Microorganisms: Infectious Disease and Ecology

Blog entries about bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microorganisms.

The Parasite That Made Headlines This Summer: Cyclospora

Posted on by Shannon Sindermann
Microscopic view of Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts under magnification, stained bright red. cyclosporiasis outbreak, foodborne parasites, intestinal infections. water pollution, concept idea

The United States just closed an unprecedented Cyclospora outbreak (2, 7). Nearly 20,000 people were sickened across the 2026 season, the biggest cluster traced to recalled iceberg lettuce. Which means somewhere a kid who refused to eat his greens is feeling extremely vindicated.

Cyclospora is not the pathogen most people picture when they think of summer stomach trouble. That is usually a bacterium like Salmonella or E. coli, or a virus like norovirus. Among parasites, Cryptosporidium, the one behind the diarrhea outbreaks that shut down public pools, is the more common summer name (5). Which makes this season the exception: the rarer of the two parasites is the one that exploded, and the one the news zeroed in on this year.

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Taming the Bite: How Maxwell Takes the Fear Out of Rabies Testing

Posted on by Parker Smith
Child interacting with a baby goat at a petting zoo. Four baby goats at a mobile petting zoo tested positive for rabies after a skunk got into their enclosure. Incidents like this underscore the need for quality rabies testing.

The Centers for Disease Control in the United States is reporting a 17% increase in rabies-related inquiries in 2026 (1), and reported rabies exposures are up. ย Four baby goats at a mobile petting zoo in North Carolina tested positive for the disease after a wild skunk got into their enclosure. Nearly 300 people across multiple counties, including children and residents of an assisted living facility, were evaluated for possible exposure from that event alone (2). In Maryland in July, there were two reports of two rabid beaver attacks (2). In New Jersey, a man was bitten on the leg by a rabid raccoon, and in New Hampshire, a mystery animal thought to be either a gray fox or a fisher cat attacked three people in three separate attacks (2), and in Minnesota a cow was confirmed to have rabies, exposing nine people (3). The increase in incidents is not restricted to the United States either, with seals in Cape Town, South Africa reportedly contracting the disease from land mammals with ongoing seal-to-seal transmission noted for the first time (4).

These recent developments underscore the need for quality rabies testing.

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Midges on the Move: Tracking The Oropouche Virus Into New Territory

Posted on by Anna Bennett

For decades, Oropouche virus (OROV) was considered a problem limited to the Amazon Rainforest. OROV is transmitted to humans and animals through the bite of tiny blood-feeding insects called Culicoides midges. The virus causes Oropouche fever, which leads to debilitating symptoms like a high fever and severe headache1. While the virus was first isolated in Trinidad in 1955, it has since been associated primarily with outbreaks in the Amazon Basin. However, in the last two years, over 29,000 confirmed cases have been reported across the Americas, suggesting the virus has expanded well beyond its historical range.

One of the most concerning expansions is the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. Unlike the Amazon, Minas Gerais sits within the Atlantic Forest biome, a heavily fragmented landscape shaped by agriculture, urbanization, and a climate distinct from the humid tropics where OROV has traditionally circulated. With more than 1,600 cases of Oropouche fever since January 2024, a consortium of researchers from universities in Brazil and the US have combined their efforts to try to understand the urgent question: what is driving OROV transmission in this unfamiliar territory2?

Image of flies swarming in the sky.
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What Do Floods Leave Behind? Research on Waterborne Pathogens in Soil after Flooding

Posted on by Promega

Agricultural soils in floodplain areas face contamination from waterborne pathogens during flooding events, yet characterization of these microbial communities remains limited. Furtak and Marzec-Grzฤ…dziel investigated potentially pathogenic microorganisms in cultivated soils from the Vistula River valley in Poland, comparing soil samples collected before and during simulated flooding conditions.

The Vistula River. Flooding events can deposit waterborne pathogens into adjacent agricultural areas.
Aerial view of the Vistula River in Poland at sunset in spring
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What Happens When You Delay an Ebola Vaccine Booster by 18 Months?

Posted on by Shannon Sindermann

Ebola Virus Disease (EBOD) remains one of the most severe viral infections, with case fatality rates reaching 40% during the 2013-2016 West African outbreak that claimed over 11,000 lives (1). At this scale, durable protection isnโ€™t optional.

Ebola Virus under the microscope

If you’ve followed vaccine development, you’ve probably noticed something counterintuitive. Shorter intervals between doses are not always better. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine studies have shown that extended intervals between doses enhance neutralizing antibody responses against multiple variants (5). Now, new research published in Nature Immunology suggests the same may be true for Ebola (1).

The findings challenge assumptions about how vaccine boosters should be timed and reveal something important about how our immune systems respond when given the space to do what they do best.

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The Molecular Blueprint for Virus-Resistant Cowpea

Posted on by Anna Bennett

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a humble tan and black legume, is one of the most important food crops in the world. Grown across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and parts of the Americas, Cowpea provides protein-rich nutrition for hundreds of millions of people, making it a cornerstone of smallholder agriculture. But cowpea production faces a persistent threat: the cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV), a common virus that can devastate yields across entire growing regions.

