fungal meningitis.

47 died.

The bacterium that causes leprosy spreads through the body by converting nerve cells into stem cells with migratory properties, according to research published in the journal Cell .

Micrograph of Mycobacterium leprae (red) taken from a leprosy skin lesion. CDC photo.

In a recent article by Toshihiro Masaki et al., the ability of Mycobacterium leprae to transform mature Schwann cells into progenitor stem-like cells was discovered.

This bacterium, responsible for leprosy, is able to infect adult Schwann cells and reprogram them into a precursor state. Because M. leprae is an intracellular pathogen, it utilizes the plasticity of Schwann cells to spread. Once reprogrammed, these cells can disseminate through the body differentiating into other cell types while also recruiting macrophages, further spreading infection.

Research into the mechanisms behind this pathogen's cellular hijacking technique could lead to a better understanding of cellular plasticity as well as provide a means of creating stable stem cells for disease research.

C ould the use o f bacteriophage be the next big thing in antimicrobial therapy?

Due to increasing resistance to antibiotics, there is an increasing demand to take a second look at novel therapies, such as using the bacteriophage against bacterial diseases.  Bacteriophage therapy began in the 1930s in Eastern Europe and still continues today in Georgia.

The word bacteriophage literally means "to eat bacteria." It is a virus that exclusively attacks bacteria. Once the phage has entered the body, it attaches itself to the bacteria causing the infection, and shoots in its own DNA to make the bacteria start producing new bacteriophage. Within 30 minutes, up to 200 new phage are created, and in the process the bacteria die. Once the job is done, the phage automatically start to disappear.

What has long made antibiotics so appealing is the fact that they eliminate so many types of bacteria in one go. Phage are more complicated and specific: a certain type has to be found to combat each infection. "But it's this specificity which makes them so attractive," says Ron Dixon, Head of the Department of Forensic and Biomedical Sciences at Lincoln University. "It will only kill the bacteria you want it to."

And if the bacteria become resistant to the phage, as they have done to antibiotics, a new phage matched to the new bacteria can be developed. In order to inhibit resistance, a cocktail of phage would most likely be used in treatment.

There are no known side-effects, researchers stress, although there were significant numbers of deaths in the 1930s and 1940s mainly due to a failure to understand the biology of phage, inaccurate diagnoses of patients in the first place and poor manufacturing procedures.

Nonetheless, few Western companies have ventured into the field of bacteriophage therapy. Nick Housby of Novolytics Limited in the UK - one firm which has - says this is because of the intellectual property rights surrounding the therapy, which has so long been used elsewhere. Phage are notoriously hard to patent, the process by which drug companies secure future profits.

Novolytics is currently working on a cream which they say could combat MRSA. Inserted into the nose, where MRSA bacteria frequently linger, it is hoped the cream could combat more than 15 strains of the condition.

This new therapy still needs to be subjected to two phases of clinical testing, and even if these are proved to be successful, it may take as many as five years for the cream to hit the market.

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