Fentanyl-related deaths in Edmonton spiked to 90 in the first half of 2019 — higher than the same period in the previous three years. With 56 fentanyl overdose deaths in the city between April and June, the highest since the third quarter of 2018, emergency services in the city are raising alarm to the severity of the issue and the … Read More
‘It’s murder’: How lethal opioids devastated a small region of Ontario
‘It’s murder’: How lethal opioids devastated a small region of Ontario ByAndrew Russell,Stewart BellandSam Cooper November 28th, 2018 The wood framed clock on the table of Melissa Hurst’s living room is stopped at 7:42 a.m. Inside the clock are the ashes of her son, Luke, who on Mother’s Day 2017 was discovered at that same minute in his bed dead … Read More
Antibiotic alternatives: ‘We kind of pride ourselves in my research group of doing the crazy stuff’
As the world loses its upper hand in the antibiotic arms race, it raises the specter of un-treatable infections resulting from routine surgeries. But a Canadian scientist has discovered a surprising source of potential antibiotic options. Over the past few months, there’s been grim evidence of the march to a post-antibiotic world. Last week, for instance, U.S. researchers said they’d identified what could be the … Read More
Antibacterial Ingredients in Indoor Dust Could Contribute to Antibiotic Resistance
To better understand the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers have been piecing together its contributing factors. Now in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists report for the first time a link between antimicrobial substances such as triclosan in indoor dust and levels of antibiotic-resistance genes, which can transfer from one bacterial cell to another. The overuse of antibiotics … Read More
Pets and Children are a Potential Source of Clostridium difficile in the Community
Household transmission of Clostridium difficile to pets and children may be a source of community-associated C. difficile infections according to findings from a new study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. The study found that patients with this bacteria can colonize or infect household contacts following or during treatment for an infection. “C. difficile is primarily a healthcare-associated … Read More
New Zika Clone Could be New Model for Developing Vaccine
Stopping the explosive spread of Zika virus – which can lead to birth defects in babies born to infected mothers – depends on genetic insights gleaned through new tools and models. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health recently cloned an epidemic strain of the virus, creating a model that can help biologists develop and test strategies for stopping the … Read More
Time of Day Influences Our Susceptibility to Infection, Study Finds
We are more susceptible to infection at certain times of the day as our body clock affects the ability of viruses to replicate and spread between cells, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help explain why shift workers, whose body clocks are routinely disrupted, … Read More
Clinical Trial Will Examine Investigational Vaccine Against Mosquito-Borne Illness
As world leaders increasingly recognize the Zika virus as an international public health threat, the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health has been chosen as one of three study sites in a human safety trial of a new Zika vaccine. The early-stage study will evaluate the experimental vaccine’s safety and … Read More
Could Yellow Fever Virus Cause a Zika-like Epidemic in the Americas
Yellow fever virus (YFV), a close relative of Zika virus and transmitted by the same type of mosquito, is the cause of an often-fatal viral hemorrhagic fever and could spread via air travel from endemic areas in Africa to cause international epidemics. The recent reemergence and spread of YFV in Africa and Asia and the dire shortage of YFV vaccine … Read More
Discovery of a New Defense System Against Microbial Pathogens
Antibodies play an important role in host defense against microbial pathogens. However, microbial pathogens seem to have acquired a protease that destroys antibodies in order to evade host immune system. On the other hand, the host immune system appears to have acquired an immune activating receptor, LILRA2, that specifically recognizes microbially cleaved antibodies. Courtesy of Osaka University For the first … Read More