Invisiverse Features
News: Long-Term Follow-Up Shows Lasting, Positive Impacts of Fecal Transplants
As unappealing as it sounds, transplants with fecal material from healthy donors help treat tough Clostridium difficile gastrointestinal infections. Researchers credit the treatment's success to its ability to restore a healthy bacterial balance to the bowels, and new research has shown that the transplanted bacteria doesn't just do its job and leave. The good fecal bacteria and its benefits can persist for years.
News: Rocking 'Radiohead' Ant Farms Fungus for a Living — & It Might Help Fight Superbugs
Long admired for their active and cooperative community behavior, some types of ants also wear a gardening hat. Nurturing underground fungus gardens, these ants have a win-win relationship that provides food for both ants and fungi. If we humans understand it better, it may just help us out, too.
News: Baby with Severe Zika-Related Birth Defects Born in San Diego County
A baby with severe Zika-related birth defects was born in San Diego County this week, prompting officials to urge pregnant women to avoid disease hotspots.
News: Step Aside Penicillin — A Deep Dive into Fungus Genes Reveals Over 1,300 Potential Antibiotics Waiting to Be Discovered
On October 17, 1943, a story in the New York Herald Tribune read "Many laymen — husbands, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, friends — beg Dr. Keefer for penicillin," according to the American Chemical Society. Dr. Chester Keefer of Boston was responsible for rationing the new miracle drug, penicillin.
News: Bloodsucking Flies Act as 'Flying Syringes' to Detect Malaria & Other Emerging Diseases in Wild Animals
Researchers have been studying the blood meals of flies to understand the flow of infectious pathogens in wild animals.
News: Amish New Mother with Stiff Neck & Jaw Diagnosed with Obstetric Tetanus, Emphasizing Need for Vaccinations
Obstetric tetanus in an unvaccinated Amish woman after a home birth has emphasized the need for preventative healthcare.
News: Victorian Hospitals Sound Like the Germiest Places Ever—No Wonder Everyone Got Infections
According to Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris of The Chirurgeon's Apprentice, hospitals during the first half of the nineteenth century were known as "Houses of Death."
News: Rare Superbug Found in More Than One-Third of Houston Methodist Patients
The bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae is a bad actor known for being antibiotic-resistant and causing a variety of serious infections in hospitals, including pneumonia, surgical site wounds, and meningitis. K. pneumoniae is something you do not want to encounter if you have a compromised immune system.
News: Listeria May Be a Cause of Early Undiagnosed Miscarriage
New research suggests the bacteria that causes listeriosis may be a bigger threat in early pregnancy than previously thought. Usually considered a danger to late pregnancy, scientists suggest early undiagnosed miscarriages could be caused, in some cases, by infection with Listeria.
News: A Human Has Caught the Bird Flu... From a Cat!
Cats give us so much—companionship, loyalty, love... and now the bird flu. Several weeks ago, a veterinarian from the Animal Care Centers of New York City's Manhattan shelter caught H7N2 from a sick cat. According to a press release from the NYC Health Department on December 22, "The illness was mild, short-lived, and has resolved." This isn't the first time cats have passed infections on to humans, but it is the first time they passed on the bird flu—avian flu H7N2, to be exact.
News: New Research May Help Stop Deadly Lassa Virus
A recent study offers information that might help combat a deadly virus that affects an estimated 300,000 people each year in West Africa.
News: Bye Bye, French Bread & Pasta—There's a Fungal Outbreak Killing Europe's Wheat Crops
We may not fully appreciate all the important roles wheat plays in our lives until it's gone—or at least, when it's in very short supply. What would a world be like without bread, cakes, cereal, pasta, or wheat beer? If the dire warnings about an impending stem rust fungus come to pass, we may know all too soon.
News: Take These Steps to Avoid Getting an Infection When You Receive Health Care
The office of your physician, or your local hospital, is where you go when you need medical care. But it could also be where you could pick up a life-threatening infection.
News: Sentinel Nerve Cells Spy on the Intestines, Linking Gut & Brain
If the all the fingerlike projections in our gut were flattened out, its surface area would be 100 times bigger than our skin's. It's so large that the actions of just a small part of it can impact our health. A new research study has found that enterochromaffin cells in the intestinal lining alert the nervous system to signs of trouble in the gut — trouble that ranges from bacterial products to inflammatory food molecules.
