Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Pediatric caustic ingestion injuries ‘much lower than believed’

The public health burden associated with children swallowing caustic chemicals is less than widely believed, US researchers report in the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

2 Jan 2013

Soligenix's OrbeShield granted FDA oral BDP orphan drug designation

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today that the Office of Orphan Products Development of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to OrbeShield (oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate or oral BDP) for the prevention of death following a potentially lethal dose of total body irradiation during or after a radiation disaster.

2 Jan 2013

Insufficient evidence for low oxygen in preterm resuscitation

Using low- rather than high-oxygen-concentration resuscitation gas for preterm infants cannot be recommended on the basis of available evidence, say researchers.

31 Dec 2012

Common cholesterol-lowering drug may help protect against cerebral malaria

Researchers have discovered that adding lovastatin, a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, to traditional antimalarial treatment decreases neuroinflammation and protects against cognitive impairment in a mouse model of cerebral malaria.

29 Dec 2012

Routine reimaging unnecessary after mild head injury

Scheduling a repeat computed tomography scan for patients with mild traumatic brain injury and stable neurologic signs is unnecessary, given that it rarely changes management, say Canadian researchers.

28 Dec 2012

Antibiotics do not help lower-respiratory tract infections

The antibiotic amoxicillin fares no better at reducing symptoms in patients with lower-respiratory tract infections than a placebo drug, indicate data from a dozen European countries.

28 Dec 2012

Concern over transfusions in myocardial infarction patients

A meta-analysis highlights the consistent observational finding that patients with myocardial infarction who receive blood transfusions are at high risk for dying.

28 Dec 2012

Bumping up appendicitis diagnostic accuracy

It is well worth emergency doctors asking patients with abdominal pain how they were affected by driving over speed bumps on their way to hospital, research suggests.

28 Dec 2012

FDA clears Cepheid Xpert CT/NG molecular diagnostic test

Cepheid today announced that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to market Xpert CT/NG. Running on Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems, Xpert CT/NG is a qualitative in vitro molecular diagnostic test for the detection and differentiation of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. For the first time, same-day patient consultation and treatment is possible for the two most common sexually transmitted bacterial infections in the United States.

28 Dec 2012

Gates Foundation grant to promote effective use of new cholera vaccine

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was awarded a four-year, $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote the effective use of oral cholera vaccine around the world. The Delivering Oral Vaccine Effectively (DOVE) program will provide relief agencies and governments with technical assistance on how to use oral cholera vaccine, evaluate current vaccine-use practices and develop new field surveillance methods for monitoring and controlling outbreaks of the disease.

28 Dec 2012

Trovagene adds Duke University Health System to worldwide licensees of NPM1 marker for AML

Trovagene, Inc., a developer of transrenal molecular diagnostics, announced it has granted Duke University and Duke University Health Systems a non-exclusive license to incorporate nucleophosmin protein (NPM1) into research and clinical testing services for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

27 Dec 2012

Genome sequencing may help identify new targets to treat Pneumocystis pneumonia

Scientists have sequenced the genome of the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, an advancement that could help identify new targets for drugs to treat and prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common and often deadly infection in immunocompromised patients.

26 Dec 2012

More children surviving heart attacks in hospital

Approximately three times more children survived in-hospital cardiac arrest in 2009 compared with 2000, indicate data from the Get With The Guidelines–Resuscitation registry.

24 Dec 2012

Genetic innovations for pneumonia diagnosis in children

Polymerase chain reaction could help diagnose Mycoplasmia pneumonia infection in children, researchers say.

24 Dec 2012

High-dose rifampicin combination could improve meningitis survival

A treatment regimen including high-dose rifampicin administered intravenously in addition to standard or high-dose moxifloxacin has an acceptable safety profile and could improve survival for patients with tuberculous meningitis, indicate phase II trial results.

22 Dec 2012

Voluntary moratorium on H5N1 avian flu research likely to end soon

Following the conclusion of a two-day meeting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week -- meant "to gather feedback from flu researchers, others in the science community, and the public on its draft framework for funding H5N1 gain-of-function studies and to continue an international dialogue on issues related to benefits and risks of the research" -- "experts anticipated that a voluntary moratorium on work with lab-modified strains that have increased transmissibility might end soon," CIDRAP News reports.

21 Dec 2012

The war on terror: High rates of stoma creation after colorectal injury

Over one third of military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan who sustain colorectal injury undergo fecal diversion, show coalition force data.

20 Dec 2012

Antibiotic amoxicillin ineffective for treating cough according to European trial

The antibiotic amoxicillin, that doctors typically prescribe for common lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) such as cough and bronchitis, is no more effective at relieving symptoms than the use of no medication, even in older patients. The findings from the largest randomised placebo controlled trial of antibiotics for acute uncomplicated LRTI to date are published Online First in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

20 Dec 2012

West African human population genomes provide important clues about evolution of HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may have affected humans for much longer than is currently believed. Alfred Roca, an assistant professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, thinks that the genomes of an isolated West African human population provide important clues about how the disease has evolved.

20 Dec 2012

Positive top-line results from Idera’s IMO-3100 Phase 2a trial on plaque psoriasis

Idera Pharmaceuticals today announced that 48% of patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (12 of 25) treated with IMO-3100, a selective antagonist of Toll-like Receptors (TLRs) 7 and 9, demonstrated improvements in Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores of 35% to 90% from baseline at the completion of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2a clinical trial of two dose levels of IMO-3100 administered for four weeks, with a four-week follow-up period.

20 Dec 2012