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NPR examines efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria

NPR's "Shots" blog reports on efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria. "[N]orthern Nigeria is the only place in the world where polio cases are increasing," the blog writes, noting, "As of Sept. 1, it had recorded 90 polio cases in 2012 -- or nearly three times as many as in the same period last year."

18 Oct 2012

NPR begins series on polio eradication

NPR's "Shots" blog on Monday began a series of stories "reporting on the fight to eradicate the last few pockets of polio," which begins "with a look back at how the U.S. and the rest of the world wiped out the virus for good."

17 Oct 2012

Additional drugs linked to meningitis outbreak

Food and Drug Administration officials said Monday that more people may be at risk as a result of contaminated drugs made by a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy.

17 Oct 2012

Global Fund invites Myanmar to apply for additional funding

"Health workers in Myanmar are confident that efforts to narrow the country's huge gap between access to, and need for, life-saving medicines to treat HIV/AIDS are back on track after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria invited the country to apply for additional funding," IRIN reports.

17 Oct 2012

Peace Corps, USAID, Coca-Cola Company announce WASH training initiative

"The Peace Corps has announced a strategic partnership with the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) -- a long-standing public-private partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola) -- to improve local capacity to deliver sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for the reduction of waterborne disease around the world," a Peace Corps press release reports.

17 Oct 2012

Public-private partnership will promote handwashing to help reduce child mortality in Africa

Though the number of children dying of preventable and treatable diseases worldwide has dropped significantly since 1990, there is "realistic hope for much more" progress, particularly if "improved hygiene and sanitation ... play a key role in the next stage," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

17 Oct 2012

BioLineRx completes pre-clinical development of BL-8020 for HCV

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today that it has successfully completed the pre-clinical development of BL-8020, an orally available, interferon-free treatment for the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and plans to commence a Phase I/II safety and efficacy study for BL-8020 in Europe during the first quarter of 2013.

17 Oct 2012

Adults with HIV can benefit from cognitive training exercises

As more effective antiretroviral therapy has evolved over the past 30 years, HIV/AIDS has shifted from an acute to a chronic condition. But as patients live longer, research indicates that they are experiencing cognitive impairments at a higher rate than people without the disease.

17 Oct 2012

Offering methadone treatment to drug users significantly reduces HIV infection, transmission risk, study shows

Offering methadone treatment to people who use injection drugs "substantially reduces the risk that they will get HIV or give it to anyone else," according to a BMJ study published this month that pools data from studies done in nine countries, the New York Times reports.

17 Oct 2012

FDA approves Hologic’s APTIMA HPV 16 18/45 Genotype Assay for use on TIGRIS system

Hologic, Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostics, medical imaging systems and surgical products dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of women, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Company's APTIMA HPV 16 18/45 Genotype Assay for use on its TIGRIS instrument system.

From Hologic, Inc. 16 Oct 2012

Gravity changes affect immune system development

New research findings recently published in The FASEB Journal, show that immune system development is affected by gravity changes, as reported by researchers from the University of Lorraine and University of Luxembourg. Astronauts are exposed to stresses, during launch and landing, which disrupts their body's natural defenses against infection. Changes to the immune system need to be investigated before astronauts undergo longer space missions.

16 Oct 2012

USAID recognizes 5th annual Global Handwashing Day

USAID recognizes the fifth annual Global Handwashing Day on Monday, noting on its webpage that "studies show that washing hands with soap is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diseases," with the ability to "cut deaths from diarrhea by almost half and from acute respiratory infections by a quarter."

16 Oct 2012

Researchers use cell phone data to track malaria spread in Kenya

"Harvard researchers found they could track the spread of malaria in Kenya using phone calls and text messages from 15 million mobile phones," ABC News' "Medical Unit" reports.

16 Oct 2012

New initiative aims to bolster human resources at medical schools in Rwanda

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby is "expected to announce a new initiative between the U.S. government, the Rwandan Ministry of Health and 14 American medical schools at a press conference Monday in Kigali, Rwanda," the New York Times reports.

16 Oct 2012

Hepatitis C rapid and point of care tests highly accurate and reliable

Timely screening and diagnosis is critical to the success of new treatments and ultimately to the survival of hepatitis C patients. A new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) is the first to show that hepatitis C rapid and point of care tests with a quick turnaround time are highly accurate and reliable as conventional first-line laboratory tests.

16 Oct 2012

NIAID-funded study to evaluate PPSV23 and PCV13 in Phase Iib pneumococcal trial

Researchers plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases.

16 Oct 2012

U.N. report shows francophone African countries lag behind in AIDS Treatment; NGOs call for increased funding

"Despite great progress within a short time, the 29 French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan Africa are lagging far behind other states in the region in the battle against HIV/AIDS and need a massive increase in international aid, according to a United Nations report" released Friday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

16 Oct 2012

Current status, challenges and opportunities of pulmonary vaccine delivery

In addition to the obvious benefit of eliminating the need for an injection, new vaccine delivery methods via the lungs offer particular advantages for protecting against infectious agents that enter the body through the respiratory track.

16 Oct 2012

Experts discuss recent U.S. meningitis outbreak at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2012 meeting

Four experts in anesthesiology, infectious disease and pain medicine discussed the recent U.S. meningitis outbreak in the Late-Breaking Education Panel, "The Fungal Meningitis Crisis," on Sunday, Oct. 14.

16 Oct 2012

Screening practices for multidrug-resistant organisms in ICUs vary widely between hospitals

Screening practices for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in intensive care units (ICUs) vary widely from hospital to hospital, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing and published in the October 2012 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.

16 Oct 2012