Scientists have previously recognized that the HIV reservoir varies in size between individuals. Now, NIAID researchers and their collaborators have discovered that variations in an important viral gene may play a role in the size of one’s HIV reservoir. Their findings, reported online last week, expand scientists’ understanding of how specific attributes of the virus a person acquires can affect the course and nature of their HIV infection.
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NIAID’s HIV/AIDS Flickr album features a collection of downloadable HIV-related images, including infographics, microscopy images, photographs of HIV researchers and molecular models. These images are public domain and can be freely re-used. Please credit the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
New research by NIH investigators demonstrates for the first time that a bone marrow-derived cell, the mast cell, can cause disease in a solid organ through the transmission of small sacs of molecules through the bloodstream. The study adds to a growing body of evidence that these extracellular sacs can enable one type of cell to influence the behavior of an entirely different cell type.
Curious about where challenge trials take place on the NIH campus? Dr. Matthew Memoli led a livestreamed “virtual tour” of the Special Clinical Studies Unit, where Ebola patients were cared for and where participants in challenge trials of influenza, RSV, and other pathogens stay while they are infectious.
Even after standard antibiotic treatments, tuberculosis patients can relapse if not all the bacteria are killed. By re-examining patients’ sputum, or thick saliva, collected from other studies, NIAID-funded researchers found a way to determine whether patients are likely to relapse following standard treatment.
Could an influenza virus like the one which caused the 1918 pandemic emerge today? If it did, could we stop it? In a short video, NIAID experts discuss how seasonal and pandemic influenzas change over time, and how researchers are working to improve influenza vaccines.
In this short video, NIAID experts describe why the 1918 influenza was the most deadly pandemic in all recorded history, and how scientists are still studying it today.
At this week's HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P) conference in Madrid, scientists have reported progress in numerous areas of HIV prevention research. NIAID-supported scientists highlighted the need to expand HIV prevention and treatment services among populations greatly affected by HIV, described early findings from a study assessing the safety of a vaginal ring containing both an anti-HIV drug and a birth-control agent, and reported the added benefits of an intervention designed to facilitate treatment for HIV and injection drug use.
A durable end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic will require the development and widespread implementation of new and improved HIV prevention tools, according to NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Yesterday, Dr. Fauci delivered a plenary lecture at the opening session of the HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P) conference, which is taking place this week in Madrid.
Video: NIAID scientist Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger talks about his research on 1918 flu.
An advanced electron microscopy technique has given scientists a clearer picture of a molecule used by insects to smell their way around.
The annual NIH Research Festival showcases research by scientists who work in the 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health. This year’s event featured talks by NIAID’s Director, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and four of our intramural researchers.
Some people treated with antiretroviral therapy after HIV has already significantly damaged the immune system may develop a serious condition called HIV-associated immune reconstitution syndrome, or IRIS. Now, researchers from NIAID and the NIH Clinical Center are working together to visualize and predict this common complication of HIV in a new way—with positron emission tomography, or PET.
A new NIAID-supported study lays the foundation for understanding the causes of and ultimately developing treatments for nasal polyps—small growths that develop on inflamed mucous membranes lining the nose and sinuses. The work opens the horizon for further research, as well as efforts to better understand other diseases characterized by inflamed barrier tissues, such as asthma and eczema.
NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., keeps the public posted on fascinating NIH-supported research in biweekly posts on the NIH Director's Blog. The blog features the work of scientists from many of NIH's institutes and centers, as well as NIH grantees and collaborators, and NIAID is no exception.
August 20 is World Mosquito Day. NIAID is part of the fight against these death-dealing insects.
People with a rare disease called mastocytosis must do their cardio with caution. In a new NIAID study, blood-serum levels of two inflammatory chemicals in people with mastocytosis rose significantly after physical exercise, and this increase was associated with a worsening of mastocytosis-related symptoms.
NIAID supported the development of a new drug to treat smallpox, the first to be approved specifically to treat the viral disease.
New research from NIAID-funded scientists reveals that most individuals in a sample of West African Ebola survivors produced a unique subset of T cells called CD8+ T cells—also known as killer T cells.
