Immune Research: HIV susceptibility linked to little-understood immune cell class ♦ Cell division speeds up as part of antibody selection ♦ Iron regulators join war on pathogens

Cell division speeds up as part of antibody selection

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 01:05 PM PDT

In response to an infection, the immune system refines its defensive proteins, called antibodies, to better target an invader. New research has revealed two mechanisms that favor the selection of B cells capable of producing antibodies with the highest affinity for that invader.

Iron regulators join war on pathogens

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 10:52 AM PDT

Iron regulatory proteins play an important role in the body's immune system. Proteins responsible for controlling levels of iron in the body also play an important role in combating infection, according to a new study. Humans -- along with all living organisms, including pathogens -- need iron to survive: invading organisms try to highjack it from their hosts in order to thrive and multiply.

HIV susceptibility linked to little-understood immune cell class

Posted: 22 Jul 2015 11:46 AM PDT

High diversity among certain cells that help fight viruses and tumors is strongly associated with the likelihood of subsequent infection by HIV, researchers have found

Promising treatment for devastating genetic disorder found

Posted: 23 Jul 2015 03:11 PM PDT

A multi-institutional team of researchers has identified an apparently successful treatment for a genetic immune disorder that causes a multitude of health problems -- ranging from infections, diabetes, lung disease and the body's immune system attacking and damaging healthy tissues.

9/17/14 Health News: MEDICAL DEVICE FILTERS OUT PATHOGENS ♦ NEW SALMONELLA PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR MEATS ♦ ANTIBIOTICS USE IN POULTRY

DEVELOPING MEDICAL DEVICE CAN FILTER OUT PATHOGENS

Researchers at Harvard University are developing a medical device designed to mimic the human spleen in order to fight a variety of deadly pathogens, including everything from E. coli to Ebola, according to The Washington Post. So far, the device — called the biospleen — has proven effective at filtering at least 90 different ailments... Continue Reading

NEW FSIS SALMONELLA PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR BEEF AND POULTRY EXPECTED

A top official with USDA’s Food Safety and inspection Service (FSIS) told a meat industry conference that ended Sunday in Charleston, SC, to expect new performance standards for Salmonella. Rachel Edelstein, acting assistant administrator of the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, told the North American Meat Association meeting that her unit is testing... Continue Reading

POULTRY ‘FEED TICKETS’ SHOW SYSTEMATIC ANTIBIOTICS USE

On Monday, Reuters published its analysis of “feed tickets” from Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, George’s and Koch Foods in order to illustrate how U.S. poultry producers systematically feed antibiotics to their chickens. Mills that make feed for companies issue these feed tickets to chicken growers listing the types, amounts, and FDA-approved purposes for each... Continue Reading

7/2/14 Health News: RESEARCHERS FIND SALMONELLA’S ACHILLES’ HEEL ♦ MEDIUM-RARE BURGERS: A RISKY ♦ AMA SEEKS BAN ON ANTIBIOTIC USE ON FARMS FOR GROWTH PROMOTION

RESEARCHERS COMBINE ‘LUCK AND GUESSWORK’ TO FIND SALMONELLA’S ACHILLES’ HEEL

A sugar and amino acid compound called fructose-asparagine never previously recognized as a nutrient for any organism is the stuff that makes Salmonella grow and it could be key to the pathogen’s demise. Brian Ahmer, associate professor of microbial infection and immunity at The Ohio State University, says the nutrient may be the Achilles’ heel... Continue Reading

MEDIUM-RARE BURGERS: A RISKY CULINARY COMEBACK

For those in the food industry, the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1993 is known as the single event that convinced burger joints across the country to raise their internal cooking temperature by 15 degrees. In that outbreak, hamburgers sold at Jack in the Box franchises predominantly in Washington state sickened more... Continue Reading

AMA SEEKS BAN ON ANTIBIOTIC USE ON FARMS FOR GROWTH PROMOTION

The American Medical Association (AMA) is calling for federal action to ban antibiotic use in food animals for growth promotion purposes so as to slow the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “Use drives resistance and overuse drives resistance to happen even faster,” said David Wallinga, a physician on the Keep Antibiotics Working steering committee. There is... Continue Reading

 CONGRESSWOMEN PROPOSE SOLUTION TO ISSUE OF PATHOGENS AS ADULTERANTS

Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) are introducing a bill in the House of Representatives that would give the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) the authority to declare any foodborne pathogen an adulterant and recall contaminated products. The “Pathogen Reduction and Testing Reform Act” amends the Federal Meat Inspection... Continue Reading

9/26/2013 Weekly Health News - Pathogens, Heart Disease, Cancer, HIV, Diabetes etc.

