Category Archives: Infectious disease

Journal Club: Dogs can harbor evolving flu viruses, signaling potential future threat to humans

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

When scientists search for the origins of a novel influenza A outbreak, they often trace the virus back to birds or pigs. These animals act as reservoirs, hosts that allow diverse flu viruses to swap genome segments, evolving into new … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Diagnosing disease with smartphone cameras

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

Bioengineers at the University of Washington have devised a way to use smartphone cameras for imaging diagnostics, paving the way to test for afflictions such as influenza and sexually transmitted infections without costly equipment. The technique, presented this month in Analytical … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Cooler temperatures might make some mosquitoes better dengue spreaders

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Amber Dance

Migrating mosquitoes that carry diseases from the tropics to cooler climes might be better at spreading disease in their new, cooler home, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers from Yale University in … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Mutation helps Zika virus evolve to more easily infect mosquitoes, spread infection

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

Scientists discovered the Zika virus over half a century ago. But it wasn’t until recent outbreaks in French Polynesia and South America that the mosquito-borne virus, now associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults and microcephaly in newborn babies, reached epidemic … Continue reading →

Journal Club: New chip allows for rapid, low-cost disease diagnosis from small DNA, RNA samples

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Charles Choi

A new point-of-care biochip enables rapid detection of nucleic acids in blood samples, paving the way for quick, cheap tests for HIV, MRSA, and numerous other diseases. Video Credit: Yeh et al. Sci. Adv. 2016;3:e1501645 Ideally, an urgent diagnosis occurs rapidly and at … Continue reading →

Journal Club: A new strategy for producing polio vaccine without live virus

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

The poliovirus, which once paralyzed children across the globe, is nearly eradicated in nature. There were just 74 cases of polio reported in 2015, according to the World Health Organization, down from an estimated 350,000 in 1988. Two vaccines contributed … Continue reading →