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Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir avoids grim AIDS predictions

When the only community health care center providing medical and psychosocial care for people living with HIV/AIDS in India's northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir "closed down six months ago for lack of patients, it was a sure sign that the north Indian state had beaten back dire forecasts," Inter Press Service reports.

14 Sep 2011

Heavy rains, flooding exacerbating cholera epidemic in West and Central African countries

A cholera epidemic in West and Central Africa, which is being worsened by heavy rains and flooding, has already caused nearly 40,000 cases this year in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, killing almost 1,200 people in the countries adjacent to the Lake Chad Basin, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), VOA News reports.

14 Sep 2011

Researchers at South Korean lab make advance in fight against neglected tropical diseases

VOA News reports on a scientific breakthrough, which researchers call a "game changer" for developing new drugs, developed at Institut Pasteur Korea [IPK], a South Korean branch of the 124-year-old French research institute that is developing new drugs to combat diseases mainly affecting developing countries, including neglected tropical diseases.

14 Sep 2011

Rwanda to treat HIV-positive people in discordant relationships as soon as they test positive

After a landmark study published in May "showed major reductions in HIV transmission among discordant couples due to early treatment," Rwanda has decided to begin treating people in discordant relationships with antiretroviral therapy as soon as they test HIV-positive "as part of a plan to boost national HIV prevention and treatment efforts," PlusNews reports.

14 Sep 2011

Merck issues statement on GARDASIL human papillomavirus vaccine

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, issued the following statement on GARDASIL, Merck's vaccine to protect against certain diseases caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16 and 18.

14 Sep 2011

“Contagion” movie entirely plausible

Hollywood's latest thriller “Contagion” seems to have captured the public’s interest with strong sales at the box office. In the movie tens of millions of people are wiped out by the rapid spread of a killer airborne disease. It's a scenario real-life experts say is entirely plausible.

14 Sep 2011

Walgreens, MDA team up to offer free seasonal flu shots

Nobody likes to get stuck with a needle. But influenza - the flu - is particularly hazardous for those with neuromuscular disease, which is why the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and Walgreens have teamed up once again to offer free seasonal flu shots now underway for people who have muscular dystrophy and related diseases.

14 Sep 2011

Computer models that predict response to treatment

Details of computer models that can predict the chances of a patient responding to their HIV drugs with 80% accuracy are published today in the journal AIDS. The models were developed by the HIV Resistance Response Database Initiative (RDI) using almost half a million pieces of data from approximately 6,000 clinical cases from hundreds of clinics around the world. The models are now available online as part of an experimental treatment support tool, HIV-TRePS.

14 Sep 2011

Real-life health risks of outbreak portrayed in the movie 'Contagion'

Two opinion pieces published Monday examine the real-life health risks of an outbreak portrayed in "Contagion," a movie that opened this weekend in which a mysterious airborne virus kills thousands of people.

14 Sep 2011

Intrauterine devices may protect against cervical cancer

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) may protect against cervical cancer. This is the conclusion of the broadest epidemiological study to date in which has participated the research group in Viruses and Cancer of IDIBELL, published at The Lancet Oncology.

14 Sep 2011

Rep. Berman unveils discussion draft of Global Partnerships Act of 2011 aimed at foreign aid reform

At an event on Thursday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, co-hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Brookings Institute, House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Howard Berman unveiled a discussion draft of the Global Partnerships Act of 2011, aimed at "reshaping foreign assistance, making it more relevant 'by incorporating the best practices and lessons learned over the last half century,'" he said, the Malaria Policy Center's "Malaria Watch" blog reports.

13 Sep 2011

Positive data from NovaDigm's NDV-3 vaccine program to be presented at ICAAC conference

NovaDigm Therapeutics, a company developing innovative vaccines for fungal and bacterial infections, today announced that the Company will present positive data for its NDV-3 vaccine program at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), taking place September 17-20, 2011 in Chicago, IL.

13 Sep 2011

AHF rolls out new national television ad campaign to address national AIDS drug crisis

As part of its ongoing advocacy effort to spur President Obama and his administration to address the growing national AIDS drug crisis, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is rolling out a new national television ad campaign headlined 'President Obama: Whose Side Are You On?'

13 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Burgess, Clancy and others on hospital infections; state health exchanges causing controversy

Hospital CEOs can do more than just prevent an outbreak of influenza in their facility this flu season: They can and must take action against antibiotic resistance, an urgent public health problem that affects us all. What does the flu have to do with antibiotic resistance and what can a hospital CEO do about it? Plenty, as it turns out.

13 Sep 2011

Higher flu vaccination rates for health care personnel can reduce threat of outbreak

Higher flu vaccination rates for health care personnel can dramatically reduce the threat of flu outbreak among nursing home residents, according to a study published in the October issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

13 Sep 2011

Breakthrough opens new avenues for hep C vaccine

Hopes for an effective vaccine and treatment against the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus (HCV) have received a major boost following the discovery of two ‘Achilles’ heels’ within the virus.

12 Sep 2011

Government funding crisis in Swaziland disrupts supply of HIV/AIDS supplies

"An acute government funding crisis in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, is disrupting supplies of HIV/AIDS drugs and hampering the fight against the virus in the country with the world's highest infection rate, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Friday," Reuters reports.

12 Sep 2011

Risks of infectious disease outbreak portrayed in the film 'Contagion' are 'very real'

In this New York Times opinion piece, W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and a professor of neurology and pathology at Columbia University and a paid technical consultant on the film "Contagion," which opened this weekend, writes about the risks of an infectious disease outbreak as portrayed in the film, stating, "Those risks are very real -- and are increasing drastically."

12 Sep 2011

Reducing malaria incidence could also drastically reduce deaths from bacterial infections, study says

"Reducing the incidence of malaria could also drastically reduce the number of deaths from bacterial infections among children in Africa, a study" published last week in the Lancet found, according to SciDev.Net.

12 Sep 2011

Publix to offer Bioject ZetaJet for flu immunizations

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., a leading developer of needle-free injection therapy systems, announced today that beginning in September 2011, select Publix Super Markets (Publix) in the Southeast region will be offering flu season immunizations utilizing the Bioject ZetaJet™. Publix will be conducting evaluations in 52 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.

12 Sep 2011

Disease/Infection News

Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir avoids grim AIDS predictions

Heavy rains, flooding exacerbating cholera epidemic in West and Central African countries

Researchers at South Korean lab make advance in fight against neglected tropical diseases

Rwanda to treat HIV-positive people in discordant relationships as soon as they test positive

Merck issues statement on GARDASIL human papillomavirus vaccine

“Contagion” movie entirely plausible

Walgreens, MDA team up to offer free seasonal flu shots

Computer models that predict response to treatment

Real-life health risks of outbreak portrayed in the movie 'Contagion'

Intrauterine devices may protect against cervical cancer

Rep. Berman unveils discussion draft of Global Partnerships Act of 2011 aimed at foreign aid reform

Positive data from NovaDigm's NDV-3 vaccine program to be presented at ICAAC conference

AHF rolls out new national television ad campaign to address national AIDS drug crisis

Viewpoints: Burgess, Clancy and others on hospital infections; state health exchanges causing controversy

Higher flu vaccination rates for health care personnel can reduce threat of outbreak

Breakthrough opens new avenues for hep C vaccine

Government funding crisis in Swaziland disrupts supply of HIV/AIDS supplies

Risks of infectious disease outbreak portrayed in the film 'Contagion' are 'very real'

Reducing malaria incidence could also drastically reduce deaths from bacterial infections, study says

Publix to offer Bioject ZetaJet for flu immunizations

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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