Alert! Important New Research:

African sleeping sickness: Study suggests new way to help the immune system fight off parasite

Some infectious diseases are particularly difficult to treat because of their ability to evade the immune system. One such illness, African sleeping sickness, is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei, transmitted by the tsetse fly, and is fatal if left untreated. […]

Now, new research from postdoctoral scientists Danae Schulz and Erik Debler, working in the Papavasiliou and Blobel labs at Rockefeller University, reveals a method to manipulate trypanosomes in the mammalian bloodstream to acquire fly stage characteristics, a state that makes it easier for the host immune system to eliminate the invader.

Read more at Science Daily!