Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Aeras receives grant to support the development of vaccines against TB, HIV and malaria

Aeras, a nonprofit biotech advancing TB vaccines for the world, the University of Oxford and Okairos, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in T-cell vaccines, today announced a $2.9 million grant to Aeras in support of a collaboration among the three parties to support the development of vaccines against tuberculosis, HIV and malaria.

7 May 2013

Scientists generate map of H7N9 risk

A map of avian influenza (H7N9) risk is presented in Biomed Central's open access journal Infectious Diseases of Poverty today. The map is comprised of bird migration patterns, and adding in estimations of poultry production and consumption, which are used to infer future risk and to advise on ways to prevent infection.

3 May 2013

New approach could democratize viral surveillance, says UCSF scientist

The tick-borne Lone Star virus has been conclusively identified as part of a family of other tick-borne viruses called bunyaviruses, which often cause fever, respiratory problems and bleeding, according to new research led by scientists at UC San Francisco.

3 May 2013

Researchers reveal how Ebola evades human immune response

Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind one of the Ebola virus' most dangerous attributes: its ability to disarm the adaptive immune system.

3 May 2013

Increased accumulation of coronary artery calcium leads to heart attack risk

Patients with increasing accumulations of coronary artery calcium were more than six times more likely to suffer from a heart attack or die from heart disease than patients who didn't have increasing accumulations, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 May 2013

Viewpoints: Outrage at mistaken report on Hill health coverage; Two views of Florida's option on Medicaid

Because members of Congress are accustomed to high-quality medical care provided to them through federal employee benefit programs, one might expect that they would push for top quality care to be delivered through the exchanges too.

2 May 2013

HCV screening of prison inmate drug users: an interview with Dr. Arthur Kim, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Prisoners overall have a very high rate of past or present injection drug use, which is a major risk factor for HCV infection due to repeated exposures to needles.

1 May 2013

Frequency of childhood gunshot injuries ‘concerning’

Results from a survey carried out in Colorado, USA, show that a small but significant number of children in the region are killed or injured by firearms every year.

30 Apr 2013

Glide Pharma awarded contract from Pfenex Inc. to develop a solid formulation of recombinant anthrax vaccine

Glide Pharma® today announced the award of a sub-contract from Pfenex Inc. to develop a solid formulation containing the recombinant Protective Antigen (rPA) from Bacillus anthracis expressed in Pfēnex Expression Technology™ suitable for delivery with the Glide SDI® (solid dose injector). This approach will address two important logistical constraints of the currently available vaccine, namely, long term stability during storage and ease of administration.

30 Apr 2013

Collaborative research network to understand spread of infectious diseases

The Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study is a collaborative research network funded by the National Institutes of Health that uses computational, statistical and mathematical models to understand the spread of infectious diseases such as influenza, pertussis, West Nile disease, dengue fever and cholera.

30 Apr 2013

Al Jazeera programs examine vaccine funding, efforts to fight malaria, TB, HIV

Al Jazeera's "Inside Story" on Friday examined whether funding and political will can keep pace with efforts to vaccinate every child worldwide. The 25-minute video program, "with presenter Shiulie Ghosh, discusses with guests: Kate Elder from Doctors Without Borders; Adel Mahmoud, a global health specialist at Princeton University, and former president of Merck Vaccines," Al Jazeera writes.

30 Apr 2013

BioLineRx starts enrollment in Phase I/II trial of BL-8020 for treatment of HCV

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today enrollment of the first patient in a Phase I/II trial for BL-8020, an orally available, interferon-free treatment for the Hepatitis C virus.

29 Apr 2013

Forecasting outbreak of dengue fever with warning system

With the help of a warning system which measures the risk of dengue incidence using precipitation and air temperature, it is possible to forecast the outbreak of dengue fever up to 16 weeks in advance.

29 Apr 2013

Transgene announces pre-clinical data of TG1050 for treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection

Transgene SA, a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted immunotherapy products to treat major unmet medical needs in cancer and chronic infectious diseases, announced pre-clinical data obtained with its novel immunotherapeutic, TG1050, to treat chronic hepatitis B infection.

29 Apr 2013

Cempra demonstrates solithromycin's potential against urogenital infections at ECCMID

Cempra, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing differentiated antibiotics to meet critical medical needs in the treatment of bacterial infections, today announced that it will present data at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Berlin, demonstrating solithromycin's potential to treat urogenital infections and combat challenging pathogens such as enterococci and Legionella pneumophila.

29 Apr 2013

GS-9620 therapy suppresses hepatitis B virus infection

A novel drug developed by Gilead Sciences and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio suppresses hepatitis B virus infection by stimulating the immune system and inducing loss of infected cells.

29 Apr 2013

Protein C4BP is possibly suitable as transporter for drugs, say researchers

The protein C4BP is similar to a spider in its spatial form with eight "arms". The structure of the "spider body" has recently been described in detail by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig and the Technische Universit-t Darmstadt.

29 Apr 2013

Pfizer reports that Prevenar 13 Phase 3 study meets all primary, secondary objectives

Pfizer Inc. presented today the results from a Phase 3 study investigating immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]) in adults 18 to 49 years of age.

From Pfizer, Inc. 29 Apr 2013

Latin America facing an alarming increase in cancer rates

Latin America is facing an alarming increase in cancer rates, and unless urgent action is taken to prevent cancers, improve health-care systems and facilities, access to vital medical care, and treatment of poor people, the region threatens to be overwhelmed by the burgeoning epidemic, say the authors of a major new report on cancer control in the region, published in The Lancet Oncology, and launched at the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) 2013 conference in São Paulo, Brazil.

26 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 26, 2013

Today's headlines include reports that some Democratic senators have concerns about the health law's roll out as well as other news about the measure's implementation.

26 Apr 2013