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Vector-borne diseases happen when disease-causing pathogens are transmitted from one host to another. Learn more about their causes, symptoms, and treatments.

La Crosse virus (LACV) is the most common cause of neuroinvasive mosquito-borne disease in children within the United States. Despite more than 50 years of recognized endemicity in the United States, the true burden of LACV disease is grossly underappreciated, and there remain severe knowledge gaps …

Nature Communications - During herpesvirus infection, most individuals intrinsically suppress a primary infection and therewith preclude potential damage or neurodegeneration of the CNS. Here, Ames...

Abstract. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to diagnose an unusual and fatal case of progressive encephalitis in an immunocompromised adult

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of post mortem laboratory analysis in identifying...

Rabies virus (RABV) is a pathogen well-adapted to the nervous system, where it infects the neurons. RABV is transmitted by the bite of an infected animal. It enters the nervous system via a motor neuron through the neuromuscular junction, or via a sensory nerve...

Journal of Medical Virology is a clinical virology journal focused on the diagnosis, epidemiology, immunology and pathogenesis of human viral infections & diseases.

BackgroundNeuro-cognitive impairment is a deleterious complication of bacterial infections that is difficult to treat or prevent. Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)...

Francisella tularensis (Ft.) is a gram-negative coccobacillus bacterium that causes the zoonotic disease tularemia in humans. Ft. causes the most severe, often fatal, form of the disease through inhalation. However, Ft. is most commonly transmitted through direct contact with infected animal carcasses such as rodents and rabbits, consumption of contaminated food or water, or through arthropod bites, particularly ticks. Due to its extremely low infectious dose, high mortality rate, and potential use as a biological warfare agent, Ft. is classified by the CDC as a "Tier 1 select agent". Ft. infection triggers an overactive inflammatory response, termed a "cytokine storm", which produces excessive tissue damage (and even failure) of vital organs, leading to rapid death of the host before its adaptive immunity responses can be brought to bear against the infection. In the periphery, macrophages, paradoxically the target cell for Ft., provide innate immune defense against foreign material, including bacteria. Microglia, the resident macrophage-like cells of the brain and spinal cord, rapidly respond to pathological changes in the central nervous system, serving a similar function as macrophages. Their rapid activation is an important factor in guarding the neural parenchyma against infectious diseases, inflammation, and neurodegeneration while maintaining and facilitating the return to tissue homeostasis. In the United States, several clinical cases of tularemia meningitis were diagnosed since 1931; however, there is no further research exploring the condition. We hypothesize that, after peripheral inoculation of Ft., the bacteria infiltrate the central nervous system using a Trojan horse-type mechanism and infect microglia, leading to overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain which then cause damage to surrounding neurons, ultimately leading to death. The research trajectory for this project is to: 1) identify the cellular targets of Ft. in the CNS; 2) identify the mechanism by which Ft. infiltrates the central nervous system; and 3) determine the resulting level of neuroinflammation in the brain after infection.

Globally, there are an estimated 10.6 million cases of meningitis and 288,000 deaths every year, with the vast majority occurring in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, many survivors suffer from long-term neurological sequelae. Most ...

Pastula found two cases of monkeypox-associated encephalomyelitis — inflammation of the brain and spinal cord — in Colorado and Washington, D.C.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a far-reaching impact on nearly all aspects of society. First identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, China, COVID-19 is disseminated primarily via respiratory droplets and has the potential to cause severe respiratory distress in

This review deliberates whether SARS-CoV-2 can access the central nervous system and contribute to acute respiratory distress.

Status epilepticus is a true emergency when a seizure lasts too long. Learn the 7 important things everyone should know.