Mice given quercetin, a naturally occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, were less likely to contract the flu, as per a research studypublished by The American Physiological Society. The study also observed that stressful exercise increased the susceptibility of mice to the flu, but quercetin canceled out that negative effect........

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Malaria Research Institute have identified a previously unknown virus that is infectious to Anopheles gambiaethe mosquito primarily responsible for transmitting malaria. As per the researchers, the discovered virus could one day be used to pass on new genetic information to An. gambiae mosquitoes as part of a strategy to control malaria, which kills over one million people worldwide each year. The study was published August 22 online in the peer-evaluated open access journal PLoS Pathogens.......

A universal vaccine effective against several strains of influenza has passed its first phase of testing, as per Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston. Turley, who is director of clinical trials and clinical research at the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at UTMB and the study's principal investigator, said that VaxInnate's M2e universal vaccine could possibly protect against seasonal and pandemic influenza strains........

Scientists are reporting new evidence of a possible link between a history of moderate to severe middle ear infections in childhood and a tendency to be overweight during the later part of life. Their study suggests that prompt diagnosis and therapy of middle ear infections one of the most common childhood conditions requiring medical attention may help fight obesity in some people. The findings were presented today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS)........

In up to 20 percent of people infected with HIV, the virus manages to escape from the bloodstream and cross into the brain, resulting in HIV-associated dementia and other cognitive disorders. Now, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found good evidence that a component of the cell walls of intestinal bacteria - a chemical present in high levels in the blood of HIV-infected people - helps HIV to penetrate the usually-impregnable blood brain barrier (BBB). The findings, reported in the recent issue of the Journal of Virology, could lead to strategies for preventing HIV from entering the brain and causing serious complications........

Distinct genetic profiles can discern different groups of patients with scleroderma, a vexing autoimmune disease in which the body turns against itself, Dartmouth Medical School scientists report. Their discovery of distinguishing molecular subtypes within the disease offers new insight into the complexity of a poorly understood and hard to treat illness and opens a window for better diagnosis and targeted therapies........

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) scientists at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions. The weak spot is hidden in the HIV envelope protein gp120. This protein is essential for HIV attachment to host cells, which initiate infection and eventually lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Normally the body's immune defenses can ward off viruses by making proteins called antibodies that bind the virus. However, HIV is a constantly changing and mutating virus, and the antibodies produced after infection do not control disease progression to AIDS. For the same reason, no HIV preventative vaccine that stimulates production of protective antibodies is available........

Findings just reported in the scientific journal Immunity by scientists at the Trudeau Institute shed new light on how a previously-unknown messaging mechanism within the human immune system prompts specific influenza-fighting cells to the lung airways during an infection. Infections from the influenza virus are responsible for hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and as a number of as 40,000 deaths in the United States each year. Eventhough scientists have known for some time that white blood cells congregating in the lung and directly attacking the virus play an important role in defending against influenza, it has never been clear how exactly these white blood cells know when they are mandatory in the lung........

A new studydone on a scale an order of magnitude greater than anything previously attempted in the field of malariahas uncovered an arsenal of proteins produced by the malaria parasite that allows it to hijack and remodel human red blood cells, leaving the oxygen-carrying cells stiff and sticky. Those effects on the blood cells play a major role in the development of malaria, a disease responsible for millions of deaths every year, the scientists report in the July 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication........

A huge rise in the numbers of UK residents travelling to malaria endemic areas, combined with a failure to use prevention measures, has significantly increased cases of imported falciparum malaria in the UK over the past 20 years, as per a research studypublished on BMJ.com. Between 1987and#56033;and#57287; there were 5120 reported cases of the potentially fatal faliciparum malaria, increasing to 6753 in 2002and#55312;and#56516;. These findings highlight the urgent need for health messages and services targeted at travellers from migrant groups visiting friends and family abroad, say the authors........

Patients harboring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for long periods of time continue to be at increased risk of MRSA infection and death, as per a new study in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online. MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that can cause a variety of serious infections. The bacterium most usually colonizes the nostrils, eventhough it can be found in other body sites. Most research has focused on people who are newly colonized by the bacteria and has observed that they are at substantial risk of subsequent infections. The new study shows that the increased risk of infection continues, with almost a quarter of MRSA-colonized patients developing infections after a year or more has passed since the colonization was confirmed. The infections include pneumonia and bloodstream events, and some infections were associated with deaths........

West Nile virus is apparently here to stay despite Montana's cool, wet spring, says Montana State University entomologist Greg Johnson. Urging Montanans to protect themselves with repellents, Johnson said the mosquitoes that carry the virus are sure to emerge when temperatures reach the 70s and 80s. Infection rates and deaths may not always be as high as they were in 2003 and 2007, but Montanans should be aware of the threat........

Scientists at The University of Texas School of Public Health have observed that patients given a travelers' diarrhea vaccine were significantly less likely to suffer from clinically significant diarrhea than those who received placebo, as per a research studypublished in this week's edition of the Lancet The patch-based vaccine is part of the Phase 2 study in conjunction with the Iomai Corporation........

Researchers have isolated a new bacterium in pigs' stomachs thanks to a pioneering technique, offering hope of new therapys to people who suffer with stomach ulcers, as per research reported in the recent issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. The bacterium that usually causes stomach ulcers in humans is called Helicobacter pylori. Extensive research has been carried out on this bacterium and the two researchers who discovered it were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 2005. However, in a small percentage of biopsies a similar but previously unidentified bacterium is present. Numerous research papers have described failed attempts to culture this microbe in the laboratory since it was first observed in 1990. Now, researchers from Belgium have succeeded........

After studying chimpanzees in the wilds of Tanzania's Mahale Mountains National Park for the past year as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Virginia Tech researcher Dr. Taranjit Kaur and her team have produced powerful scientific evidence that chimpanzees are becoming sick from viral infectious diseases they have likely contracted from humans........