 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Cholera Study Provides Exciting New Way Of Looking At Infectious Disease
Rome, Italy (SPX) May 06, 2008 Scientists in Italy have discovered a new perspective in the study of infectious disease. Normally, such studies are based upon laboratory work looking at an organism and how it works within the human body. However, in a recent paper published in Environmental Microbiology, Dr Carla Pruzzo, Dr Luigi Vezzulli and Dr Rita R Colwell studied an environmental bacteria and it's interaction with the environment and found that this provided them with vast amounts of information about how the organism causes disease. The organism they studied was Vibrio cholerae - responsible for causing Cholera. In the aquatic environment this bacteria interacts with chitin, a naturally-occurring compound found in the cell walls of fungi, and in the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects. This interaction in the aquatic environment was found to play a large part in determining how the organism survives, how it is spread and how it infects humans. Dr Vezulli, one author of the study said: "This knowledge provides a new framework for the understanding of the role of the non-human environment in affecting the spread of environmental disease-causing bacteria (pathogens), their evolutionary derivation and the way they infect humans to cause disease. This, in turn, can be applied to improve current approaches to risk assessments and epidemiology of infectious disease and to develop new responses for combating pathogens in the environment." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola
Beijing latest victim of China virus outbreak: state media
Beijing (AFP) May 5, 2008A deadly viral outbreak that preys on children has appeared in Olympic host city Beijing, and the number of infections in China has grown to more than 9,000, state media reported Monday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
