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West Nile Virus threat continues in Pennsylvania

Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger today reminded Pennsylvania's citizens that although the number of West Nile Virus cases has dropped, the threat still exists.

21 Aug 2009

Influenza A H1N1 Real Time RT-PCR tests detect RNA of H1N1 influenza virus

Focus Diagnostics, the infectious disease diagnostics business of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, today announced that its Influenza A H1N1 (2009) Real Time RT-PCR test is now available as a test kit for use by "high complexity" clinical laboratories in the U.S.

21 Aug 2009

Federal guidelines for seasonal and swine flu vaccines questioned

With the seasonal flu season approaching and uncertainty over whether swine flu will become more severe, new research published by Yale School of Public Health has found that more people are likely to avoid illness if vaccines are given out first to those most likely to transmit viruses, rather than to those at highest risk for complications.

20 Aug 2009

WHO Director-General, other officials visit Uganda to assess malaria control efforts

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan arrived in Uganda on Wednesday for a three-day working visit to examine the country's progress on the prevention, control and treatment of malaria, the Monitor reports. Ray Chambers, the U.N. special envoy for malaria, and Tadataka Yamada, president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Health Program, are traveling with Chan.

20 Aug 2009

WHO says confirmed H1N1 deaths worldwide reach 1,800

According to the latest WHO report out Wednesday, the number of confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu deaths since its emergence in April has reached 1,799 - a jump from 1,462 deaths since the agency's last update, Agence France-Presse/the Australian reports.

20 Aug 2009

Cambodia's maternal mortality; drugs in Uganda; cholera risk in Zimbabwe; HIV laws in Niger

A lack of outreach by public health officials and rural villagers' preference for traditional midwives have hindered efforts to reduce maternal morality in Cambodia, government officials said recently at regional conference, the Phnom Penh Post reports.

20 Aug 2009

Seasonal flu vaccinations to cost less in Safeway's U.S. Stores

Safeway Inc. (NYSE:SWY) added to its leadership reputation in health care reform and cost control by offering seasonal flu vaccines in its U.S. stores at a substantial savings compared with the cost of doctor-administered vaccines. The lower cost will help consumers and businesses control health care spending in a challenging economy.

20 Aug 2009

Some HIV-positive Ugandans' not receiving antiretrovirals

Some HIV-positive people in Uganda "cannot be put on the national antiretroviral [ARV] programme because it is already saturated and funds for new patients are not available," the Independent reports. According to the newspaper, roughly 360,000 HIV-positive Ugandans are eligible for antiretroviral treatment because their CD4 counts are below the WHO's threshold of 350; however, about half of them currently do not have access to ARVs.

20 Aug 2009

MedImmune, WPS and AYSO collaboratively launch a national health awareness campaign

MedImmune, Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) today officially launched "Don't Play with the Flu,"((TM)) a national health awareness campaign that aims to highlight the importance of getting a seasonal influenza vaccination every year.

20 Aug 2009

Vanderbilt enters Chemical Biology Consortium as a Chemical Diversity Center to develop cancer treatment drugs

Vanderbilt University has been selected as one of 10 centers in the nation to participate in the Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC), a major new initiative to facilitate the discovery and development of new agents to treat cancer.

20 Aug 2009

Nurses and clinical officers in Africa know when a person should receive antiretroviral therapy

Nurses and clinical officers (non-physician clinicians, NPCs) are capable of determining when a person should receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Human Resources for Health suggest that this should ease the strain on overstretched doctors in sub-Saharan Africa and thereby help increase access to antiretroviral therapy, particularly in rural areas.

19 Aug 2009

New guidance for businesses to plan for and respond to upcoming flu season

Department of Commerce (DOC) Secretary Gary Locke, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new guidance for businesses to plan for and respond to the upcoming flu season.

19 Aug 2009

The Gambia introduces pneumococcal immunisation programme

The Gambia, Minister of Health Dr. Mariatou Jallow administered the first dose of the pneumococcal vaccine to Gambian children at a rural clinic outside Banjul today. Joined by the Gambia’s Vice President, Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Dr. Jallow and hundreds of Gambian citizens celebrated this historic event, which marks the first step in the rollout of the Gambia’s national pneumococcal immunisation programme.

19 Aug 2009

H1N1 vaccine orders top 1 billion, WHO Says

"Northern hemisphere countries have so far ordered more than one billion doses of swine flu vaccine, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, sparking warnings over shortages," Agence France-Presse reports. While some countries, including Greece, The Netherlands, Canada and Israel, have ordered enough vaccine to inoculate their citizens, "[o]thers, such as Germany, the United States, Britain and France, have put in orders that would cover between 30 and 78 percent of people," the news service writes.

19 Aug 2009

Researchers find connection between eye disease and arginase

Elevated levels of the enzyme arginase contribute to vascular eye damage and Medical College of Georgia researchers say therapies to normalize its levels could halt progression of potentially blinding diseases such as diabetic retinopathy.

19 Aug 2009

Norovirus controlled on cruise ship Marco Polo with vaporisation process by Activ8

The cruise ship Marco Polo, whose round-Britain cruise had to be cancelled because hundreds of passengers became ill with the vomiting bug Norovirus, has been totally disinfected by SitexOrbis' revolutionary infection control fogging service in just 5 hours at the Tilbury docks.

19 Aug 2009

Common-sense precautions for H1N1

Doctors and hospitals nationwide expect a surge in H1N1 influenza cases during the upcoming flu season. In a new video and the tips below, Yvonne Maldonado, MD, chief of infectious disease at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, explains what every parent should know about H1N1 flu as children head back to school.

19 Aug 2009

The Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Davis Phinney Foundation jointly fund new study

The Davis Phinney Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) today, announced that it has awarded four Parkinson's disease research centers with support to conduct a landmark study on the long-term changes in quality of life and mobility that occur in people with PD. The results of this research will help to advance the understanding of how interventions, such as exercise, impact changes in quality of life and mobility over the course of the disease.

19 Aug 2009

Novavax reports positive preclinical results for H1N1 influenza VLP vaccine

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) announced positive preclinical results with Novavax's 2009 novel H1N1 influenza virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine. The study, conducted by scientists from Novavax and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based in Atlanta, GA, under a collaborative agreement, represents the first efficacy report of a 2009 novel H1N1 vaccine in ferrets. The ferret model is widely accepted to be the most appropriate animal model for evaluating influenza disease and vaccines. Novavax scientists designed the vaccine using recombinant virus like particles (VLP) technology against an H1N1 virus strain (A/California/04/2009) isolated in the beginning of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.

19 Aug 2009

Hard to Treat Diseases' swine flu clinical trials in progress

Hard to Treat Diseases (HTDS.PK) Mellow Hope, an operating subsidiary of HTDS, is pleased to report that its clinical trial is currently being processed.

19 Aug 2009