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Ivermectin cream demonstrates activity against head lice eggs

In a study sponsored by Topaz Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, scientists from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst presented data showing that a 0.5% ivermectin (IVM) cream formulation was active against lice eggs from permethrin resistant head lice.

11 Jul 2011

HyGreen's hand hygiene system to be showcased at AHA summit

HyGreen, Inc. announces that it will showcase its hand hygiene system, HyGreen, at the 19th Annual American Hospital Association Leadership Summit held July 17-19, 2011 in San Diego, CA.

11 Jul 2011

Nurses can help manage S. African's syndemic of TB and HIV

Jason E. Farley, PhD, MPH, CRNP knows the dangers inherent to an increasingly common and hazardous syndemic in South Africa: HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

11 Jul 2011

Researchers identify new antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea strain

An international research team has discovered a strain of gonorrhea resistant to all currently available antibiotics. This new strain is likely to transform a common and once easily treatable infection into a global threat to public health.

11 Jul 2011

MSU professor focuses on new formulation for old drug to treat parasitic diseases

With the help of another $2 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers are moving closer to setting up human clinical trials for a reformulated drug that could be the linchpin of treatment efforts against two debilitating tropical diseases.

11 Jul 2011

New tool reveals mutations that cause HIV-drug resistance

Protease inhibitor drugs are one of the major weapons in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but their effectiveness is limited as the virus mutates and develops resistance to the drugs over time.

11 Jul 2011

Insights into why doctors are reluctant to disclose patient information

Family doctors are reluctant to disclose identifiable patient information, even in the context of an influenza pandemic, mostly in an effort to protect patient privacy.

11 Jul 2011

AIDS Healthcare Foundation rolls out new national ad campaign

As part of its ongoing advocacy efforts to spur President Obama and his administration to do more on AIDS, AIDS Healthcare Foundation is rolling out a new national ad campaign headlined 'What has the President done about AIDS?' The first leg of the campaign, a series of pointed online text and banner ads on Politico.com's Playbook and Pulse websites started running Monday July 4th on Mike Allen's Politico Playbook and will run through Friday July 15th on Politico's Pulse.

11 Jul 2011

GlaxoSmithKline's Boostrix receives FDA approval to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Boostrix vaccine to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) in people ages 65 and older.

11 Jul 2011

New strategy can prevent onset of E. coli related illness

The recent outbreak of E. coli infection in Germany has put a potentially fatal bacterium back on everyone's radar screen. While some researchers are looking for a better way to treat the disease, professor Debora Foster of the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Ryerson University is taking a different approach.

11 Jul 2011

Tips for preventing foodborne illness at home or while eating out

Dr. Melvin Pascall, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University, has spent the past 15 years working to improve food safety in areas ranging from packaging to food service cleaning practices.

11 Jul 2011

FDA approves BOOSTRIX to prevent tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis in older people

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BOOSTRIX for use in adults 65 years of age and older for active booster immunization against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

11 Jul 2011

Arizona E. coli related death triggers warning

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Arizona Department of Health announced last Friday that a man who recently traveled to Germany was infected by the German E. coli outbreak. The man died from kidney complications. This death was the first U.S. fatality of the relentless epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, 52 have been killed in the outbreak.

10 Jul 2011

Flu vaccine against all strains of virus coming soon

A universal flu vaccine, capable of working against all strains, would save lives and money by eliminating the need for the annual jab say experts. Researchers in California and the Netherlands believe they are now a “step closer” to meeting this objective.

10 Jul 2011

Belly button full of bugs: Study

Researchers have found nearly 1,400 strains of bacteria in the human navel. The North Carolina State University's ‘Belly Button Biodiversity Study’ found 662 unrecognized strains - which could be unique new species.

10 Jul 2011

Congress should take the lead in foreign aid reform

Citing PEPFAR, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the President's Malaria Initiative as pieces of the "remarkable success story" of U.S. foreign aid over the past decade, former Congress member and Ambassador to Tanzania Mark Green writes in a post on the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network's "ModernizeAid" blog.

8 Jul 2011

U.S. leading fight against NTDs

Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, and Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and editor-in-chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, write in this PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog post that the first-ever neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) meeting of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, which is taking place this weekend in Boston, "offers an opportunity for U.S. policy-makers...

8 Jul 2011

Mass administration of common anti-parasitic is possible new tool in fight against malaria

Ivermectin - an inexpensive, common medication already being used in Africa to treat roundworms that cause river blindness and parasites that cause elephantitis - could also be used to kill mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites, potentially "provid[ing] another useful weapon in the armory against a disease that kills around 800,000 a year, most of them small children and pregnant women," the Guardian's "Global Health Blog" reports (Boseley, 7/6).

8 Jul 2011

India will continue to produce generic HIV drugs, Commerce and Industry Minister says

"India will not compromise on drug licensing norms and [will] continue to produce generic drugs for free treatment to HIV-positive patients, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said" on Wednesday, the IANS/Times of India reports.

8 Jul 2011

Next phase of HIV programming must focus on sustainable health systems response

"Now, we are in the Third-Generation of AIDS programming, in which the focus must be on a sustainable, health systems response, especially in the countries most affected by HIV & AIDS," Jonathan Quick, president and CEO of Management Sciences for Health, writes on the organization's "Global Health Impact" blog.

8 Jul 2011