Toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasitic infections in the world. In the U.S. it is estimated that more than 22 percent of the population 12 years and older have been infected with toxoplasma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate at which the rabies virus evolves in bats may depend heavily upon the ecological traits of its hosts, according to researchers at the University of Georgia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Their study, published May 17 in the journal PLoS Pathogens, found that the host's geographical location was the most accurate predictor of the viral rate of evolution. Rabies viruses in tropical and sub-tropical bat species evolved nearly four times faster than viral variants in bats in temperate regions.

Half the world's population is at risk for contracting malaria. The deadly disease, spread by hungry mosquitoes that bite humans for their blood meals, affects more than 200 million people each year, and many people-mostly children-die.

Christopher Whalen, the Ernest Corn Professor of Epidemiology in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics in the University of Georgia College of Public Health, has received a five-year, $2.82 million grant to understand how tuberculosis is transmitted in urban environments in Africa.

Black flies drink blood and spread disease such as river blindness-creating misery with their presence. A University of Georgia study, however, proves that the pesky insects can be useful.

Chagas disease is the single most common cause of congestive heart failure and sudden death in the world. The devastating parasitic infection affects millions of people throughout Central and South America. But as global travel increases, it's becoming a greater threat in the United States and Europe as well.

Influenza virus can rapidly evolve from one form to another, complicating the effectiveness of vaccines and anti-viral drugs used to treat it. By first understanding the complex host cell pathways that the flu uses for replication, University of Georgia researchers are finding new strategies for therapies and vaccines, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

A team of University of Georgia researchers has discovered how to harness this bacterial immune system to selectively target and silence genes. The finding, published today in the early online edition of the journal Molecular Cell, reveals a powerful new tool that has far-reaching implications for biotechnology and biomedical research.