Yoghurt health drinks are at the centre of safety fears after 24 patients died during clinical trials of probiotics, the dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria.
Due to widespread resistance of bacteria to the available drugs, the discovery of new antibiotics is urgently needed, and naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates for future therapeutic use. Amphibian skin is one of the r
Researchers have measured concentrations of bacteria in the cabin air of 12 commercial passenger aircraft and found that flying may be safer than we think.
Anyone who has sex can catch a sexually transmitted infection. Find out how to avoid infection, get tested, get treated and how to protect your sexual health.
Health officials say 2 recent incidents in which swimmers in Maryland were attacked by a rabid beaver should remind people that those "no swimming" signs are there for a reason. One rabid beaver, now dead, was responsible for an attack on a swimmer on Sun
Scientists are perfecting a test which they hope will confirm mad cow disease (vCJD) in humans. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), works by by mimicking and accelerating the replication of prions so they are more easily detected in test sampl
Parents are being urged to protect their children against measles by getting them immunised with two doses of MMR before they return to school this September, following an increase in cases of measles over recent weeks.
There is seemingly consistent and compelling evidence that there is no association between breastfeeding and breast cancer. We challenge the assumption follows that milk borne viruses cannot be associated with human breast cancer.
The death toll in China's outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease has risen to 42 children, with the capital Beijing reporting its first case on Wednesday.
An international aid agency has confirmed some cases of cholera in Myanmar's cyclone-hit Irawaddy delta but the number is line with normal levels in previous years.
Ciguatera poisoning is caused by the consumption of tropical reef fish that have assimilated ciguatoxins through the marine food chain from toxic microscopic algae.
An experimental, combination vaccine against Ebola and Marburg viruses using virus-like particles (VLPs) provides complete protection against infection in monkeys.
Dengue fever is reaching epidemic levels in the Caribbean and Latin America. Changing weather patterns and increased tourism and migration have raised the prevalence of the disease.
As of 28 March, 2008, the Brazilian health authorities have reported a national total of 120,570 cases of dengue including 647 dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases, with 48 deaths.
A report from Sun 11 May 2008 shows that 183 children from the capital city Ulaanbataar and provincess have been infected and have been admitted to hospitals for treatment.
All horse movement across the Australian state of New South Wales has been halted indefinitely, following an outbreak of equine flu, throwing its racing and breeding industry into turmoil.
Bacteria have tiny channels in their walls which operate like the valve on a pressure cooker - they open to release material when the pressure in a bacterial cell gets too great. If the channel didn't open to relieve pressure the bacteria would explode and die, so this is a target for drug development.
In the UK 164 people have died of variant CJD, which originally came from cows infected with BSE, and all cases to date shared the same version of the prion gene (MM). A new case has a different varian tof the gene (MV). Estimates are that up to 350 people could be affected in this new wave.
A cheetah at a zoo in Nuremberg has died after contracting an illness similar to mad cow disease, becoming the 1st confirmed case in Germany of so called feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE).
This study shows that Campylobacter bacteriophage can easily be isolated from free-range chickens and form part of the normal microbiological biota of environmentally exposed birds.
Glanders is a contagious and fatal bacterial disease of horses, donkeys, and mules caused by the bacterium Burkholderia mallei and can be transmitted to humans.
It may seem remarkable that, 23 years after the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), there is still denial that the virus is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Scientists are no further forward in developing a vaccine against HIV after more than 20 years of research says Nobel Prize-winning biologist David Baltimore.
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis releases a molecule that prevents a type of white blood cell from killing E. coli, which is known to be present within Crohn's disease tissue in increased numbers.
Scientists have uncovered a chain reaction which could link Enterococcus faecalis bacteria living in our intestines to the development of colon cancer.
Pseudomonas bacteria which are normally found in soil and ground water and rarely affect healthy people, but are most likely to affect those who are already very sick.
Government officials believe human error at the private pharmaceutical firm Merial Animal Health is the most likely source for the return of foot and mouth disease. Senior officials believe the virus may have been transported by an individual or by a car
The finding that mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) can replicate and spread in human cells adds weight to the theory that MMTV might be involved in causing human breast cancer.
For the second time in a month Thiruvanathapuram Zoo in Kerala is battling the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease. After one wild boar died of foot and mouth the zoo authorities decided to cull 19 others on Sunday but still don't know how many of th
Researchers have have discovered a distinctive chemical signature for placental and cerebral malaria which kill hundreds of thousands of young children a year, giving the option of earlier,or more intense treatment in those who need it.
An outbreak of measles has struck up to 21 children across South Yorkshire. All those affected are children aged between just three months and 12 years who have not had the MMR inoculation.
Bluetongue virus, which affects sheep and cows, has spread to the centre and east of the Netherlands, affecting 117 farms in those areas, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said. Bluetongue is transmitted by insects and can be highly dangerous to sheep. It do
US researchers have discovered a promising new drug for schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm disease that affects more than 200 million people in 70 countries.
A new, low-cost screening strategy could make it easier for poor countries to target and treat Chagas disease, a deadly parasite-borne condition found mainly in Latin America.
The highly contagious Norovirus can be passed from one person to another through contact with commonly shared items such as computer keyboards and computer mice, U.S. health officials report.
An outbreak of Q Fever is being investigated in the Cheltenham area. A total of 28 cases have been identified among local people, most requiring hospital treatment.
A three-in-one AIDS pill for children has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in a global U.S. AIDS relief program. The generic pill made by India's Cipla Ltd combines the generic HIV-fighting drugs lamivudine, stavudine and nevi
US President George Bush was treated for what his doctors described as early, localized Lyme disease after developing a characteristic rash. Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that, if left untreated, can cause arthritis and other problems. Symptoms c
The vast majority of women do not know that most cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted infection. In a survey of 1,600 women only 2.5% cited human papillomavirus as a risk factor for cervical cancer.
The endangered red squirrel population of Angleseys Newborough Forest is facing a new killer virus. One animal is known to have died from the deadly red squirrel adenovirus.
Diagnoses of new sex infections rose by 2% to 376,508 from 2005 to 2006, largely among young people and gay men, the UK Health Protection Agency repoerts.