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Zika, prenatal blood test may intercept unborn child’s defects

22 February 20246 January 2024 by Renato Torlaschi

Two years ago, the Zika epidemic had terrified pregnant women residing in regions endemic to the virus, such as Brazil and even parts of the United States. Their fear was justified by the link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and the risk of some serious birth defects in the unborn child, particularly the condition known as microcephaly, in which there is incomplete skull development, mostly accompanied by mental failure.

The absence of early prenatal diagnosis or treatment has led to enormous concerns and numerous pregnancy terminations. Fetal MRI captures high-resolution snapshots of the fetus, but this imaging technique can be used only in the second or third trimester, when terminating a pregnancy is more complex.

At University of Southern California, a team of researchers is studying the mechanisms behind the devastating consequences of Zika with the goal of developing new prenatal diagnostic tests that can determine whether babies will be born healthy and now, as can be read in their study published in JCI INsight, have taken a significant step forward.

“Our results,” the authors write in The Conversation. – revealed an elevated production of 16 specific protein biomarkers found in the blood of pregnant women who gave birth to children with developmental delays and ocular abnormalities. These biomarkers are potentially useful for predicting Zika pregnancy outcomes simply by using blood samples from the mother-to-be at any stage of pregnancy.”

The number of Zika cases has decreased dramatically following the decline of major outbreaks in 2016, yet many children are still suffering from the terrible consequences of prenatal infection. And the risk of new outbreaks is by no means averted, as the Zika virus has not been eradicated and Aedes mosquitoes-which are its transmission vector-are still widely spread.

Source: Foo SS et al. Biomarkers and immunoprofiles associated with fetal abnormalities of ZIKV-positive pregnancies. JCI Insight. 2018 Nov 2;3(21).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmot/24977548510

Ebola, new rapid test may help control the spread of the virus

22 February 20246 January 2024 by Renato Torlaschi

In the general silence of the Western media, the second largest Ebola outbreak in history has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo for several weeks, with hundreds of deaths.

Since the first patients were diagnosed in North Kivu province in late summer, experts from the World Health Organization and other public health groups have been working to contain the spread of the virus and, given the emergency, have resorted to several experimental vaccines, licensed for human administration even before approval by regulatory agencies, under a protocol for compassionate use.

One of the difficulties in preventing the spread of virus outbreaks is the lack of rapid and accurate diagnostic tests. Currently, blood must be drawn from infected suspects and the samples sent to a laboratory for analysis: the process takes several days, and during this time infected people may continue to move within the community even when they should be quarantined.

As you can read in Science Translational Medicine, a potentially revolutionary breakthrough comes from an international research team that has developed a portable, battery-powered device that can detect the presence of Ebola virus particles in a small blood sample in less than 30 minutes.

In early evaluations, conducted in both animal and human models, the device correctly identified 90 percent of Ebola cases and provided only 2.1 percent false positives.

The researchers were surprised by an unexpected fact: although developed for the diagnosis of Ebola, the test proved capable of indentifying malaria, with 100 percent sensitivity and 99.6 percent specificity, and Lassa fever.

The test makes use of surface-amplified Raman spectroscopy, commonly called Sers, a technique that exploits the amplification of Raman scattering by molecules absorbed on an irregular metal surface: normal cells, viruses, and the malaria parasite reflect light in different, recognizable ways, which the device is able to intercept. “If the results are confirmed,” the authors wrote , “the technique may be useful in outbreaks of febrile-type infectious diseases.

Viruses? They are not always harmful

24 February 20246 January 2024 by MinnieLuongo

Virus is not always synonymous with “harmful cause,” carrying negative effects. At least in the deep sea, where plankton viral infections are the engine of the food chain. The news is more than reliable, coming from Spanish-Italian research involving Ismar-Cnr, and published in “Science Advances,” which shows that in the deep oceans, plankton viral infections release 140 gigatonnes of fresh organic carbon each year for the ecosystem food chain. The results? They will help improve estimates of the earth’s global carbon cycle, useful for understanding climate change.

