desert was found dead from the air. After they went in on foot to investigate, two other cheetahs were also found dead. The GPS data showed they had all died within a short period of each other so the team then identified a cluster of GPS locations approximately two kilometers away from the location where they were found dead. At that spot, they found the carcass of an adult mountain zebra,…

Coronavirus may only have been identified as distinct from the common cold in the 1960s, and it may have only had two pandemics (SARS and MERS) in this century prior to COVID-19, but there is a reason it is called COVID-19 and not just COVID. There have been too many to know about. Viruses evolve and adapt. New research shows Sarbecoviruses they have been hitting us with disease for over 20,000 years. For viruses to live, they must evolve fast while remaining highly adapted to their hosts - this imposes severe restrictions on their freedom to accumulate mutations without reducing their…

Raw food, from milk to meat, can obviously bring higher risk of bacteria. The raw milk fad in the US creates risk of illness orders of magnitude higher than milk that has been pasteurized to remove harmful bacteria. In Europe, the 'raw' dog food fad may be creating something even worse; multidrug-resistant bacteria identical to those found in hospital patients. Drug-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people a year globally and, with the figure projected to rise to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classes antibiotic resistance as one of…

Due to unanswered questions into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, both the U.S. government and scientists have called for a deeper examination into the validity of claims that a virus could have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. Much of the discussion surrounds “gain-of-function” research. So The Conversation asked David Gillum and Rebecca Moritz, who work closely with virologists on a day-to-day basis to ensure the safety and security of the research, and Sam Weiss Evans and Megan Palmer, who are science and technology policy experts, to explain what this term means and why this…

In only a few weeks, a shift in the world’s disposition caused the human race to fall flat on its face. An unswerving virus named SARS-CoV-2 crippled the 21st century’s roaring socioeconomic infrastructure, creating a doomsday scenario.  The resulting disease, COVID-19, led to renewed concern about the ‘palpable threat’ of bioterrorism, showed the ugly face of plutocracy, and revealed selective mutism of the world about the humanitarian crisis. From hegemonic power politics between the US and China to bickering over the production and distribution of the vaccine by allies, we learned…

Animals can cause diseases in humans. That won't surprise you. What may surprise you is to read that these diseases can be prevented by eating less meat.  There is no question that SARS-CoV-2 is zoonotic(1) - it passed from animals to humans -  and it is not the first, or even all that rare. Zoonotic diseases are half of all human pathogens. The new paper leaps from that to suggesting that 'intensive' agriculture will mean pandemics become more common. Then the philosophers dabble in policy and suggest a "zoonotic tax" on your hamburger. Next April 1st I think I will have copies of…

Dolutegravir, the HIV wonder drug and current first-line treatment, is less effective in sub-Saharan Africa, and the reason is as old as evolution itself - mutation.  As HIV copies itself and replicates, its genetic code (RNA) can change. While a drug may initially be able to suppress or even kill a virus, certain mutations can allow the virus to develop resistance to its effects. If a mutated strain begins to spread within a population, it can mean once-effective drugs are no longer able to treat people. That may be the case with HIV in Africa. HIV treatment usually includes a non-…

Early in the pandemic, many researchers feared people who contracted COVID could be reinfected very quickly. This was because several early studies showed antibodies seemed to wane after the first few months post-infection. It was also partly because normal human coronaviruses, which are one cause of common colds and are cousins of SARS-CoV-2, do not generate long-lasting immunity, so we can get reinfected with them after 12 months. But new preliminary research suggests key parts of the immune system can remember SARS-CoV-2 for at least eight or nine months, and possibly for years. Immune…