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Killer bluetongue disease sets in

Snip: Bluetongue is harmless to people but can be fatal for ruminant animals, especially sheep, where it can kill up to 70% of an infected flock.

Tick borne disease puzzles researchers

Snip: The new pathogen, which causes rashes and flulike symptoms, has Storch and his fellow researchers on a mission.

"It's out there in nature, but no one knows where," said Robert Thach, one of the study's collaborators. "Why are people in St. Louis coming down with this disease? Where are they getting it? Where are the ticks getting it?"

The disease is considered an emerging infection, and too little is known about its causes to be classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a nationally reportable disease.

But the disease does have a name: Southern tick-associated rash illness.

Dog cancer is infectious

Snip: A strange form of cancer is being transmitted as an infectious agent among the world's dogs, without help from viruses or bacteria, a research team in England has found. The discovery, reported in the journal Cell, shows how a single cancer cell can become a successful parasite, grow and then spread worldwide in susceptible animals. The researchers said the disease is apparently transmitted sexually. It arose in wolves as much as 2,500 years ago, then spread to coyotes and dogs.

The new study is the first to document cancer being spread from animal to animal on its own. Viruses are known to cause some cancers when they damage critical genes during infection. But now it's clear cancer can get around solo, then spread through a population.

What this means for humans is not known, the researchers said, although it does suggest studies should be done on prostate and cervical cancer to see if they can spread the same way. The findings in dogs warn that in addition to viruses, bacteria, fungi and other parasites, cancer cells can act as infectious agents.

"The cancer escaped its original body and became a parasite" transmitted from dog to dog until it had colonized all over the world, explained Dr. Robin Weiss, head of the five-member research team at University College in London.