Pneumonia is a leading cause of death and hospitalization, costing health care systems billions of dollars and an estimated 600,000 adult deaths worldwide each year. Pneumococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and the term describes a group of illnesses, including invasive infections, such as bacteremia/sepsis and meningitis, as well as pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections. Although all age groups may be affected, the highest rate of pneumococcal disease occurs in young children and older adults. In addition, persons suffering from a wide range of chronic conditions (eg, diabetes, cardiovascular disease) and immune deficiencies are at increased risk.
An international consortium co-led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center immunogeneticist Rubén Martínez-Barricarte, PhD, has discovered a new genetic disorder that causes immunodeficiency and profound susceptibility to opportunistic infections including life-threatening fungal pneumonia.
A new study by the University of Surrey suggests that Parkinson’s disease may begin in the gut and pass on to the brain.
For the first time, researchers demonstrate that monkeys with a more social nature—those that groom or are groomed more frequently and with more grooming partners—have a better gut microbiome.
The overuse of antibiotics has forced microorganisms to evolve defenses against this kind of treatment. Antibiotic resistance is a problem that the WHO now views as one of the major hazards to human health.
Researchers investigating the effects of an organic compound on drug-resistant bacteria found how it can impede and destroy a germ that causes significant illness or even death in some situations.
A naturally occurring substance known as hydroquinine has been discovered by researchers to have bacterial killing ability against a variety of pathogens.
Bacteria that cause urinary tract infections are getting more and more resistant to many medications, and they are becoming more and more difficult to cure.
Scientists have revealed how antibiotics can regress certain fast-growing bacteria. The research was published in the journal eLife on June 8th, 2022.
According to a new study proposed at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 April, 2022), disease-causing amoebas that reside on natural leafy vegetables can preserve human pathogens such as Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter, posing a public health hazard. Dr Yolanda Moreno and colleagues from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València conducted the research.
A study team developed an early-stage therapy that sabotages the pump and restores antibiotic efficiency by disclosing the structure of a protein needed by bacteria to pump out antibiotics.
Dr Jun Qin, a proteomics expert from the State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing Proteome Research Center, National Center for Protein Sciences (Beijing), Beijing Institute of Lifeomics, and Dr Zhongde Zhang from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, worked in the front line of compacting COVID-19 disease.
Most people’s immune responses are powerful enough to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from spreading throughout the body that they are immune to pneumonia.
A future vaccine providing protection against a wide range of coronaviruses that jump from their original animal hosts to humans -; including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 -; may be possible, say Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, based on findings from their recent study.
A viral protein might contain information that could be used to avoid pneumonia due to the body’s overactive response to respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19.
Researchers have discovered a gene that makes E. coli bacteria resistant to antibiotics, effectively leading to better treatment for people across the globe.
In a new study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, investigators report on the design and testing of a breathalyzer, known as the Bubbler, that relies on viral RNA detection to diagnose SARS-CoV-2. Its name is derived from the bubbling sound that occurs when the patient exhales into the device.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, and the University of Bonn have identified a new group of molecules that have an antibacterial effect against many antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health recently found a therapy that targets host cells instead of bacterial cells in treating bacterial pneumonia.
Once an infection is under control, the body normally uses a biochemical messenger known as TGFβ to downgrade its immune response.
Lung immunity is essential to combat all pulmonary diseases, including COVID-19, pneumonia, lung cancer, asthma and COPD.