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Mozambique completes first HIV vaccine clinical trial

Last week, "researchers at Mozambique's Polana Cancio Centre for Research and Public Health completed a trial evaluating the safety of an HIV vaccine candidate," the country's "first HIV vaccine trial," and it "is set to embark on a second, a demonstration of the country's increased HIV research capacity," PlusNews reports.

20 Mar 2013

Blog reports on PPP aimed at improving health status of poorest Central Americans, Mexicans

"At the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) recent annual meeting in Panama, the two richest men in the world" -- Mexican businessman and philanthropist Carlos Slim and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – "discussed their contributions to a little-known public-private partnership that aims to improve the health status of the poorest Central Americans and Mexicans -- Salud Mesoamerica 2015 or SM2015," Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in the center's "Global Health Policy" blog.

20 Mar 2013

HIV treatment should be started earlier for most, but challenges remain

Noting "French researchers have identified 14 adults" who appear to have been functionally cured of HIV after beginning treatment "within a couple of months of infection" and continuing treatment "for one to seven and a half years" before stopping, a New York Times editorial writes, "The researchers estimate that as many as 15 percent of adults who start treatment early and continue for at least a year may then be able to stop their drug regimen and live healthily without the drugs."

20 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: Protect the FDA's regulatory efforts; Generic drug 'shenanigans;' Does Ryan not understand the 2012 election?

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Mutual Pharmaceutical v. Bartlett, a case about the ability of consumers to bring lawsuits against the makers of generic drugs.

20 Mar 2013

HCV screening of IV drug users new to the prison system could identify thousands of new HCV cases annually

A study published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, estimates that the prevalence of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is nearly one percent among newly incarcerated inmates with a history of recent drug use. Findings suggest that systematic screening of intravenous (IV) drug users who are new to the prison system could identify more than 7,000 cases of HCV across the U.S. annually—even among asymptomatic inmates.

19 Mar 2013

Hepatitis C virus rarely transmitted through sex between monogamous heterosexuals

Individuals infected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have nothing to fear from sex in a monogamous, heterosexual relationship. Transmission of HCV from an infected partner during sex is rare according to new research published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

19 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 19, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of a new report about the troubling reach of Alzheimer's disease.

19 Mar 2013

Wall Street Journal examines new initiative to combat drug-resistant TB in India

The Wall Street Journal examines a new effort to combat drug-resistant tuberculosis In India, noting "[a]n international health initiative has brokered a landmark accord that aims to halve the price patients pay for advanced tests for a strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to standard drugs."

19 Mar 2013

Research provides better understanding of microbiological factors of periodontitis

Microbes from the human mouth are telling Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists something about periodontitis and more after they cracked the genetic code of bacteria linked to the condition.

19 Mar 2013

Global efforts to address malnutrition should factor in immunization

"On Red Nose Day, we are reminded of the famine in Ethiopia that triggered the first Comic Relief, over 25 years ago," and "as we reflect, we now know that the link between malnutrition and infectious disease makes for a particularly vicious circle," Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, writes in an opinion piece in the Guardian's "Global Development Professionals Network."

19 Mar 2013

Mylan gets final approval from FDA for generic Xopenex Inhalation Solution

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Specialty L.P. has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application for Levalbuterol Inhalation Solution USP, 0.31 mg/3 mL (0.0103%), 0.63 mg/3 mL (0.021%), and 1.25 mg/3 mL (0.042%), (Concentrate).

19 Mar 2013

Blog examines new data on global burden of disease

"The Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation recently published the most recent global estimates of disease burden that update the leading causes of death and disability across the world," Todd Summers, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies Global Health Policy Center, writes in the center's "Smart Global Health" blog.

19 Mar 2013

Bill Gates says capitalism funnels more resources into minor ailments than infectious diseases

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "has declared capitalism 'flawed' because it channels more resources to curing minor ailments such as male baldness than to addressing the diseases that destroy millions of lives every year," The Independent reports.

19 Mar 2013

Study shows widespread use of antiretroviral drugs would increase prevalence of MDR HIV

One of the most widely advocated strategies for dealing with HIV/AIDS could double the number of multi-drug-resistant HIV cases in the population of men who have sex with men in LA County over the next 10 years, cautions a new study.

19 Mar 2013

Mycolactone activation of N-WASP boosts Buruli ulcer formation

Mycobacterium ulcerans infects the skin and subcutaneous tissues and secretes a lipid toxin, mycolactone, which causes open skin lesions, known as Buruli ulcers.

18 Mar 2013

MRSA bacteria will continue to exist in both community and hospital settings

The drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, once confined to hospitals but now widespread in communities, will likely continue to exist in both settings as separate strains, according to a new study.

18 Mar 2013

UCLA researchers predict hotspots for future outbreaks of influenza virus

This year's unusually long and rocky flu season would be nothing compared to the pandemic that could occur if bird flu became highly contagious among humans, which is why UCLA researchers and their colleagues are creating new ways to predict where an outbreak could emerge.

17 Mar 2013

Cytomegalovirus employs a novel trick to hide from immune detection

A virus that most people have probably never heard of, yet most of us carry, is the number 1 infectious cause of congenital birth defects. One in 750 children are born with, or develop, permanent disabilities such as hearing loss or brain damage as a result of CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection in the womb.

17 Mar 2013

USAID's pursuit of evidence-based global health agenda

As part of the Global Health Research & Development blog series, E. Callie Raulfs-Wang, research adviser at USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, writes in the agency's "IMPACTblog," "Whether testing the efficacy of an HIV vaccine or the marketing strategy of a new contraceptive technology, quality research, careful methodology and rigorous analysis are fundamental for acquiring evidence useful in decision-making."

16 Mar 2013

Small percentage of adults who receive rapid HIV treatment following infection might achieve 'functional cure,' French researchers say

"Rapid treatment after HIV infection may be enough to 'functionally cure' about a 10th of those diagnosed early, say researchers in France," who "have been analyzing 14 people who stopped therapy, but have since shown no signs of the virus resurging," BBC News reports (Gallagher, 3/15).

16 Mar 2013

Disease/Infection News

Mozambique completes first HIV vaccine clinical trial

Blog reports on PPP aimed at improving health status of poorest Central Americans, Mexicans

HIV treatment should be started earlier for most, but challenges remain

Viewpoints: Protect the FDA's regulatory efforts; Generic drug 'shenanigans;' Does Ryan not understand the 2012 election?

HCV screening of IV drug users new to the prison system could identify thousands of new HCV cases annually

Hepatitis C virus rarely transmitted through sex between monogamous heterosexuals

First Edition: March 19, 2013

Wall Street Journal examines new initiative to combat drug-resistant TB in India

Research provides better understanding of microbiological factors of periodontitis

Global efforts to address malnutrition should factor in immunization

Mylan gets final approval from FDA for generic Xopenex Inhalation Solution

Blog examines new data on global burden of disease

Bill Gates says capitalism funnels more resources into minor ailments than infectious diseases

Study shows widespread use of antiretroviral drugs would increase prevalence of MDR HIV

Mycolactone activation of N-WASP boosts Buruli ulcer formation

MRSA bacteria will continue to exist in both community and hospital settings

UCLA researchers predict hotspots for future outbreaks of influenza virus

Cytomegalovirus employs a novel trick to hide from immune detection

USAID's pursuit of evidence-based global health agenda

Small percentage of adults who receive rapid HIV treatment following infection might achieve 'functional cure,' French researchers say

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

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