Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Immunity to dengue can protect against Zika infection, study shows

In the epicenter of the Zika epidemic in northeast Brazil, 73 percent of people living in an urban slum in Salvador were infected in 2015. However, in this highly affected population, those with immunity to dengue, a genetically similar virus, had a reduced risk of infection with Zika.

8 Feb 2019

Experts highlight emerging evidence of impending Parkinson’s disease pandemic

For most of human history Parkinson's disease (PD) has been a rare disorder. However, demography and the by-products of industrialization a now contributing to an impending a Parkinson's pandemic, according to experts writing in a supplement to the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

29 Jan 2019

Newly designed drugs could help combat any potential flu pandemic

Researchers at LSTM and Imperial College London have designed drugs which could help combat any potential new flu pandemic, by targeting the receptors of the cells by which the virus gains entry to the human body.

28 Jan 2019

Clinical testing begins for temperature-stable experimental tuberculosis vaccine

Vaccinations have begun in a Phase 1 human clinical trial testing a freeze-dried, temperature-stable formulation of an experimental tuberculosis vaccine candidate.

23 Jan 2019

Gene-edited chickens could prevent future flu pandemic

British researchers are genetically engineering flu-resistant chickens in an effort to prevent the next deadly human flu pandemic.

23 Jan 2019

A global influenza pandemic high on the WHO's agenda

Another influenza pandemic is on the third spot of the list of 10 health threats collated by the World Health Organization for 2019.

21 Jan 2019

Anti-vaccination movement one of the top health threats in 2019 says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a list of health threats for the New Year. Interestingly, Anti-vaccination movement has featured among the top threats to the world. The anti-vaccination movement comprises of a group of people who are reluctant to getting vaccinated and refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children against vaccine preventable infections.

17 Jan 2019

Clinical evidence firmly confirms the HIV Undetectable = Untransmittable concept

In recent years, an overwhelming body of clinical evidence has firmly established the HIV Undetectable = Untransmittable concept as scientifically sound, say officials from the National Institutes of Health.

11 Jan 2019

Medicaid patients in Puerto Rico don’t get coverage for drugs to cure hepatitis C

Drugs that can cure hepatitis C revolutionized care for millions of Americans living with the deadly liver infection. The drugs came with a steep price tag — one that prompted state Medicaid programs to initially limit access to the medications to only the sickest patients.

4 Jan 2019

Scientists solve mystery of Yemen cholera epidemic

The most likely source of the cholera epidemic in Yemen has been discovered by scientists. Through the use of genomic sequencing, scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Institut Pasteur estimate the strain of cholera causing the current outbreak in Yemen - the worst cholera outbreak in recorded history - came from Eastern Africa and entered Yemen with the migration of people in and out of the region.

2 Jan 2019

Pregnant women and extremely obese people at high risk of flu complications

Pregnant women and the extremely obese are among those at high risk for complications from the flu - including death - and should be tested and begin antiviral treatment promptly if they are sick enough to be hospitalized with flu symptoms, according to updated guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

19 Dec 2018

New battery-free, implantable device aids weight loss

More than 700 million adults and children worldwide are obese, according to a 2017 study that called the growing number and weight-related health problems a "rising pandemic."

18 Dec 2018

New study confirms geographic bias in lung allocation for transplant

Results of a medical records study of more than 7,000 patients awaiting a lung transplant in the United States affirm the basis of a court filing in 2017 that called the organ allocation system geographically "rigged" in some regions of the nation.

17 Dec 2018

CDC selects UMass Amherst biostatistician model that helps predict influenza outbreaks

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was looking for a preferred flu prediction model for use in its flu-forecasting challenge this season, an influenza-tracking model developed by a team led by biostatistician Nicholas Reich at the University of Massachusetts Amherst rose to the top and will be one of its principal prediction tools, Reich says.

13 Dec 2018

Gut bacteria may modify effectiveness of anti-diabetes drugs

Why do orally-administered drugs for diabetes work for some people but not others? According to researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, bacteria that make up the gut microbiome may be the culprit.

11 Dec 2018

Reusable respirators can effectively protect health care workers from airborne contaminants

Half-facepiece reusable elastomeric respirators are an effective and viable option for protecting health care workers from exposure to airborne transmissible contaminants or infectious agents -- for example, influenza virus -- during day-to-day work or with a sudden or rapid influx of patients, such as during a public health emergency, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

7 Dec 2018

Duke-NUS researchers highlight possible role of bioaerosol sampling in pandemic surveillance

As a leading global city with a high population density, Singapore is vulnerable to the introduction of biological threats. Initiating an early emergency response to such threats calls for the rapid identification of the causative agent.

6 Dec 2018

World AIDS Day: FIRS highlights need to strengthen efforts to stop TB and HIV

Tuberculosis is the world’s leading infectious disease and it accounts for one in three deaths from HIV/AIDS, according to the World Health Organization’s 2018 report on TB.

4 Dec 2018

ECDC and WHO release latest data on HIV epidemic in the European Region

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the WHO Regional Office for Europe release the latest data on the HIV epidemic in the European Region, marking the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day.

29 Nov 2018

Researchers assess trends in efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis regimens for surgical procedures

Antibiotic prophylaxis regimens are becoming less effective at preventing surgical site infections following colorectal surgery, researchers at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy and Princeton University determined through a systematic review of available literature.

27 Nov 2018