http://www.medindia.net/healthnews/Tapeworm-Infections-news.asp Medindia largest health website in india. en-us Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved. Fri, 25 May 2012 07:23:15 GMT http://www.medindia.net/news/drug-to-destroy-parasite-causing-death-globally-discovered-101648-1.htm An existing drug powerful against Entamoeba histolytica, the parasite, which causes amebic dysentery, and liver abscesses and results in the death of more than 70,000 people worldwide per year, identified by scientists. Using ahigh-throughput screen for drugs developed by them, a collaborative group of scientists from UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Francisco and Wake Forest School of Medicine discovered that auranofin - a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 25 years ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/drug-to-destroy-parasite-causing-death-globally-discovered-101648-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/new-drugs-for-fox-tapeworm-infection-101583-1.htm Scientists are testing a series of novel drugs that could inhibit fox tapeworm infections in humans. The report, which appears in ACS' IJournal of Medicinal Chemistry, /Ishows that specific organometallic substances that help combat cancer are also the surprising best new hope for a treatment against tapeworm infection. Carsten Vock, Andrew Hemphill and colleagues explain that alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a parasitic disease caused by the fox tapeworm IEchinococcus multilocularis/I....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/new-drugs-for-fox-tapeworm-infection-101583-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/common-parasite-that-causes-severe-illness-in-us-newborns-identified-100059-1.htm Using a new blood test, developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), researchers have pinpointed which strains of the IToxoplasma/I igondii/i parasite, that causes toxoplasmosis, are strongly associated with premature births and severe birth defects among newborns in the United States. Pregnant women can become infected with IT. gondii/I through contact with cat feces that contain infectious forms of the parasite or by eating undercooked meat....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/common-parasite-that-causes-severe-illness-in-us-newborns-identified-100059-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/research-details-how-deadly-bird-parasite-evolves-at-a-fast-rate-97365-1.htm Bacteria responsible for a devastating bird disease that spread from poultry to house finches in the mid-1990s evolves at an exceptionally fast rate, a new study has revealed. What's more, the fast-evolving microbe has lost a key chunk of its genome since jumping to its new host, scientists were surprised to find. The missing portion contained the genes that made up the microbe's immune system, researchers report in the February 9th issue of iPLoS Genetics/i. When thousands of wild house ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/research-details-how-deadly-bird-parasite-evolves-at-a-fast-rate-97365-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/substance-p-causes-seizures-in-people-with-pork-tapeworm-97331-1.htm A research has found that a neuropeptide called Substance P can cause seizures in patients whose brains are infected with pork tapeworm. "Neurocysticercosis or the tapeworm parasitic infection in the brain, is the major cause of acquired seizures," said A HREF="http:www.bcm.edu/medicine/infectious/index.cfm?PMID=7674"Dr. Prema Robinson/A, assistant professor of medicine - infectious diseases, and corresponding author of the report. "It is particularly important to understand the source of ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/substance-p-causes-seizures-in-people-with-pork-tapeworm-97331-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Cardinal-Protein-the-Survival-of-Malaria-Parasite-Detected-95837-1.htm The structure and function of a protein playing a vital role in the life of a parasite resulting in the killing of 655,000 people in 2010 has been cracked by Scientists at the Washington University. The protein is an enzyme that Plasmodium falciparum, the protozoan that causes the most lethal form of malaria, uses to make cell membrane. The protozoan cannot survive without this enzyme, but even though the enzyme has many look-alikes in other organisms, people do not make it. Together ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Cardinal-Protein-the-Survival-of-Malaria-Parasite-Detected-95837-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Deadliest-Malaria-Parasite-Wiped-Out-by-Starving-It-to-Death-94581-1.htm Research has demonstrated that a newly developed anti-malarial agent clears infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans by literally starving the parasites to death. The drug BCX4945 developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University could bolster efforts to develop more potent therapies against one of the world's leading killers.lasmodium falciparum, the malaria species most likely to cause severe infections and death, is very common in ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Deadliest-Malaria-Parasite-Wiped-Out-by-Starving-It-to-Death-94581-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Works-On-White-Blood-Cells-93955-1.htm The malaria parasite works on the dendritic cells (DCs), warding off the body's immune attack, say Australian researchers. The dendritic cells are found in most tissues of the body and are particularly abundant in those that are interfaces between the external and internal environments (e.g., skin, lungs, and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract). Dr Michelle Wykes and her team from Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have recently published new findings demonstrating how the malaria ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Works-On-White-Blood-Cells-93955-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-New-Findings-93263-1.htm The mechanism by which the deadly species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum invades human red blood cells has been discovered by scientists. They have found that the parasite relies on a single receptor on the red blood cell's surface to invade, offering an exciting new focus for vaccine development. The blood stage of Plasmodium's lifecycle begins when the parasite invades human red blood cells, and it is this stage that is responsible for the symptoms and mortality associated with malaria....