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Pakistan officials ask for international assistance as dengue fever outbreak overwhelms local resources

BBC News reports on a continuing outbreak of dengue fever in Pakistan's Punjab province, where "more than 8,000 cases of dengue fever have been reported in the province so far -- 7,000 in Lahore alone -- and the count continues to rise," according to the Punjab health department. According to the news service, "Doctors say more than 30 people have died of the fever so far" in the province, and "health officials estimate that more than 7,000 people are being tested daily for the virus -- 300 to 400 test positive each day".

27 Sep 2011

URBAN ARCH Consortium to examine consequences of alcohol on HIV disease

Researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health (BUSM/BUSPH), Boston Medical Center (BMC), the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Pittsburgh, have joined together to examine the consequences of alcohol on HIV disease.

27 Sep 2011

MSU creates new malaria vaccine with immune-stimulating gene

Continuing a global effort to prevent malaria infections, Michigan State University researchers have created a new malaria vaccine - one that combines the use of a disabled cold virus with an immune system-stimulating gene - that appears to increase the immune response against the parasite that causes the deadly disease.

27 Sep 2011

Researchers discover cell receptor for CDT toxin of C. difficile bacterium

A research group led by Freiburg pharmacologist Prof. Dr. Klaus Aktories and their American colleagues have discovered the cell receptor for the toxin CDT of the bacterium Clostridium difficile.

27 Sep 2011

Link between changes in malaria parasite and absorption of pharmaceutical compounds

Professor Max Petzold at the Nordic School of Public Health shows in a recent article a link between changes in the malaria parasite and the absorption of pharmaceutical compounds. Increased knowledge of the malaria parasite and the connection with the development of resistance may contribute to the development of new malaria treatments.

26 Sep 2011

Asthma patients admitted to hospital with H1N1 are half as likely to die from infection

People with asthma who are admitted to hospital with pandemic influenza H1N1 (swine flu) are half as likely to die or require intensive care than those without asthma, according to new research.

26 Sep 2011

OU to host 2011 International WaTER Conference

The WaTER (Water Technologies for Emerging Regions) Center at the University of Oklahoma is bringing together researchers and advocates from around the world to focus on the life-sustaining resource, clean water.

26 Sep 2011

N.Y. State Department of Health releases 2010 report on hospital infection rates

For the third year in a row, Hospital for Special Surgery is the only hospital in New York State with an infection rate that is significantly lower than the state average for hip replacement or revision surgeries, according to the 2010 report on hospital infection rates just released by the State Department of Health.

26 Sep 2011

Exposure to goats could increase risk of pneumonic-type lung adenocarcinoma

Exposure to goats could increase the risk of a certain type of lung cancer, according to French researchers.

26 Sep 2011

Sodium Stibogluconate & Paromomycin combination treatment for Kala azar

East Africa is fighting the worst kala azar outbreak in a decade. Collaboration across the region through the Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform (LEAP) has resulted in the development of a new combination therapy (SSG&PM) which is cheaper and nearly halves the length of treatment from a 30 day course of injections to 17 days.

26 Sep 2011

Britain’s health workers urged to get flu shots to protect patients

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is urging its staff to take their flu shots amid fresh warnings that low vaccination rates among health professionals could lead to vulnerable patients getting infected and dying. The NHS's employers, health trade unions and the Department of Health have launched a campaign to tackle low immunization rates among frontline staff such as doctors and nurses.

26 Sep 2011

Rotavirus vaccine saved 65,000 hospitalizations and $278 million in healthcare costs: Study

The latest research shows that since the 2006 introduction of routine inoculation against rotavirus -- a leading cause of diarrhea in infants and young children -- almost 65,000 fewer American children have been hospitalized and about $278 million in healthcare costs have been saved.

26 Sep 2011

Listeria contamination in cantaloupes shipped to 10 states

Listeria-contaminated cantaloupes were shipped to five more states than was previously known, bringing to 22 the total number of states affected by an outbreak that killed eight people, the FDA announced last week.

26 Sep 2011

EMA CHMP adopts positive opinion for Optimer's DIFICLIR to treat C. difficile infection

Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion for DIFICLIR (fidaxomicin) tablets for the treatment of adults suffering with a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), also known as C. difficile-associated diarrhea.

26 Sep 2011

CytoDyn files provisional patent application for humanized version of Cytolin to treat HIV

CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of new therapies for combating infection with immune deficiency viruses, HIV/AIDS, announced today that it has filed a provisional patent application in the United States for its humanized version of its lead product Cytolin, a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of HIV infection.

26 Sep 2011

Vaccination must be part of response to cholera outbreak in Haiti

Though "[c]holera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers" to vaccinate everyone in Haiti, where at least 10 people die each day in an outbreak that began in October 2010, "there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti," a Washington Post editorial states.

23 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

The considerable progress in recent years-;including the 22-fold increase in the number of people receiving anti-retroviral drugs between 2001-2010-;has been due to scientific breakthroughs and to civil society's efforts to keep AIDS on the political agenda. This is now changing.

23 Sep 2011

More funding for leishmaniasis treatment could save more lives in East African outbreak

"East Africa's worst outbreak in a decade of visceral leishmaniasis, the deadliest parasitic disease after malaria, could ease if donors paid more attention to the illness," which infects approximately 500,000 people and kills up to 60,000 annually in 70 countries, the non-profit group "Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, or LEAP, said in a statement from Nairobi" on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

23 Sep 2011

Urgency of antimalarial drug resistance must be recognized

Arjen Dondorp, deputy director of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Research Unit at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and colleagues discuss the need to combat antimalarial drug resistance in this New England Journal of Medicine opinion piece, writing, "Researchers, funders, and policy leaders must recognize the urgency of the problem, take action to address simultaneously several important knowledge gaps, and focus immediately on eliminating the threat of artemisinin resistance."

23 Sep 2011

Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

"After a decade of unprecedented increases in donor funding and a corresponding 17 percent decline worldwide in the number of new infections, the fight against HIV is losing momentum," Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School, and Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former executive director of UNAIDS, write in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

23 Sep 2011

Disease/Infection News

Pakistan officials ask for international assistance as dengue fever outbreak overwhelms local resources

URBAN ARCH Consortium to examine consequences of alcohol on HIV disease

MSU creates new malaria vaccine with immune-stimulating gene

Researchers discover cell receptor for CDT toxin of C. difficile bacterium

Link between changes in malaria parasite and absorption of pharmaceutical compounds

Asthma patients admitted to hospital with H1N1 are half as likely to die from infection

OU to host 2011 International WaTER Conference

N.Y. State Department of Health releases 2010 report on hospital infection rates

Exposure to goats could increase risk of pneumonic-type lung adenocarcinoma

Sodium Stibogluconate & Paromomycin combination treatment for Kala azar

Britain’s health workers urged to get flu shots to protect patients

Rotavirus vaccine saved 65,000 hospitalizations and $278 million in healthcare costs: Study

Listeria contamination in cantaloupes shipped to 10 states

EMA CHMP adopts positive opinion for Optimer's DIFICLIR to treat C. difficile infection

CytoDyn files provisional patent application for humanized version of Cytolin to treat HIV

Vaccination must be part of response to cholera outbreak in Haiti

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

More funding for leishmaniasis treatment could save more lives in East African outbreak

Urgency of antimalarial drug resistance must be recognized

Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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