Disease/Infection News

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Vaccination against HIV can be counterproductive if it triggers the wrong type of immune response

A discovery could help immunologists design vaccines that are more effective in protecting against HIV infection.

20 Nov 2019

Pioneering CRISPR therapy leaves two patients free of blood disease symptoms

The first two clinical trials for CRISPR-based treatments for inherited blood disorders have been successful.

20 Nov 2019

New California law may expand use of HIV prevention drugs, with caveats

Kellen Willhite was 24 when he learned he'd been exposed to HIV. What followed was, as he describes it, a second trauma: trying to obtain the drugs that could save him before it was too late.

20 Nov 2019

Sepsis survivors express a need for advocacy and follow-up support

Survivors of sepsis--a life-threatening response to an infection--have expressed a need for advocacy and follow-up support, according to a study authored by professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, and published in Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing.

19 Nov 2019

Depression puts teen girls in South Africa at higher risk of HIV infection

Teen girls in South Africa face an extraordinary threat of HIV: By the time they reach adulthood, one in four South African girls will have contracted the virus, and most are first infected during adolescence.

19 Nov 2019

Malaria research advances immunotherapy in lupus, HIV

A new study published on November 19, 2019, in the journal Cell Reports, shows how the body’s immune system responds to malaria, which in turn promises to teach scientists how to design more effective therapies for a range of illnesses that are modulated by the immune response.

19 Nov 2019

Ketogenic diet wards off flu, study finds

The ketogenic diet has gained immense popularity over the past years because it helps lose weight speedily, with a wide range of health benefits. Similar to the Atkins diet, the ketogenic diet may not only help people shed off extra pounds but also boosting the immune system and warding off flu.

19 Nov 2019

UC Davis study identifies mechanism to rapidly repair leaky gut in monkeys with SIV infections

A UC Davis study found that the damaged gut lining (known as leaky gut) in monkeys infected with chronic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), an HIV-like virus, was rapidly repaired within five hours of receiving Lactobacillus plantarum bacteria.

19 Nov 2019

New microfluidics device detects malignant multiple myeloma cells in blood

Scientists have developed a microfluidics device that could be used for the detection or monitoring of multiple myeloma.

19 Nov 2019

Certain traditional soup broths possess antimalarial properties

Researchers have found that some soups have antimalarial properties and can interrupt the life cycle of a malarial parasite.

19 Nov 2019

Measles heralds state of emergency in Samoa

All students in Samoa should stay at home, because all schools are closed – this message may bring joy to juvenile hearts but not to those of parents and other adults, who know this is because of the destruction caused by the deadly measles epidemic that is spreading across the Pacific islands.

18 Nov 2019

How HIV self-testing affects diagnosis and behaviour in MSM

Men who have sex with men (MSMs) are among the most high-risk groups for acquiring and transmitting HIV infection. A new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicinesays that the rate of detection of new infections is more than doubled when self-testing is available. This could increase access to early treatment and thus interrupt the chain of transmission among MSMs.

18 Nov 2019

Sterilizing mosquitoes may be the answer to curb Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, WHO reports

A new technique that sterilizes male mosquito through radiation shows promise in fighting mosquito-borne illnesses, including Zika, dengue and chikungunya. Soon, health experts plan to test the technique as part of global health efforts to control these diseases.

18 Nov 2019

Antibiotics face an existential crisis

Antibiotics are facing an existential crisis less than a century after their introduction. The bacteria-fighting drugs are becoming less effective as a result of their overuse in both humans and animals.

18 Nov 2019

New clinical guideline for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis published

The American Thoracic Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Respiratory Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have published an official clinical guideline on the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the Nov. 15 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

18 Nov 2019

Increase in drug-resistant infections could put 10 million lives in the UK at risk

Antimicrobial resistance should be taken more seriously, yet more than 99% of the population are not fully aware of its impact. This is despite the outgoing UK Chief Medical Officer saying earlier this year that Superbugs “could kill us before climate change does”.

18 Nov 2019

The Black Death still lurks all over the world

Beijing, the capital of the economic giant, China, is in the news currently for a far different reason – two patients have developed pneumonic plague. The patients, who hail from Inner Mongolia’s northwestern corner, are being treated at a high-level hospital there, amidst 21 million other people. The health authorities say they have put in place adequate protection and control measures to keep the plague from spreading.

17 Nov 2019

New NIH funding will accelerate progress in TB vaccine development

Seattle Children's Research Institute is one of three recipients of $30 million in first-year-funding provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to establish centers for immunology research to accelerate progress in tuberculosis vaccine development.

15 Nov 2019

CSU awarded $1.2 million subcontract to accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development

A team of researchers in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology at Colorado State University aim to advance what is known about the complex immune response necessary to prevent tuberculosis disease.

15 Nov 2019

Study provides new insights into potential outcomes of Zika virus infection

Using a relevant animal model (pigs), University of Saskatchewan researchers have shown that mild Zika virus infection in fetuses can cause abnormal brain development in apparently healthy young animals.

15 Nov 2019