The gut microbiome—the community of bacteria and other microbes naturally present in the gastrointestinal tract—plays a critical role in human health. NIAID Now spoke with senior investigator Jason Brenchley, Ph.D., about the link between the gut microbiome and HIV infection, and his lab’s recent research findings.
HIV.gov wrapped up their series of conversations with NIAID's Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., about scientific highlights from the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) as the conference began to wind down.
As part of HIV.gov's series of Facebook Live dispatches from the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., shared highlights from the conference's second full day of HIV research presentations.
As the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) got underway in Amsterdam, HIV.gov began coverage of HIV research advances and other conference highlights with a Facebook Live interview with NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
The first full day of sessions at the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) in Amsterdam was filled with new scientific findings shared by researchers from around the world. In a Facebook Live interview with HIV.gov, Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., discussed highlights of three studies presented today at the conference.
People living with HIV whose virus is completely, durably suppressed by treatment will not sexually transmit the virus to an HIV-negative partner, according to NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. The success of this HIV prevention strategy is contingent on achieving and maintaining an undetectable viral load by taking HIV medication daily as directed. Dr. Fauci delivered these remarks at the "U=U 2018: Celebrate, Activate and Implement!" meeting held prior to AIDS 2018.
PATRIC is one of six NIAID-funded Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) for Infectious Diseases and focuses on bacterial species. The BRCs compile large datasets in a standardized way, allowing scientists to perform analyses more efficiently. This can include assessing the function of specific genes, identifying markers for diagnosing a particular bacterial infection, or discovering new bacterial resistance mechanisms.
Why do we lack a cure for HIV infection, and what research is underway to help achieve that goal? A new video from NIAID provides answers.
Ebola vaccine concept could have broad use against several viruses.
The study findings, published online June 11 in Emerging Infectious Diseases, add support to discussions the World Health Organization has had on the subject.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing an outbreak of Ebola virus disease. As the U.S. government’s lead agency on biomedical infectious disease research, NIAID is providing several layers of support to the DRC and World Health Organization, which are leading a global, multi-sectoral response to the outbreak.
A clinical trial comparing three chemotherapy regimens in combination with antiretroviral treatment for treatment of advanced AIDS-Kaposi’s sarcoma patients in Africa and South America has ended early.
The collaboration made possible the rapid and robust sharing of Zika materials such as Zika isolates and serum samples.
A new video from NIAID explores a possible new way to fight bacteria as they become increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
The Broadway and Hollywood star, a lifelong advocate of health and gender equity, graced the stage of NIH’s Ruth Kirschstein Auditorium on May 15 to give the annual J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture, named for former Deputy Director for Intramural Research Joseph “Ed” Rall. Streisand took the opportunity to highlight an issue that is — literally — near and dear to her heart: women’s cardiovascular health.
Through visits to the NIH Clinical Center, Isaac Barchus became one of the first people diagnosed with a rare immunological condition now known as CANDLE/PRAAS syndrome, and in 2011, he was the first patient enrolled in a compassionate use program at the NIH of an experimental therapy to address his symptoms.
Each year, NIAID-funded scientists visit the beaches of Delaware Bay to test shorebirds for avian flu viruses. A video from NIAID Now profiles their work.
Earlier this month, scientists from NIAID and Knopp Biosciences reported that dexpramipexole, a drug initially developed to treat neurological diseases, benefited a subset of patients with hypereosinophilic syndromes. Their findings, published online in the journal Blood, help lay the groundwork for a larger clinical trial to further evaluate this potential new treatment for these rare, chronic disorders.
In a new study in Science Translational Medicine, NIAID-funded researchers probe the tuberculosis bacterium’s cell membrane construction processes—and find a weakness that future TB drugs could exploit to halt the bacteria’s growth.
The Partnership for Public Service recently named NIAID scientists Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D., and Theodore C. Pierson, Ph.D., as Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists for their work in developing a candidate vaccine against Zika virus.
NIAID is conducting and supporting research, including two clinical trials, on the potentially deadly disease Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis. People can get Valley fever by inhaling a soil-residing fungus endemic to parts of the southwestern United States.
HIV-related heart disease is a leading cause of death among people living with HIV—even when they are on consistent, effective HIV treatment. Researchers are learning that this complication is likely brought on by chronic inflammation from the virus itself and other factors. What is less understood is why HIV seems to take a greater toll on the hearts of women.