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-New-Findings-93263-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Brain-Chemistry-may-be-Altered-by-Brain-Parasite-93003-1.htm Infection by the brain parasite IToxoplasma gondii/I directly affects the production of dopamine, a key chemical messenger in the brain, says a research group from the University of Leeds. This brain parasite affects 10-20% of UK's population. These findings are the first to demonstrate that a parasite found in the brain of mammals can affect dopamine levels. Whilst the work has been carried out with rodents, lead investigator Dr Glenn McConkey of the University's Faculty of Biological ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Brain-Chemistry-may-be-Altered-by-Brain-Parasite-93003-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Find-Cure-to-Parasitic-Roundworm-in-Its-Genes-92723-1.htm The draft genome of Ascaris suum, a parasitic roundworm of pig, has been sequenced by an international team of researchers. This effort has paved the way for the development of new and urgently needed interventions against ascariasis and other nematodiases. Ascaris worms are soil-transmitted helminths causing ascariasis in human and animals. In this collaborative study led by the University of Melbourne and BGI, the researchers sequenced the A. suum genome at approximately 80-fold coverage ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Find-Cure-to-Parasitic-Roundworm-in-Its-Genes-92723-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Way-to-Tame-Malaria-Parasite-Developed-89885-1.htm Stanford/UCSF scientists have designed a novel technique to disarm malaria parasite. The scientists have, in effect, created a domesticated strain of IPlasmodium/I - the one-celled parasite that causes malaria - that would no longer cause this dreaded disease. Their findings not only make it possible to grow large volumes of this modified parasite, but also reveal how the parasite's very survival turns on the production of one chemical - isopentenyl pyrophosphate, or IPP. These developments ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Way-to-Tame-Malaria-Parasite-Developed-89885-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Found-in-Cats-may-Increase-Risk-of-Brain-Cancer-in-Humans-88347-1.htm A single-celled parasite that is found in cats has infected more than a third of the human population and could increase the risk of brain cancer, a new study published in the online edition of the journal Biology Letters reveals. Known as Toxoplasma gondii, the organism is not usually harmful to humans but has the capacity to be fatal for unborn babies and also affect the nerve systems of those who have weak immune systems. Researchers from CNRS research institute in France suggests that those ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Found-in-Cats-may-Increase-Risk-of-Brain-Cancer-in-Humans-88347-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Tapeworm-Drug-Effective-Against-Colon-Cancer-86530-1.htm A widely used drug against tapeworm infections is found to inhibit colon cancer metastasis. The compound silences a gene that triggers the formation of metastases in colon cancer. Professor Ulrike Stein (Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charit Medical Faculty and the Max Delbr'ck Center for Molecular Medicine, (MDC)) and her research group made this discovery in collaboration with Professor Robert H. Shoemaker of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Tapeworm-Drug-Effective-Against-Colon-Cancer-86530-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Find-Mosquito-Bug-That-Can-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-85046-1.htm The parasite that causes malaria in humans, Plasmodium falciparum, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found, can be killed by a bacterium in mosquitoes itself. The Enterobacter bacterium is part of the naturally occurring microbial flora of the mosquito's gut and kills the parasite by producing reactive oxygen species (or free radical molecules). "We've previously shown that the mosquito's midgut bacteria can activate its immune system and thereby ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Find-Mosquito-Bug-That-Can-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-85046-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Sleeping-Sickness-Treatments-Could-Emerge-from-Parasite-Study-84047-1.htm New treatments for sleeping sickness disease could emerge from a study of sleeping sickness parasite by the University of Edinburgh researchers. Scientists have found that the parasite, which can transform itself into either of two physical forms, has developed a careful balance between these. One of these types ensures infection in the bloodstream of a victim, and the other type is taken up by the tsetse fly and spread to another person or animal. The parasite maintains a trade-off between ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Sleeping-Sickness-Treatments-Could-Emerge-from-Parasite-Study-84047-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Roundworm-To-Combat-Sepsis-81943-1.htm A protein that occurs naturally in a type of roundworm can be used to combat systemic inflammation caused by sepsis, say researchers with the University of Liverpool. Sepsis is a serious inflammatory condition, caused by the body over-reacting to infection. The body becomes overwhelmed by bacteria, setting off a series of reactions that lead to inflammation and clotting. It affects around 20 million people worldwide each year, and accounts for a large proportion of intensive care unit admissions....