Diarrhoea News and Research

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Bangladesh outperforms Asian neighbours despite low spending on health care

Exceptional improvements in the survival of infants and children under 5 years of age, life expectancy, immunisation coverage, and tuberculosis control in Bangladesh are part of a remarkable success story for health in the South Asian country, according to a major new Series published in The Lancet. This is despite low spending on health care, a weak health system, and widespread poverty.

21 Nov 2013

Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia calls for continued investment in innovations, proven tools

Global health advocates today commemorated the fifth annual World Pneumonia Day by calling on global leaders to scale up existing interventions and invest in new diagnostics and treatments to defeat pneumonia. Each year, pneumonia kills more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Pneumonia took the lives of nearly 1.1 million children under 5 in 2012 alone, with more than 99 percent of these deaths in developing countries, where access to healthcare facilities and treatment is out of reach for many children.

12 Nov 2013

Government spending cuts within NHS increase risk of Clostridium difficile infection

72% of clinicians believe that Government spending cuts within the NHS increase the risk of hospital acquired infections. The ‘Think C-differently’ report, which advises on the current Clostridium difficile landscape, found that despite stringent measures to manage and control Clostridium difficile infection, the NHS is still battling to keep infection rates to a minimum.

8 Nov 2013

Study finds few beneficial effects of metformin drug for cardiovascular disease in people without diabetes

Despite high expectations for the commonly used diabetes drug metformin to improve risk factors for heart disease in people without diabetes, few beneficial effects have been found in a randomised trial of patients with established cardiovascular disease, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

7 Nov 2013

Pivotal Phase III STARTVerso data shows efficacy of faldaprevir in genotype-1 infected HCV patients

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced new data from its Phase III clinical trial programme, STARTVerso, which evaluates faldaprevir in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PegIFN/RBV).

5 Nov 2013

Listeria's resistance to disinfectants

Recent years have seen significant outbreaks of listeriosis on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the disease can usually be treated successfully, it is occasionally fatal, most frequently in pregnant women or immunocompromized people.

31 Oct 2013

Researchers identify new drug for treating irritable bowel syndrome with constipation

An international team led by University of Adelaide researchers has identified the mechanism of pain relief of a new drug for treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C), based on nonclinical studies, and quantified its effectiveness in pain relief in human trials.

30 Oct 2013

Nintedanib drug to treat NSCLC is submitted for approval from European Medicines Agency

Boehringer Ingelheim announced the submission of a Marketing Authorisation Application to the European Medicines Agency for the approval of its oral triple angiokinase inhibitor nintedanib, in combination with docetaxel, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of adenocarcinoma tumour histology after first line chemotherapy.

17 Oct 2013

Janssen seeks European marketing approval for combination of once-daily darunavir with cobicistat

Janssen-Cilag International NV, today announced it has submitted a Marketing Authorisation Application to the European Medicines Agency seeking approval for a once-daily single tablet fixed-dose antiretroviral combination product containing darunavir, a protease inhibitor developed by Janssen, with cobicistat, a pharmacokinetic enhancer or boosting agent, developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc. for use in combination with other human immunodeficiency virus medicines.

15 Oct 2013

AstraZeneca announces Phase III study results of naloxegol in patients with non-cancer pain

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) today announced the results of a Phase III long-term safety and tolerability study of the once-daily 25mg dose of naloxegol, in patients with non-cancer pain and opioid-induced constipation (OIC).

15 Oct 2013

Research on flaviviruses could help in developing effective therapies for persistent infections

We generally do not devote much time to worrying about the problems faced by viruses, although understanding them may provide clues on how to combat diseases.

9 Oct 2013

Specialized cells play major role in inflammation that underlies Crohn's disease in small intestine

Scientists have discovered that Crohn's disease, the inflammatory bowel disorder, can originate from specialised intestinal cell type called Paneth cells. As such, they propose that small intestinal Crohn's disease might be a specific disorder of this cell type, providing a possible new target for treatments.

3 Oct 2013

Women with recurrent ovarian cancer survive longer after treatment with cediranib

Women with ovarian cancer that has recurred after chemotherapy have survived for longer after treatment with a biological therapy called cediranib, according to new results to be presented today (Monday) at the 2013 European Cancer Congress.

30 Sep 2013

Inhibiting use of antibiotics may be more effective in reducing C.diff infection

New ways are needed to fight the infection Clostridium difficile and better use of antibiotics could be key, according to the authors of ground-breaking research.

26 Sep 2013

Clean water and growth of children: an interview with Dr Alan Dangour

Growth in children is known to be directly affected by two critical factors: food intake and incidence of disease. It is known that access to good quality water, improved sanitation and enhanced hygiene (WASH) practices lead to decreased levels of infectious disease in children. We were interested to know whether this decline in disease would lead to improvements in child growth.

23 Sep 2013

New report shows 6.6 million children under 5 died in 2012

In 2012, approximately 6.6 million children worldwide - 18 000 children per day - died before reaching their fifth birthday, according to a new report released today by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division. This is roughly half the number of under-fives who died in 1990, when more than 12 million children died.

13 Sep 2013

Research: New pathway plays role in fighting gut infection

The researchers found virulent E. coli bacteria blocked a pathway that would normally protect the gut from infection. These infections are particularly serious in young children and can result in diarrhoea and other complications such as kidney damage.

12 Sep 2013

Eight additional cases of MERS-CoV infection confirmed in Saudi Arabia

WHO has been informed of an additional eight laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in Saudi Arabia.

29 Aug 2013

Study: Type 2 diabetic patients treated with DPP-4 linagliptin experience reductions in blood glucose levels

Data published in The Lancet showed that elderly people with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) treated for 24 weeks with the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor linagliptin, marketed by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company, experienced significant reductions in blood glucose levels (HbA1c) compared with those receiving placebo.

17 Aug 2013

Probiotic supplements have no effect on the incidence of diarrhoea in elderly patients

Probiotic supplements given to elderly patients on antibiotics appear to have no effect on the incidence of diarrhoea, a common and sometimes life-threatening side effect of using antibiotics for many elderly patients, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

9 Aug 2013