Disease/Infection News

RSS

EU called upon to tackle problem of chronic non-communicable diseases

Members of the European Parliament are calling on the Presidency of the EU and Member States to tackle urgently the problem of chronic non-communicable diseases that are responsible for 86% of all deaths in the WHO European Region. Their call is supported by an alliance of European health professionals, including ECCO - the European CanCer Organisation - and ESMO - the European Society for Medical Oncology.

5 Oct 2010

FMCNA offers annual flu vaccine to patients and clinical staff

Beginning in mid-October, Fresenius Medical Care North America will offer all of its patients and clinical staff an annual flu vaccine, which protects against both seasonal flu and H1N1 this year. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cautions that it is likely that H1N1 will continue to spread along with seasonal viruses this flu season.

5 Oct 2010

Dangers of not vaccinating children

Deadly diseases are making a comeback. Pertussis, or whooping cough, has killed nine infants this year in California, and outbreaks of measles and Hib meningitis have struck U.S. communities in the past three years.

5 Oct 2010

NIH awards $4 million grant to develop novel genetic strategy for combating tuberculosis

William R. Jacobs, Jr., Ph.D., professor of microbiology & immunology and of genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator, has been awarded a three-year, $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a novel genetic strategy for combating tuberculosis (TB). TB causes almost two million deaths each year, making it the world's most deadly bacterial infection.

5 Oct 2010

Researchers develop pioneering method to identify lytic enzymes for optimum bacteria killing characteristics

With the worrying rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs like MRSA, scientists from a wide range of disciplines are teaming up to identify alternative therapies to keep them at bay.

5 Oct 2010

cobas TaqScreen DPX Test now available with CE Mark: Roche

Roche announced today that the cobas TaqScreen DPX Test for use on the cobas s 201 system is now available with the CE Mark. It is the first IVD test to offer complete coverage of all human genotypes of parvovirus B19 (B19V) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) in one assay.

5 Oct 2010

Researchers call for sustained funding to move HIV vaccine R&D ahead

At the AIDS Vaccine 2010 conference last week in Atlanta, researchers emphasized the need for sustained funding for vaccine research and development in order to further progress toward an HIV vaccine, SciDev.Net reports.

5 Oct 2010

Maternal influenza vaccination prevents flu in infants

Babies whose mothers who receive influenza vaccines while pregnant appear less likely to be infected with flu or hospitalized for respiratory illnesses in their first six months of life, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the February 2011 print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

5 Oct 2010

HGS receives Complete Response Letter from FDA for ZALBIN drug

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. today announced that, as expected, it has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the Company's Biologics License Application (BLA) for 900-mcg ZALBIN (albinterferon alfa-2b, known in Europe as JOULFERON®) dosed every two weeks for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.

5 Oct 2010

Ceremed awarded NIH SBIR grant to develop soluble carrier for topical delivery of antibiotic Vancomycin

Ceremed, Inc. was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, the company's third in a series of grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop a versatile soluble carrier with bone hemostatic properties for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents directly to surgical sites. The recently awarded grant will aid Ceremed in its effort to develop a soluble carrier to topically deliver the antibiotic Vancomycin.

5 Oct 2010

Global malaria control funding has gone up significantly since 2007, but funding shortfall remains, study says

Global malaria funding has gone up by 166 percent since 2007, but total funding is still 60 percent short of the $4.9 billion required for comprehensive malaria control this year, according to a study published in the journal Lancet on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports.

5 Oct 2010

Media examines PEPFAR hearing, calls for more HIV funding ahead of Global Fund replenishment meeting

Ahead of the replenishment meeting for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which kicks off today in New York, Inter Press Service examines the Obama administration's HIV/AIDS funding commitments.

5 Oct 2010

African leaders to meet in Zambia to discuss country responses to HIV/AIDS

Later this month, "[f]our former heads of state and other high-level African leaders who are the champions for a HIV/AIDS-free generation project" will travel to Zambia at the request of Zambian President Rupiah Banda for a meeting to discuss ways to strengthen the HIV/AIDS response in Africa, Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com reports.

5 Oct 2010

CPS recommends all Canadian babies should be vaccinated against rotavirus

All Canadian babies should be vaccinated against rotavirus, according to a new statement by the Canadian Paediatric Society. The CPS is also calling for public funding of the vaccine, which is not currently covered by provincial or territorial health plans.

5 Oct 2010

Aeras Global receives FDA grant to develop biomarkers for TB vaccine

The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation is pleased to announce receipt of a grant from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop new biological and immunological biomarkers for TB vaccine development. The FDA grant, which supports the coordination of a multi-investigator project with researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa, will provide $362,102 in the first year of funding.

5 Oct 2010

FDA awards $2.9 million to support tuberculosis research projects

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the award of $2.9 million to support six research projects that will help with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis (TB).

5 Oct 2010

Opinions: MDGs; Obama's development policy; PEPFAR in Uganda

In a SciDev.Net editorial, David Dickson, director of SciDev.Net, examines progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, highlighting their usefulness as well as their shortcomings. "The value of the MDGs lies in the way they have acted as both a carrot and a stick to focus the efforts of both development agencies and governments of developing countries," according to Dickson, who writes that "the curse of the MDGs is that they focus on relatively short-term, concrete objectives, and lack sufficient 'buy-in' from the very countries they are intended to help.

5 Oct 2010

BioRelix, Merck enter research collaboration to identify new antibacterial drug candidates

BioRelix, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. to identify new antibacterial drug candidates.

4 Oct 2010

Merck's boceprevir Phase III studies for HCV to be presented at 61st AASLD

Merck today announced that final results from two pivotal Phase III studies of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented in oral plenary sessions at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which is taking place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Boston. Results for boceprevir in response-guided therapy strategies, which evaluated treatment durations shorter than current standard therapy, will be presented during the meeting.

4 Oct 2010

Study demonstrates potential of nontoxic envelope proteins as an alternative to pseudotype lentiviral vectors

Therapeutic lentiviral vectors are emerging as vital tools for molecular medicine as evidenced by the growing number of clinical trials using these vector systems. From a basic research standpoint, lentiviral vectors are very intriguing substrates. On the one hand, the HIV-1 genome offers expanded cloning capacity and the capability to transduce nondividing cells such as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and neurons.

4 Oct 2010