Lorsque les Hommes modernes et les Hommes de Néandertal se sont rencontrés et croisés en Europe il y a plusieurs millénaires, leur mélange a introduit des variations génétiques qui ont renforcé la capacité de leurs porteurs à se prémunir contre les infections. Mais cet héritage néandertalien en a peut-être également prédisposé certains aux allergies.

Having confirmed the first cases of infection in Suriname then in French Guiana, the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana has sequenced the complete genome of the Zika virus, which is responsible for an unprecedented epidemic currently sweeping through the tropical regions of the Americas. Published in The Lancet medical journal today, the analysis of this sequence shows almost complete homology with the strains responsible for the epidemic that occurred in the Pacific in 2013 and 2014.

When modern humans met Neanderthals in Europe and the two species began interbreeding many thousands of years ago, the exchange left humans with gene variations that have increased the ability of those who carry them to ward off infection. This inheritance from Neanderthals may have also left some people more prone to allergies. The discoveries add to evidence for an important role for interspecies relations in human evolution and specifically in the evolution of the innate immune system, which serves as the body's first line of defense against infection.

Après avoir confirmé les premiers cas d’infections au Surinam puis en Guyane, l’Institut Pasteur de la Guyane a séquencé le génome intégral du virus Zika responsable d’une épidémie sans précédent sévissant actuellement dans la zone tropicale du continent américain. Publiée dans la revue The Lancet ce jour, l’analyse de cette séquence montre une homologie quasi complète avec les souches à l’origine de l’épidémie qui a circulé en 2013 et 2014 dans le Pacifique.

Jacques Ravel, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, as well as Associate Director for Genomics at the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), both at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has been named a 2015-2017 Blaise Pascal International Research Chair, one of the most prestigious European science awards. He is spending this year working at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and over the next two years will divide his time between Paris and Baltimore. He focuses on the human microbiome and its role in women’s health.

L'Institut Pasteur de Bangui a confirmé un foyer de virus monkeypox, à Bangassou à environ 800 km de Bangui la capitale de la République centrafricaine.

The Institut Pasteur in Bangui confirmed cases of monkeypox virus infection in Bangassou about 800 km from Bangui capital city of the Central African Republic.

A team from Doctors without Borders Belgium located in this area at the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has collected samples from two children of the same family who presented with rashes (maculopapular) after consuming thryonomys meat a rodent locally known as sibissi.

Using innovative technology, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm have filmed in vivo the process by which an AIDS vaccine candidate, developed by the French Vaccine Research Institute and the ANRS, triggers the immune response. This previously unseen footage clearly shows how the vaccine recruits the immune cells needed to destroy infected cells. These results shed new light on the mode of action and potential of this vaccine.

Grâce à une technologie innovante, des chercheurs de l’Institut Pasteur et de l’Inserm sont parvenus à filmer in vivo le déclenchement de la réponse immunitaire par un candidat vaccin anti-sida développé par l’Institut de Recherche Vaccinale et l’ANRS. Ces images inédites montrent l’action précise du vaccin quant au recrutement des cellules immunitaires nécessaires à la destruction des cellules infectées. En permettant de mieux comprendre le mode d’action du vaccin, ces résultats valident son potentiel.