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Unique Collaboration Charts the Migrations of a Parasite that Affected History
Researchers Sequence Louse DNA from Mummies and Propose New Model for its Development


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When humans migrated out of Africa 100,000 years ago, they were likely carrying stowaways. Scientists who've tested head lice taken from Peruvian mummies found the strains of these little parasites were nearly identical to those that were irritating our ancestors in Africa.

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[In a new paper for the JID, scientists] establish that lice had accompanied their human hosts in the original peopling of the Americas, probably as early as 15,000 years ago. The DNA matched that of the most common type of louse known to exist worldwide now and also before Europeans colonized the New World.

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"Head lice came with us out of Africa" February 6, 2008
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Didier Raoult, David L. Reed, Katharina Dittmar, Jeremy J. Kirchman, Jean-Marc Rolain, Sonia Guillen, and Jessica E. Light
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15 September 2006

Volume 194, Number 6
The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2006;194:795–803
© 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
0022-1899/2006/19406-0011$15.00
DOI: 10.1086/506948
MAJOR ARTICLE

ACIDFORM Inactivates Herpes Simplex Virus and Prevents Genital Herpes in a Mouse Model: Optimal Candidate for Microbicide Combinations

Ana C. G. Tuyama,1,a

Natalia Cheshenko,1,a

Maria J. Carlucci,1

Jin-Hua Li,1

Cindy L. Goldberg,1

Donald P. Waller,3

Robert A. Anderson,4

Albert T. Profy,5

Mary E. Klotman,2

Marla J. Keller,2 and

Betsy C. Herold1

Division of Infectious Disease, Departments of 1Pediatrics and 2Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York; 3Department of Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago, and 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; 5Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Lexington, Massachusetts

The acidic vaginal milieu is presumed to inactivate pathogens but is neutralized by semen. This notion fostered the development of acid-buffering products, such as ACIDFORM (developed by Program for Topical Prevention of Conception and Disease, Rush University, and licensed by Instead), as microbicides. However, the extent and mechanism of protective activity provided by buffering gels is not known. Exposure of herpes simplex virus (HSV) to pH 4.5 or lower irreversibly inactivated HSV and reduced HSV yields by at least 90%; exposure to pH 5.0 had little or no effect. Pretreatment of HSV-2 with pH 3.5–4.5 triggered proteolysis, disrupting the HSV particle and resulting in a reduction in binding and invasion. ACIDFORM protected 21 (81%) of 26 mice from genital herpes, compared with 3 (12%) of 25 mice who received a placebo gel. ACIDFORM retained significant activity if mice were challenged with HSV delivered in seminal fluid. These findings suggest that ACIDFORM offers considerable protection against HSV and may be an optimal candidate for developing combination microbicides.

Received 6 January 2006; accepted 8 May 2006; electronically published 16 August 2006.

Reprints and correspondence: Dr. Betsy C. Herold, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1 Gustave L. Levy Pl., Box 1657, New York, NY 10029 ().

Cited by

Frieda M. Behets, Abigail Norris Turner, Kathleen Van Damme, Ny Lovaniaina Rabenja, Noro Ravelomanana, Teresa A. Swezey, April J. Bell, Daniel R. Newman, D’Nyce L. Williams, Denise J. Jamieson. (2008) Vaginal Microbicide and Diaphragm Use for Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention: A Randomized Acceptability and Feasibility Study Among High-Risk Women in Madagascar. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 35:9, 818-826
Online publication date: 1-Oct-2008.
CrossRef
Lisa C. Rohan, Sharon L. Hillier, and Charlene S. Dezzutti. (2007) Preventing the Sexual Transmission of HIV-1 with Topical Microbicides: Another Piece of the Equation. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 196:9, 1285-1287
Online publication date: 1-Nov-2007.
Citation-Full Text-PDF Version (149 kB)
Sarju Patel, Ehsan Hazrati, Natalia Cheshenko, Benjamin Galen, Heyi Yang, Esmeralda Guzman, Rong Wang, Betsy C. Herold, and Marla J. Keller. (2007) Seminal Plasma Reduces the Effectiveness of Topical Polyanionic Microbicides. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 196:9, 1394-1402
Online publication date: 1-Nov-2007.
Abstract-Full Text-PDF Version (703 kB)
Marla J. Keller, Betsy C. Herold. (2006) Impact of Microbicides and Sexually Transmitted Infections on Mucosal Immunity in the Female Genital Tract. American Journal of Reproductive Immunology 56:5-6, 356-363
Online publication date: 1-Dec-2006.
CrossRef

  • Presented in part: 42nd Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Boston, 30 September–3 October 2004 (abstract 818).

    Potential conflicts of interest: A.T.P. is a full-time employee of Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the developers of PRO 2000 Gel, and holds equity interest in the company. R.A.A. and D.P.W. were named inventors on a patent (6,706,276) for ACIDFORM, titled “Compositions and methods for trapping and inactivating pathogenic microbes and spermatozoa,” awarded 16 March 2004. The patent is licensed by Instead Corporation for commercial development. The remaining authors report no conflicts of interest.

    Financial support: Public Health Service (grant HD43733); National Center of Research Resources (grant M01-RR-00071).

  • aThe first 2 authors contributed equally to this work.

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