Meningitis News and Research

Latest Meningitis News and Research

Global experts highlight strategies to immunize more children

In advance of World Immunization Week, global experts are highlighting strategies to further advance progress on the Global Vaccine Action Plan that was endorsed by the World Health Assembly, 2012.

19 Apr 2013

CRISPR helps some bacteria evade mammalian immune system

CRISPR, a system of genes that bacteria use to defend themselves against viruses, has been found to be involved in helping some bacteria evade the mammalian immune system.

18 Apr 2013

House-Senate 'endgame talks' face political hurdles, delays

The House GOP is moving slowly in naming negotiators to work through differences between the House- and Senate-passed budgets.

18 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 17, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about a new study finding that surgical woes can actually bolster a hospital's profits.

17 Apr 2013

High court seems skeptical that biotech firm can patent human genes

Supreme Court justices seemed to express skepticism Monday that a biotech company can patent human genes isolated from the body that signal a greater likelihood of ovarian or breast cancer.

17 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 16, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of the Supreme Court oral arguments regarding whether patents should be granted for human genes.

16 Apr 2013

Pneumococcal vaccine: an interview with Graham Clarke, CEO ImmBio

The pathogen that we are talking about is called streptococcus pneumoniae. That is a fairly common bacteria and if you did a nasal swab you would find that quite a lot of people have this bacterium living in their nasal passages.

16 Apr 2013

Crash inspection program finds problems at some compounding pharmacies

After a crash inspection program, federal regulators said Thursday that they had found numerous unsafe practices at about 30 compounding pharmacies, the same type of facility responsible for the tainted drug that caused a deadly meningitis outbreak last year (Pollack, 4/12).

15 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 12, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about a new study measuring how the health law has expanded young adults access to care.

12 Apr 2013

Roundup: Calif. hospitals to close after homeless care controversy; Texas hospitals spar over indigent care payments

Hospital owner Pacific Health Corp. said it will close its three remaining Southern California hospitals, citing the fallout from a federal fraud case last year in which the company admitted paying to recruit homeless people off skid row in Los Angeles and billing the government for unnecessary care (Terhune, 4/3).

5 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 4, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: "It's not just sore throats and flu shots anymore. Walgreens today became the first retail store chain to expand its health care services to include diagnosing and treating patients for chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and high cholesterol. The move is the retail industry's boldest push yet into an area long controlled by physicians, and comes amid continuing concerns about health care costs and a potential shortage of primary care doctors" (Appleby, 4/4).

4 Apr 2013

FDA proposes charging fees to compounding pharmacies to pay oversight costs

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed charging compounding pharmacies fees to pay for the oversight needed to prevent a recurrence of the meningitis outbreak that killed 50 people and sickened hundreds more.

26 Mar 2013

Roundup: Calif. gets poor grade on health price transparency; Inmates sue Calif. counties over prison care; Ore. lawmakers want torts to apply to insurers

A selection of health policy stories from California, Oregon, Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

20 Mar 2013

Steroids used for treating TB may reduce death rates from all types of TB

The routine use of steroids to treat tuberculosis may help reduce deaths from all types of the disease, according to a new review of existing research.

14 Mar 2013

ST131 infection is more prevalent in LTCF residents and elderly population

Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) continues to proliferate, driven largely by expansion of a strain of E. coli know as sequence type ST131. A new study points to hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCF) as settings in which this antibiotic-resistant strain is increasingly found.

14 Mar 2013

New procedure to treat pseudotumor cerebri

A team of interventional neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons at Johns Hopkins reports wide success with a new procedure to treat pseudotumor cerebri, a rare but potentially blinding condition marked by excessive pressure inside the skull, caused by a dangerous narrowing of a vein located at the base of the brain.

13 Mar 2013

New rapid laboratory test successful in identifying GBS colonization in pregnant women

A more rapid laboratory test for pregnant women to detect potentially deadly Group B strep (GBS) has been successful at identifying GBS colonization in six and a half hours, according to the results of a study from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

11 Mar 2013

Results from Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 Phase 3 study on HIV

Pfizer Inc. presented today the results from a Phase 3 study demonstrating the immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine Diphtheria CRM197 Protein)in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

5 Mar 2013

Cubist receives FDA QIDP designation for ceftolozane/tazobactam to treat HABP/ VABP, cUTI

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated the company's late-stage antibiotic candidate, ceftolozane/tazobactam, as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for the indications of Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (HABP)/Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia (VABP) and Complicated Urinary Tract Infections (cUTI).

1 Mar 2013

MenB bacterium uses Adhesin Complex Protein to stick to human cells

Scientists at the University of Southampton have taken a significant and important step in keeping people safe from the most common form of meningitis in the UK.

28 Feb 2013