Disease/Infection News

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People with infectious mononucleosis, low UVB exposure may face high risk of MS

New research suggests that people who are exposed to low levels of sunlight coupled with a history of having a common virus known as mononucleosis may be at greater odds of developing multiple sclerosis than those without the virus.

19 Apr 2011

NIH awards U of M's scientist with $10 million grant for HIV research

Reuben Harris, professor in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, has been awarded a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to direct a large-scale research effort to study a human antiviral protein with potential for treating HIV and other viral diseases.

19 Apr 2011

Also in global health news: U.N., Libyan government reach deal over aid; USAID monitoring HIV/AIDS in Philippines; WFP warns of Afghanistan food shortages; U.N. appeals for more aid in Cote d'Ivoire, Namibia

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday at a press conference in Hungary announced that the organization had reached an agreement with the Libyan government to provide humanitarian aid in the country's capital city of Tripoli, the Associated Press reports.

19 Apr 2011

Groundbreaking news on Dengue

Daily temperature fluctuations, not just high temperatures, play a significant role in the transmission of dengue, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that strikes millions of people in tropical and subtropical countries, according to ground-breaking research led by French, Thailand and U.S. scientists and conceived by medical entomologist Thomas Scott of the University of California, Davis.

18 Apr 2011

Quest Diagnostics launches AccuType IL28B test for HCV

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced the availability of its AccuType® IL28B test for aiding in the prediction of patient response to peginterferon alpha-based therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

From Quest Diagnostics 18 Apr 2011

iOWH's semisynthetic ART enters production, distribution phase to combat malaria

The Institute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit drug development organization, announced today that its development of an alternative source of artemisinin using pioneering synthetic biology technology has successfully entered the production and distribution phase.

18 Apr 2011

Study: Borna disease virus does not contain exact copies of genomic RNAs

Like bacteria, viruses have their own genome. The ends or termini of a viral RNA are especially interesting for virologists because they play an important role in reproduction and in the reaction of the innate immune system to the virus.

18 Apr 2011

Transgene, Inovio and ChronTech collaborate for novel vaccine phase I trial in HCV

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today it has signed a collaboration agreement with Transgene S.A. and ChronTech Pharma AB to evaluate a novel therapeutic vaccination strategy against genotype 1 hepatitis C virus in a phase I clinical study.

18 Apr 2011

Positive results from Nabriva's BC-3781 Phase II trial in ABSSSI

Nabriva Therapeutics today announced the successful results of a Phase II clinical trial of BC-3781 in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections.

18 Apr 2011

CHMP adopts EU positive opinion for TYSABRI labeling with anti-JCV antibody status

Biogen Idec and Elan Corporation, plc today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for inclusion of an additional risk factor, anti-JC virus (JCV) antibody status, to the product label for TYSABRI in the European Union.

18 Apr 2011

Measles alert issued in Tasmania

Tasmanian health authorities have issued an alert over a measles case. They issued a statement revealing that a woman who travelled to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania on Monday has been diagnosed with the infectious disease. She was one of four people to contract measles while on board an Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne.

17 Apr 2011

Drug resistant bug plaguing the meat industry: Study

It has been found that nearly half of the meat and poultry (47 percent) sold in U.S. grocery stores is contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus (“Staph”), a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, and this bacteria is resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics in more than half (52 percent) of contaminated samples. This comes from a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) published this week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

17 Apr 2011

Legionnaire’s bug in Playboy mansion hot tub

Health officials have been able to trace the cause of the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease after a two-month investigation. They found the bug in the hot tub of the Playboy mansion.

17 Apr 2011

Virus-sharing draft agreement very close; U.S. yet to formally approve, Reuters reports

A draft agreement that would ensure countries would share virus samples in exchange for access to affordable vaccines derived from such samples in the event of a pandemic is nearly complete, senior diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.

16 Apr 2011

New in vitro study results show that wound dressing with ionic silver kills strains of highly-resistant bacteria

ConvaTec, a world-leading developer and marketer of innovative medical technologies for community and hospital care, today announced new in vitro study results showing that a wound dressing containing ionic silver is able to kill several strains of highly-resistant bacteria, commonly referred to as 'superbugs.'

16 Apr 2011

CCO continues relationship with IAS for HIV care

Clinical Care Options, a leader in the development of innovative online, print, and live medical education for healthcare professionals, is pleased to announce its continued partnership with the International AIDS Society.

16 Apr 2011

AHF commends U.S. Congress for strong bipartisan commitment to AIDS

AIDS Healthcare Foundation today commended the United States Congress for showing a strong bipartisan commitment to AIDS in passing the fiscal year 2011 budget earlier this afternoon, a budget that despite severe cost-cutting mentality in Washington, included a $48 million overall increase in the $883 million allocated for the nation's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, a network of federal and state funded programs that provide life-saving HIV treatments to low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS nationwide.

16 Apr 2011

Family-based HIV prevention interventions needed for juvenile offenders, say BHCRC researchers

More intensive or family-based HIV prevention interventions may be needed to encourage juvenile offenders to use condoms and stop engaging in risky sexual behavior, say researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center.

16 Apr 2011

Probiotic may reduce rate of recurrent urinary tract infections in women

Urinary tract infections are common in women, costing an estimated $2.5 billion per year to treat in 2000 in the United States alone. These infections frequently recur, affecting 2 to 3 percent of all women.

16 Apr 2011

Hospital patients with AUDs are at increased risk of developing HAIs: Study

Hospital patients with alcohol use disorders are at an increased risk of developing healthcare-associated infections, which affect 1.7 million patients annually in the United States. HAIs are infections that patients acquire during their hospitalization and that were not present at the time of admission to the hospital.

16 Apr 2011