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Researchers develop questions to determine risk of HIV/AIDS drug resistance

Researchers from the Makerere University hospital in Uganda, the U.S. and Belgium have developed a formula, based on a set of questions, for determining HIV-positive people's risk of treatment failure and drug resistance, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, the New York Times reports.

19 May 2009

Research may lead to improved TB vaccines

A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators has cracked one of clinical medicine's enduring mysteries - what happened to the tuberculosis vaccine. The once-effective vaccine no longer prevents the bacterial lung infection that kills more than 1.7 million people worldwide each year.

19 May 2009

Molecular clues to halting HIV virus

Rice University's Andrew Barron and his group, working with labs in Italy, Germany and Greece, have identified specific molecules that could block the means by which the deadly virus spreads by taking away its ability to bind with other proteins.

19 May 2009

Risk perceptions and behaviour towards pandemic control of emerging infectious diseases

With the current outbreak of swine flu, and in the absence of a vaccine or treatment at present, the only way to contain the virus is to get people around the world to take precautionary measures.

19 May 2009

UN, WHO heads meet 30 vaccine manufacturers

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with over 30 vaccine manufacturers from developing and developed countries at WHO headquarters today.

19 May 2009

Salmonella’s weakness for sugar predicts its downfall

For the first time UK scientists have shown what the food poisoning bug Salmonella feeds on to survive as it causes infection: glucose.

19 May 2009

Global AIDS coordinator Goosby should serve as 'fierce advocate' for pediatric HIV/AIDS programs, letter to editor Says

"The details of President Obama's new global health initiative have left many concerned that the financing described does not reflect the commitment required to lead the United States' efforts in the global fight against HIV and AIDS," Jennifer Delaney, executive director of Global Action for Children, writes in a New York Times letter to the editor.

18 May 2009

Sex workers in Pakistan give recommendations on HIV prevention to health officials

Although the recorded HIV prevalence in Pakistan is relatively low, health officials are concerned that a concentrated epidemic of the virus among injection drug users could carry over to commercial sex workers and other high risk groups in the country, IRIN/PlusNews reports.

18 May 2009

New HIV/AIDS initiative in Tanzania aims to increase condom availability

Condom vending machines will be unveiled on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as part of a six-year pilot HIV prevention initiative in the country, Tanzania's The Citizen reports.

18 May 2009

Denver Post examines efforts to establish needle-exchange programs in Colorado

The Denver Post on Friday examined efforts to establish needle-exchange programs in Colorado to reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitis C among injection drug users.

18 May 2009

Vaccine candidate successful in blocking Simian version of HIV

Researchers have successfully blocked SIV, the simian version of HIV, using a new technique that could help lead to the development of an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The team also included scientists from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the New England Primate Research Center in Boston.

18 May 2009

Computer simulation captures immune response to flu

Researchers have successfully tested first the first time a computer simulation of major portions of the body's immune reaction to influenza type A, with implications for treatment design and preparation ahead of future pandemics, according to work accepted for publication, and posted online, by the Journal of Virology.

18 May 2009

World Health Assembly opens amid concerns about flu pandemic

The 62nd World Health Assembly opened today in Geneva, as officials from 193 member countries began their annual review of the activities of the WHO and set new priorities for the future.

18 May 2009

Piecing together the HIV prevention puzzle

"It's an exciting time in HIV prevention research. We will see results from a number of critically important HIV prevention research trials this year, as well as see the start of new trials around the world that will yield important answers in the years to come," said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director, at the release of AVAC's 13th annual report of the field.

18 May 2009

Latest news on swine flu - 39 countries now affected

The latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO) # 31, says as of 17th May that 39 countries have now officially reported a total of 8,480 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

17 May 2009

Urgent need for stringent TB screening policies among South African healthcare workers

Healthcare workers in South Africa are at a significantly increased risk of developing drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, in a trend which threatens to further exacerbate the already beleaguered healthcare systems in sub-Saharan countries, according to results of a new study.

17 May 2009

Influenza A(H1N1) update, 39 countries and 8480 cases

As of 06:00 GMT, 17 May 2009, 39 countries have officially reported 8480 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

17 May 2009

Early retroviral use best for AIDS patients with serious complications

HIV-positive patients who don't seek medical attention until they have a serious AIDS-related condition can reduce their risk of death or other complications by half if they get antiretroviral treatment early on, according to a new multicenter trial led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

17 May 2009

Early use of antiretroviral treatment improves survival rate of HIV patients

A clinical study, led by researchers from University College Dublin, Ireland, and Stanford University, California, USA, with international collaborators, demonstrates that mortality rates of HIV patients can be almost halved when early antiretroviral (ARV) therapy is added to the treatment of AIDS-related opportunistic infections (OIs) such as pneumonia, meningitis or other serious bacterial infections.

17 May 2009

Variation of natural compound cures malaria in mice

Approximately 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria are diagnosed each year mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. While medications to prevent and treat malaria do exist, the demand for new treatments is on the rise, in part, because malaria parasites have developed a resistance to existing medications.

15 May 2009