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Barbers boost HIV awareness in rural India

Training community members such as barbers as peer educators can be an effective way of spreading information on HIV/AIDS throughout low-literacy, rural communities, say findings published this week in the open access journal Human Resources for Health.

17 Apr 2008

Purdue's new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu

A new vaccine under development may provide protection against highly pathogenic bird flu and its evolving forms, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who discovered the new preventative drug and have tested it in mice.

17 Apr 2008

Austrian scientists identify common mechanism underlying acute respiratory disease syndrome

The Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 killed between 30 and 50 million people. In the infected patients, the ultimate cause of death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This fatal condition is a massive reaction of the body during which the lung becomes severely damaged. ARDS can be induced by various bacterial and viral infections, but also by chemical agents.

17 Apr 2008

Southeast Asia the culprit in flu epidemics

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) each year influenza epidemics are thought to infect between 5 and 15 per cent of the world's population.

17 Apr 2008

CDC issues measles travel warning for Israel

As Americans travel to Israel for the Jewish holiday of Passover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises all travelers to ensure they are protected from measles before departing, because of a measles outbreak in Israel.

16 Apr 2008

Scientists create monoclonal antibody libraries against avian influenza

An international group of American and Turkish research scientists, led by Sea Lane Biotechnologies, has created the first comprehensive monoclonal antibody libraries against avian influenza (H5N1) using samples from survivors of the 2005/2006 "bird flu" outbreak in Turkey.

15 Apr 2008

How many hospital infections? New facts discredit CDC's official number

On Wednesday, April 16th the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing on whether the federal government is doing enough to prevent hospital infections.

15 Apr 2008

Another bird flu death in Egypt - death toll now 22

This current outbreak comes six-month after the last one in December and has occurred in the Cairo suburb of Matareya and is the 49th case of the disease among humans in Egypt.

14 Apr 2008

Mosquito mating mechanism could lead to new attack on dengue and yellow fever

Cornell researchers have identified a mating mechanism that possibly could be adapted to prevent female mosquitoes from spreading the viruses that cause dengue fever, second only to malaria as the most virulent mosquito-borne disease in the tropical world.

11 Apr 2008

Corporate world is helping employees deal with the global HIV/AIDS epidemic

Major companies are creating a wide variety of programs to help employees deal with the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to a report released today by The Conference Board, the global business research and membership organization.

11 Apr 2008

Shutting down schools in the event of a bird flu pandemic could prevent up to one in seven cases

Closing schools in the event of a flu pandemic could slow the spread of the virus and prevent up to one in seven cases, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature.

10 Apr 2008

New technique traces ancestry of disease genes

A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the Israeli Institute of Technology (Technion) in Haifa has developed a technique to detect the ancestry of disease genes in hybrid, or mixed, human populations.

9 Apr 2008

Son to father spread of bird flu panics experts

According to a top scientist at China's Centre for Disease Control, a man who died in December infected his father with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu before he died.

9 Apr 2008

Two die from mad cow disease in Spain

According to Health officials in Spain two people have died from mad cow disease and these are not the country's first victims.

9 Apr 2008

UK takes action against PVL-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus

Lots of work is being done to recognise and control infections such as community acquired MRSA and the UK is learning from situations in community and healthcare settings both here and abroad to stay ahead of the game, scientists will be told today at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

8 Apr 2008

Prion diseases could be transmitted in sheep via milk

Scrapie can be transmitted to lambs through milk, according to new research published in the online open access journal BMC Veterinary Research.

8 Apr 2008

Problem superbugs resistant to everything

Doctors are running out of treatments for today's trauma victims and critically ill patients because of infections due to drug resistant microbes - even after resorting to using medicines thrown out 20 years ago because of severe side effects, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

8 Apr 2008