Several years ago, one of my colleagues died tragically from a laboratory-acquired Yersinia pestis infection. A description of his illness and of postmortem investigations coordinated by the CDC has recently been published (1). My colleague had been working with a...
Our current understanding of host-pathogen coevolution has a strong theoretical base (e.g. Anderson and May 1991) and growing empirical support (e.g. Fenner 1983). In brief, hosts evolve in ways that minimize the fitness costs of infection while, in general, pathogens...
Physicians who care for patients with malaria or who study malaria pathogenesis have been most concerned with merozoites, the asexual form of the parasite that infects red blood cells and that is responsible for the pathological manifestations of the disease. From...
The glycoproteins and glycolipids in other great ape species contain N-glycolyl-neuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) as their primary sialic acid. Sometime after the divergence of the lineage leading to Homo, a deletion mutation inactivated the gene CMP-Neu5Ac hydroxylase (CMAH),...
The human appendix has long fascinated both biologists and physicians. A recent bout of appendicitis has heightened my interest in this organ and has stimulated me to write about it. Because of its small and variable size, and its apparent uselessness, Darwin (1871)...
