A new study published in Nature Microbiology reveals that bacteria present in different regions of the gastrointestinal tract either enhance or block murine norovirus infections. The startling findings expand our understanding of how the virus interacts with both its host immune system and the intestinal microbiome, which may one day be useful for developing an antiviral therapy.
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.
A new study authored by EPI researcher Rhoel Dinglasan, Ph.D., and colleagues, twists the narrative in the fight against malaria by treating mosquitoes. His team showed that feeding a known antimalarial drug — intended for humans — to infected Anopheles mosquitoes rendered them unable to transmit malaria parasites to new hosts.
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.
