http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii—which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function—may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-proteins-chronic-disease-toxoplasma-infections.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:19:44 EST news284656765 Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. Research from the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has resulted in a safe vaccine candidate that is simple to produce and shows a greater than 90 percent protection rate against chronic infection in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-potential-chagas-vaccine-candidate-unprecedented.html Medications Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:01 EST news283523344 (Medical Xpress)—In feudal-age Japan, cunning, unorthodox mercenaries known as ninjas were notorious for using disguise, deception, and stealth to infiltrate enemy fortifications. In the world of modern parasites, certain organisms—dubbed "ninja parasites" by Professor Timothy Yoshino—use similar tactics, in a biological and chemical sense, to trick their way past the immune systems of their hosts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-ninja-parasites-elude-immune-response.html Medical research Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:29:15 EST news281953699 An international collaboration of researchers from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), Tunisia and France has demonstrated a high cure rate and remarkably few side effects in treating patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) with an investigational antibiotic cream. CL is a parasitic disease that causes disfiguring lesions, with 350 million people at risk worldwide and 1.5 million new cases annually, including U.S. military personnel serving abroad and the socio-economically disadvantaged in the developing world, especially children. The results of the research conducted by USAMRMC, the Institut Pasteur de Tunis, the Tunisian Ministry of Health and the Institut Pasteur in Paris were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-antibiotic-cream-high-side-effects.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:00:05 EST news279388049 A relatively inexpensive program set up to combat river blindness, an infectious disease, has resulted in major health improvements in Africa, shows a study conducted by Erasmus University Medical Center researchers. The study, due to be published January 31 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, shows that US$250 million helped cure or prevent blindness, skin disease, severe itching, and other symptoms in millions of people. In collaboration with the Management of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), the researchers calculated the health impact of APOC. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-african-programme-onchocerciasis-model-estimated-health.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:04 EST news278872210 The malaria species rampant in the Asia-Pacific region has been a significant driver of evolution of the human genome, a new study has shown. An international team of researchers has shown that Plasmodium vivax malaria, the most prevalent malaria species in the Asia-Pacific, is a significant cause of genetic evolution that provides protection against malaria. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-benign-malaria-key-driver-human.html Medical research Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:00:06 EST news265972255 A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-antisense-approach-treatment-parasitic-infections.html Medical research Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:03:45 EST news264088963 (HealthDay) -- As many as 300,000 people in the United States may have chronic Chagas disease -- mostly spread by blood-sucking insects -- health officials report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-people-chagas-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:20:01 EST news260725866 A drug candidate that is nearing clinical trials against a Latin American parasite is showing additional promise as a cure for hookworm, one of the most widespread and insidious parasites afflicting developing nations, according to a collaborative study at UCSF and Yale University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-drug-prospect-hookworm-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:00:07 EST news260552452 A scientist at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital's medical research unit said Wednesday that trials of a new antimalarial drug were encouraging and paved the way for licensing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-gabon-centre-antimalarial-drug.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:02:18 EST news254584932 In open source drug discovery all data and ideas are freely and immediately shared, and anyone may participate at any level. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-source-malaria-treatment.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:22:45 EST news250507357 A new research technology is revealing how humans develop immunity to malaria, and could assist programs aimed at eradicating this parasitic disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-protein-microarrays-reveal-weapons-malaria.html Medical research Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:17:12 EST news239357811 Scientists have identified the genetic blueprint of the giant intestinal roundworm, Ascaris suum, revealing potential targets to control the devastating parasitic disease, ascariasis which affects more than one billion people in China, South East Asia, South America and parts of Africa, killing thousands of people annually and causing chronic effects in young children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-drug-revealed-giant-parasitic-worm.html Genetics Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:00:05 EST news238852083 Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic disease that can lead to life-threatening heart and digestive disorders, may be more widespread in Texas than previously thought, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-chagas-disease-threat-south-texas.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:36:42 EST news237116160 Mummies from along the Nile are revealing how age-old irrigation techniques may have boosted the plague of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic disease that infects an estimated 200 million people today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mummies-history-modern-plague.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 23 May 2011 10:18:04 EST news225364662