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Document de presse | 2007.11.13
The Chikungunya virus and the Asian tiger mosquito:
Teams from the Institut Pasteur have shown that a mutation of the Chikungunya virus that facilitates its penetration into the vector mosquito could explain the epidemic explosion recorded in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of 2006. Further, the teams have provided important data suggesting the possibility of a vertical transmission of the virus from the infected female to its descendents. Their...
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Document de presse | 2007.11.12
Malaria: the importance of the MSP3 candidate vaccine has been confirmed
A vast immunoepidemiological study, published in PLoS Medicine, has just confirmed the importance of a candidate vaccine against malaria, named MSP3, under development at the Institut Pasteur. The study shows that the antibodies directed against this molecule, produced by the exposed subjects, are closely associated with protection against the disease, including among young children—unlike...
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Document de presse | 2007.07.12
Leptospirosis: the first virulence gene identified
Although leptospirosis is one of the so-called "neglected" diseases, it still causes some 500,000 severe cases in humans around the world each year and also comprises a veterinary problem. A century after the pathogenic agent that causes the disease was found, researchers at the Institut Pasteur have discovered a gene that is essential to the bacteria's virulence. Their work,...
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Document de presse | 2007.06.28
Chikungunya: virus target cells identified
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and CNRS have identified for the first time the target cells of the Chikungunya virus disease (the "stooped man's disease"), which is currently breaking out in India and Gabon. Their results, obtained in collaboration with clinicians from the island of Reunion, were published in PLoS Pathogens and in PLoS ONE. Press release Paris,...
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Document de presse | 2007.06.21
Rabies in the bat
The largest active surveillance study of rabies in bats ever performed was carried out by researchers from the Institut Pasteur and from the University of Barcelona in Spain. This study, published in 'PLoS ONE', enabled the evaluation of the dynamics of the infection in its animal reservoirs and had useful implications for public health. The study also confirmed a limited but still real...
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Document de presse | 2007.05.14
Identification of a susceptibility gene for autism
A group of the Pasteur Institute has identified a new susceptibility gene for autism. The key role of this gene in melatonin synthesis sheds light on this complex condition. This work is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Press release Paris, may 15, 2007 Autism is a complex syndrome, which appears before 3 years of age, and is characterised by deficits in...
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Document de presse | 2007.05.02
The brain and chronic exposure to nicotine
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur associated with the CNRS, collaborating with scientists from the Karolinksa Institute (Stockholm) and the University of Bordeaux 1, have analysed the subtle balance between various types of nicotinic receptors in the brain during chronic exposure to nicotine. Their research, just published in 'PNAS', could make it possible to guide the development of...
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Document de presse | 2007.04.24
Cerebral malaria: towards a prognostic test?
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS, in collaboration with clinicians in Gabon, recently conducted a study on cerebral malaria in Plasmodium falciparum infected children. Results from this research, published today in 'PLoS ONE', should allow a better understanding of this severe form of malaria affecting 20-40% of P. falciparum infected individuals developing a severe...
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Document de presse | 2007.04.17
Dipsticks for the rapid diagnosis of diarrhoeal diseases
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, including one associate team at Inserm, have recently developed a diagnostic test able to be used at a patient's bedside for the major forms of bacillary dysentery (or shigellosis), a disease responsible for a million deaths every year across the world. Their study, conducted in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur of Ho Chi Minh City,...
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Document de presse | 2007.04.09
AIDS: the cells that stop the virus
Rare individuals infected by the AIDS virus control the infection and do not develop the disease, in spite of more than ten years of being HIV positive and in the absence of treatment. A team from the Institut Pasteur and a team from Inserm U802, in collaboration with clinicians from Bicêtre Hospital, have just explained how these individuals succeed in controlling HIV. Their study, conducted...