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Roundworm-To-Combat-Sepsis-81943-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Fungus-to-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-81676-1.htm An anti-malarial fungus which kills malaria parasite in mosquitoes has been genetically engineered by scientists at the John Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Westminster, London. 'Metarhizium anisopliae' is the fungus and is found in soils everywhere. It infects adult mosquitoes through the cuticle. When malaria carrying mosquitoes were infected with this genetically modified fungus, it was found that the fungus killed the malaria parasite in the mosquitoes, thus preventing its transmission into humans....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Fungus-to-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-81676-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Pancreatic-Cancer-Pathway-Revealed-by-Common-Roundworm-79829-1.htm A new study on pancreatic cancer with the help of a simpler organism has been carried out by researchers at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, who have made an amazing discovery. With the help of a common roundworm C. elegans, they were able to unravel how the Ras oncogene chooses a signalling pathway and how the consequences of that choice played out in cellular development. This is a crucial issue in cancer, which is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. The researchers ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Pancreatic-Cancer-Pathway-Revealed-by-Common-Roundworm-79829-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Scientists-Catch-Malaria-Parasite-Invading-Red-Blood-Cells-79823-1.htm Australian scientists have for the first time caught malaria parasites in the act of invading red blood cells by using new image and cell technologies. The researchers, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), achieved this long-held aim using a combination of electron, light and super resolution microscopy. The detailed look at what occurs as the parasite burrows through the walls of red blood cells provides new insights ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Scientists-Catch-Malaria-Parasite-Invading-Red-Blood-Cells-79823-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Roundworm-Eggs-Aid-Chinese-Students-To-Look-Thin-for-Job-Interviews-78869-1.htm Female students in China are said to be eating roundworm eggs in a desperate bid to lose weight and look thin when appearing for job interviews. The eggs hatch in the stomach allowing those who take them to shed pounds without exercising or dieting in Xiamen, China, where employment is hard to come by. Swallowing the worms is extremely dangerous, and it can lead to severe health problems, but with a shortage of jobs, the women are under pressure to appear thin if they are to have any chance of landing a role....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Roundworm-Eggs-Aid-Chinese-Students-To-Look-Thin-for-Job-Interviews-78869-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Protein-That-Facilitates-Parasite-Survival-In-Host-Cells-Identified-78754-1.htm Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a protein that helps parasite survive in host cells. Toxoplasma gondii and other related parasites surround themselves with a membrane to protect against factors in host cells that would otherwise kill them. And the researchers have now identified a parasite protein that protects this membrane from host proteins that can rupture it. They believe that disabling the parasite's defensive protein could ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/New-Protein-That-Facilitates-Parasite-Survival-In-Host-Cells-Identified-78754-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Boffins-Discover-New-Pathway-That-Malaria-Parasite-Uses-to-Infect-Human-Cells-74557-1.htm A researcher has identified a new pathway used by the malaria parasite to infect human cells. The discovery, by researchers at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, provides a new vaccine target through which infection with the deadly disease could be prevented. The most lethal form of malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. For decades, it has been known that malaria parasites use proteins called glycophorins as a means of entering red blood cells. This new research ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Boffins-Discover-New-Pathway-That-Malaria-Parasite-Uses-to-Infect-Human-Cells-74557-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Migrates-from-Gorilla-to-Man-74432-1.htm Malaria's most dangerous parasite has crossed the species barrier from gorilla to man, warned scientists. Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest of the five known strains of malaria parasites, causing several hundred million cases each year, of which around a million are fatal. The parasite passes from one human to another via a female Anopheles mosquito, which hands it on when the insect takes a blood meal. Until now, conventional thinking was that the parasite was first transmitted ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Migrates-from-Gorilla-to-Man-74432-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Leishmania-may-be-Treated-by-Cancer-Drugs-71502-1.htm Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have said that a parasite afflicting nearly 12 million people across the world relies on a family of genes that should make it vulnerable to compounds developed to treat cancer and other disorders. The study appears online in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers searched the genome of the parasite Leishmania to determine that it has three kinds of TOR kinases, proteins that ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Leishmania-may-be-Treated-by-Cancer-Drugs-71502-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Trapping-Parasite-Inside-Infected-Cell-New-Technique-To-Fight-Malaria-68985-1.htm Setting out to block invasion of healthy red blood by malarial parasites, US researchers have found that locking the parasites within infected blood cells could also prove an effective way to contain . one of the world's most common and dangerous infections Malaria sickens up to one half billion people every year and kills up to one million, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa. The high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like symptoms, and anemia can be fatal unless treated quickly. Malaria has grown ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Trapping-Parasite-Inside-Infected-Cell-New-Technique-To-Fight-Malaria-68985-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Immune-Systems-Parasite-Fighters-also-Cause-Allergies-and-Asthma-66379-1.htm Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, while studying how the immune system operates, discovered a previously unidentified cell population that may be the body's double-edged sword, fighting off parasitic infections but also causing the harmful immune responses that can lead to allergies and asthma. This cell population, termed multipotent progenitor cells, or MPP, appears to be activated in the context of allergies or infection with ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Immune-Systems-Parasite-Fighters-also-Cause-Allergies-and-Asthma-66379-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Study-Finds-How-Malaria-Parasite-Spreads-in-Red-Blood-Cells-65340-1.htm Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, seem to have solved the mystery as to how the malaria parasite regulates its infectious cycle. They have identified a mechanism by which Plasmodium intensively replicates itself in human blood to spread the disease. "If this mechanism can be stopped, Plasmodium replication would cease or be severely inhibited, thus controlling the spread of malaria," said Karine Le Roch, an assistant professor of cell biology and neuroscience, who led the research....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Study-Finds-How-Malaria-Parasite-Spreads-in-Red-Blood-Cells-65340-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Worlds-First-In-depth-Study-of-the-Malaria-Parasite-Genome-Completed-by-NTU-Researchers-64727-1.htm More potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria could result from groundbreaking research done at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) School of Biological Sciences (SBS). Malaria is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and kills up to three million people each year. Assistant Professor Zbynek Bozdech and his team of researchers, including graduate students and post-doctorals from SBS' Division of Genomics (and) Genetics, have scored a world first in successfully using transcriptional ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Worlds-First-In-depth-Study-of-the-Malaria-Parasite-Genome-Completed-by-NTU-Researchers-64727-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Scientists-Make-Significant-Discoveries-in-Mosquitoes-and-Malarial-Parasite-64683-1.htm Investigators said on Wednesday they had made important lab discoveries in mosquitoes and the parasite which causes malaria, opening up new paths for attacking a disease that claims nearly a million lives per year. In one of two studies published in the British journal Nature, Yale University researchers said they had found more than two dozen smell receptors in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae that enables the insect to home in on human sweat. Some of the receptors "could be excellent targets" ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Scientists-Make-Significant-Discoveries-in-Mosquitoes-and-Malarial-Parasite-64683-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Burrows-Through-the-Skin-to-Gain-Entry-into-Our-Body-63984-1.htm Scientists from Heidelberg University have found the manner in which the malaria parasite gains entry into the body, which is by making burrows through the skin. They focussed their study on sporozoites - the highly mobile stages of the malaria parasite - and found that they follow a stick-and-slip method. "We show that sporozoite motility is characterised by a continuous sequence of stick-and-slip phases," ABC Science quoted the researchers as saying. When a malaria-carrying mosquito ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malaria-Parasite-Burrows-Through-the-Skin-to-Gain-Entry-into-Our-Body-63984-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/A-Parasite-may-Help-Kill-Sleeping-Sickness-Bug-63762-1.htm A novel way to end sleeping sickness by making a parasite that causes it to self-destruct has been discovered by scientists from Vanderbilt University. They have identified an enzyme that protects the protozoa that cause sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, and a compound that appears to obstruct those efforts. "With human migrations, HIV co-infections and the broadening of the host reservoirs due to climate changes, sleeping sickness and other diseases caused by these protozoan ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/A-Parasite-may-Help-Kill-Sleeping-Sickness-Bug-63762-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/How-Malaria-Parasite-Enters-Body-62768-1.htm Scientists from Heidelberg University