National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Eradicating Ebola: In U.S. Biomedical Research, We Trust
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Caption: Researcher inside a biosafety level 4 laboratory, which provides the necessary precautions for working with the Ebola virus.
Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
Updated August 28, 2014: Today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced plans to begin initial human testing of an investigational vaccine to prevent Ebola virus disease. Testing of the vaccine, co-developed by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and GlaxoSmithKline, will begin next week at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD.
As the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease continues to spread in West Africa, now affecting four countries in the region, I am reminded how fragile life is—and how important NIH’s role is in protecting it.
NIH research has helped us understand how Ebola initially infects people and how it spreads from person to person. Preventing this spread is currently our greatest defense in fighting it. Through research, we know that the Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids and is not transmitted through the air like the flu. We also know the symptoms of Ebola and the period during which they can appear. This knowledge has informed how we manage the disease. We know that the virus can be contained and eradicated with early identification, isolation, strict infection control, and meticulous medical care.
Snapshots of Life: NIH’s BioArt Winners
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Credit: FASEB
If you follow my blog, you know that I like to feature spectacular images that scientists have created during the course of their research. These images are rarely viewed outside the lab, but some are so worthy of artistic merit and brimming with educational value that they deserve a wider audience. That’s one reason why the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) launched its BioArt contest. Of the 12 winners in 2013, I’m proud to report that 11 received support from NIH. In fact, I’m so proud that I plan to showcase their work in an occasional series entitled “Snapshots of Life.” Continue reading to see the first installment—enjoy!
New Weapon Targets Ancient Foe
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Source: Clifton E. Barry III, Ph.D., NIAID, NIH.
Tuberculosis is an ancient scourge that has evolved in lockstep with humans for more than ten millennia. It infected residents of ancient Egypt; remnants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the deadly bacterium that ravages the lungs and other organs of its victims, have been found in Egyptian mummies dating back 3,000 years. It is considered one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
I’ve had my own experience with TB. As a medical resident in the intensive care unit in North Carolina in 1977, I was exposed to the bacterium during emergency care of a young migrant worker who arrived at our hospital in extremis from internal bleeding. Only after the hemorrhaging was stopped did we discover his advanced tuberculosis. But I’m happy to say we treated him successfully with a battery of drugs, and he walked out of the hospital. My own TB skin test tested positive a few months later, and so I had to take a year’s worth of therapy with isoniazid to wipe out those little microbial invaders. That was all it took.
For the most part, TB cases have been reduced to a trickle in the Western world—thanks to antibiotics—and relegated to the history books with descriptions of ‘consumption’ in nineteen-century England and tales of jail-like sanatoria where those consumptives were quarantined and often died.
Tracking a Deadly Virus
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
If you think that studying the deadly Ebola virus is all about donning a biohazard suit in a high-tech lab, think again. Check out these scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and their collaborators as they travel to a remote village in the Republic of the Congo to search for Ebola and other emerging viruses. Watch them set up camp in the jungle and take blood samples from animals that may harbor these viruses.
