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Document de presse | 2007.03.19
Researchers sound the alarm:
Could multidrug resistance become widespread among strains of the plague bacillus? The study of a fragment of mobile DNA conferring to Yersinia pestis resistance against numerous antibiotics has shown that similar elements are present in bacteria found in food products in recent years in the United States, raising fears among researchers from the Institut Pasteur and The Institute for Genomic...
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Document de presse | 2007.03.11
BCG: should clinical trials be reconducted?
The various BCG strains used to vaccinate against tuberculosis throughout the world may not all have the same level of effectiveness. This was the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from Institut Pasteur, published today in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA". Press release Paris, march 12, 2007 Over three billion individuals...
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Document de presse | 2007.02.21
Aquatic Predator Insect Saliva May Protect Against Buruli Ulcer
Buruli ulcer is a necrotizing skin disease that is very disabling, caused by bacteria that inhabit aquatic environment. It is rife in several regions of the world and is developing at a disturbing rate in West Africa. Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and Inserm, working together with university and institute teams from the Institut Pasteur International Network, recently proved that the...
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Document de presse | 2007.02.14
The virulence of the plague bacillus: a "virus" involved...
During Middle Age, the plague decimated almost one third of the European population in less than 3 years. Why is the plague bacillus so pathogenic? Researchers from the Institut Pasteur have discovered that the infection of the ancestral form of the bacillus by a bacterial virus (phage) has been one of the steps that have led to the emergence of such a dreadful organism. For plague specialists,...
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Document de presse | 2007.02.05
New recommendations against a major opportunistic infection: cryptococcosis
Cryptococcosis ranks second among fatal opportunistic infections in patients infected by HIV and who are profoundly immunosuppressed. A multicentric prospective study, published today in PLoS Medicine, was conducted in France by researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS among patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis. The study uncovers parameters associated with more severe infections,...
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Document de presse | 2007.01.31
The search for a streptococcus B vaccine
Streptococcus B, one of the primary sources of infection in newborns, can cause pneumonia, septicemia, and meningitis. Portuguese researchers and a team from the Institut Pasteur associated with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) have identified a bacterial protein that modifies the host's immune system to facilitate bacterial colonization. The researchers, who have...
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Document de presse | 2006.12.19
Tuberculosis: the bacillus takes refuge in adipose cells
A team from the Institut Pasteur has recently shown that the tuberculosis bacillus hides from the immune system in its host's fat cells. This formidable pathogen is protected against even the most powerful antibiotics in these cells, in which it may remain dormant for years. This discovery, published in PLoS ONE, sheds new light on possible strategies for fighting tuberculosis. Attempts to...
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Document de presse | 2006.12.10
Inflammatory intestinal diseases: the lessons of Shigella
The bacterium Shigella flexneri, responsible for shigellosis, or bacillary dysentery, acts by invading intestinal cells. Researchers from the Institut Pasteur associated with Inserm have now shown how this bacterium modulates the inflammatory response at the cell level to ensure its survival. By deciphering the mechanisms at work, they are pointing out to possibly new therapeutic targets, opening...
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Document de presse | 2006.11.23
Evolution of the typhoid fever bacterium Playing hide-and-seek since prehistoric times...
International teams led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute, the Institut Pasteur, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have just traced the evolutionary history of Salmonella Typhi, the bacterium responsible for typhoid fever, in a study published in the journal Science. This disease, which continues to exist in industrialised nations, affects twenty-one million people annually...
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Document de presse | 2006.10.25
Pertussis is still with us!
Whooping cough or pertussis is still the primary cause of death by bacterial infection in infants less than two months old, in France despite general vaccination. The endemicity of this infection is observed in many vaccinated countries. The agent of the disease, a bacterium, was isolated by the Pasteur scientist, Jules Bordet(1) in 1906. For this centenial, the Institut Pasteur is co-organising...
