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Unexpected surprises in disease ecology
As we grow up, we learn facts and explanations from textbooks and teachers about the world around us. Most classroom activities in K-12 and even in undergraduate courses use canned labs to demonstrate a concept or a mechanism that have one right solution if done correctly. Published studies paint a clean, straight story from idea…
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Gut Pathogens celebrates its 10th anniversary
(Photo by Arek Socha via Pixabay) Gut Pathogens was founded in 2009 as a journal focusing on enteric infections and aimed at an audience in the Global South and middle income countries. The focus of the first articles remained directed at virulence, epidemiology and genomics of classical pathogens. However, soon after the developments in the…
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Do schistosomes practice the art of host-manipulation?
Biomphalaria snail shedding schistosome cercariae into the water. Copyright Trustees of the Natural History Museum Parasites manipulating host behaviour is not a new story. There are lots of examples of parasites and parasitoids making their poor hosts do the most extraordinary things: grasshoppers purposefully jumping into water and drowning themselves, rats running towards cat urine…
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Undocumented biodiversity of marine Oomycota is found in the Arctic
(Picture by robynm via Pixabay) We are interested in understanding the relevance of microbes, in particular in the Arctic Ocean. We know that microbes are the base of all marine food webs and make up more than 90% of all biomass in the ocean. Microbes are consumed by zooplankton, which are consumed by fish, which…
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The changing narrative of MRSA infection control in the United States
© ksass / Getty Images / iStock A quote often attributed to Winston Churchill aptly observed “The Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” This observation has never been truer when one looks at our approach to the control of MRSA. Through a series of…
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Scientists to be proud of
(Photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels) If enhancing diversity is generally perceived as progress in science, objections are still raised for the fact that this may represent a process of ‘social engineering’ that artificially favors certain individuals and not others – as underlined by the controversy on the suspended CERN physicist Alessandro Strumia. Science can…
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Fleas are ready for a climate change
I need to make a confession. Fleas were not my favorite parasites by far. When the phone was ringing some ten years ago and questions about fleas kept coming – I was not amused. Why? The questions were simple, just asking “what are the fleas on dogs and cats these days?”. Holding a title of…
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Highlights of the BMC Series: May 2019
BMC Oral Health – Big toenail and hair samples as biomarkers for fluoride exposure These days, we are exposed to a number of sources of fluoride, including water (naturally occurring or added artificially), food that has been exposed to fluoride (particularly through the use of pesticides) and dental products (toothpaste, mouthwash etc). High levels of…
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Mermithid nematodes to control malaria transmission
Female Anopheles mosquito In malaria endemic Africa, chemicals are intensively used to control mosquitoes. Malaria is a vector-borne disease transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes. These mosquitoes reproduce in collections of natural or artificial water. Houses surrounded by stagnant water containing larval Anopheles mosquitoes In most districts of Sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is anarchical or not well…
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Could estrogen be the reason for a female survival advantage after injury?
It is well known from previous studies that females have a survival advantage over males and it is not restricted in particular regions or ethnicities. For example, a study found Japanese women outlive Japenese men by six years. However, it is not known what causes females to have this survival advantage. Understanding the mechanism of…