Disease/Infection News

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Protein called TIM-3 turns off HIV-fighting T cells

In HIV-infected patients the body's immune system is unable to fight off the virus.

11 Nov 2008

Another outbreak of bird flu in Thailand has authorities on high alert

A dead chicken on a backyard farm in northern Thailand has signalled another outbreak of bird flu and comes six months after the country declared itself free of the disease.

11 Nov 2008

1918 Spanish flu records could hold the key to solving future pandemics

Ninety years after Australian scientists began their race to stop the spread of Spanish flu in Australia, University of Melbourne researchers are hoping records from the 1918 epidemic may hold the key to preventing future deadly pandemic outbreaks.

10 Nov 2008

The smaller the mozzie the nastier the bite

Experts have found that the smaller the mosquito the more likely that it is infected with viruses which cause human diseases.

10 Nov 2008

Scientists engineer immune cells to act as "bionic assassins" that see through HIV's many disguises

HIV is a master of disguise, able to rapidly change its identity and hide undetected in infected cells.

10 Nov 2008

Leprosy forgotten but not gone

According to scientists in the U.S. leprosy is a disease which may be forgotten, but it is still around.

9 Nov 2008

Superbugs on the rise in Canadian hospitals

Although infection control has been substantially ramped up in Canadian hospitals since the SARS crisis of 2003, the number of resistant bacterial infections post-SARS have multiplied even faster, a new Queen's University study shows.

8 Nov 2008

Leprosy still present in the U.S.

Long believed to be a disease of biblical times, leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, continues to be seen in the United States.

8 Nov 2008

Newly discovered protein may help explain tuberculosis' resiliency

Weill Cornell scientists have located a protein produced by the tuberculosis bacterium that may tell researchers more about how the invader lives so resiliently inside of the body.

6 Nov 2008

H5N1 protein hides in tiny tubules

A protein found in the virulent avian influenza virus strain called H5N1 forms tiny tubules in which it "hides" the pieces of double-stranded RNA formed during viral infection, which otherwise would prompt an antiviral immune response from infected cells, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in an online report in the journal Nature.

6 Nov 2008

New HIV-reduction initiative takes to the fields

Education has found its way onto the soccer fields of North Carolina - in the form of a social experiment that may have all the right ingredients to change the direction of Latino health in the United States.

6 Nov 2008

A probiotic bacterium reduces hospital infections

A probiotic bacterium, Lactobacillus plantarum 299, has been used to out-compete the dangerous bacteria that cause respiratory illness in ventilated patients.

6 Nov 2008

Flu shot still best protection against flu

The failure of the flu vaccine to protect many Americans against the virus last year shouldn't prevent you from getting your annual flu shot this year.

6 Nov 2008

New HIV-reduction initiative takes to the fields

5 Nov 2008

Most adults not up to date on their vaccinations

Most adults are not up to date on their vaccinations, says a new report from Harvard Medical School.

5 Nov 2008

Death by hyperdisease

It took less than a decade for native rats to become extinct on the Indian Ocean's previously uninhabited Christmas Island once Eurasian black rats jumped ship onto the island at the turn of the 20th century.

5 Nov 2008

Qld scientists breakthrough in battle against insect-transmitted diseases

Scientists at the University of Queensland have made a discovery which could lead to a breakthrough in the battle against insect-transmitted diseases.

4 Nov 2008

Study finds fears of HIV transmission in families with infected parent

Despite ongoing efforts to educate the public about HIV, a new study by researchers from UCLA, the RAND Corp., Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston has found that two-thirds of families with an HIV-infected parent experience fears about spreading HIV in the home.

4 Nov 2008

Researchers look at spread of dengue virus in rural Thai villages

In a new study reported in PLoS Medicine, Mammen P. Mammen Jr. of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) in Bangkok and colleagues investigated the spread of dengue virus infection in rural Thai villages.

4 Nov 2008

Smaller mosquitoes more likely to be infected with viruses that cause diseases in humans

An entomologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, a division of the new UI Institute for Natural Resource Sustainability, says smaller mosquitoes are more likely to be infected with viruses that cause diseases in humans.

4 Nov 2008