Content area
Full Text
A killer cocktail
A cocktail of bacteria-killing viruses can prevent cholera infection in animal models. That's according to US scientists who infected baby mice and baby rabbits with an oral dose of three bacteriophages that retain their ability to kill Vibrio cholerae in the small intestine, the site of infection in people. The animals received the cocktail 3-24 h before infection, none had cholera symptoms. The bacteriophages destroy virulence factors on the surface of the bacteria. It's a checkmate of a treatment strategy: for the bacteria to evolve resistance they need mutations in these surface proteins--a change that will likely make them less infectious.
Dengue roulette
A first infection with dengue virus usually causes only mild symptoms. When the virus infects again, though, it causes a vicious and potentially deadly infection in some people, especially in the roughly 15% of patients who have full-blown haemorrhagic fever and shock. Findings from a new study suggest these differing reactions aren't down to luck but an individuals' antibody signature. The researchers analysed blood samples from patients in Thailand and found that the antibodies in those with severe infection were a variant that elicits a response that...