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Gold nanoparticles for rapid, accurate diagnosis of flu

Arriving at a rapid and accurate diagnosis is critical during flu outbreaks, but until now, physicians and public health officials have had to choose between a highly accurate yet time-consuming test or a rapid but error-prone test.

4 Aug 2011

Aggressive medication leads to growth of drug-resistant pathogens

New research raises troubling concerns about the use of aggressive drug therapies to treat a wide range of diseases such as MRSA, C. difficile, malaria, and even cancer.

4 Aug 2011

USDA NIFA awards NC State $25M grant to study human noroviruses

North Carolina State University will use a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to strengthen food safety by studying human noroviruses across the food supply chain in an effort to design effective control measures and reduce the number of virus-caused food-borne illnesses.

4 Aug 2011

European Respiratory Journal publishes updated WHO guidelines on drug-resistant TB

The European Respiratory Journal is today publishing the updated guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) that aim to help manage drug-resistant tuberculosis.

4 Aug 2011

Concentrated HIV epidemics emerging among MSM in Middle East, North Africa, study shows

Concentrated HIV epidemics are emerging among men who have sex with men in the Middle East and North Africa, "and high levels of risky sexual behavior threaten to spread the AIDS virus further in the region, researchers said Tuesday" in a study published in PLoS Medicine, Reuters reports.

4 Aug 2011

Researchers discover new tick-borne bacterium that causes ehrlichiosis in Wis., Minn.

A new tick-borne bacterium infecting humans with ehrlichiosis has been discovered in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was identified as a new strain of bacteria through DNA testing conducted at Mayo Clinic.

4 Aug 2011

Scientists to develop fast, portable and inexpensive urine test for TB

Scientists are reporting an advance toward a fast, inexpensive urine test to detect and monitor the effectiveness of treatment for tuberculosis (TB), which is on a rampage in the developing world.

4 Aug 2011

NIH, NanoBio sign licensing agreement to develop vaccine against RSV infections

NanoBio Corporation today announced a licensing agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that represents a significant step forward in developing the first vaccine to protect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.

4 Aug 2011

Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella worries experts

According to an international team of researchers a strain of Salmonella that is resistant to important antibiotics has spread from Africa to Europe in recent years and has been spotted in a few samples of imported spices in the United States.

4 Aug 2011

Study finds HIV epidemics emerging in the Middle East and North Africa among gays

HIV epidemics are emerging in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa among men who have sex with men, a term that encompasses gay, non-gay identified homosexual men, and transgendered and bisexual men.

3 Aug 2011

Illumina and University of Oxford collaborate to sequence whole genomes

Illumina, Inc. today announced it will collaborate with the University of Oxford to sequence the whole genomes of 500 individuals afflicted with a range of life-threatening diseases that pose major challenges in diagnosis, treatment, and care. Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 systems will be used to generate sequence data for the 500 genomes.

From Illumina, Inc. 3 Aug 2011

Neglected tropical diseases becoming more common in Europe, study shows

"Worm infestations, food parasites, Chagas disease, sand fly-transmitted infections and other neglected tropical diseases usually found in Africa and Asia are turning up more often in Europe, according to a new study" published recently in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers from the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the New York Times reports.

3 Aug 2011

UTHealth student receives UNCF/Merck fellowship for multidrug-resistant CDI research

Charles Darkoh, a graduate student at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has been awarded a fellowship from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and Merck for his research into a major health problem - multidrug-resistant Clostridium difficile bacterial infection.

3 Aug 2011

Study finds spread of multidrug-resistant S. Kentucky

A new study has identified the recent emergence of a multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella that has a high level resistance to ciprofloxacin, a common treatment for severe Salmonella infections.

3 Aug 2011

Models should guide decision-making for HIV prevention strategies

Ronald Valdesarri, HHS deputy assistant secretary for health, infectious diseases, discusses a recent "two-day workshop on 'Modeling and Evidence-Based Decision Making' sponsored by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and cosponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, and the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services" in this AIDS.gov blog post.

3 Aug 2011

NanoViricides to apply 'lead optimization technology' to anti-HIV candidate

NanoViricides, Inc. recently reported on its completed animal study that compared its lead anti-HIV candidate HIVCide™, to a HAART (highly active anti retroviral therapy) triple drug cocktail. The cocktail used therein is based on an anti-HIV therapeutic protocol in current practice. The Company has received numerous inquiries for simplified explanation of the results.

3 Aug 2011

Reducing commodity costs for ARVs could mean providing treatment to millions more people

"Reducing commodity costs for antiretroviral drugs by a mere five to 10 percent can represent hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for the global community. In turn these savings translate into millions of more patients who can receive access to life-saving treatment," David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), and Kanika Bahl, managing director at R4D, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

3 Aug 2011

OUP, PIDS partner to publish Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society

Oxford University Press (OUP) will partner with the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) to publish the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

3 Aug 2011

Study looks at HIV infections in Middle East and North Africa

New research shows that sex between men (MSM - Men who have Sex with Men) is responsible for more than a quarter of new HIV infections in parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

3 Aug 2011

New report offers solution for improving health care distribution methods

Each year millions of children and adults in the world's poorest countries die from lack of access to medicine and health care. A new report from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business and the George W. Bush Institute offers a solution for improving distribution methods for health care information, products and services.

2 Aug 2011