Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Kawasaki Disease may increase risk of atherosclerosis in children

Cedars-Sinai researchers have linked Kawasaki Disease, a serious childhood illness that causes inflammation of blood vessels throughout the body, with early-onset and accelerated atherosclerosis, a leading cause of heart disease in adults.

18 Jul 2012

Ticagrelor ‘now on equal footing’ with other antiplatelets

The platelet aggregation inhibitor ticagrelor is now considered of equal effectiveness to clopidogrel and prasugrel for patients who have experienced a heart attack or have unstable angina, a report states.

17 Jul 2012

Hypomagnesemia signals nonrecovery of renal function in AKI

Researchers have identified hypomagnesemia as a risk factor for nonrecovery of renal function among critically ill patients with acute kidney injury.

17 Jul 2012

Light reflexes during CPR may indicate survival chances

The presence of the papillary light reflex during cardiopulmonary resuscitation is associated with early survival and favorable neurologic status during recovery, suggest findings from a case series.

17 Jul 2012

Duke University to receive CHAVI-Immunogen Discovery grant for effective HIV vaccine

A large federal grant awarded to Duke University will fund a highly focused program to discover how to induce the precise immune factors needed for effective vaccines against HIV.

17 Jul 2012

Scientists discover new way to convert cord blood cells into iNC

For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases.

17 Jul 2012

Polio eradication: an interview with Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly

Polio is a disease caused by a virus and results in paralysis, usually in the legs, of those affected. The paralysis is irreversible. In some extreme cases the virus spreads to the nerve cells of the brain reducing breathing capacity and this rarer form can be fatal.

16 Jul 2012

Researchers discover HVEM’s unknown role in fighting off E. coli infections

Despite ongoing public health efforts, E. coli outbreaks continue to infiltrate the food supply, annually causing significant sickness and death throughout the world. But the research community is gaining ground. In a major finding, published today in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have discovered a molecule's previously unknown role in fighting off E. coli and other bacterial infections, a discovery that could lead to new ways to protect people from these dangerous microorganisms.

16 Jul 2012

Johns Hopkins doctoral program graduate explores ways to control infectious diseases

Her passport is stamped with exotic locations: Myanmar, Tibet, South Africa, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as Baltimore, MD. But, when Carrie Tudor, PhD, MPH, RN, looks at it, she sees global battlefields in the fight against infectious disease. Her weapons: immunizations, programs to curb tuberculosis and HIV transmission, and a drive to carry on a rich tradition of public health nursing research.

16 Jul 2012

Alzheimer's Association honors Gladstone researcher with Lifetime Achievement Award

Lennart Mucke, MD, who directs neurological research at the Gladstone Institutes, has received the Khalid Iqbal Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions to Alzheimer's disease research. The Alzheimer's Association presented the award to Dr. Mucke today at the 2012 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Vancouver, Canada.

16 Jul 2012

CDC releases Global Health Strategy 2012-2015

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Global Health Strategy 2012-2015, which "outlines how CDC will leverage its core strengths to advance four overarching global health goals: improving the health and well-being of people around the world, improving capabilities for preparing and responding to infectious diseases and emerging health threats, building country public health capacity and maximizing organizational capacity," according to the strategy website.

14 Jul 2012

Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation supports work of five new C.H.S. research groups

Five new research groups for young scientists, the C.H.S. research groups, have taken up their work in basic biomedical research. To mark the occasion, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) will hold a ceremony on 20 July 2012.

14 Jul 2012

EU-funded researchers develop new antimicrobial resistance monitoring solution

Every year hundreds of thousands of people die because of infections that have become resistant to treatment. A new data-mining, clinical monitoring and decision-support system, developed by EU-funded researchers, offers a powerful new weapon in the war on resistance to antibiotics.

14 Jul 2012

Caution advised with succinylcholine in critically ill

The risk for hyperkalemia after succinylcholine use for urgent tracheal intubation increases the longer patients remain in the intensive care unit, research shows.

13 Jul 2012

Disappointing result for acadesine

The adenosine-regulating agent acadesine does not reduce the occurrence of adverse outcomes in patients undergoing on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery, researchers say.

12 Jul 2012

$Ankle fracture severity linked to obesity$

Ankle fracture severity linked to obesity

Obese patients experience more severe ankle fractures than individuals with a healthy body mass index, research suggests.

12 Jul 2012

Eosinophil count predicts mortality risk following heart procedure

Study findings suggest that eosinophil count predicts mortality risk in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

12 Jul 2012

UC Davis, CDC, Agilent and FDA partner to develop public database of foodborne pathogen genomes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the University of California, Davis, Agilent Technologies Inc., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today a collaboration to create a public database of 100,000 foodborne pathogen genomes to help speed identification of bacteria responsible for foodborne outbreaks.

12 Jul 2012

PLoS Medicine papers examine HIV treatment as prevention

Early treatment with antiretroviral medication can significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission to an uninfected sexual partner, "but many logistical hurdles stand in the way of making this strategy feasible, affordable and effective, according to experts writing in Tuesday's edition of the journal PLoS Medicine," the Los Angeles Times reports.

12 Jul 2012

Scientists capture high-quality images of immune cell trafficking in a beating heart

Blood flow to the heart often is interrupted during a heart attack or cardiac surgery. But when blood flow resumes, the heart may still falter. That's because collateral damage can occur as blood re-enters the heart, potentially slowing recovery and causing future cardiac troubles.

12 Jul 2012