Communicable Disease News and Research

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Communicable Disease is a disease capable of being transmitted from an infected person or species to a susceptible host.

UTHealth collaborates with Rice University to save lives of CVD patients in Fiji

A device born out of a collaboration between The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Rice University could save lives in Fiji where cardiovascular disease has been called a pandemic.

14 Jun 2013

Low- and middle-income countries do too little to prevent chronic diseases

Nine years ago, the World Health Organization adopted a global strategy to address risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Today, only a few low-and middle-income countries have implemented robust national policies to help prevent such non-communicable diseases, according to an international study led by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp in collaboration with Ghent University, published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

12 Jun 2013

Health officials discuss new strategies to prevent rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease

Today, at the World Health Assembly, top health officials from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Fiji and Rwanda met to discuss the vital need for countries to integrate rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease prevention and control into national action plans.

23 May 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

Exposure to metabolic risks of cardiovascular disease increasing

Despite their greater life expectancy, the adults of today are less "metabolically" healthy than their counterparts of previous generations.

11 Apr 2013

Injuries caused by sharp instruments are major occupational hazard for surgeons

Injuries caused by needles and other sharp instruments are a major occupational hazard for surgeons—with high costs related to the risk of contracting serious infectious diseases, according to a special article in the April issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

3 Apr 2013

Experts discuss inclusion of HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation in post-2015 development agenda

"As a U.N. high-level panel completes worldwide consultations to pick development goals for 2015 and beyond, PlusNews consulted experts to see how HIV/AIDS might fit into this new agenda," according the news service.

30 Mar 2013

Report: Nurses, midwives can play major role in improving health outcomes

Nurses and midwives can play a critical role in lessening people's risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, according to a groundbreaking new report issued by the World Health Organization and co-authored by a UCLA nursing professor.

20 Mar 2013

Integrating NCD efforts into larger 'sustainability agenda'

"The time has come for the '[non-communicable disease (NCD)] agenda' to be integrated with the broader 'sustainability agenda,' and this was the focus of a joint meeting this week between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Lancet," Richard Smith, director of the United Health Group's chronic disease initiative, writes in the BMJ Group Blogs.

15 Feb 2013

Ahead of World Cancer Day, WHO survey shows half of all countries struggle to prevent cancer, provide long-term treatment

"Ahead of World Cancer Day, the United Nations health agency Friday launched a survey showing that more than half of all countries are struggling to prevent cancer and to provide appropriate long-term treatment and care to avoid human suffering and protect countries' social and economic development," the U.N. News Centre reports.

5 Feb 2013

Cambodian health officials strengthen avian flu awareness campaigns after 2 more deaths

"Two more children have died in Cambodia of bird flu, bringing the number of fatal cases this year to four and the number of cases overall to five," the Associated Press/Wall Street Journal reports, noting only three cases were reported in all of 2012. "WHO says bird flu, also known as avian influenza, or H5N1, has killed 360 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003," with most cases "linked to contact with infected poultry," the news agency writes.

30 Jan 2013

New antibiotic principle for fighting bacterial infections

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have presented a new principle for fighting bacterial infections, in other words, a new type of antibiotic, in the FASEB Journal.

19 Dec 2012

New issue of GHD-NET's Health & Foreign Policy Bulletin available online

The November 2012 issue of the Global Health Diplomacy Network's (GHD-NET) Health & Foreign Policy Bulletin is now available online.

15 Dec 2012

Study demonstrates how parasites enter the brain to influence its host

Toxoplasma is a common 'cat parasite', and has previously been in the spotlight owing to its observed effect on risk-taking and other human behaviours. To some extent, it has also been associated with mental illness. A study led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now demonstrates for the first time how the parasite enters the brain to influence its host.

7 Dec 2012

Routine HIV testing can reduce illness and death across Canada

Offering routine HIV testing to the general population rather than only to high-risk individuals will significantly reduce illness and death, argues Dr. Julio Montaner and coauthors in an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

27 Nov 2012

HPV testing and cervical screening: an interview with Dr Rosa Legood

Human papillomavirus is a virus that is transmitted through sexual contact. In most cases the virus is transient and causes no harm, however in some cases it can go on to cause pre-cancer lesions and cervical cancer.

7 Nov 2012

UK remains at risk of devastating stroke crisis, new report confirms

The UK remains at risk of a devastating stroke crisis, according to UK health experts launching Reports published today, on World Stroke Day, by Action for Stroke Prevention, an alliance of renowned health experts and patient organisations.

29 Oct 2012

Europe remains at risk of a devastating stroke crisis

Europe remains at risk of a devastating stroke crisis, according to a major new Report, "How Can We Avoid a Stroke Crisis in Europe?" published today, on World Stroke Day, by Action for Stroke Prevention (ASP).

29 Oct 2012

Researchers discover Hyalomma ticks in migratory birds

A type of haemorrhagic fever (Crimean-Congo) that is prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Balkans has begun to spread to new areas in southern Europe. Now Swedish researchers have shown that migratory birds carrying ticks are the possible source of contagion.

22 Oct 2012

Drug-resistant tuberculosis: an interview with Sven Hoffner

In contrast to drug-susceptible tuberculosis, which can be cured with available drug therapies, drug-resistant, and especially multi-drug resistant, tuberculosis is much more difficult to cure and it takes a much longer time for patients to become non-infectious.

17 Sep 2012