The study

If the depths of the oceans continue to be populated by fish and other sea creatures, the study says, credit is also due to viruses that, by infecting plankton, put essential nutrients back into the ecosystem’s food chain. “The research is based on the analysis of more than a thousand water samples collected, from the surface to depths of 4,000 meters, along the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans during a scientific expedition conducted in 2010 and funded by the Csic called Malaspina Expedition and tracing the eponymous globe circumnavigation expedition led by Alessandro Malaspina in the late 1700s,” explains Gian Marco Luna, an Ismar-Cnr researcher from Ancona and co-author of the study. “We have shown that viruses from deep environments, about which little has been known until now, are able to prey on microbial plankton much more actively than previously thought.”

Specifically, it is estimated that in the global ocean these viruses infect hundreds of trillions of plankton microorganisms every second (one trillion equals trillion). The viruses destroy the infected cells, which thus put their valuable contents, composed of biomolecules of high nutritional quality, back into the surrounding water. Thus, an important fraction of such organic matter becomes nutrients for other microorganisms, according to the effect known as“viral priming,” feeding the entire food web down to the fish.

Effects

Researchers have also shown that viral infection, particularly in the deep ocean, is responsible for the regeneration of a huge amount of dissolved organic carbon. “Using flow cytometry, a laser technique used in biology that allows the detection and counting of cells and viruses in ocean water samples, we showed that viral infection is responsible for the annual release of 140 gigatonnes of carbon (one gigatonnes corresponds to one billion tons), thus contributing to the global ocean carbon cycle,” continues first author of the paper Elena Lara, a Spanish researcher currently with Ismar-Cnr in Venice and associated with Icm-Csic in Barcelona. Viruses, by breaking down the cells of living microbes, then produce fresh organic carbon, made of biomolecules that are more digestible and potentially more usable along the trophic network than the large slice of dissolved organic carbon.

Correlation between cold sores and Alzheimer’s disease

18 February 20246 January 2024 by pcarrieri

The herpes simplex virus 1 often alters the face, putting those who are unfortunately affected in an uncomfortable condition. There is a tendency to hide one’s mouth, especially if one is in public places. There is no definitive cure to eradicate the virus from the body, so subsequent to infection you will be subject throughout your life to developing cold sores more or less frequently.

Educate You was among the very first in the country to report the results of an epidemiological study conducted in Taiwan by Dr. Ruth Itzhaki on a possible correlation between the disease of
Alzheimer’s disease
and the herpes simplex 1 virus, the very one responsible for the very annoying bubbles on the lips.

Confirmation now comes from a study conducted on experimental animals by Italian researchers, with Dr. Giovanna De Chiara of the National Research Council in Rome as the first name.

A model of recurrent herpes simplex virus 1 infections in mice that were subjected to repeated cycles of viral reactivation was used in this study. In the course of the study, a spread of the herpes simplex virus 1 also in different brain areas that resulted in the appearance in the brains of animals of some typical features of Alzheimer’s disease, including, most importantly, the protein-beta amyloid constantly present in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. According to the authors, in mice infected with herpes simplex virus 1 The progressive accumulation of typical molecular changes in certain brain areas, including the cortex and hippocampus, correlates with the appearance and increase of cognitive deficits which become irreversible after seven cycles of virus reactivation. The authors conclude that repeated herpes simplex 1 infections could be considered as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

Source

De Chiara G et al. Recurrent herpes simplex virus-1 infection induces hallmarks of neurodegeneration and cognitive deficits in mice. PLoS Pathog. 2019 Mar 14;15(3):e1007617. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007617. eCollection 2019 Mar.

New flu season kicks off: recommendations for preventing it

14 February 20246 January 2024 by rosanna.feroldi

Once again this year, with the first case found in Parma in a 6-year-old girl in late September, the flu season has officially begun. Although it will take a while to get into full swing, aided by the still mild temperatures that do not allow viruses to multiply and spread efficiently, one should not feel too safe. In a few weeks, the situation will be quite different, and the likelihood of finding oneself in bed with a high fever, cold, cough, general malaise, and bone pain will be decidedly high for everyone.

