Disease/Infection News

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People should be concerned about flu every year

As temperatures begin to cool, coughing and sneezing inevitably follow. So begins flu season in the United States — and preventable deaths, says David Kimberlin, M.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham professor of pediatrics and president-elect of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

21 Sep 2011

Two IGB faculty members recognized as University Scholars

Paul Kenis and James Slauch have been named as University Scholars, a program created to recognize the university's most talented teachers, scholars and researchers.

21 Sep 2011

Converting genetic data into biomedical knowledge a true challenge for statisticians

Within a decade, a combination of advanced measurement techniques and statistics will enable scientists to develop methods to diagnose serious diseases caused by genetic defects. Ten years after that, there may be medicines available to repair these defects.

21 Sep 2011

New FDA-approved antiviral drugs offer treatment hope for hepatitis C

The Methodist Hospital in Houston is excited to share significant news for patients who need treatment for hepatitis C genotype 1, a viral infection that causes liver inflammation that can lead to diminished liver function or symptoms for liver failure.

21 Sep 2011

UTHealth doctoral student receives ASM, NIH research fellowships for E. coli study

A doctoral student at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has been awarded two research fellowships to study the spread of E. coli, a hard-to-treat bacterium that can lead to food poisoning.

21 Sep 2011

ASU scientists receive USDA grants to combat food-related illness

Roughly 1 in six Americans are sickened every year by food-borne ailments, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effects of these illnesses range from acutely unpleasant to lethal, and the problem may be getting worse, as our food supply becomes more global, with an increasing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

21 Sep 2011

Bird flu strikes Eastern India yet again as culling operations begin

On Tuesday, the federal government in India announced that it had ordered poultry farms in the eastern part of the country to cull chickens and destroy eggs to rein in an new outbreak of bird flu.

21 Sep 2011

Polio in China

Polio has spread to China for the first time since 1999 after being imported from Pakistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed. It said a strain of polio (WPV1) found in China was genetically linked with the type now circulating in Pakistan. At least seven cases have now been confirmed in China's western Xinjiang province, which borders Pakistan.

21 Sep 2011

Pakistan officials move to contain dengue epidemic that has infected thousands

"On top of a raging insurgency and devastating seasonal floods, Pakistan is reeling from a particularly acute outbreak of dengue fever that has left local authorities scrambling to contain the epidemic" and has put a strain on the health care system, the Washington Post reports, adding that the disease "has already infected thousands across the country and killed as many as two dozen people."

21 Sep 2011

AIDS 2012 CCC selects Turning The Tide Together as theme for XIX international conference

The AIDS 2012 Conference Coordinating Committee (CCC) have selected Turning The Tide Together as the theme for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), which will be held in Washington, D.C. from 22 - 27 July 2012.

21 Sep 2011

Matrix receives FDA's tentative approval for novel co-packaged version of HIV/AIDS therapy

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Matrix Laboratories Limited has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for its New Drug Application (NDA) for Lamivudine / Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Tablets, 300 mg/300 mg, co-packaged with Nevirapine Tablets, 200 mg.

21 Sep 2011

Risk factors for variety of complications following spine surgery

In the last 20 years, due to diagnostic and surgical advances, more and more patients have become appropriate candidates for spine surgery, and the number of these procedures performed has risen significantly. While medical experts acknowledge the potential benefits of spine surgery, they also understand that complications can reduce the success in the short and long term.

21 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Mixing politics and deficit cutting; transparency in health care; doctors' salaries

On the spending side, the president's plan takes a sensible approach toward saving money in Medicare and Medicaid. More than 90 percent of the $248 billion in Medicare cuts over 10 years would come from reducing payments to drug companies and health care providers that are unnecessarily high.

21 Sep 2011

MDC researchers determine molecular structure of dynamin

Dr. Katja F-lber and Professor Oliver Daumke, structural biologists at the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, together with researchers from Freie Universit-t (FU) Berlin, have determined the molecular structure of dynamin, a 'wire-puller' that mediates nutrient uptake into the cell.

21 Sep 2011

Report warns against shifting funding, prevention efforts away from countries successful in malaria fight

A new analysis conducted by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, the Evidence to Policy Initiative at the University of California-San Francisco, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative "warns that if the countries that have produced impressive reductions in malaria cut or stop control activities, malaria will rapidly resurge and a decade of progress will have been in vain," BMJ News reports.

21 Sep 2011

NIH announces recipients of 2011 Transformative Research Award Projects

The National Institutes of Health has announced the recipients of the 2011 Transformative Research Award Projects. This innovative research program was established in 2009 to support exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional research projects, and is supported by the NIH Common Fund.

21 Sep 2011

Whooping cough vaccine may lose protective capacity in 3 years: Study

The whooping cough vaccine given to babies and toddlers loses much of its effectiveness after just three years. Doctors believe that could help explain a recent series of outbreaks in the U.S. among children who were fully vaccinated, a study suggests.

20 Sep 2011

Gilead’s new 4 in 1 combo HIV pill works

Gilead Sciences Inc's four-drug experimental HIV pill worked as well as a regimen containing protease inhibitor Reyataz in the second pivotal trial of the drug, the company announced this Monday. Although the trial succeeded, it did not show the experimental pill, called the Quad, was superior to the Reyataz regimen and Gilead shares fell less than a percentage point.

20 Sep 2011

Gilead’s Quad Phase 3 clinical study in treatment-naïve HIV-1 patients meets 48-week primary objective

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the second pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of its investigational fixed-dose, single-tablet "Quad" regimen of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, being evaluated for HIV-1 infection in treatment-naïve patients, met its primary objective of non-inferiority at week 48 as compared to ritonavir-boosted atazanavir plus Truvada.

20 Sep 2011

Liposomes block HIV infection in early tests

Could engineered fatty particles help prevent AIDS? Liposomes block HIV infection in early tests; could be a cost-effective preventive for developing countries

20 Sep 2011