Tag: disease

New Findings May Help Combat Enterovirus D68

(Global Biodefense) New research findings point toward a class of compounds that could be effective in combating infections caused by enterovirus D68, which has stricken children with serious respiratory infections and might be associated with polio-like symptoms in the United States and elsewhere. The researchers have used a technique called X-ray crystallography to learn the precise structure of the original strain of EV-D68 on its own and when...

Continue reading

Chikungunya: Another infectious disease the world is ignoring

It’s a tale scientists are tired of telling: a disease that’s been carefully watched and studied for years is suddenly infecting an unprecedented number of people while promising drugs and vaccines sit on shelved, unfunded. This time it’s not Ebola but a mosquito-borne disease called chikungunya, which causes debilitating joint pain and has infected more than 1 million people just this year. Originating in Africa, the virus has rapidly spread into...

Continue reading

Over 1,000 Americans infected with plague in the last 100 years

Fleas that bites rodents infected with the bacteria that cause the plague can transmit the disease to people. People may think of the plague as a disease from centuries past, but more than 1,000 people in the United States have become infected with plague in the last 100 years, according to a new study. The researchers examined cases of plague in the United States from 1900 to 2012. During that time period, there were 1,006 cases of plague, in...

Continue reading