Publications by authors named "R T Ranallo"
The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases hosted a two-day virtual workshop on skin microbial communities and their interactions with the host immune system in health and disease. The aim of the workshop was to evaluate the current state of knowledge in the field and identify gaps, challenges, and future directions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlong with the rise in modern chronic diseases, ranging from diabetes to asthma, there are challenges posed by increasing antibiotic resistance, which results in difficult-to-treat infections, as well as sepsis. An emerging and unifying theme in the pathogenesis of these diverse public health threats is changes in the microbial communities that inhabit multiple body sites. Although there is great promise in exploring the role of these microbial communities in chronic disease pathogenesis, the shorter timeframe of most infectious disease pathogenesis may allow early translation of our basic scientific understanding of microbial ecology and host-microbiota-pathogen interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccines for Healthcare-associated Infections: Promise and Challenge.
Clin Infect Dis
September 2016
Article Synopsis
- As antibiotic resistance grows and new antibiotics are harder to develop, urgent measures are needed to combat serious bacterial and fungal infections.
- Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are significant contributors to illness, death, and healthcare costs, driven largely by antibiotic usage.
- There are promising vaccine candidates in advanced clinical stages for pathogens like C. difficile, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa, along with other immune interventions like monoclonal antibodies being developed to prevent these infections.
Article Synopsis
- Several animal models, including murine and guinea pig models, are used to test the efficacy of Shigella vaccines, with nonhuman primates showing similar disease features to humans.
- Research demonstrated that a specific dose of Shigella flexneri 2a was needed to induce an attack rate of 75% in Aotus monkeys, highlighting low initial immune responses which improved upon rechallenge.
- Multiple oral immunizations with a live-attenuated Shigella strain resulted in significant protection against disease in Aotus monkeys, suggesting this model is valuable for future vaccine development and understanding immune responses.