Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Study finds certain H5N1 strains in cattle linked to milder human illness; other variants remain a concern

Study reveals that contemporary HPAI H5N1 viruses show reduced replication and immune activation in human lung organoids, potentially explaining milder disease in humans compared to historic strains.

13 Jan 2025

Innovative tablet combination shows promise in fighting Trichuris trichiura and other helminths

A new tablet combining albendazole and ivermectin is safe and more effective than albendazole alone in treating Trichuris trichiura and other soil-transmitted helminths (STH), according to a clinical trial conducted by the STOP consortium and led by the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by "la Caixa" Foundation.

10 Jan 2025

Menarini Group signs licensing deal with Insilico for promising cancer treatment

The Menarini Group ("Menarini"), a leading international pharmaceutical and diagnostics company, and Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. ("Stemline"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group focused on bringing transformational oncology treatments to cancer patients, and Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), a clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven biotechnology company, today announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement granting Stemline the global rights to develop and commercialize a preclinical small molecule targeting high unmet needs in oncology.

10 Jan 2025

T cells can completely prevent viral infections in humans

Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School and the Singapore General Hospital have discovered that T cells-white blood cells that can destroy harmful pathogens-can completely prevent viral infection, to an extent previously thought only possible due to neutralizing antibodies.

10 Jan 2025

HIV drug access remains a major challenge despite promising trial results

Promising new drugs to prevent and treat HIV have the potential to transform the response to the disease. But getting these drugs to those who need it most will be critical, says Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International AIDS Society.

10 Jan 2025

New antibiotic shows promise in fighting tuberculosis

A consortium including scientists from the Tropical Institute at LMU University Hospital has demonstrated the effectiveness of a new antibiotic.

9 Jan 2025

How stress fuels allergic skin inflammation

Researchers investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms through which stress exacerbates immunoglobulin E cutaneous allergic inflammation.

9 Jan 2025

Gut microbes and the body work together to regulate fat metabolism

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University's Ithaca campus.

9 Jan 2025

Extreme weather impacts HIV prevention and treatment access

New challenges in HIV prevention and care are emerging due to climate change, according to a review published earlier this month in Current Opinions in Infectious Disease.

8 Jan 2025

AI-designed drug shows promise for inflammatory bowel disease

Insilico Medicine ('Insilico'), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company, today announces positive results from two Phase I studies in Australia and China of ISM5411, a novel gut-restricted and PHD specific Inhibitor designed and optimized with the support of Insilico's Chemistry42 commercially-available generative reinforcement learning platform, for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

8 Jan 2025

AI-based method predicts progression of autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own healthy cells and tissues, often have a preclinical stage before diagnosis that's characterized by mild symptoms or certain antibodies in the blood.

7 Jan 2025

Early results of doxy PEP rollout show mixed impact on STIs

As health care services begin offering doxycycline to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), real-world evidence demonstrates that the postexposure strategy, called doxy PEP, is reducing the rate of syphilis and chlamydia, but has had little to no effect on gonorrhea and needs close monitoring for signals of antibiotic resistance.

6 Jan 2025

H5N1 bird flu spillover to horses, raises fears of new viral strains

Researchers report the first confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu in horses, highlighting their role as potential reservoirs for viral reassortment. This groundbreaking study urges increased surveillance to prevent novel influenza epidemics.

5 Jan 2025

Human protein MxA restricts H5N1, but virus mutations raise alarms

Human MxA protein suppresses mammalian H5N1 virus replication, but emerging mutations may enable partial evasion, raising concerns for human transmission.

5 Jan 2025

Y chromosome’s unexpected impact on aging and disease in men

Loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) in men, a dynamic mutation linked to aging, impairs immune function and increases risks of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and cardiovascular diseases, making it a promising biomarker and therapeutic target.

5 Jan 2025

From ducks to detection: Revolutionizing surveillance in the fight against HPAI

Vaccination drastically reduces avian influenza outbreaks in ducks, but enhanced passive surveillance is crucial for timely and effective detection of the virus.

5 Jan 2025

Professor Alison Elliott honored with OBE for contributions to global health

Leading clinical researcher Professor Alison Elliott has been honoured with an OBE in the King's New Year Honours for services to medicine and global health.

3 Jan 2025

Scientists identify novel antibodies for fighting malaria

A novel class of antibodies that binds to a previously untargeted portion of the malaria parasite could lead to new prevention methods, according to a study from researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published today in Science.

3 Jan 2025

Predicting H5N1 disease severity based on T cell responses

New research led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) suggests that many people already have immune cells on "stand by" to fight the H5N1 virus, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza.

2 Jan 2025

Insilico Medicine nominates ISM1745 as preclinical candidate for MTAP-deleted cancers

Insilico Medicine ('Insilico'), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company, today announced the nomination of ISM1745, a potentially best-in-class MTA cooperative PRMT5 inhibitor with AI-powered novel scaffold, as preclinical candidate (PCC) for the treatment of MTAP-deleted cancers.

2 Jan 2025