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Preventing Chronic Diseases: A Vital Investment

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is calling for concerted action following the recent release of an important report of the World Heart Organisation (WHO).

9 Oct 2005

Life after the foot and mouth epidemic

The 2001 UK foot and mouth disease epidemic was a human tragedy, not just an animal one, concludes a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

9 Oct 2005

New report identifies over 40 infectious agents that pose significant human health problems in the United States or abroad

Vaccines have helped eradicate and tame some of history's worst infectious diseases, but there are many more diseases out there that vaccines can help overcome. The challenges society needs to confront to unlock the future promise of vaccines against the plagues of the 21st century are the focus of a new report by the American Academy of Microbiology.

9 Oct 2005

Avian influenza and the U.S

If a virulent strain of avian influenza ever struck the U.S. poultry industry, this country probably would fare better than many other nations due to careful biosecurity procedures in force.

9 Oct 2005

Possible vaccine to protect newborns from fatal bacteria Group B Streptococcus

Microbiologists from the University of Bradford believe they may be closer to developing a vaccine that can protect newborn babies from being infected by the common and potentially fatal bacteria Group B Streptococcus.

5 Oct 2005

Training for health workers improves the quality of tuberculosis care and control without requiring extra staff

Tuberculosis is a growing problem in lower and middle income countries, including South Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that about two thirds of people with tuberculosis are never diagnosed and so cannot benefit from treatment, leaving the epidemic unchecked despite global treatment programmes.

3 Oct 2005

Risk of acquiring HIV rises during pregnancy

The risk of acquiring HIV rises during pregnancy, according to a study of women in Uganda's Rakai District led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The increased risk for acquiring HIV remained even after researchers controlled for behavior and other factors that contribute to HIV risk.

3 Oct 2005

Giving infants preventive treatment for malaria can reduce malaria and anaemia even in seasonal, high transmission areas

The study followed over 2,400 infants in Ghana who were given a preventive treatment for malaria or a placebo (dummy pill) when they received routine vaccinations and at 12 months of age.

3 Oct 2005

Clinical trials of daily oral antiretroviral dosing as pre-exposure prophylaxis

Writing in the journal Science, an international team of researchers, clinicians and others explains that a promising, relatively new approach is for people not infected but at high risk to take drugs that might prevent them from contracting HIV. But debate over the particulars of the strategy has slowed progress.

3 Oct 2005

100 year old technology to fight MRSA

A technique that has been around for more than one hundred years is being used in new research as a way of killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using light. The research to be reported today at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester, is being undertaken by researchers from Queen's University Belfast.

28 Sep 2005

Tuberculosis infection prevention by quick testing

With a new DNA test, tuberculosis infection can be revealed so quickly that a patient doesn’t have time to infect others. This can be an important key to effective control of the disease.

28 Sep 2005

Equine flu virus jumps to dogs

A Cornell University virologist has isolated a highly contagious equine flu virus that is spreading a sometimes-fatal respiratory flu among dogs, and is responsible for a major dog-flu outbreak in New York state. There is no evidence that the virus could infect people.

27 Sep 2005

Testing for drug resistance in HIV-infected patients at the time of diagnosis may increase patients' life expectancy

Resistance to antiretroviral therapy, even in patients who have never received treatment, is a growing concern. However, genotype resistance testing, which involves looking for the presence of resistance genes, is not a standard procedure at the time a patient is diagnosed with HIV, probably due to lack of data on its benefits and its relatively high cost compared with other routine blood tests.

26 Sep 2005

Investing today in the control of the bird flu virus in animals is cheap compared to the costs of a global pandemic that could occur tomorrow

The global strategy for the control of avian influenza in animals remains largely under-funded despite important contributions pledged by some donors, FAO warned today.

26 Sep 2005

Increasingly virulent Staph infections

In a "Brief Report" in the 22 September 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago describe three cases of rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal Staphylococcus aureus infections in small children.

26 Sep 2005

SARS can infiltrate brain tissue

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), by its very name, indicates a disease of the respiratory tract. But SARS can also infiltrate brain tissue, causing significant central nervous system problems, according to an article in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

20 Sep 2005

Less-virulent strain of avian influenza virus can spread from poultry to humans

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time that a less-virulent strain of avian influenza virus can spread from poultry to humans. The research appears in the October 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

19 Sep 2005

In some poor countries, free life-saving HIV medicines are being given preferentially to patients

...who have never taken them before (so-called 'treatment-naive patients'), which could have disastrous consequences, says a team of researchers in Uganda.

19 Sep 2005

Spread of bird flu to the United States is a "time bomb waiting to go off"

One of the government's top scientists said Monday that the spread of bird flu to the United States is a "time bomb waiting to go off" but that federal and industry efforts to produce a vaccine are progressing.

12 Sep 2005

RNAi therapeutic successful for treatment of SARS respiratory virus in Rhesus Macaque

Intradigm Corporation announced today its collaboration with Chinese academic and biotech groups has achieved clear evidence of prophylactic and therapeutic effects of siRNA (small interfering RNA) agents in Rhesus monkey to treat SARS coronavirus (SCV) respiratory infection.

12 Sep 2005