Hospital have identified a mechanism through which malaria parasite move from the salivary gland of a mosquito through a person's skin into the body. Malaria is caused by plasmodia, tiny parasites that enter the human body through the saliva of a mosquito when it bites. They use active movements to enter into the bloodstream and from there to cells of the liver and finally into blood cells. By using microscopic technique, the research ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/How-Malaria-Parasite-Enters-Body-62768-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Study-Gives-New-Insight-in-the-Fight-Against-the-Leishmania-Parasite-59903-1.htm A better understanding of how the ILeishmania donovani/I parasite manages to outsmart the human immune system and proliferate with impunity has been gained by Professor Albert Descoteaux's team at Centre INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier. This parasite causes visceral leishmaniasis, a chronic infection that is potentially fatal if left untreated. This scientific breakthrough was recently published in IPLoS Pathogens/I. Some 350 million people live in areas where leishmaniasis can be contracted....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Study-Gives-New-Insight-in-the-Fight-Against-the-Leishmania-Parasite-59903-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Human-Cells-Converted-to-Liver-Cancer-by-Parasite-Growth-Hormone-59251-1.htm The human liver fluke (IOpisthorchis viverrini/I) contributes to the development of bile duct (liver) cancer by secreting granulin, a growth hormone that is known to cause uncontrolled growth of cells, scientists have revealed. Details are published October 9 in the open-access journal IPLoS Pathogens/I. Drs Michael Smout and Alex Loukas from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, with collaborators at Khon Kaen University and George Washington University, say they are excited ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Human-Cells-Converted-to-Liver-Cancer-by-Parasite-Growth-Hormone-59251-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Bacteria-may-Prevent-Spread-of-Filariasis-58884-1.htm Infecting mosquitoes with a bacterial parasite could help prevent the spread of lymphatic filariasis, one of the major neglected tropical diseases of the developing world, according to research published today in the journal IScience/I. Lymphatic filariasis affects more than 120 million people worldwide - over 40 million of these are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease. It is caused by infection with the parasitic filarial nematode, a threadlike worm that is spread by mosquitoes and occupies the lymphatic system....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Parasite-Bacteria-may-Prevent-Spread-of-Filariasis-58884-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Fast-Developing-Resistance-to-Chloroquine-58697-1.htm Australian scientists say malarial parasite is fast developing resistance to chloroquine, the inexpensive and effective drug used to treat malaria. Dr Rowena Martin, a biochemist, and colleagues at the Australian National University in Canberra have published their study in the journal Science. ABC Science Online quoted Martin as saying: "Chloroquine is called 'the wonder drug.... It really changed malaria treatment and it's estimated to have saved more lives than any other drug in history....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Fast-Developing-Resistance-to-Chloroquine-58697-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Unique-Method-Of-Immunization-Developed-To-Protect-Humans-Against-Malaria-Parasite-55762-1.htm A team of researchers have developed a novel immunization method that may induce fast and effective protection in humans against the life-threatening malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The international team of researchers were from Singapore, The Netherlands and France. "It is not practical to apply the experimental method used in our study as a means of vaccination," said Dr. Laurent Renia, lead researcher at the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN). "But, this method of immunization ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Unique-Method-Of-Immunization-Developed-To-Protect-Humans-Against-Malaria-Parasite-55762-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Cambodia-Reports-Drug-Resistant-Malaria-Parasite-55621-1.htm Malaria parasites in western Cambodia are becoming increasingly resistant to artemisinin-based therapies, say researchers. Artemisinin-based therapies are the first-line treatment for malaria, which is caused by most deadly form parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It is derived from Artemisia annua, also known as sweet wormwood, which had been used in Chinese medicine for centuries under the name Qinghaosu. Rediscovered in the 1970s, artemisinin was evaluated first in South-East Asia, ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Cambodia-Reports-Drug-Resistant-Malaria-Parasite-55621-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Construct-Genetic-Map-Of-Parasite-That-Causes-Intestinal-Infections-53860-1.htm In a major achievement, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in San Antonio researchers has constructed a genetic map of the parasite that causes schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis is a chronic intestinal infection that can damage internal organs and, in children, impair growth and cognitive development. Schistosome parasites are flatworms that infect more than 200 million people a year worldwide. "A genetic map is the essential tool needed for finding the genes that are ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Researchers-Construct-Genetic-Map-Of-Parasite-That-Causes-Intestinal-Infections-53860-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Common-Parasite-Infection-Could-Lead-To-A-Car-Crash-52776-1.htm A new study concludes that if you're infected with a common parasite called toxoplasma, then chances are that you'll crash your car. A new study has found toxoplasma, or toxo for short, starts its life cycle in rodents. To spread, it manipulates rodents' brains, making them reckless and more likely to be eaten by cats, which then pass on the parasite through their faeces. People end up with the bug by catching it from eating undercooked meat from animals that had contact with cat faeces, reports New Scientist....