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New swine flu variant shows some resistance to drugs, report says

A new variant of H1N1 (swine) influenza that is easily spread and retains some resistance to the two major drugs used to treat flu has been detected in Singapore and Australia, according to a report from the WHO's influenza research group published in the journal Eurosurveillance, Bloomberg reports.

13 Jun 2011

German officials again claim sprouts as source of E. coli outbreak

"After days of confusion, German authorities finally concluded on Friday that an E. coli infection, which has claimed at least 29 lives, unsettled the nation and thrown European agriculture into disarray, had been caused by contaminated bean sprouts and not, as first was feared, by other produce," the New York Times reports.

13 Jun 2011

Low-cost meningitis vaccine cuts cases in African countries, data show

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger recorded the lowest number of meningitis A cases in an epidemic season this year after the MenAfriVac vaccine was introduced, data from the WHO show, the nonprofit that helped develop the shot, Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

13 Jun 2011

Dominican Republic health workers strike over sanitary conditions in hospital

Medical workers at a hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, went on strike Thursday after a nurse was suspected of contracting cholera, the Associated Press/Kansas City Star reports.

13 Jun 2011

National, continental health center coordination lacking in E. coli outbreak response

During the handling of the E. coli outbreak in Germany, "coordination of the German public health response seems to have been utterly absent," a Lancet editorial states, adding, "But one should also ask: where was the European Centres of Disease Prevention and Control? … From the public's point of view, no visible collaboration seems to have taken place."

13 Jun 2011

Huffington Post AIDS commentaries

The Huffington Post has several commentaries about the 30th anniversary of AIDS and other issues surrounding the epidemic.

13 Jun 2011

Mortality from all causes higher among hepatitis C-infected patients, study finds

Although liver-related mortality among those infected with hepatitis C is well-documented, little is known about deaths in these patients that are not related to liver problems. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online sought to determine mortality from all causes, including liver- and non-liver related deaths among hepatitis C patients in the general U.S. population. The analysis found mortality from all causes to be higher in these patients.

10 Jun 2011

Free access to enteric pathogen's genetic regulation data

Just a few genes make enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) extremely dangerous to humans. If it were not for these genes, EHEC would hardly differ from harmless enteric bacteria. Bioinformatics scientists from the Saarbr-cken Cluster of Excellence want to exploit this similarity to find starting points for effective drugs against the EHEC pathogen.

10 Jun 2011

NIAID awards Biota $2.9M grant for development of lead candidate for C. difficile

Biota Holdings Limited advises that its wholly owned subsidiary, Biota Scientific Management Pty Ltd, has been awarded a grant to fund the preclinical development of a lead candidate for the treatment of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).

10 Jun 2011

German hospital adopts Luminex new diagnostic assay to manage current E.coli outbreak

Luminex Corporation and the Kliniken der Stadt Koln, Institute of Pathology and Institute for Hygiene today announced that Luminex's newly released xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP) is being used successfully as a first-line screen for patients at Kliniken der Stadt Koln suspected of having an E. coli infection.

From Luminex 10 Jun 2011

Ambassador Goosby says hope is 'major motivator' in AIDS fight

In a post on State's "DipNote" blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby looks back at his time working in HIV/AIDS and expresses hope about the future, writing, Thanks to the support of the Obama Administration - which has continued to put forth robust funding for HIV/AIDS - and the bipartisan support from Congress, we are making remarkable achievements and we remain the major contributor to the resource needs this diseases continues to require.

10 Jun 2011

Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Garrett discusses HIV/AIDS

The Council on Foreign Relations features an interview with CFR Senior Fellow for Global Health Laurie Garrett, who "notes that discovery of HIV/AIDS was the beginning of what we now consider to be global health."

10 Jun 2011

Ban calls for global unity to end AIDS by 2020 at U.N. meeting opening

In his opening address at the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "told presidents, ministers and diplomats from across the globe that if all partners involved in the fight unite 'as never before,'" the goal of "zero new infections, zero stigma and zero AIDS-related deaths" can be achieved, the Associated Press/Kansas City Star reports.

10 Jun 2011

Research provides better understanding of interplay between genomes of malaria parasites, humans

For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another. Now, University of Pennsylvania geneticists, in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have developed a new picture of one way that the human genome has fought back.

10 Jun 2011

Experts discuss impact of new vaccines on global health

This Malaria Policy Center blog post describes the event "Spurring health and wealth through medical breakthroughs," during which Washington Post columnist and ONE Fellow Michael Gerson; John Lusingu, principal research scientist at the Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research and co-principal investigator in the RTS,S malaria vaccine trial in Tanzania for the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative; and Margaret McGlynn, board member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and former president of Merck Global Vaccines and Anti-Infectives, "brought unique perspectives to the impact of new vaccines on many global health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS and malaria".

10 Jun 2011

Swine flu may have been more widespread in Scotland than previously believed, study says

Up to two million people in Scotland may have been infected with swine flu during the outbreak of winter 2009-2010, making the flu much more widespread than previously thought, according to a study published by researchers from the University of Edinburgh in PLoS One, BBC News reports.

10 Jun 2011

Researchers and advocates form new vaccine foundation

Researchers and "advocates for all vaccine research today launched yet another effort to increase funding and coordination," ScienceInsider reports. The Foundation for Vaccine Research "has recruited a board stacked with several prominent HIV/AIDS researchers," the article notes.

10 Jun 2011

Press on with AIDS research

"In an era of strained finances, it makes sense to invest in solutions that save money in the long run. HIV vaccine development fits that bill. As we mark the 30th anniversary of AIDS, there could be no better way to commemorate the occasion than to renew our commitment to its end".

10 Jun 2011

Sabin Vaccine Institute, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine to create tropical disease research school

Peter Hotez, chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University and president of Sabin Vaccine Institute, "will join the staffs of Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine this summer, and will serve as founding dean of a new, as yet unnamed, tropical disease research school at Baylor," the Houston Chronicle reports.

10 Jun 2011

Quest Diagnostics receives MDEA gold award for Simplexa/3M technology

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced that its Simplexa molecular diagnostic test on the 3M Integrated Cycler won a gold award in the in vitro diagnostics category at the 2011 MDEA awards ceremony yesterday in New York City.

From Quest Diagnostics 10 Jun 2011