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Malaria researchers discover new mosquito virus

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Malaria Research Institute have identified a previously unknown virus that is infectious to Anopheles gambiae-the mosquito primarily responsible for transmitting malaria.

24 Aug 2008

Hendra virus claims life of Queensland veterinarian

The deadly Hendra virus has claimed the life of yet another victim, this time a human one.

20 Aug 2008

Hendra horse virus scare puts another vet in hospital

The Australian Hendra horse virus is still causing concern since the initial outbreak in July as a female veterinarian who euthanised a racehorse infected with the potentially deadly virus is now being monitored in hospital after an accidental needle stick injury.

20 Aug 2008

Bacterial pneumonia caused most deaths in 1918 influenza pandemic

The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection.

19 Aug 2008

Working better with Aboriginal clients: addressing sexual health, HIV and hepatitis C

Improving access to sexual health and related services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in NSW will be among the issues discussed at a workshop coordinated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

19 Aug 2008

Scientists discover platelets play an important early role in promoting cerebral malaria

Platelets - those tiny, unassuming cells that cause blood to clot and scabs to form when you cut yourself - play an important early role in promoting cerebral malaria, an often lethal complication that occurs mostly in children.

18 Aug 2008

Antibodies to 1918 flu pandemic may provide means to tackle bird flu threat

Scientists in the United States have discovered that elderly survivors of the original 1918 flu pandemic, still have immunity to the virus.

18 Aug 2008

18 cases of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis found in California

In the first statewide study of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) in the United States, California officials have identified 18 cases of the dangerous and difficult-to-treat disease between 1993 and 2006, and 77 cases that were one step away from XDR TB. The study appears in the August 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

13 Aug 2008

Seattle Post-Intelligencer examines efforts to improve medication management for HIV-positive people

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Monday examined efforts by some organizations and pharmacies in the city and surrounding area to improve medication management for HIV-positive people.

13 Aug 2008

Yemen Times examines HIV/AIDS surveillance, discrimination related to disease in country

Although Yemen -- which has recorded 2,431 HIV/AIDS cases -- is considered one of the countries with the lowest number of people living with the disease worldwide, some organizations, including the country's National AIDS Control Program, say that the numbers likely do not accurately reflect the true number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country, the Yemen Times reports.

13 Aug 2008

New efforts to reduce spread of HIV among MSM

The AP/Google.com on Friday examined new approaches to curbing the spread of HIV among men who have sex with men. A program in North Carolina that showed "promising signs" enlisted local MSM opinion leaders to urge their peers to practice safer sex in an effort to curb the spread of HIV, the AP/Google.com reports.

13 Aug 2008

Poverty, population movement contributing to spread of HIV in Sudan

Poverty and the movement of people displaced by war have contributed to an increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Sudan, United Nations and Sudanese health officials said on Sunday, adding that a lack of data is hindering efforts to get an accurate picture of the disease in the country, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

13 Aug 2008

About 1% of HIV-positive people worldwide have been tested for tuberculosis

Only 1% of people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide have been screened for tuberculosis, according to a report recently released by the coalition Advocacy To Control TB Internationally, or ACTION, Reuters reports.

13 Aug 2008

HHS Secretary Leavitt to visit HIV/AIDS projects in Cote d'Ivoire

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Wednesday is scheduled to arrive in Cote d'Ivoire, where he will visit projects aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, AFP/Google.com reports.

13 Aug 2008

CDC report on HIV/AIDS in U.S. should serve as 'wake-up call' for policymakers, health workers

A recent CDC report on HIV/AIDS in the U.S. -- which found that about 56,000 new HIV infections occur in the U.S. each year -- "should serve as a wake-up call from the AIDS amnesia surrounding the domestic epidemic in recent years," Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser at the Foundation for AIDS Research, and Melissa Shive, a former research assistant at amfAR and medical student at the University of California-San Francisco, write in a Washington Times opinion piece.

13 Aug 2008

Californian bill to revolutionize HIV testing passes legislature unanimously

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the operator of the largest non-government HIV testing program in California, today praised the California Legislature for its passage this week of Assembly Bill 2899 (Portantino, D-Pasadena).

13 Aug 2008

Venezuelan Indians dying from rabies spread by bats

Scientists from the United States say early investigations into the deaths of a number of tribal Indians in northeastern Venezuela suggest that they may have been infected by a type of rabies carried by bats.

13 Aug 2008

Rare case explains why some infected with HIV remain symptom free without antiretroviral drugs

AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins say they have compelling evidence that some people with HIV who for years and even decades show extremely low levels of the virus in their blood never progress to full-blown AIDS and remain symptom free even without treatment, probably do so because of the strength of their immune systems, not any defects in the strain of HIV that infected them in the first place.

12 Aug 2008

The rapid spread of West Nile virus in North America described

The rapid spread of West Nile virus in North America over the past decade is likely to have long-lasting ecological consequences throughout the continent, according to an article in the November issue of BioScience.

12 Aug 2008

Children with HIV in poor countries more adherent to treatment than children in rich countries

Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute and Moi University School of Medicine are the first to report that adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children who live in low income countries is as high as or higher than adherence by children living in high income countries.

11 Aug 2008