One health

Communicable diseases remain one of the major causes of mortality worldwide. There are disparities in the numbers of individuals affected by disease between low-and-middle-income countries and those in developed nations. Microbes will play in important role in drug discovery: producing anticancer drugs and antimicrobials. Applying One Health principles, to understand the interaction of pathogens and the human host, development of diagnostics, treatments, and disease prevention, applied microbiologists can shape global health and wellbeing outcomes.

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Aboard the International Space Station, viruses and bacteria show atypical interplay

In a new study, terrestrial bacteria-infecting viruses were still able to infect their E. coli hosts in near-weightless “microgravity” conditions aboard the International Space Station, but the dynamics of virus-bacteria interactions differed from those observed on Earth.

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More One Health

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New mechanism links Epstein-Barr virus to MS

Scientists investigating the links between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis show that when the immune system fights EBV, certain T cells – which normally attack the virus – can also react to a protein in the brain called Anoctamin-2 (ANO2), a  phenomenon called molecular mimicry.