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Sleeping sickness parasites alter form to survive and spread

Fresh insight into the survival strategy of the parasite that causes sleeping sickness could help inform new treatments for the disease.

22 Apr 2011

New study: Children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence, adulthood

Once facing an almost certain death sentence, most children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence and adulthood, according to a newly published study co-authored by Tulane infectious diseases expert Dr. Russell Van Dyke. The study was published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

22 Apr 2011

Researchers discover new compound to fight against shingles

Researchers at the University of Georgia and Yale University have discovered a compound with the potential to be more effective than existing agents in treating the very painful blisters known as shingles-a condition that affects up to 30 percent of Americans, mostly elderly, and for which no specific treatment exists.

22 Apr 2011

Also in global health news: Nuclear accidents; measles outbreak in Europe; funding shortfall in Zimbabwe; drinking water in Pakistan; agricultural development in S. Asia

The world must prepare for more major nuclear accidents, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday at a Kiev conference marking the explosion of a reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear reactor 25 years ago, the Associated Press reports.

22 Apr 2011

Scientists discover new mechanism behind Salmonella invasion into gut cells

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany have discovered a new, hitherto unknown mechanism of Salmonella invasion into gut cells: In this entry mode, the bacteria exploit the muscle power of cells to be pulled into the host cell cytoplasm.

22 Apr 2011

Opinions: Fight against malaria; small, medium businesses in developing countries; BP oil spill health implications

Despite progress over the past decade in the global fight against malaria, significant challenges remain, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, executive director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and former health minister of Senegal, writes in a Modern Ghana opinion piece ahead of World Malaria Day.

22 Apr 2011

CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line aims to educate women about meningitis

The California Teratogen Information Service Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego with affiliates across North America, will join in the effort to raise awareness of meningitis prevention by helping to launch a new study that will assess safety of the meningitis vaccine in pregnancy.

22 Apr 2011

GM-SCF therapy can reduce flu symptoms and prevent death

New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus.

22 Apr 2011

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Almost 3.3 billion people, half of the world's population, risk being infected with malaria. Despite having effective means against malaria, the WHO reports 250 million cases of malaria each year and more than 700,000 related deaths. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now discovered that EPO, the doping drug known from professional cycling, can significantly reduce cerebral malaria related deaths.

22 Apr 2011

Discovery of cancer drugs to kill malaria parasite could open up new strategies for treatment

Ahead of World Malaria Day (25 April), EU-funded researchers have discovered that drugs originally designed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells can also kill the parasite that causes malaria. They believe this discovery could open up a new strategy for combating this deadly disease, which, according to World Health Organisation statistics, infected around 225 million and killed nearly 800 000 people worldwide in 2009.

21 Apr 2011

WSU researcher develops potential vaccine for Chlamydia

A Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher has developed a potential first ever vaccine for Chlamydia, the world's most prevalent sexually transmitted disease and the leading cause of new cases of blindness.

21 Apr 2011

FDA warns four firms to stop making unproven MRSA prevention claims

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued four warning letters to companies that manufacture and market over-the-counter (OTC) drug products, including hand sanitizers, that claim to prevent infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA).

21 Apr 2011

Rate of antiretroviral virological failure higher among children living with HIV/AIDS than adults, study finds

One in eight children living with HIV/AIDS "experiences triple-class virological failure - meaning the virus becomes resistant to multiple drugs - within five years of starting antiretroviral treatment," according to a study published Wednesday in the Lancet, HealthDay News/MSN reports. The "failure rate is higher than in adults and highlights the challenge of maintaining viral load suppression in young patients who begin antiretroviral therapy so early in life, the researchers said," according to the news service (Preidt, 4/19).

21 Apr 2011

Biomagnetics signs agreement with LANL to develop validated TB biomarker assay

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., (PINK SHEETS: BMGP) a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and related technology for detecting HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria, and other innovative technologies, today announced it has now completed a series of payments to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) pursuant to the cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) executed in 2010 between the two organizations.

21 Apr 2011

Antenatal infection and ventilation with BPD associated with excessive accumulation of dendritic cells in lungs

Rates of premature births have increased in recent years, affecting more than 12% of all births and making strategies for managing the associated perinatal complications an important public goal. Preterm infants are particularly at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease. BPD has multiple causes, and uncovering critical interactions within the immune system can lead to new approaches for treatment.

21 Apr 2011

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

In a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, African Health Ministers Aaron Motsoaledi of South Africa, Mphu Ramatlapeng of Lesotho, and Benedict Xaba of Swaziland call upon the international community to join with them in the fight to rid the world of tuberculosis (TB). "That goal might seem overambitious or unrealistic. [But i]t's not," they write

21 Apr 2011

TRIM5 cellular protein helps rhesus monkeys resist HIV

Thanks to a certain protein, rhesus monkeys are resistant to HIV. Known as TRIM5, the protein prevents the HI virus from multiplying once it has entered the cell. Researchers from the universities of Geneva and Zurich have now discovered the protein's mechanism, as they report in Nature. This also opens up new prospects for fighting HIV in humans.

21 Apr 2011

Immigrant screening fails to detect more than 70% cases of latent tuberculosis infection

Current UK procedures to screen new immigrants for tuberculosis (TB) fail to detect more than 70 per cent of cases of latent infection, according to a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

21 Apr 2011

Genetically modified mosquitoes tested to prevent spread of malaria: Study

According to the latest study in the journal Nature, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Washington, Seattle found that after making specific genetic changes to a few mosquitoes and then allowing them to breed could eventually dramatically reduce the spread of the deadly disease malaria.

20 Apr 2011

$2.3 million of malaria medicines stolen

According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, malaria medications valued at almost $2.3 million may have been stolen from government-run distribution centers in Africa and other locations.

20 Apr 2011

Disease/Infection News

Sleeping sickness parasites alter form to survive and spread

New study: Children born with HIV are now faring well into adolescence, adulthood

Researchers discover new compound to fight against shingles

Also in global health news: Nuclear accidents; measles outbreak in Europe; funding shortfall in Zimbabwe; drinking water in Pakistan; agricultural development in S. Asia

Scientists discover new mechanism behind Salmonella invasion into gut cells

Opinions: Fight against malaria; small, medium businesses in developing countries; BP oil spill health implications

CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line aims to educate women about meningitis

GM-SCF therapy can reduce flu symptoms and prevent death

EPO doping drug can reduce cerebral malaria related deaths

Discovery of cancer drugs to kill malaria parasite could open up new strategies for treatment

WSU researcher develops potential vaccine for Chlamydia

FDA warns four firms to stop making unproven MRSA prevention claims

Rate of antiretroviral virological failure higher among children living with HIV/AIDS than adults, study finds

Biomagnetics signs agreement with LANL to develop validated TB biomarker assay

Antenatal infection and ventilation with BPD associated with excessive accumulation of dendritic cells in lungs

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

TRIM5 cellular protein helps rhesus monkeys resist HIV

Immigrant screening fails to detect more than 70% cases of latent tuberculosis infection

Genetically modified mosquitoes tested to prevent spread of malaria: Study

$2.3 million of malaria medicines stolen

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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