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New research by EPI’s Burton Singer quantifies how civil disruption and violence has unraveled Ebola control measures in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. His work demonstrates causative links between ongoing regional civil strife and upticks in Ebola incidence due to cycles of disrupted disease control.
A known pathogenic fungus, so far only reported to cause disease in two crops, has ensnared a third victim: eggplants. UF plant pathologists affiliated with both UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the EPI, were the first to describe Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis’s jump to a new host.
New research from the EPI and UF’s College of Public Health & Health Professions found that exposing the sexually-transmitted bacterial pathogen Chlamydia to fosmidomycin — an antibiotic which is usually lethal to bacteria — causes Chlamydia to enter a protective bunker-like “persistent” state. The findings could bolster future efforts to intentionally disrupt the molecular changes that induce chlamydial persistence, leading to the prevention of chronic chlamydial infections.
New research by EPI investigator KC Jeong looks at how a host’s genetic background strongly influences the composition and development of its gut microbiota.
When Hurricanes Irma and Maria lashed the Caribbean in 2017, the U.S. Virgin Islands experienced devastation similar to Puerto Rico, including massive disruption to their healthcare system, but with less media fanfare. The extent of damage unleashed by these storms on medical care in the U.S. Virgin Islands is only now coming into focus, thanks to research by UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute Director J. Glenn Morris and College of Medicine Interim Dean Adrian Tyndall.
New modeling by EPI researcher Burton Singer calculates that the substantial costs involved in developing a universal flu vaccine are worth every cent. Singer collaborated with a team from Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Maryland to calculate that a universal flu vaccine would save $3.5 billion in direct medical costs annually and save 19,500 lives in the U.S. alone.
Whole genome sequencing allows researchers to quantify diversification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within a host, showing that the individual bacteria comprising an infection are not all identical clones. Using a known TB cluster, Emerging Pathogens Institute researchers confirm that hosts can transmit all — or just some — of the genetic diversity unique to their mTB population to a new victim.
A new $1.29 million grant from the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support EPI malaria investigator Rhoel Dinglasan’s work to develop a novel saliva-based malaria diagnostic test that catches infections even when victims don’t show symptoms.
A new study coauthored by EPI researcher Derek Cummings, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, resolves a long running debate over whether paper medical masks or respirator-style masks are more protective for health care workers against flu.
EPI investigator KC Jeong aims to uncover the next generation of antimicrobials. From his microbiology lab to an experimental farm, his research explores how food animals are affected by novel and drug-resistant pathogens — and what kills them.