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Common-Parasite-Infection-Could-Lead-To-A-Car-Crash-52776-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Growth-can-Now-be-Arrested-With-a-New-Method-51690-1.htm Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered a new way to arrest the growth of malarial parasite. According to researchers, the new finding could guide the development of new malaria treatments. "Our findings offer both a new potential molecular target for treating malaria and a compound that interacts at that target. These are important steps in discovering drugs that could help to treat malaria," said Jun O. Liu, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and molecular ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Growth-can-Now-be-Arrested-With-a-New-Method-51690-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Mosquito-Parasite-Could-Combat-Dengue-Fever-Study-50758-1.htm Dengue fever is a viral disease blighting many of the world's tropical regions. Now, a group of researchers has made a major finding which may help fight the terrible disease. Carried by mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, 40 percent of the world's population is believed to be at risk from the infection. What is more, previous exposure to other strains of the fever does not confer protection. In fact, subsequent infections are significantly worse, and can result in fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Mosquito-Parasite-Could-Combat-Dengue-Fever-Study-50758-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Chemicals-Could-Kill-Most-Deadly-Malaria-causing-Parasite-50396-1.htm A team of British scientists has created chemicals that have the potential to kill the most deadly malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum - including those resistant to existing drugs. Researchers at the University of Leeds say that the compounds work by preventing the enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) - essential to the growth of the parasite - from working, which results in its death. "Without this enzyme, Plasmodium falciparum is unable to grow and therefore it dies....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Chemicals-Could-Kill-Most-Deadly-Malaria-causing-Parasite-50396-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Genetically-Distinct-Carriers-of-Chagas-Disease-causing-Parasite-Live-Together-48501-1.htm Researchers have found living together the known carrier species for the Chagas disease-causing parasite ITriatoma dimidiata/I (also known as "kissing bugs") and a cryptic species that looks the same - but is genetically distinct from - the known carrier species. The two species haven't interbred for as many as 5 million years, according to a report published March 10 in the open-access journal IPLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases/I. Researchers with Loyola University New Orleans (United ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Genetically-Distinct-Carriers-of-Chagas-Disease-causing-Parasite-Live-Together-48501-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Breaks-An-Amino-Acid-To-Thrive-In-Human-Body-47775-1.htm Malarial parasite breaks down an important amino acid, called arginine, in a bid to adapt and thrive within the human body, according to researchers from Princeton University and the Drexel University College of Medicine. It was found that the parasite might trigger a more critical and deadlier phase of the disease by depleting arginine. According to the scientists, understanding of this aspect of malaria metabolism can provide new insights on the interactions between the parasite and its human hosts....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Malarial-Parasite-Breaks-An-Amino-Acid-To-Thrive-In-Human-Body-47775-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Platelets-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-in-Early-Stages-of-Infection-47394-1.htm Platelets kill the malaria parasite in early stages of infection, researchers at the Menzies Research Institute, Australia have found. Platelets, along with red cells and plasma, form a major proportion of both human and animal blood. They provide the necessary hormones and proteins for coagulation. The clot prevents further loss of blood when one receives a cut or bruise. Director of Menzies, Professor Simon Foote and Research Fellow, Dr Brendan McMorran, along with collaborators at the Walter ...]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Platelets-Kill-Malaria-Parasite-in-Early-Stages-of-Infection-47394-1.htm http://www.medindia.net/news/Links-To-Cross-Species-Evolution-Of-Malarial-Parasite-Traced-Out-45658-1.htm The malarial parasites found in African tree-dwelling rats has been found to share a close evolutionary relationship with Plasmodium falciparum, the deadly form of malaria for humans and Plasmodium reichenowi in chimpanzees. Based on the result of a novel study from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History. "This is the first time that a relationship has been found between human and rodent malaria," said Susan Perkins, Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Museum....]]> http://www.medindia.net/news/Links-To-Cross-Species-Evolution-Of-Malarial-Parasite-Traced-Out-45658-1.htm