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A cluster of spiral-shaped Treponema pallidum bacteria, the causative agent of syphilis.
Science Falls Behind as Syphilis Stages Another Comeback
Syphilis is among the oldest known sexually-transmitted infections. Scientists still struggle to detect and treat it.
Science Falls Behind as Syphilis Stages Another Comeback
Science Falls Behind as Syphilis Stages Another Comeback

Syphilis is among the oldest known sexually-transmitted infections. Scientists still struggle to detect and treat it.

Syphilis is among the oldest known sexually-transmitted infections. Scientists still struggle to detect and treat it.

sexually transmitted diseases, microbiology

Rendered image of <em>Chlamydia</em>
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 4 min read
The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.
<em>Chlamydia</em> invades a host cell, forms a membrane-bound vacuole, or inclusion, and then modifies the protein composition of the structure&rsquo;s membrane. If immune cells detect <em>Chlamydia</em> before it forms the inclusion, they trigger T cells to produce interferon-&gamma; (IFN-&gamma;), a powerful cytokine. IFN-&gamma; activates the protein mysterin (also called RFN213), which attaches ubiquitin to the inclusion membrane, signaling the cell to destroy the inclusion&rsquo;s contents by dumping them into a lysosome (left). C. trachomatis produces GarD, a protein that integrates into the inclusion membrane itself and somehow prevents mysterin from attaching ubiquitin, allowing the bacterium to evade immune destruction while continuing to multiply and eventually bursting from the cell (right).
Infographic: How Chlamydia Evades Immune Detection
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.
a small black mouse sits next to an obese black mouse on a white background
Obesity Protects Against Genital Herpes in Mice, Study Finds
Katherine Irving | Nov 11, 2022 | 3 min read
A high-fat diet induced changes to the animals’ vaginal microbiomes that boosted survival after exposure to the virus.
white squiggles on black background
Opinion: Manuscripts and Art Support Archaeological Evidence that Syphilis Was in Europe Long Before Explorers Could Have Brought It Home from the Americas
Marylynn Salmon, The Conversation | Jul 13, 2022 | 5 min read
Multiple lines of evidence contradict the idea that the disease came to Europe via trans-Atlantic exchange.
Julius Schachter, Renowned Chlamydia Researcher, Dies at 84
Max Kozlov | Jan 12, 2021 | 2 min read
The UCSF microbiologist pioneered investigations into the deadly disease starting in the late 1960s that have led to the near eradication of trachoma, a chlamydia-related eye infection.
Long-Lived Virus
Jef Akst | May 8, 2015 | 2 min read
New research suggests Ebola can survive on surfaces for days and can be transmitted via semen.
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