Experts predict that about 6 million Italians will fall ill and that the viruses circulating will be particularly aggressive. To avoid the discomforts and risks of complications associated with the most classic and frequent of winter ailments, the Ministry of Health and all health institutions at the international level recommend, as they do every year, taking the seasonal flu vaccine, which is effective and safe at all ages (starting from the 6th month of life) and in any category of people, including the period of pregnancy and lactation (unless specific individual contraindications are extremely rare).

Vaccination is especially important for the elderly (over65 years old), people with chronic respiratory (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-BPCO, cystic fibrosis, etc.), cardiovascular (heart failure, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, etc.), metabolic (diabetes, etc.), blood (coagulation disorders, anemia, etc.), or immune system (congenital or acquired immunodeficiency) diseases.) or the immune system (congenital or acquired immunodeficiency), as well as cancers, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, etc.) and/or malabsorption, renal or hepatic failure, and other conditions that increase the risk of severe complications (pneumonia, respiratory and cardiometabolic decompensation, encephalitis, etc.) and influenza mortality.

In all these cases, as well as in pregnancy, those in occupations in contact with the public, at high risk of virus transmission, and/or of public utility (health care personnel, veterinarians, animal keepers, law enforcement, etc.) and blood donors, the flu vaccine is offered free of charge by the National Health Service (NHS). The rest of the population will have to pay for it out of their own pockets, but at a cost of a few euros, certainly less than the cost of the drugs that would be needed to keep flu symptoms under control.

The preparations available today for influenza vaccination are numerous, have different characteristics, and can be tri-valent (i.e., able to protect against three types of viruses) or quadri-valent (i.e., able to protect against four types of viruses). Those trivalents indicated for the 2019-20 season, based on the types of viruses expected to have the greatest prevalence in the coming months, contain the following antigens: A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09; A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2); a B/Colorado/06/2017 (B/Victoria/2/87 lineage). In addition, the quadrivalent vaccines available in Italy contain B/Phuket/3073/2013-like (B/Yamagata lineage) as the fourth antigen.

The vaccine to be taken should always be agreed upon with the family doctor or, in the case of children, with the Freely chosen Pediatrician, who will also take charge of its administration through a harmless subcutaneous injection in the upper arm or, for younger children, in the thigh (alternatively, one can contact the nearest Vaccination Center). In order not to be blindsided by the viruses before you have developed sufficient immune protection (it takes about 15 days after the vaccine is administered), it is recommended to get vaccinated between late October and early November or, at any rate, by mid-December (also in view of the fact that Christmas celebrations are at very high risk of infection). However, if you have not been sick before, you can take the vaccine even in early January.

In addition to the seasonal vaccine, to reduce the risk of contracting the flu and other seasonal illnesses carried by viruses and bacteria, it is important to adhere to well-known and proven rules of hygiene and practical prevention. That is: wash hands often, with soap and water or disinfectant preparations; avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes with hands that are not perfectly clean; limit spending time in crowded enclosed places (public transportation and offices, cinemas, theaters, stores, gyms, etc.); avoid being near people with suspected respiratory symptoms or who are already ill; support the body’s defenses through healthy diet (including fresh foods rich in vitamins and antioxidants), good hydration (1.5-2 liters of fluids per day), sufficient sleep, moderate physical activity, avoiding smoking and stress; ventilate the rooms in which you stay often, especially if there are family members or co-workers with cold symptoms.

Sources: EpiCentro-Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS)(www.epicentro.iss.it/influenza/Raccomandazioni-Ministero); Ministry of Health – Influenza portal(www.salute.gov.it/portale/influenza/homeInfluenza.jsp)

How long does the virus remain on surfaces?

7 February 20246 January 2024 by Redazione My Special Doctor

The new coronavirus can live for hours or days on the surfaces of counters or door handles. The survival time of the virus depends on the type of material of which the surface is made.

Let’s look at survival times on the different surfaces we come in contact with on a daily basis.

How to treat the flu

1 February 20246 January 2024 by Redazione My Special Doctor

The flu is an infectious disease, caused by a virus. It presents with fever, muscle and joint pain, nasal congestion, and headache.The flu has a high contagiousness, coupled with the virus’ ability to mutate from one season to the next. In the most frail groups, such as the elderly and patients with chronic conditions, such as COPD, heart disease, and diabetes, influenza can have serious complications.