Archive for September, 2010

Full article:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66C65X20100713Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five percent of the population of Key West, Florida — more than 1,000 people — have been infected at some point with the dengue virus, government researchers reported on Tuesday.

Most probably did not even know it, but the findings show the sometimes deadly infection is making its way north into the United States, the researchers said.

“We’re concerned that if dengue gains a foothold in Key West, it will travel to other southern cities where the mosquito that transmits dengue is present, like Miami,” said Harold Margolis, chief of the dengue branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These cases represent the reemergence of dengue fever in Florida and elsewhere in the United States after 75 years,” Margolis said in a statement.

“These people had not traveled outside of Florida, so we need to determine if these cases are an isolated occurrence or if dengue has once again become endemic in the continental United States.”

Dengue is the most common virus transmitted by mosquitoes, infecting 50 million to 100 million people every year and killing 25,000 of them.

It can cause classic flu-like symptoms but can also take on a hemorrhagic form that causes internal and external bleeding and sudden death. Companies are working on a vaccine but there is not any effective drug to treat it.

Full article: http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v9/n9/full/nrd2805.html

Excerpt:

In 1957, a soluble factor that protected cells from viral infection was discovered by Isaacs and Lindenmann and named interferon (IFN)^1, 2. This landmark finding set the stage for cytokine research. Since then more than 90 cytokines and cytokine receptors have been identified, nine of which are the basis for current therapeutics on the market³. Given the fundamental roles of cytokines in the development and pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases, there has been extensive worldwide research and development focused on blocking or enhancing cytokine activity.

There are numerous clinical applications for targeting cytokines and include inflammatory diseases, cancer immunotherapy, bone disorders, metabolic diseases, wound healing and antiviral therapy. Although not all potential cytokine targets can be covered in this Review, we will outline some of the most effective and promising cytokine targets that have been linked to inflammatory diseases in preclinical and clinical studies in recent years. This selection is based on an established overview of the literature and is shaped by a viewpoint of the probable success or failure of targeting these cytokine pathways. Finally, we will discuss some of the issues facing the development of cytokine-targeted drugs with respect to the type of therapeutics being developed and the inherent redundancies in inflammatory cytokine networks.

Excerpt:

Results

In patients with Lyme arthritis, B. burgdorferi but not IFN-gamma induced PBMC to secrete CCL4 and CCL2, and B. burgdorferi and IFN-gamma each stimulated the production of CXCL9 and CXCL10. However, with the CD14+ cell fraction, B. burgdorferi alone stimulated the secretion of CCL4; B. burgdorferi and IFN-gamma together induced CCL2 secretion, and IFN-gamma alone stimulated the secretion of CXCL9 and CXCL10. The percentage of T cells expressing CXCR3 or CCR5 was significantly greater in SFMC than PBMC, confirming that TH1 effector cells were recruited to inflamed joints. However, when stimulated with B. burgdorferi or IFN-gamma, SFMC and PBMC responded similarly.

Conclusions

B. burgdorferi stimulates PBMC or CD14+ monocytes/macrophages directly to secrete CCL4, but spirochetal stimulation of other intermediate cells, which are present in PBMC, is required to induce CD14+ cells to secrete CCL2, CXCL9 and CXCL10. We conclude that B. burgdorferi stimulates monocytes/macrophages directly and indirectly to guide innate and adaptive immune responses in patients with Lyme arthritis.

Full article: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/jul2110newsscan.html 

Excerpt:

Among new tick-related infectious disease findings presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Disease (ICEID), which ended Jul 14 in Atlanta, were a report on the first zoonotic babesiosis case documented in Tennessee and a report on ehrlichiosis infections in Minnesota and Wisconsin involving a species that had not previously been identified in North America. In the first report, a group from the Tennessee Department of Health, Vanderbilt University, and the CDC diagnosed babesiosis in an immunosuppressed patient who began to have fever, fatigue, and headache. He had not traveled outside Tennessee in several years and had been exposed to ticks during hunting trips. Babesia parasites were noted on the man’s blood smear, and molecular analysis revealed that it was a novel species, but attempts to isolate it were unsuccessful. The man’s symptoms resolved after 10 days of treatment. The researchers said efforts to identify the animal host and tick vectors are ongoing and that the case serves as a reminder that patients can have babesiosis without exposure to known endemic areas and without testing positive to previously known species. In the second report, local health officials and CDC and Mayo Clinic experts described the identification of Ehrlichia DNA from Mayo Clinic blood samples of patients from the two states involving a species similar to E muris that had not been previously identified in North America. The organism was found in 2009 in the blood of 4 patients, 3 from Wisconsin and 1 from Minnesota. All had reported fever and headache, and all had lymphopenia. All recovered with doxycycline treatment. Serological studies also suggested 40 more probable cases among Wisconsin residents. A survey of the patients found dog contact in 91% and possible tick exposure in 85%. The group concluded that more studies are needed to identify the epidemiologic and clinical features of infections with the E muris–like organism and that better testing in the region could help identify the infections.

Full article: a new report 

Excerpt:

Some carcinogens you already know and fear: cigarettes, asbestos, smoked meat.

But what about the ones you’ve never even heard of? That’s the crux of a new report from theAmerican Cancer Society (ACS), which rounds up 20 “suspected carcinogens” the organization would like to see studied more extensively.

Of course, that research, if it happens, will come after the chemicals, ingredients — and even lifestyle choices — are already embedded into the bedrock of our 24/7 economy.

“The objectives of this report are to identify research gaps and needs for 20 agents prioritized for review based on evidence of widespread human exposures and potential carcinogenicity in animals or humans,” Elizabeth Ward, the co-author of the report, said. 

So just what are these potential cancer causers lurking in our everyday environs? Surge Desk runs down five (not so awesome) favorites.

1. Styrene

Styrene, and its chemical compound colleague styrene-7,-8-oxide, threaten to be a stoner’s worst nightmare. Although only weakly linked to cancer in humans, there’s enough evidence in animal studies to earn the compounds a spot in the top 20.

Where will you find it? Cigarettes, marijuana and leeching into your midnight munchies via foam food packaging. 

How can you avoid it? If you eat, this is one urine test you’re doomed to fail. Styrene was detected in the urine of 87 percent of study participants during a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention trial last year.  

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20587183&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

We report an unusual case of human babesiosis in Finland in a
53-year-old man with no history of splenectomy. He had a
rudimentary spleen, coexisting Lyme borreliosis, exceptional dark
streaks on his extremities, and subsequent disseminated
aspergillosis. He was infected with Babesia divergens, which
usually causes bovine babesiosis in Finland.