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It takes two to infect

Bacteria are quite creative when infecting the human organism. They invade cells, migrate through the body, avoid an immune response and misuse processes of the host cell for their own purposes. To this end every bacterium employs its own strategy. In collaboration with…

30.11.2009
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When intestinal bacteria go surfing

The EHECs adhere to the surface of the mucosal cells and alter them internally: a part of the cellular supportive skeleton - the actin skeleton - is rearranged in such a manner that the cell surface beneath the bacteria forms plinth-like growths, so-called pedestals.…

18.03.2009
News

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…

17.03.2009
News

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…

02.03.2009
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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…

02.03.2009
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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…

16.02.2009
News

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…

09.01.2009
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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…

15.11.2010
News

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:…

05.10.2010
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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.…

17.08.2010