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AP reports on Global Fund's release of information on corruption, fund responds

After an Associated Press story on Friday reported that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "will make public more detailed information about money it has lost to corruption and mismanagement, but won't release other information critics have sought that might have made it possible to calculate how much of the money investigated is lost to corruption, or what percentage of the fund's overall disbursements are misspent".

17 May 2011

Researchers discover bed bugs with MRSA in lower-income area residents

As if the recent resurgence of bed bugs wasn't bad enough, Canadian researchers have found some of the little blood-sucking critters carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the potentially deadly superbug known as MRSA.

17 May 2011

Concern over vaccine safety prevents parents from vaccinating asthmatic children

Concern over vaccine safety is one of the primary factors preventing parents from having their asthmatic children vaccinated for influenza, or flu, according to Michigan researchers. Parents who do not vaccinate their children are also less likely to view flu as a"trigger" for their child's asthma, the researchers noted.

17 May 2011

World Health Assembly begins in Geneva

As the 64th World Health Assembly gets underway in Geneva, the body will consider "an array of subjects pertaining to reforms of the organisation and its financing, vaccines, fake medicines, and influenza pandemic preparedness, as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases," Intellectual Property Watch reports.

17 May 2011

Obese patients undergoing colon surgery more likely to develop costly surgical-site infections

Obese patients undergoing colon surgery are 60 percent more likely to develop dangerous and costly surgical-site infections than their normal-weight counterparts, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

17 May 2011

Sanofi hopes to launch dengue vaccine in 2014

France's Sanofi-Pasteur, the world's largest vaccine maker, said Friday it hopes to introduce a dengue vaccine in 2014 to some high-risk nations, AlertNet reports. The vaccine is in the last stage of clinical testing in Australia, and the company said it hopes to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine annually, according to the news agency.

17 May 2011

Super-resolution microscopy technique reveals how and why cell's defenses fail against plague

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a super-resolution microscopy technique that is answering long-held questions about exactly how and why a cell's defenses fail against some invaders, such as plague, while successfully fending off others like E.coli.

17 May 2011

Linezolid more effective than vancomycin in treating ventilated patients with MRSA pneumonia: Study

The antibiotic linezolid may be more effective than vancomycin in treating ventilated patients who develop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia as a result of their ventilation, according to a study conducted globally by American and French researchers.

17 May 2011

Opinion: New HIV infections more expensive than providing antiretroviral drugs to existing patients

In light of study findings released last week showing the risk of HIV transmission can be reduced by 96 percent if HIV-positive patients begin combination antiretroviral therapy as soon as possible, a San Francisco Chronicle editorial asks, "The evidence is clearly starting to show that it's much better to treat patients earlier, but from where will the money come?".

17 May 2011

Hendra virus vaccine to be released soon

According to CSIRO’s early success with testing, the Hendra virus vaccine for horses could be available as early as next year. Hendra virus affects horses and is contracted through contact with flying foxes.

16 May 2011

FDA warns consumers about look like antimicrobial dietary supplements

The FDA is warning consumers not to use products marketed as dietary supplements that also claim to be antimicrobial (antibiotic, antifungal or antiviral) drugs. These illegal products are falsely promoted with claims to treat illnesses such as upper respiratory infections, sinusitis, pneumonia, bronchitis and the common cold.

16 May 2011

GenturaDx completes external HSV 1&2 alpha studies for IDbox System

Molecular diagnostics company GenturaDx announces the completion of external HSV 1&2 alpha studies for its IDbox instrument and cassette-based tests. Conducted at an external CLIA laboratory, the study analyzed more than 130 samples, including more than 70 clinical specimens.

16 May 2011

Study: HIV treatment drugs slash transmission risk

AIDS researchers offered evidence backing up the long-standing idea that people infected with HIV who are being treated are much less likely to transmit the virus than those who are not on drugs. This finding is being hailed as a breakthrough.

16 May 2011

Computationally designed antiviral proteins may fight against influenza

A research article May 12 in Science demonstrates the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules.

16 May 2011

Global health Product Development Partners consortium select GVK BIO as preferred provider

GVK Biosciences, Asia's leading drug discovery research & development organization announced today that it has been selected as a preferred provider to a consortium of 14 global Product Development Partners (PDPs) for clinical services in Asia. GVK BIO is the only partner that is headquartered in India.

16 May 2011

Pre-existing malaria prevents secondary infection by another Plasmodium strain

A team of researchers have found that pre-existing malaria prevents secondary infection by another Plasmodium strain, the parasite responsible for malaria, by restricting iron availability in the liver of the host.

16 May 2011

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

Preliminary results from a multicountry clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show that HIV-positive people who take combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-negative partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers announced on Thursday " in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in HIV prevention," the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 May 2011

Hospital patients with pneumonia may face risk of sudden cardiac arrest

Hospital patients with pneumonia may be at risk of experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, often with few or no warning signs, according to research from the University of Chicago Medical Center under the auspices of the American Heart Association's Get with the Guidelines project.

16 May 2011

Merck receives FDA approval for Victrelis to treat chronic hepatitis C

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Victrelis (boceprevir) to treat certain adults with chronic hepatitis C. Victrelis is used for patients who still have some liver function, and who either have not been previously treated with drug therapy for their hepatitis C or who have failed such treatment.

16 May 2011

AIDS spread prevention by vaccine and anti HIV drugs

A latest vaccine against HIV/AIDS has shown to be effective in monkeys and has protected macaques the most widespread primate genus, against the monkey equivalent of HIV, Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests. US researchers say the vaccine offered protection to 13 of 24 Rhesus macaques treated in the experiment. In 12 of the monkeys, the vaccine was still effective 12 months later.

15 May 2011