Ebola vaccine

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News & Comment

easily have endured the worst impacts while under the earth’s crust or near deep-ocean thermal vents. AV http://www.EurekAlert.com/releases/ uor-dpp121500.html

Microbial martians

Martians might have resembled earthly magnetotactic bacteria, according to recent findings. A research team funded by the National Science Foundation to study an ancient meteor from Mars, called ALH84001, has isolated magnetite crystals from the meteor that appear to be of biological origin. The crystals are similar to those formed by magnetotactic bacteria, which navigate through the environment using the electromagnetic crystals as a compass. Skeptics might have to await the next mission to Mars for further evidence of life on the red planet. AV http://www.EurekAlert.com/releases/ nsf-nrl121500.html

Suspected Rift Valley fever In September 2000, the Ministries of Health in Saudi Arabia and Yemen began receiving reports of unexplained hemorrhagic fever in humans and associated animal deaths and abortions from the far western Saudi–Yemeni border region. These cases have been confirmed as Rift Valley fever, the first such cases on the Arabian peninsula. By November, Saudi Arabia had 516 persons with suspected severe Rift Valley fever requiring hospitalization and 87 of these patients have died. Preliminary epidemiological data reported close contact with animals, especially sheep and goats, and exposure to dead or aborted animals. Nearly all persons reported having had mosquito bites and entomological studies found large numbers of two species of mosquito, Culex tritaeniorrhynchus and Aedes caspius, in agricultural areas. CK

TRENDS in Microbiology Vol.9 No.2 February 2001

Overgrowth of bacteria implicated in IBS Before Helicobacter pylori was implicated in stomach ulcers, patients were prescribed antacids and told to relax. Similarly, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – a condition causing diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal bloating and cramps – has no known cause. Patients are simply encouraged to reduce stress levels and improve their eating habits. However, investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles have now linked the condition to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). In this recent study, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, a breath test was used to test IBS patients for SIBO. Seventy-eight per cent of the patients had SIBO and, following antibiotic treatment, many experienced a reduction or elimination of their IBS symptoms. Future trials will include non-antibiotic therapies to avoid the development of antibiotic resistance. AV http://www.EurekAlert.com/releases/ csmc-ibs121100.html

mutans, the causative agent of dental caries. Hideki Masuda, director of the Material Research and Development Laboratories at Ogawa & Co. Ltd., says that wasabi interferes with the sucrosedependent adherence of S. mutans. Wasabi, which is served as a condiment with sushi and sashimi, is known for its antimicrobial properties. Isothiocyanates contained in the green horseradish are also reputed to prevent blood clots and have anti-asthma and anti-cancer properties. AV http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000 /12/001215082049.htm

Cleaning the blood supply

Ebola vaccine Scientists led by Drs Nancy Sullivan and Gary Nabel of the Vaccine Research Division of the National Institutes of Health, have successfully vaccinated macaque monkeys against the Ebola virus (reported in Nature 408, pp. 605–609). Four monkeys were vaccinated with DNA from the Zaire strain of Ebola virus carried on a plasmid vector. After a rest period, a second vaccination was carried out using an adenovirus vector containing glycoproteins from all three pathogenic Ebola viruses (Zaire, Sudan and Ivory Coast). Monkeys were challenged with a lethal dose of the highly pathogenic 1976 Miyanga strain of Ebola. Within a week, all the controls died, whereas the vaccinated monkeys remained disease free and have been asymptomatic for >6 months, with no sign of virus in their blood. CK http://www.nature.com http://www.niaid.nih.gov

Whas' up? Wasabi! It is possible you don’t need to brush after munching wasabi – if you really don't care to. The American Chemical Society have reported that isothiocyanates present in wasabi inhibit the growth of Streptococcus

In the 1980s, 80% of Canadian hemophiliacs were infected with HIV, hepatitis C or both from tainted blood supplies. As a result, responsibility for the blood system was taken over from the Canadian Red Cross by government agencies. Although blood is now carefully screened in developed countries, health experts worry that blood supplies could become contaminated by emerging pathogens that cannot yet be detected. Chemists from Vitex, a Massachusettsbased company, might have found a way around the problem. Vitex has developed a method of eliminating viruses and bacteria from blood supplies in the first place. The protective agent, a family of molecules termed InactineTM, destroys nucleic acids but leaves red blood cells essentially unchanged. In the first human trials of InactineTM, volunteers suffered no ill effects when re-infused with the treated blood. AV http://www.newscientist.com/ http://www.cbc.ca/

In Brief compiled by Cathel Kerr ([email protected]) and Alexandra Venter ([email protected])

http://tim.trends.com 0966-842X/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.