Diphtheria News and Research

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Diphtheria is a disease caused by a bacterium, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, that usually affects the tonsils, throat, nose and/or skin. It is passed from person to person by droplet transmission, usually by breathing in diphtheria bacteria after an infected person has coughed or sneezed. Although diphtheria disease is rare in the U.S., it appears that C diphtheriae continues to circulate in areas of the country with previously endemic diphtheria. Diphtheria also occurs in many other parts of the world.

Tikcro reports net loss of $30,000 for first quarter 2011

Tikcro Technologies Ltd. today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

7 Jun 2011

GAVI welcomes lower pentavalent vaccine price

In the lead up to its first pledging conference on June 13, the GAVI Alliance announced today it has achieved commitments from two emerging market vaccine manufacturers to lower prices for the life-saving pentavalent vaccine, which protects against five deadly diseases. Developed country manufacturers have also offered price reductions on rotavirus and human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccines.

5 Jun 2011

Department of Health urges caregivers, parents to update students' immunizations

Parents and caregivers are urged to use the summer break to make sure all students' immunizations are up to date before new regulations take effect in August, the Department of Health said today.

4 Jun 2011

Afghan Acting Health Minister says country wants to boost immunization access

Reuters featured an interview with Afghanistan's Acting Health Minister Suraya Dalil on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. "Afghanistan, whose government is fighting a worsening insurgency that has dragged on for nearly a decade since the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Taliban, is also plagued by poverty, malnutrition and corruption," Reuters writes, adding that the government and donors together spend "barely" $10 per person on health annually.

19 May 2011

Haiti presents plan to immunize 90 percent of newborns

Haiti has a plan to vaccinate 90 percent of newborns by 2015, according to PAHO, but "whether the plan works will depend on Haiti's ability to reverse decades of incompetent government and bad coordination among aid groups," as well as whether there will be funding, the New York Times reports.

18 May 2011

NBA Cares, SAHM and Tulsa Shock guard partner for teen vaccine awareness campaign

Tulsa Shock guard Andrea Riley and Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier teamed up with NBA Cares and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine today to bring Vaccines for Teens to the Tulsa community.

5 May 2011

Rwanda, QIAGEN and Merck launch comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program

The Government of Rwanda, together with QIAGEN N.V. and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the launch, in Kigali, Rwanda, of a comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program that includes vaccination with GARDASIL [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for appropriate girls 12 to 15 years of age and modern molecular diagnostic screening for women between the ages of 35 and 45.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 25 Apr 2011

Ahead of Immunization Week, WHO calls for countries to come together to control measles outbreak in Europe

WHO is urging countries in Europe to join together to help control the measles outbreak that has grown to more than 6,500 cases in 33 countries and the potential for worsening outbreaks "in the days ahead as people travel during the Easter holidays," U.N. News Centre reports.

25 Apr 2011

FDA approves Sanofi Pasteur's meningococcal vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted licensure to expand the indication for its meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Menactra, to include a two-dose schedule for infants and children 9 months through 23 months of age.

25 Apr 2011

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur commence Phase III trial of pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today the initiation of a Phase III clinical program to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine.

21 Apr 2011

Nuron Biotech announces acquisition of Wyeth's HibTITER vaccine assets

Nuron Biotech Inc., a specialty biologics and vaccines company, today announced that it has acquired assets relating to the vaccine HibTITER from Wyeth LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc, for the U.S. and many other markets, including Japan and Korea. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

7 Apr 2011

Lancet Infectious Diseases examines how resource gaps are creating barriers to reduce child mortality

The Lancet Infectious Diseases' Newsdesk examines how resource gaps in immunizations, health workers and financing are creating barriers to efforts to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal target to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, as highlighted in a recent Save the Children report.

3 Mar 2011

Symposium examines Bruesewitz vs. Wyeth Supreme Court case

A March 29 symposium at the New York Academy of Sciences, "Vaccines Under the Gun: Politics, Science, Media and the Law," will feature a presentation by Daniel J. Thomasch, JD, national lead trial counsel for Wyeth, who was involved in the case decided by the Supreme Court yesterday in which the justices rejected a lawsuit claiming injury from a Wyeth vaccine.

25 Feb 2011

New nanoparticle can help develop vaccines against HIV, malaria

MIT engineers have designed a new type of nanoparticle that could safely and effectively deliver vaccines for diseases such as HIV and malaria.

23 Feb 2011

CVS condemns Supreme Court's decision to preempt all vaccine design defect lawsuits

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety condemns the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth to preempt all vaccine design defect lawsuits in state and federal civil court. Quoting Justice Sotomayor's dissent, the majority "imposes its own bare policy preference over the considered judgment of Congress."

23 Feb 2011

New study shows economic burden of dengue in Western Hemisphere is $2.1 billion per year

Dengue illness, the most common mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, has expanded from its Southeast Asian origins and is resurgent in countries such as Argentina, Chile and the continental United States.

8 Feb 2011

Merck announces publication of GARDASIL pivotal Phase III study data in NEJM

Merck announced today that data from the pivotal Phase III study with GARDASIL in males were published in the February 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Feb 2011

Bill Gates, crown prince of Abu Dhabi announce $100m pledge for vaccines for Afghan, Pakistani children

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayanm, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, "pledged $100 million Wednesday to deliver vaccines to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Reuters reports.

28 Jan 2011

Lancet series examines health issues facing populations in Southeast Asia

"Southeast Asia's 600 million people are facing a raft of new health challenges as the disaster-prone region undergoes some of the world's fastest social change," according to a series of papers and commentary pieces, published Tuesday in the Lancet, Agence France-Presse reports (O'Brien, 1/25).

27 Jan 2011

UMMS begins MBL-HCV1 Phase 2 trial to prevent hepatitis C virus infection in liver transplant patients

Following a successful Phase 1 study for safety, researchers at MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School today announced the beginning of a Phase 2 clinical trial testing the ability of a human monoclonal antibody they developed to prevent hepatitis C virus infection of a donor liver in transplant patients.

19 Jan 2011