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Fiche maladie | 2015.10.06
Whooping cough (pertussis)
Whooping cough, long thought of as a childhood illness, can be severe at any age. This bacterial infection is particularly dangerous, and sometimes even fatal, for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated infants and at-risk individuals such as pregnant women and elderly people.
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Document de presse | 2017.08.31
Gut microbiota of mosquito larvae has an impact on adult insect’s ability to transmit human pathogens
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and CNRS, in collaboration with scientific teams from IRD, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1*, and CIRMF in Gabon, have demonstrated that differential bacterial exposure during the development of mosquito larvae (Aedes aegypti) can have “carry-over” effects on adult traits related to an insect’s ability to be a successful vector of arboviruses. These results...
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Document de presse | 2019.12.16
A new breakthrough in developing effective antimalarial drugs
Parasites in the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria, are transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes. The parasites manage to acclimatize to these two completely different hosts because the plasticity of their genome enables them to adapt as necessary. Scientists at the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS decided to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms behind this plasticity, in...
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News | 2023.04.03
Brain Awareness Week: the amazing learning abilities of babies
Could there have been any doubt that babies can recognize their mother even before they are born, that they learn to speak based on the sound of the voice and express an unquenchable curiosity for faces? Four scientists spoke at the conference "What do babies think about?" organized at the Institut Pasteur for Brain Awareness Week 2023. Their presentations taught us more about the surprising...
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Document de presse | 2016.04.11
Malaria: a new route of access to the heart of the parasite
Scientists have just identified an Achilles heel in the parasite that causes malaria, by showing that its optimum development is dependent on its ability to expropriate RNA molecules in infected cells – a host-pathogen interaction that had never previously been observed. Although the precise function of this deviation remains mysterious, these findings open new perspectives for the targeted...
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Document de presse | 2016.07.07
Phage therapy: fundamental action mechanisms revealed
In an article published in PLoS Genetics on July 5, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the Belgian-based Université catholique de Louvain identify for the first time the genetic and metabolic mechanisms underpinning the therapeutic action of a bacteriophage known for its therapeutic potential. Given the worrying rise in bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the difficulties in developing...
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Document de presse | 2016.07.18
Malaria: a genetically attenuated parasite induces an effective, long-lasting immune response
With nearly 3.2 billion people currently at risk of contracting malaria, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Inserm have experimentally developed a live, genetically attenuated vaccine for Plasmodium, the parasite responsible for the disease. By identifying and deleting one of the parasite's genes, the scientists enabled it to induce an effective, long-lasting immune response...
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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 | 2006.08.31
Malaria Parasite: The Trojan Horse strategy revealed
A team from the Pasteur Institute has just uncovered a subtle mechanism used by the parasite that is responsible for malaria to escape from the immune system during a crucial stage of its cycle inside its mammalian host. This has been made possible thanks to in vivo imaging techniques that make it possible to follow the parasite in real time inside the host organism. This discovery - published in...
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News | 2018.06.08
Meningococcal infection: bacterial aggregates form a thick honey-like liquid that flows through blood vessels
The Inserm team led by Guillaume Duménil at the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with several teams of physicists, has unraveled a key stage in infection by Neisseria meningitidis, a human pathogen responsible for meningitis in infants and young adults. Bacterial aggregates in blood vessels appear to facilitate the progression of the disease. Even if treatment is administered rapidly, the...