News: Ancient Fungus Gives Trees a Better Chance at Surviving Hotter Temperatures
A 6,000-year-old forest inhabitant awakens to find life in the forest around it in crisis. Plants, trees, animals, and birds are moving north to escape increasingly heated air, even as mass extinctions take place around the world. The inhabitant stirs and remembers it has lived this before and knows what to do.
News: Despite Effective Vaccine, Measles Still Threaten Worldwide
Nineteen days ago, several hundred people could have been exposed by a traveler with measles in Nova Scotia, Canada. The next day, someone flying from Minnesota to Nebraska may have spread the measles to other passengers. A couple weeks ago, it's possible that a man and his six-month old child spread the measles in several Seattle-based locations. Authorities are trying to locate persons who may have been in contact with these people. None of the persons with measles were vaccinated. Why?
News: New Study Says Stopping Slimy Biofilms Could Save Thousands a Year from Legionnaires' Disease
In the summer of 1976, 4,000 American Legionnaires descended upon the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a four-day convention. Several days later, many of the attendees experienced symptoms of severe pneumonia. By the beginning of August, 22 people had died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about 180 people were sickened and 29 people died before this mysterious outbreak burnt out.
News: Change of Tune? Not Everyone Needs to Finish That Course of Antibiotics
After years of telling patients to finish any prescribed course of antibiotics completely, a group of researchers in the UK say it is no longer necessary, and could even be harmful if we want to preserve the antibiotics we can still use.
News: Climate Change Might Stir Up Dangerous Dust Microbiome
Just like your gastrointestinal tract, and the soil we walk on — a dust storm has a collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses all its own called a "dust microbiome."
News: Syphilis Outbreak in in Oklahoma County Linked to a Social Network Defined by Drugs & Sex
There has been an outbreak of syphilis in Oklahoma County with 75 confirmed cases connected by a social network driven by drug use and sex.
New CDC Stats: Zika Birth Defects Appear in 10% of Babies Born to Mothers Infected While Pregnant
After a brief reprieve, Zika fear is back with a vengeance as the US mosquito population booms. And we're just now seeing the true impact of this devastating virus, as babies of mothers infected with the virus are being born.
News: Microbes Behave Strangely—& Potentially Dangerously—In Space
Since the 1960s, bacteria have been hopping a ride into space on space vehicles and astronauts, and have been cultivated within experiments on space shuttles and the International Space Station (ISS). The extreme growing conditions and the low gravity environment on the Earth-orbiting vehicles offers a stable research platform for looking at bacteria in a different light.
News: Do the CDC's Suggested New Quarantine Rules Give Them Too Much Power?
When Kaci Hickox, a Doctors Without Borders nurse, returned to New Jersey from working with Ebola patients in West Africa in 2014, she was surprised by her reception. Instead of a quiet return to her home in Maine after four weeks on the front line of Ebola treatment, she was quarantined by the State of New Jersey in Newark. She later filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for violation of her civil rights, false imprisonment, and invasion of privacy.
News: World Malaria Day Reminds Us That The Fight Isn't Over
The theme for 2017's World Malaria Day, which is today, April 25, is "End Malaria for Good." For many Americans, this might seem like an odd plea. Especially since Malaria is seemingly an obsolete problem here. However, on World Malaria Day, it's important to remember the danger of malaria is still very much present in the US. And around the world, the disease is at the epicenter of a global crisis.
News: The Yellow Fever Outbreak in Brazil Is Getting Worse
In March, we wrote about the growing threat of yellow fever in Brazil. At the time, the disease had killed just over a 100 people. Unfortunately, the disease has only spread since then with many more people infected and more killed.
News: MRIs Spot Sneaky Dementia-Causing HIV Brain Infections, Even in Patients on Effective Treatments
In the past, infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) commonly led to dementia as the virus made its way to the brain. Even in effectively treated people, HIV can hide out and replicate in places like the brain, where it's tough to detect. That's why it's very concerning that half of all HIV-infected patients still report cognitive problems.