NIAID supports biomedical research to combat the growing public health threat of antimicrobial resistance. Check out NIAID’s image library of antimicrobial-resistant microbes and related graphics.
In 2016, an estimated 216 million people developed malaria. In a new video from NIAID, Dr. Lee Hall, chief of the Parasitology and International Programs Branch in NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, discusses the urgent need for malaria research, and how NIAID is supporting and conducting investigation into new diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and more.
Dr. David M. Morens delivered the 2018 John R. LaMontagne Memorial Lecture about the deadliest pandemic of all time.
Potentially, an effective vaccine targeting strain-specific components of the Lyme disease spirochete can neutralize bacteria within the tick.
NIH MedlinePlus Magazine has produced a video to accompany its spring issue on antimicrobial resistance and what NIAID is doing about it. NIAID Now spoke with the video’s animator, Jeff Day, about how the video came to be.
As the nation’s largest hospital devoted solely to medical research, the NIH Clinical Center sees many patients arrive with a mysterious constellation of symptoms and no diagnosis. NIAID scientists at the NIH Clinical Center treated one such patient and used innovative genetic techniques to discover his severe gastroenterology symptoms were caused by a rare presentation of Crohn’s disease, according to a report released last month.
Most people living with HIV have a single genetic strain of the virus, but in certain cases, a person can acquire a second strain of HIV—a condition known as HIV superinfection. In a new study published online today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, NIAID researchers and scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute describe a case of HIV superinfection they were able to identify with unique precision.
Our coverage from the 2018 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston wrapped up yesterday with two interviews with Federal HIV leaders who shared perspectives about the science coming out of the conference and its implications for HIV prevention, care, and treatment.
During the second full day at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, NIAID’s Anne Rancourt conducted Facebook Live interviews with three leaders from the Department of Health and Human Services about HIV research highlights and their implications.
Advances in HIV research are being shared this week at the 2018 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston. HIV.gov conducted a Facebook Live interview with NIAID’s Dr. Carl Dieffenbach on Monday afternoon to learn about some of the key research findings presented during the first full day of sessions.
A woman’s risk of acquiring HIV through sex with a male partner living with HIV increases during pregnancy and is highest during the postpartum period, new research funded in part by NIAID suggests. Researchers observed this trend of increased risk of HIV transmission per sex act even after taking into account behavioral factors, such as use of condoms or PrEP. The findings suggest that biological changes during and after pregnancy may increase a woman’s HIV risk.
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire, speaker at the 2017 Joseph J. Kinyoun Memorial Lecture, has spearheaded a global effort to find antibodies that work against small-genomed viruses like Ebola and Lassa.
NIAID scientists have demonstrated that a slight change to a powerful, naturally occurring HIV antibody helps it last longer in the human body while counteracting the virus just as well in the laboratory. These characteristics could reduce the cost and increase the convenience of giving people antibodies for HIV prevention because fewer doses of an antibody could achieve the same protective effect.
Today marks not just a time to exchange valentines and chocolates, but also the midpoint of American Heart Month. Did you know people living with HIV are at an increased risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease? Fortunately, NIH-supported research is getting to the heart of the problem.
A new analysis of malaria parasites sampled over seven years reveals how malaria multi-drug resistance spread in Southeast Asia. The authors note the findings could have implications for managing effective malaria treatment options and mitigating global health risk.
Scientists are learning that white fat—the fat tissue that acts as a scaffold under our skin, muscles and organs—may serve vital roles beyond cushioning our rears and middle sections. New research from NIAID scientists published last month in Immunity reports that white fat is also an immune organ, storing immune cells called memory T cells that fight against infectious agents.
A team of NIAID-supported scientists has found that the presence of the bacterium Lactobacillus in the upper part of the airways may protect infants from long-term consequences of an infection with respiratory syncytial virus, creating opportunities for interventions to avoid the development of wheezing and perhaps asthma.
Two recent studies conducted by NIAID scientists shed light on previously unknown functions of a category of immune cells called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). ILCs respond quickly to infection and cannot recognize pathogens, but they have some similar functions as helper T cells. The new research sheds light on how similarly ILCs and adaptive T cells function in the body, and whether ILCs function in a tissue-resident manner or circulate among sites.
