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Genomics and bioinformatics could be the future in battle against malaria

Malaria, one of the oldest diseases known to man, has shown no signs of slowing down as it ages.

26 Nov 2008

AIDS research group reports significant viral load drop in HIV/AIDS infected study groups

AIDS Research Assistance Institute, a non-profit organization, has been monitoring hundreds of people with AIDS/HIV when they add the immunity boosting food supplement, 'concentrated Flax Hull Lignans' (FHL) to their diets.

26 Nov 2008

AHF: Lancet’s Africa AIDS study shows global testing woefully under-funded

A study published in the British medical journal Lancet yesterday suggesting that testing all adults in Africa annually for HIV and immediately treating every person who tests positive could halt the AIDS epidemic in Africa within a decade has spurred the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to renew its call for the massive scale up of, and dramatically increased funding for global HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment worldwide.

26 Nov 2008

Schoolies warned that after-effects of drinking or drug-taking could disguise the start of meningococcal disease

Following reports that an 18-year-old student celebrating 'schoolies' week on Queensland's Gold Coast has been hospitalised with meningococcal disease, health officials have warned schoolies that the after-effects of drinking or drug-taking could disguise the onset of the disease.

26 Nov 2008

Researchers generate synthetic SARS-like bat coronavirus

SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome - alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists reconstruct bat variant of SARS coronavirus

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003.

25 Nov 2008

AIDS advocates tell WHO: Stop harmful single-dose treatment for expectant mothers and infants

As World AIDS Day 2008 approaches, a coalition of hundreds of HIV/AIDS medical care providers and advocates, representing dozens of organizations, today sent a letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), urging an end to harmful single-dose HIV/AIDS treatment as a recommended treatment for expectant mothers and infants worldwide.

25 Nov 2008

A more rational and scientific approach to AIDS is needed, says expert

The Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has lost valuable ground by ignoring for years the contribution of long-term concurrent relationships to Africa's AIDS epidemic, claims an expert ahead of World AIDS Day on bmj.com.

25 Nov 2008

Study looks at exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from transportation of poultry

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found evidence of a novel pathway for potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from intensively raised poultry-driving behind the trucks transporting broiler chickens from farm to slaughterhouse.

24 Nov 2008

Discovery of new species of bacterium that causes leprosy

A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

24 Nov 2008

Gorillas may be at increased risk of pathogen exchange with humans

A new study finds that mountain gorillas are at increased risk of acquiring gastrointestinal microbes, such as Escherichia Coli, from humans.

24 Nov 2008

Artemisinin combination therapies may be almost as effective as treated bednets in preventing malaria

Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) could be almost as effective in reducing transmission of malaria as insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) in areas of low transmission, a study based on data from Tanzania has found. In high transmission areas, long-acting antimalarial regimens may be needed to achieve significant transmission reductions.

24 Nov 2008

Discovery of new species of Ebola virus

Scientists report the discovery of a new species of Ebola virus, provisionally named Bundibugyo ebolavirus, November 21 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

20 Nov 2008

Food scientists study link between pathogens and illness

No food processor wants pathogens contaminating the product in the plant for at least one obvious reason; the product on sale at retail might carry the risk of foodborne illness.

20 Nov 2008

If avian flu hits poultry consumption could decline

If a case of avian flu is discovered in a U.S. poultry flock, it's likely that poultry consumption would decline.

20 Nov 2008

Common cold virus originated in birds

A virus that causes cold-like symptoms in humans originated in birds and may have crossed the species barrier around 200 years ago, according to an article published in the December issue of the Journal of General Virology.

20 Nov 2008

Adults need vaccines to protect from preventable diseases, say medical societies

The American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) have released a joint statement on the importance of adult vaccination against an increasing number of vaccine-preventable diseases.

19 Nov 2008

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis - tick-borne disease found in China

It appears that for the first time human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), an emerging tick-borne infectious disease found in the U.S. and Europe, has been identified in China and apparently was transmitted from person to person, according to a study in the November 19 issue of JAMA.

18 Nov 2008

Why are so many infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans?

Why do we have so little capacity to predict epidemics, or avoid them? Some answers, and possible solutions, can be found in the first trench-to-bench guide to wild primate infectious diseases, published Nov. 17 in the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology.

18 Nov 2008

Seniors should have the flu jab this winter, say experts

Despite recent doubts about its effectiveness, the influenza vaccine does give valuable protection against illness, hospital admission and death caused by influenza, and people over 65 should have the flu jab this winter, say experts on bmj.com.

18 Nov 2008