What are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)? Mathew Baylis gives his definition at the annual ISNTD Bites meeting held in London this month. “I see it as meaning a disease that is understudied relative to its impact”. Many of these diseases are vector transmitted or are zoonoses (diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans)… Read more »
Sandfly salivary proteins could be used as biomarkers to indicate the risk of leishmaniasis infection.
Most British school children are familiar with the story of the Black Death and subsequent plague epidemics that decimated the population of Europe in the Middle Ages. It now seems that the villain of the plot, the black rat, may have been wrongly accused of acting as a European reservoir for the plague bacteria and… Read more »
The Food and Drug Administration of the US is considering a proposal to release GM mosquitoes in the Florida Keys to protect the public from the risk of imported dengue and chikungunya outbreaks. While all the experts and the local agency agrees, emotions are running high in this part of US renowned for its independent nature.
Detection of eggs/ cysts of intestinal parasites in the faeces of infected animals is the gold standard for diagnosing numerous intestinal parasites. Hence, desiccated fossilised faeces or “coprolites” of extinct animals provide a useful tool for the investigation of parasites in extinct vertebrates.