Disease/Infection News

RSS

New process to create malaria drug artemisinin should provide stable supply, reduce cost, researchers report

"U.S. scientists on Wednesday said they had used baker's yeast to make a key ingredient of malaria drugs, a feat that could iron out fluctuations in supply caused by sourcing the chemical from a Chinese herb," Artemisia annua, Agence France-Presse reports (4/10).

12 Apr 2013

Global Fund concludes 2-day conference in Brussels

In Brussels on Wednesday, "the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria concluded a two-day conference where it tried to make the case for the $15 billion it aims to raise in a replenishment meeting late 2013," Devex reports.

12 Apr 2013

Sanofi launches large-scale production of artemisinin for malaria

Twelve years after a breakthrough discovery in his University of California, Berkeley, laboratory, professor of chemical engineering Jay Keasling is seeing his dream come true.

12 Apr 2013

Blogs, press releases respond to Obama administration's FY14 budget request

The Obama administration on Wednesday released its FY 2014 budget request, including funding for U.S. global health activities and proposed changes to the U.S. food aid program.

12 Apr 2013

Blog examines debate around anti-prostitution pledge law

In the Open Society Foundations' "Voices" blog, Zoe Hudson, a senior policy analyst for the group, discusses a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court -- USAID v AOSI -- which "challenges a 2003 law that requires all groups receiving U.S. government funds for international HIV and AIDS work to have 'a policy opposing prostitution.'

12 Apr 2013

Researchers unravel dual role of tumor necrosis factor in TB

Tumor necrosis factor - normally an infection-fighting substance produced by the body- can actually heighten susceptibility to tuberculosis if its levels are too high.

12 Apr 2013

Australian, Singapore researchers join hands to combat disease-causing bugs

The fight against a number of significant infectious diseases in the Asia-Pacific region has been given a boost through a new research collaboration between the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore.

12 Apr 2013

Experts launch new strategy to eradicate polio by 2018

Hundreds of scientists, doctors and other experts from around the world launched the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication today, declaring that an end to the paralyzing disease is achievable and endorsing a comprehensive new strategy to secure a lasting polio-free world by 2018.

12 Apr 2013

Newly characterized adenoviruses can cause severe human infections

The ongoing dance between a virus and its host distinctly shapes how the virus evolves. While human adenoviruses typically cause mild infections, recent reports have described newly characterized adenoviruses that can cause severe, sometime fatal, human infections.

12 Apr 2013

Rising temperature induces key changes in dengue virus

Researchers have discovered that rising temperature induces key changes in the dengue virus when it enters its human host, and the findings represent a new approach for designing vaccines against the aggressive mosquito-borne pathogen.

12 Apr 2013

New tool to identify air travelers with infectious disease developed

Researchers have developed a simple new tool to help governments worldwide decide whether to screen airplane passengers leaving or arriving from areas of infectious disease outbreaks.

11 Apr 2013

Global health efforts a casualty of across-the-board cuts under 'sequester'

"The across-the-board cuts under the 'sequester' will undermine efficient programs, along with the inefficient. One unfortunate casualty is spending on global health efforts," a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial says.

11 Apr 2013

Aidspan publishes new issue of 'Global Fund Observer'

Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has published Issue 214 of its "Global Fund Observer."

11 Apr 2013

$15B commitment to Global Fund would change the course of history

On Monday "in Brussels, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced an appeal to government and private sector donors for $15 billion for the next three years," Joyce Banda, president of the Republic of Malawi, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

11 Apr 2013

Virginia Tech scientists provide new evidence that biofilms are at work in survival of Salmonella

Virginia Tech scientists have provided new evidence that biofilms - bacteria that adhere to surfaces and build protective coatings - are at work in the survival of the human pathogen Salmonella.

11 Apr 2013

China reports additional deaths from H7N9; Scientists work to uncover source

"China reported two more fatalities from a new strain of avian flu [H7N9] on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to nine, and raised the total number of infections by four to 28 as the government renewed efforts to combat the spread of the disease," the Wall Street Journal reports (Tejada/Burkitt, 4/9).

11 Apr 2013

New data on Merck’s VICTRELIS for chronic HCV to be presented at EASL annual meeting

Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced today that two analyses of VICTRELIS (boceprevir) and data from Phase II studies of two of Merck's investigational medicines for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1, MK-5172 and vaniprevir (MK-7009), will be presented at the 2013 International Liver Congress (EASL) Annual Meeting.

11 Apr 2013

Interaction global health briefing book warns of implications from U.S. budget cuts

InterAction, an umbrella group representing 37 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), "is calling on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to keep spending on global health aid at current levels, warning that recent budget cuts risk a dangerous backslide in health and development gains achieved over the past three decades," Inter Press Service reports.

11 Apr 2013

Reuters examines debate among non-profit groups over anti-prostitution pledge law

"A Supreme Court case that challenges a law requiring anti-prostitution policies for HIV/AIDS programs seeking federal money has generated a split among non-profit groups that counsel sex workers overseas," Reuters reports.

11 Apr 2013

South Africa announces rollout of new single-dose ARV therapy

"South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Monday the launch of a new single-dose combination antiretroviral drug that will cost just 89 rand a month ($10) per patient, potentially revolutionizing AIDS treatment in the country," Salon reports (McDonough, 4/9).

11 Apr 2013