NIAID makes many resources available to researchers, such as reagents, model organisms, and tissue samples. Now it’s even easier to find these resources on our site using the Resources for Researchers feature.
A new study suggests that influenza infection may enhance some white blood cells’ ability to defend against secondary bacterial infections.
International field research poses many challenges to NIAID researchers, but that hasn’t stopped a team from returning to Jordan year after year to study Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
Forty years on, survivors of the first Ebola outbreak provide new insights to researchers.
A new study offers insights into the immune cell defects that occur in Chediak-Higashi syndrome, a rare genetic disease. Their findings also suggest a potential strategy to develop treatments for this complex syndrome, which is characterized by immune deficiency, predisposition to bleeding, recurring infections and neurological disorders.
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire, director of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium (VIC), will deliver the 2017 Joseph J. Kinyoun Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, December 5, at 3 p.m. in the Lipsett Amphitheater, in Building 10 of the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
To make additional HIV prevention options a reality, NIAID supports research on a variety of innovative, long-acting HIV prevention products that could be inserted in the vagina, injected or implanted from once a month to once a year by people who commit to use them on an ongoing basis. These products include a vaginal ring that also delivers contraception.
NIH-funded researchers are developing and testing HIV prevention products that may become alternatives to a daily pill.
For a visual trek through several species of ticks, check out NIAID’s Tick Pics and Flicks—a collection of photographs and video footage of the diverse arachnids known to carry pathogens that cause illnesses such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, tularemia and more.
Bacterial infections that resist antibiotics are a major problem in the United States. In 2015, the U.S. government launched the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. Guided by the plan, NIAID and other NIH components work with government, academic, and industry partners on a wide range of projects aimed at understanding and controlling antibiotic resistance. To mark this year’s Antibiotic Awareness Week, November 13-19, we highlight a few of these efforts.
Daily antiretroviral therapy can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood to levels that are undetectable with standard tests. Staying on treatment is crucial to keep the virus suppressed. NIAID-supported research has demonstrated that achieving and maintaining a “durably undetectable” viral load (the amount of HIV in the blood) not only preserves the health of the person living with HIV, but also prevents sexual transmission of the virus to an HIV-negative partner.
In 2014, as the Ebola outbreak escalated, NIAID collaborated with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline on NIAID-planned clinical trials to test Ebola vaccine candidates. Their collaboration exemplifies the flexibility and creativity of the NIAID Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office, who developed unique and expedited agreements to facilitate the development of an Ebola vaccine.
We should all be thankful to have some histamine in our bodies. This chemical messenger helps our brains stay alert, lets our stomachs dissolve food and powers our immune systems to root out and kill infectious parasites.
A team of U.S. and Liberian scientists began a large study in Liberia, West Africa to examine how genes affect a person’s response to the Ebola virus. It remains unclear why some infections are asymptomatic and others are fatal, or why some people rapidly clear the infection and others remain in treatment for weeks. Investigators predict that genetic differences could influence these outcomes.
Haunted houses, ghastly ghouls, spooky spirits and… frightening food allergies? Halloween can be a stressful time for families managing food allergies. Many popular candies contain peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs and other potentially allergenic foods. Reading food labels carefully can help ensure a safe and happy Halloween for everyone.
NIAID-funded scientists have found that a new Zika vaccine candidate can protect pregnant mice and their fetuses, as well as male mice and monkeys, with just one dose.
“There is real value in experimental odysseys,” says Thomas A. Waldmann, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute.
The NIH Distinguished Investigator celebrated a new leg of one such journey this summer. In June, colleague Michael J. Lenardo, M.D., an investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, published his finding of a genetic cause and potential treatment for a subset of the gastrointestinal disease Waldmann had discovered in 1961. Dr. Lenardo, who Dr. Waldmann recruited to the NIH more than two decades ago, will join Dr. Waldmann to give a Clinical Center Grand Rounds lecture on their discoveries in Masur Auditorium in Building 10 on November 15, 2017.
A short animation explains how HIV hijacks the cellular protein alpha-4 beta-7 to home to the gut and establish infection in this organ system, which harbors one of the richest populations of HIV target cells in the body.