A dark background with a wooden spoon holding tan and black beans scattered on the spoon and on the background.

What makes CABMV particularly difficult to combat is how the virus infects its host. Instead of relying on viral translational machinery, the virus hijacks the plant’s systems to replicate. CABMV targets a protein called eIF4E, a translation initiation factor that the plant needs to read its own genetic instructions and produce proteins. The virus produces a protein, VPg, that binds directly to eIF4E and redirects the plant’s translational machinery to produce viral proteins instead. The plant can’t simply get rid of eIF4E. Without it, protein synthesis stalls. So how can cowpea defend itself against a virus that exploits one of its most essential proteins?

A new study published in Agronomy by researchers at the Federal University of Pernambuco, the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Embrapa Recursos Genรฉticos e Biotecnologia takes a comprehensive look at this problem from the inside out1. The team characterized all three members of the eIF4E gene family in cowpea  (eIF4E, eIF(iso)4E, and nCBP) across six cultivated varieties (cultivars) with known contrasting responses to CABMV infection. Two of those cultivars (Bajรฃo and IT85F-2687) are resistant to the virus; the other four (Boca Negra, BR14 Mulato, Pingo de Ouro, and Santo Inรกcio) are susceptible to the virus.

Using a multi-omics approach that combined genomic, evolutionary and structural analyses, the researchers set out to answer a fundamental question: what makes some versions of eIF4E exploitable by the virus, and others not?

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World Wildlife Conservation Day:ย Reflecting on the Role of Science in Protectingย Threatened or Endangered Species and Ecosystems ย 

Posted on by Kelly Grooms
A sign reading โ€œWildlife Conservation Area โ€” Please keep to marked footpathsโ€ stands in the foreground of a grassy field, with rows of young crops and a line of trees under a partly cloudy sky.

December 4 marks World Wildlife Conservation Day, a day set aside to highlight global efforts to protect endangered species and preserve the biodiversity and ecosystems that sustain our planet. It is an opportunity to call attention to the serious threats posed by wildlife crimes, such as poaching and illegal trafficking, and a time to stand together against ongoing dangers to wildlife and their habitat.  

Every organism, from myxozoans to blue whales, has a place in the delicate balance of ecosystems. When these systems become unstable, the impact can be far reachingโ€”affecting anything from crop loss and soil fertility to water and air quality. This World Wildlife Conservation Day we want to reflect on the role science can play in understanding and protecting the wildlife and ecosystems that support us all.  

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Therapeutics Come Alive: An Interview with PharmaBiome

Posted on by Nour Mozaffari

The next generation of medicine may not come in a pill or vial โ€” but in a living community of microbes. Scientists at Pharmabiome, a Zurich-based biotechnology company, are leveraging their expertise in microbiome research to create truly โ€œlivingโ€ therapies.

More Than a Gut Feeling

All around us โ€“ and inside โ€“exists an entire universe of microscopic organisms commonly referred to as the microbiome. In fact, our body contains more microbes than human cells, working hand in hand to maintain normal physiology. The most heavily colonized part of our body is our gastrointestinal (GI) tract โ€“ our gut โ€“ housing thousands of different bacteria, viruses and fungi. Collectively termed โ€˜gut microbiotaโ€™, this complex network of microorganisms helps us digest nutrients, produces essential metabolites, protects us against pathogens, and more.

The diverse species in our GI tract co-exist in a dynamic equilibrium, each fulfilling a defined set of functions and interacting with other species through cross-feeding mechanisms that, together, promote gut health. When this delicate balance is perturbed, be it through dietary changes, antibiotic treatments, or other factors, the effect ripples across the body. Increasing evidence suggests that gut dysbiosis actively contributes to pathological conditions ranging from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and obesity to neurological and autoimmune disorders. The good news is, as our understanding of gut ecology evolves, so does the potential to harness and reshape the microbiome to improve health.

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Avoid the Summertime Blue-Greensโ€” Know about Cyanobacteria Before You Hit the Water

Posted on by Kelly Grooms
Warning sign reading "ALGAE BLOOM โ€“ NO SWIMMING" posted in a lake with visible green algae floating on the water's surface, surrounded by lily pads and aquatic plants under a clear blue sky.

The weather is warming up (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a dip in cool lake waters, so people everywhere are digging out their swimsuits and hitting the beach. Unfortunately, the same warm temperatures that drive us to the beach can also cause a potentially deadly overgrowth of blue-green algae โ€”also called harmful algal blooms (HABs)โ€”in the water of our favorite pond or lake.

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What’s Hiding in Your Mussels?ย 

Posted on by Shannon Sindermann
mussels

Fresh mussels might be a delicacy in many parts of the world, but a new study from Italy suggests they could also be carriers of something much less appetizing: infectious viruses and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Published in Food and Environmental Virology, Venuti et al. (2025) investigated 60 mussel batches originating from the Campania (Southern Italy), Lazio and Puglia regionsโ€”and what they found raises important questions about food safety and environmental monitoring. 

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