This is a new weekly feature of the blog It will cover the latest in health research.from around the web.  If you like it please let me know

EMERGING PATHOGENS: VIBRIO CASES IN OYSTERS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INCREASING With a nearly 50-percent mortality rate, Vibrio vulnificus is the most deadly foodborne pathogen in the world, according to University of North Carolina at Charlotte Biology Professor Jim Oliver. And instances of infection in the U.S., however rare, are rapidly rising. Fifteen years ago, there were 21 confirmed cases of Vibrio vulnificus and parahaemolyticus infections... Continue Reading

Reporting of Pathology Errors in Canada not done in the United States

Errors in anatomic pathology testing in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan made media headlines this summer. In each case, it was just a limited number of cases where errors at pathology labs resulted in inaccurate diagnoses and, in at least one case, a needless mastectomy for a patient.

Source: http://www.darkdaily.com/

Understanding Environmental Causes of Cancer With Advance in Using Biopsy Samples

In an advance in determining the role of environmental agents in causing cancer, scientists described development of a long-sought way to use biopsy samples from cancer patients to check on human exposure to substances that damage the genetic material DNA in ways that can cause cancer.

Source: http://www.sciencecodex.com/

The Simple Test That Saved My Baby

The pregnancy was without complications. The delivery itself lasted all of 12 minutes. After a couple of days at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut, we were packing up when a pediatric cardiologist came into the room. We would not be going home, she told us. Our son had a narrowing of the aorta and would have to be transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia, where he would need heart surgery. It turned out that our son was among the first in Connecticut whose lives may have been saved by a new state law that requires all newborns to be screened for congenital heart defects.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

Testing Child’s Urine may Help Doctors Identify Risk for High Blood Pressure

Measuring sodium in a child’s urine may help doctors identify those at risk for having high blood pressure later in life.

Source: http://newsroom.heart.org/

New Test Rapidly Distinguishes Viral, Bacterial Infections

A new test that analyzes patients' immune responses, rather than the pathogens themselves, can rapidly distinguish viral infections from bacterial infections.

Note: This could reduce the over prescribing of Antibiotics as well as save lives

Source: http://www.medscape.com/

New Test Enables Early Diagnosis of Liver Cancer

They have developed a test that will help pathologists clearly distinguish early liver cancer cells from nearly identical normal liver cells by giving them a distinctive red-brown hue. The inability to definitively tell the difference often means the disease is detected late when treatment options are less effective.

Source: http://www.sciencenewsline.com/

Screening Test Evaluated for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

A protein that has long been recognized for predicting ovarian cancer recurrence now shows promise as a screening tool for the initial phases of the disease. The simple blood test could offer a much-needed screening tool to detect ovarian cancer in its early stages..

Source: http://www.labmedica.com/

New Test Can Help Detect Breast Cancer a Decade Before it Develops

Imagine being able to detect breast cancer a decade before it develops. Doctors are saying that dream may soon become a reality with a new test called ForeCYTE. that off to get to the lab."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/

High Serum Calcium Linked to Developing Diabetes

High concentrations of serum calcium—but not necessarily calcium intake—are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/

Russian Mushrooms Kill HIV, Institute Says

A treatment for HIV may be found in Siberian mushrooms that have been used in Russia since the 16th century as a folk remedy, a group of Russian scientists says. The scientists from the Vector research institute in southwestern Siberia say they have identified three types of mushroom found in that region that can be developed into antiviral medicines, the institute said in a statement on its website.“Strains of these mushrooms demonstrated low toxicity and a strong antiviral effect” against influenza, smallpox and HIV,

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/

Scientists Take Big Step Towards Universal Flu Vaccine

Scientists say they have made a significant leap towards creating a vaccine that would protect against every form of flu. The influenza virus is a constantly shifting target so seasonal flu vaccines rapidly become useless and new ones are needed each year. A team at Imperial College London say they have made a "blueprint" for a universal flu vaccine.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

CDC Sets Threat Levels for Drug-resistant 'Superbugs'

Health officials have been warning us about antibiotic overuse and drug-resistant "superbugs" for a long time. But now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding the alarm in a new way. For the first time, the CDC is categorizing drug-resistant superbugs by threat level.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/

The Never Ending War on Pathogens

The war on emerging pathogens isn’t like any others. The war on drugs might well end with a new approach. The war on terrorism might eventually wind down. But the war on emerging pathogens is different. It will never end.

