Mostly Microbes and Infection

This special issue will provide a global snapshot of the research that addresses the association between microbiology and climate change. Guest editors: Dr. Jason Tetro, University of the Pacific, San Francisco Dr. David Ojcius, University of the Pacific, San Francisco

While popular fast-food chains such as Raising Cane’s and In-N-Out continue to open locations and thrive on hungry stomachs in the North San Joaquin County district, the combined overweight and obesity rate has climbed to greater than 65% of the local population, a historic high. By emphasizing certain priority communities and engaging with the community to address socioeconomic and ethnic disparities which are at the root of the obesity epidemic, it is not too late to reverse the rates. Exceeding the obesity rate of California by almost 7%, the San Joaquin County public health services have started numerous initiatives to promote active and healthier lifestyles for all members of their community.    by Guneet Gill, Stephen Gong-Guy, Parvati Iyer and David Ojcius

  In many animals, having many offspring is linked to a shorter lifespan. A study shows that queen ants exhibit high metabolism for reproduction without undergoing aging by generating an anti-insulin protein that blocks only part of the insulin pathway.

  As omicron -specific boosters near, scientists debate how ‘original antigenic sin’ will influence immune responses.

  How scientists, public health experts & plumbers are embracing wastewater surveillance as the future of disease tracking.  

  Natural and human-made disasters can cause tremendous physical damage, societal change, and suffering. In addition to their effects on people, disasters have been shown to alter the microbial population in the area affected. Alterations for microbial populations can lead to new ecological interactions, with additional potentially adverse consequences for many species, including humans. Disaster-related stressors can be powerful forces for microbial selection. Studying microbial adaptation in disaster sites can reveal new biological processes, including mechanisms by which some microbes could become pathogenic and others could become beneficial (e.g., used for bioremediation).

  Just 10 months after the initial genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, two mRNA vaccines were demonstrated to provide 95% efficacy against symptomatic infections via randomized, placebo-controlled trials of more than 74,000 participants ( 1 ). That unprecedented success was, in part, fueled by the $10 billion governmental investment in Operation Warp Speed (OWS) in March 2020 to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. We urgently need such an accelerated initiative now for nasal vaccines. During the first year of the pandemic, meaningful evolution of the virus was slow-paced, without any functional consequences, but since that time we have seen a succession of important variants of concern, with increasing transmissibility and immune evasion, culminating in the Omicron lineages. With that, there has been a dramatic falloff in the capacity for vaccinations and booster shots to block infections and transmission ( 2 ). A major unmet cli...