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Brothers in Arms
Influenza, or flu, is an unpleasant affair with fever, cough, as well as head and body ache. When this illness is further complicated by a bacterial pneumonia, a harmful superinfection develops. Until now, researchers thought that the flu facilitates an infection with…
When necessary, the lung slows down the immune system
The lung’s mucous membrane comes into contact daily with thousands of molecules – many of them are harmless and many are threatening. In the latter case, defence mechanisms need be activated. If defence overshoots the mark, then it has to be restricted. Moreover, the…
Help for children with sick hearts
Each year, around 15 million children fall ill with rheumatic heart disease worldwide; half a million of them die as a consequence. At the beginning of the medical cases of these children stands a simple throat infection with streptococcus – spherical bacteria…
When acute hepatitis develops into chronic hepatitis
Hepatitis B is the most prevalent infectious disease in the world. It results in either an acute infection or, in rare cases, it can develop into a chronic disease. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now examined the…
When the hunters become the hunted
The immune system defends the body against pathogens. Macrophages are part of the first line of defence: they identify pathogens that have gained entry and destroy them. Bacteria that infiltrate the body are not powerless to resist the macrophages, however. Substances…
Casting show within the lymph nodes
Lymph nodes are the market place for the immune system; cells exchange information regarding invading pathogens here and prepare an appropriate immune response. What appears from the outside to be meaningless and chaotic teeming of millions of cells is actually a…
Mice with human body’s defences
Mice with human body’s defences 0B New method will simplify study and treatment of diseases Therapeutic antibodies can be an efficient alternative when common drugs do not work anymore. However, antibodies obtained from blood of animals such as mice could not be used:…
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research mourns Scientific Director
Braunschweig, August 18, 2010 – The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany is mourning the loss of its Scientific Director, Professor Jürgen Wehland, PhD. On August 16, 2010, Jürgen Wehland died unexpectedly during a vacation in Sweden.…
A new opportunity for hepatitis C research
The hepatitis C virus is highly specialised. We humans are its natural hosts. The only other living organisms that could be infected with the hepatitis C virus in the lab are chimpanzees. Nevertheless it is – from the viewpoint of the virus – highly successful: around…
The right response to every pathogen
In the event of an infection, the immune system releases messenger substances. These molecules can either activate immune cells to defeat invading pathogens, or inhibit them to prevent an excessive immune reaction. For this, the immune system has to decide very quickly…