Morens and Fauci wrote: “While it has become possible to eradicate certain infectious diseases (smallpox and the veterinary disease rinderpest), and to significantly control many others (dracunculiasis, measles and polio, among others), it seems unlikely that we will eliminate most emerging infectious diseases in the foreseeable future.”

In “Emerging Infectious Diseases: Threats to Human Health and Global Stability,” published by PLOS, the authors from the National Institutes of Health paint a serious, if not scary, picture that the world faces from emerging pathogens: “The inevitable, but unpredictable, appearance of new infectious diseases has been recognized for millennia, well before the discovery of causative infectious agents.

The ease of world travel and increased global interdependence has made it more complex to containing these infectious diseases that affect not only the health but the economic stability of societies.”

Not all emerging pathogens will use food and waterborne transmission sources, but enough do to make emerging pathogens every bit as important a food-safety issue.

Emerging pathogens includes any bacteria, virus or parasite that, through rapid mutation, overwhelms human defenses to cause illness or death. E. coli O157:H7 was an emerging pathogen for the 20 years before it busted out and began causing dozens of outbreaks each year. A new Pathogen E coli Oio 4:H3  hit Europe last year killing 50.

And, just like then, there is now a new list of emerging pathogens being tracked by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Pathogens that have been newly recognized in the past two decades are: Acanthamebiasis, 
Australian bat lyssavirus, Babesia, atypical, 
Bartonella henselae, 
Ehrlichiosis, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, Encephalitozoon hellem, 
Enterocytozoon bieneusi, Hendra or equine morbillivirus, 
Human herpesvirus 8, 
Human herpesvirus 6 and
Parvovirus B19. And those on the re-emerging list include Enterovirus 71, Clostridium difficile, 
Mumps virus, Streptococcus, Group A 
and staphylococcus aureus.

Acanthamebiasis is found in freshwater and soil, Australian bat lyssavirus is a lot like rabies, and Babesia is a blood parasite. As for the re-emerging pathogens, a vaccine could eliminate mumps, but doctors tell patients they may not ever shake Clostridium difficile, which is often acquired during hospital stays.

Yet for thousands of scientists that work on emerging pathogens, both at the elite institutions and on research campuses across the country, most of the research sounds fairly normal. Take Dr. Anita Wright’s research, for example.

She is an associate professor at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. Wright is among those in academia working to help the oyster industry in Apalachicola, FL, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Her research involves the species of Vibrio that makes people sick when they eat raw or undercooked oysters. Wright is looking for a post-harvest treatment for reducing or eliminating Vibrio without killing the oysters. She is also working with oysters in their natural estuarine habitat to find out how Vibrio infects shellfish in the first place.

Some astounding research occurs at these institutions, and it often goes virtually unnoticed. For example, after 9/11, the virus that caused the flu pandemic of 1918 was right up there with smallpox and anthrax as possible biological agents that could be weaponized.

But that’s not been a concern since 2009 because the annual flu vaccine now protects against the virus that killed 675,000 Americans in 1918, thanks to the work of Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, the institute director at Mount Sinai.

Deer, Pigs and Sea Gulls Carry Human Pathogens.

Human Pathogens (germs) have been found in deer, pigs, flies, nematodes,frogs, geese, seagulls, song birds, fruit flies and moose. If one of these leaves excrement in a farmers field it can spread pathogens to the farmers crops. When manure has been  used for fertilizer it can contaminate the crop. To make it worse some pathogens can live in manure for several years.The farmer may not even know that manure was used in the past.

When Farmers have a field that is as much as 5 miles from pig farm, dust from the manure can can travel in the wind and spread pathogens to the farmers field.

Another way pathogens can get to a farmers field is through the water supply. If a farmer uses a pond or surface waters for irrigation they can infect their field.

Many studies indicate that many pathogens, whether they are bacteria, viruses, or protozoa can survive in fresh produce for a long time. Cut produce provides a good growth environment for pathogens and provides a place where the pathogen can get inside the food.  

From the field till the produce reaches a store the temperature is not always low enough to stop pathogen growth.

So far several treatments have been tried to get rid of pathogens. They have tried using chlorine, organic acids, gas vapor, electrolyzed water, and radiation. Many treatments are minimally effective.No treatment is highly effective for all combinations of food and

pathogen. Water based treatments work better at stopping the pathogen from spreading between pieces of produce but  don’t work at removing the pathogen.

These problems with infestation make it imperative that farmers have their products tested before they are sent to market. It is important that produce is cooled quickly after harvest and is kept cold till it reaches the market. This applies to both farmers that use chemicals and organic farmers.  We definitely need more research.