Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Vitamin D deficiency common in critically ill children

Children who are critically ill frequently have low serum levels of vitamin D, report researchers.

18 Sep 2012

Tranexamic acid lifesaving across the board

Tranexamic acid confers survival benefits in trauma patients irrespective of their baseline mortality risk, shows a prespecified analysis of CRASH-2.

18 Sep 2012

Harris Health System celebrates completion of Smith Clinic

On Sept. 12, Harris Health System celebrated the completion of Smith Clinic, the system's first outpatient specialty facility. The new facility enhances and expands specialty care for patients formerly seen at hospital-based clinics located at Ben Taub Hospital.

18 Sep 2012

No association between XMRV/pMLV and chronic fatigue syndrome

The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have long eluded scientists. In 2009, a paper in the journal Science linked the syndrome-sometimes called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)-to infection with a mouse retrovirus called XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus).

18 Sep 2012

Pacific Global Health Conference to take place from Oct. 8-10

Over 400 leading health professionals are expected to attend the 5th Pacific Global Health Conference, Transforming Public Health in the Pacific, to be held at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu, HI from October 8-10.

18 Sep 2012

FDA clears Meridian Bioscience’s new illumigene Group A Strep test

Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio today announced that it has received FDA clearance for a new molecular diagnostic test for Group A Streptococcus on the illumigene platform.

18 Sep 2012

Novel classification system could improve management of facial trauma

A novel scoring system based on the “best” elements of four existing systems can successfully differentiate injuries of patients with complex facial fractures, improving discrimination between severe injuries, report UK researchers.

17 Sep 2012

New test to assess viral load of cytomegalovirus

Roche announced today the commercial availability of a new test to assess a patient's viral load of cytomegalovirus (CMV). Physicians use information from the test to help them manage patients who have been diagnosed with CMV disease, specifically patients with an immune system that has been suppressed for solid organ transplantation.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 17 Sep 2012

FDA designates Rib-X's delafloxacin as QIDP for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated delafloxacin as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for the indications of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).

17 Sep 2012

Natural antibiotic to treat tuberculosis

A natural product secreted by a soil bacterium shows promise as a new drug to treat tuberculosis report scientists in a new study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. A team of scientists working in Switzerland has shown how pyridomycin, a natural antibiotic produced by the bacterium Dactylosporangium fulvum, works.

17 Sep 2012

Jennerex Phase 2 JX-594 clinical data for hepatocellular carcinoma presented at ILCA meeting

Jennerex, Inc., a private, clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class targeted oncolytic immunotherapies, presented Phase 2 clinical data of JX-594 delivered first intravenously and subsequently through intra-tumoral route demonstrating safety as well as disease control and tumor responses in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer, HCC).

17 Sep 2012

Bed nets and insecticides could fail to protect people from new malaria-transmitting mosquitoes

A potentially dangerous new malaria-transmitting mosquito has been discovered in Kenya by scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. This species, which has never been implicated in the transmission of malaria before, poses a threat because it bites humans at times when they are not protected by current malaria control techniques.

17 Sep 2012

SLU study: Many U.S. schools not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of pandemics

Many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics, despite the recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic that resulted in more than 18,000 deaths worldwide, Saint Louis University researchers say.

15 Sep 2012

Popular Science magazine names UCLA professor among ‘Brilliant 10’

Popular Science magazine has named Aydogan Ozcan, an associate professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at UCLA, one of the world's "Brilliant 10" scientists in its October 2012 issue.

15 Sep 2012

Study estimates drug concentrations of Truvada and tenofovir to reduce risk of HIV among MSM

Several large clinical trials have demonstrated that a daily oral dose of one or two antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection can prevent infection in an approach known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

15 Sep 2012

Radiographs ‘unnecessary’ after splinting

US researchers question the need for an X-ray after splinting, finding that most fracture patients do not benefit from this service.

14 Sep 2012

Wits’ Health Sciences Research Day and Postgraduate Expo to take place on Sep. 19

The 2012 Health Sciences Research Day and Postgraduate Expo takes place on Wednesday, 19 September 2012 under the theme: Excellence. Relevance. Determination. Transforming Life through Research Excellence.

14 Sep 2012

Loss of normal microbial diversity may be culprit behind chronic sinusitis

A common bacteria ever-present on the human skin and previously considered harmless, may, in fact, be the culprit behind chronic sinusitis, a painful, recurring swelling of the sinuses that strikes more than one in ten Americans each year, according to a study by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco.

13 Sep 2012

Positive data from Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals’ eravacycline Phase 2 trial on cIAI

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage life science company developing novel antibiotics effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, presented new, positive Phase 2 clinical data on its lead drug candidate, eravacycline (TP-434), on September 11, 2012, at the 52nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in San Francisco, CA.

13 Sep 2012

Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer launch new joint venture

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, and Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals, a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company, today announced the launch of Hisun-Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a joint venture formed between the two companies to develop, manufacture and commercialize off-patent pharmaceutical products in China and global markets.

13 Sep 2012