The fever, fatigue, muscle and headache caused by influenza (flu) can make even the healthiest person feel miserable for days. For more vulnerable people, such as the very young or the elderly, flu can be fatal. Although vaccination is recommended and can help protect against flu infection, there is a need for effective therapies to combat illness caused by the flu virus.
Today marks the 10th National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day. This annual observance brings attention to the unique social and health-related challenges of older people living with and at risk for HIV. NIAID supports and collaborates on research that aims to both understand and mitigate long-term complications of HIV for men and women aging with HIV.
Findings from a pair of NIAID-funded studies in zebrafish shed light on how nerve damage is initiated in leprosy and suggest a potential target for the development of strategies to prevent tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases.
In a new study, researchers describe immune profiles measured prior to vaccination that may predict a person’s antibody response to the seasonal flu vaccine. Their findings also indicate that immune states that predict good vaccine responses in young adults may be associated with poorer responses in older people.
Vaccine could provide broad protection against all of these illnesses, as well as other mosquito-borne diseases.
Understanding disease carriers---called vectors---is a vital part of learning to control and treat infectious disease. Mosquitoes can transmit malaria, Zika virus, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, West Nile Virus, and many other diseases to people, making them one of the deadliest animals on the planet. That is why they are a key focus of NIAID’s research efforts.
It’s easy for people to overlook the importance of fast, reliable diagnostic tests in scientific research. Most often, ill patients focus on what treatment is available for them to recover. But without a timely and accurate diagnosis, physicians won’t know the most optimal treatment to provide.
NIAID researchers have developed a new method for visualizing in great detail the distribution of cell types in complex tissues, like tumors. The method, called Clearing-enhanced 3D microscopy, or Ce3D, may help researchers evaluate how well immunotherapies target hard-to-treat cancers without many of the limitations associated with related, earlier methods that are currently in use. The findings were described online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In recent years, multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively-drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) has become increasingly common—and difficult to treat. A new study funded by NIAID reveals that by unravelling the TB bacteria’s DNA and testing it for certain mutations, researchers were able to estimate to what extent the bacteria are resistant to fluoroquinolones, a class of powerful antibiotics typically used to treat TB.
NIAID’s intramural research program has begun an innovative training opportunity that aligns lab groups more than 2,000 miles apart that have complementary interests.
Have you ever heard about a research finding and thought, “What does that mean?” New observations and discoveries continually contribute to the ever-expanding body of scientific knowledge that ultimately guides medical practice. NIAID Video SNiPs are quick summaries for science lovers and scientists that explain how an incremental advance can provide fresh insights, affect disease outcomes, and improve public health.
Like many branches of medicine, immunology can seem to have a complex language of its own describing how the body protects against and fights off infection. Now, you can sort through the dense terminology of the immune system by boning up on some basics in NIAID’s new, illustrated immunology glossary.
Ensuring a durable end to the HIV pandemic will require a safe and effective HIV vaccine. A whiteboard video explains how an HIV vaccine could be developed, while focusing on a vaccine currently being tested in a large, NIAID-funded clinical trial in South Africa called HVTN 702.
Each May, NIAID-funded researchers descend on the beaches of Delaware Bay in New Jersey to screen migratory shorebirds for the flu. Through this work, they are learning more about how influenza viruses spread and evolve.
Read the report and recommendations on a possible Zika virus human challenge study.
View the meeting summary from the joint WHO and NIAID/NIH conference on Zika Virus vaccine development.
Development of a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine remains key to realizing a durable end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
First-Line Treatment of TB for Drug-Sensitive TB. Tuberculosis, which results from an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can be cured with a combination of first-line drugs taken daily for several months. Shown here are the four drugs in the standard regimen of first-line drugs. Also shown are the dates these four drugs were discovered—all more than 40 years ago.
NIAID Study Clarifies Role of Enzyme Previously Linked to Allergic Lung Disease. Acidic mammalian chitinase, or AMCase, an enzyme present in humans and other mammals, plays a key role in initiating protective immune responses against certain parasitic gut infections, a new NIAID study shows. The findings in mice suggest that AMCase, which had previously been implicated in allergic lung disease, is critical for defense against gastrointestinal infections with parasitic worms called helminths. The scientists report their results online in Nature Immunology on April 4, 2016.