Disease/Infection News

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Brits "out on the pull" urged to carry condoms by government campaign

As part of a major government sexual health campaign, young Brits will be encouraged to carry condoms when they are out "on the pull".

13 Nov 2006

Global Patient Safety Challenge: Clean Care is Safer Care

Half the people in the world can look forward to cleaner and safer care and a lowered risk of becoming ill with an infection as a result of their health care.

13 Nov 2006

Global resurgence in zoonotic viral diseases

Doctors and veterinarians need to work together to tackle the increasing global threat of zoonotic viral diseases spread by non-human vertebrate hosts - including dogs, cattle, chickens and mosquitoes - according to a review in the November issue of Journal of Internal Medicine.

8 Nov 2006

Malawi needs to develop plan addressing country's AIDS orphans

The number of AIDS orphans in Malawi is a "potential looming catastrophe," and the country needs to develop a comprehensive action plan to address the situation, U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis said recently, the Chronicle/AllAfrica.com reports.

8 Nov 2006

$70 million boost will help fight AIDS in Kenya

Kenya has been given $70 million from the Global Fund to fund programmes providing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to people living with HIV.

7 Nov 2006

WHO has a go at China over new birdflu strain

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the new strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus currently circulating in China has shown no significant signs of mutation which would enable it to spread easily among people.

6 Nov 2006

Doctors worried about dramatic rise of TB in the UK

Experts have expressed concern over the steady rise in Tuberculosis (TB) in the last seven years in Britain.

6 Nov 2006

Salmonella traced to tomatoes

Health officials in the U.S. say that the recent outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning there probably came tomatoes which were served in restaurants.

6 Nov 2006

Chinese lack of transparency could trigger bird flu pandemic

The transparency of health authorities in China has come under criticism yet again with the news of a new strain of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus which virologists say could be resistant to vaccines.

1 Nov 2006

Rogue bird flu resistant to vaccines

Researchers in Hong Kong and the U.S. say a new strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus has emerged in China and what is more of a worry is the strain appears to be resistant to vaccines.

31 Oct 2006

HIV/AIDS and poverty in Zambia threatens economic growth

HIV/AIDS and poverty in Zambia "are threatening" economic growth the country has achieved since gaining its independence in 1964, President Levy Mwanawasa said last week in a speech on the eve of Zambia's 42nd anniversary of independence, Reuters reports.

30 Oct 2006

Shortage of health workers in developing countries is affecting global health efforts

The critical shortage of health workers in developing countries is affecting global health efforts, including the fight against HIV/AIDS, and must be addressed, a panel of experts said Tuesday at an event sponsored by the Global Health Council, CQ HealthBeat reports.

30 Oct 2006

Stigma, discrimination in India hindering HIV/AIDS treatment, care

The stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS in India is delaying treatment and care for HIV-positive people, according to a study conducted by the Population Council's Horizons program; Sharan, an Indian nongovernmental organization; and the New Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth, IRIN/Kenya London News reports.

30 Oct 2006

U.S. should develop 'strategic plan' to tackle HIV/AIDS

Although there is "no easy fix" for HIV/AIDS in the U.S., "refocusing our sights on improved outcomes and developing a comprehensive strategic plan to achieve them" would be a good start, Chris Collins, author of a new Open Society Institute report on HIV/AIDS in the U.S., writes in a Chicago Defender opinion piece.

30 Oct 2006

PRI's 'The World' interviews physician on efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe

PRI's "The World," a production of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston, on Thursday interviewed Carlo Spagnolli -- an Italian physician who runs the privately funded HIV/AIDS treatment program Project Zimbabwe at the Luisa Guidotti Hospital in Mutoko, Zimbabwe -- about efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country despite antiretroviral drug shortages.

30 Oct 2006

Trial involving medical workers accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV involves 'profound political issues'

The "scientific community, AIDS activists and Libyan government would do well to recognize ... the political and diplomatic import of the case" involving five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV, Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in a PLoS Medicine opinion piece (Garrett, PLoS Medicine, 10/26).

30 Oct 2006

Botswana launches infant HIV testing program

Botswana in a ceremony in Francistown -- attended by Mark Dybul, who serves as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and administers the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- launched a program to test six-month-old infants for HIV, according a U.S. embassy statement released on Wednesday, SAPA/SABC News reports.

30 Oct 2006

Israeli physicians share HIV/AIDS treatment methods with Ethiopian colleagues

Israeli physicians who gained experience treating Ethiopian immigrants living with HIV/AIDS in Israel are sharing techniques for treating HIV/AIDS with Ethiopian physicians, Reuters reports.

30 Oct 2006

Accusations against medics charged with infecting children with HIV - attempt to cover up poor Libyan medical system

The accusations against five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor charged with infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV are "an attempt to deflect Libyans' attention from the shocking state of their own medical system," a Washington Post editorial says (Washington Post, 10/29).

30 Oct 2006

Indian Government gets it wrong about HIV Transmission

The Indian government's assumption that HIV in the country is transmitted mainly through sex, especially with commercial sex workers, is "inconsistent with evidence and very likely wrong," according to a study published in the November issue of the Royal Society of Medicine's International Journal of STD and AIDS, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

30 Oct 2006