News: Hand Sanitizer Won't Stop an Office Outbreak—If Your Coworker Doesn't Care
There's now more reasons to make sick workers stay home—a new game theory study suggests adequate hand washing and other illness-aversion tactics aren't as useful as we thought to keep you from getting infected when a virus or bacteria is circulating.
News: Scientists Find an Unusual Reason for Toxic Ocean Contamination
We've worked hard to reduce the flow of toxic chemicals into our waterways, which means no more DDT and other bad actors to pollute or destroy wildlife and our health. But one observation has been plaguing scientists for decades: Why are large quantities of one toxic chemical still found in the world's oceans?
Prime Directive: How NASA's Planetary Protection Officer Keeps Our Germs from Contaminating Other Planets (& Vice Versa)
On July 20, 1969, humans set foot on the moon for the first time. But some say our microbes beat us there. With the Space Age came new questions about microscopic invaders from outer space and concern about where we are leaving our microbial footprints. The questions are even more relevant today.
News: A Double Punch of Viruses & Immunotherapy Could Improve Outcomes for Cancer Patients
Activating the body's own immune system to fight cancer is the goal of immunotherapy. It's less toxic than chemotherapy and works with our body's natural defenses. The trouble is, it doesn't work for most patients — only about 40% of cancer patients get a good response from immunotherapy. But coupling it with another type of cancer therapy just might deliver the punch that's needed to knock out cancer.
News: Fighting Nightmare Bacteria Is Like a Game of Whack-a-Mole—It Keeps Popping Up in Unexpected Places
The pathogen referred to as a "nightmare bacteria" is quietly adapting and spreading faster than anticipated.
News: I.M. SoyNut Butter E. Coli Outbreak Update—7 More Sickened, from 4 States
There have been seven more people sickened from four states since the I.M. SoyNut Butter E. coli outbreak was announced earlier this month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Washington Department of Health have confirmed the I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter was the cause of the outbreak in an update today.
News: We've Known About Zika for 70 Years — & Finally Figured Out Why It's Just Becoming a Problem
The year was 1947. Scientists had isolated a virus from a pyrexial rhesus monkey in Uganda and named it after the forest where the monkey lived — Zika.
News: Century-Old Finding May Show the Way to Create Vaccines Against Toxic Strep Infections
Infections with group A streptococcus, like Streptococcus pyogenes, claim over a half million lives a year globally, with about 163,000 due to invasive strep infections, like flesh-eating necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
News: Bacteria Turned into Factories, Supplying Critical Enzymes to Make Cancer Drugs Cheaper & Save Endangered Yew Trees
Cytochrome P450 (P450s) are proteins found in nearly all living organisms, which play roles that range from producing essential compounds and hormones to metabolizing drugs and toxins. We use some of the compounds synthesized by P450 in plants as medical treatments, but the slow growth and limited supply of these plants have put the drugs' availability in jeopardy and jacked up prices.
News: Bill Gates Says Bioterrorism Could Kill Millions in a Pandemic—Here's How & What to Do
At a global security conference in Munich, philanthropist and businessman Bill Gates spoke about the next pandemic and a dire lack of global readiness. Here's how his statement could come true—and how to be ready when it does.
News: Worrisome Outbreak of Mumps Spreads in Colorado
Officials in Colorado are concerned as 61 cases of the mumps were reported so far this year, a significant increase in the prevalence of the contagious disease in the state.
News: Hybrid Molecule Delivers 1-2 Punch to Find & Attack Nasty Staph Bacteria
Drug-resistant bacteria have made curing some infections challenging, if not nearly impossible. By 2050, it's estimated that 10 million people will be dying annually from infections with antibiotic-resistant organisms.
News: Out Damn Spot! Researchers Discover Microbes Are the Reason for Stains on Ancient Scrolls
This is a tale about microbes, a man who became a hermit, and the parchment that carries both of their stories.
News: Compound in a Frog's Defensive Slime May Treat Your Next Flu Infection
Our quest to find novel compounds in nature that we can use against human diseases —a process called bioprospecting — has led a research team to a small frog found in India. From the skin slime of the colorful Hydrophylax bahuvistara, researchers reported finding a peptide — a small piece of protein — that can destroy many strains of human flu and can even protect mice against the flu.