Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Totally drug resistant Tuberculosis hits India

Reports reveal that nearly a dozen people in India are infected with a type of tuberculosis that is resistant to all antibiotics used to treat the disease and is thus named “totally drug resistant” or TDR tuberculosis.

17 Jan 2012

New way to block HCV infection in the liver

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found a new way to block infection from the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the liver that could lead to new therapies for those affected by this and other infectious diseases.

17 Jan 2012

Suing others for spread of disease ignores dynamics of infectious disease

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the CGD, and Richard Cash, senior lecturer on global health at the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Global Health and Population, report on a lawsuit brought forth against the U.N. on behalf of some of Haiti's 15,000 cholera victims.

13 Jan 2012

Non-toxin vaccine shows promise against lethal anthrax infection

Vaccination with the anthrax capsule-a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease-protected monkeys from lethal anthrax infection, according to U.S. Army scientists. The study, which appears in the Jan. 20th print edition of the journal VACCINE, represents the first successful use of a non-toxin vaccine to protect monkeys from the disease.

13 Jan 2012

CrystalGenomics raises KRW 3 billion in private placement

CrystalGenomics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Korea, has just announced that it has successfully raised KRW 3 Billion (USD 2.6 Million) in a private placement to the Korea Seoul Life Science Fund.

13 Jan 2012

Study confirms condom use reduces risk of HIV infection by 78%

The level of HIV-1 in the blood of an HIV-infected partner is the single most important factor influencing risk of sexual transmission to an uninfected partner, according to a multinational study of heterosexual couples in sub-Saharan Africa.

12 Jan 2012

Potential human health risk from illegal wildlife trade

An article released today in PLoS ONE entitled, Zoonotic Viruses Associated with Illegally Imported Wildlife Products, from a collaborative study led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), identified evidence of retroviruses and herpesviruses in illegally imported wildlife products confiscated at several U.S. international airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental-Houston and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International.

11 Jan 2012

Human health depends on mosquito's immune response to pathogens

As mosquito-borne viral diseases like West Nile fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya fever spread rapidly around the globe, scientists at Virginia Tech are working to understand the mosquito's immune system and how the viral pathogens that cause these diseases are able to overcome it to be transmitted to human and animal hosts.

11 Jan 2012

Infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block pathogen's entry into cells

New research shows that infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block a pathogen's entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself.

11 Jan 2012

Report on the value of 'Google Flu Trends' for emergency departments

Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients compared to waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency departments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the January 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

10 Jan 2012

RUMC moves 200 patients into new 14-story hospital building

After more than seven years of planning and three years of construction, Rush University Medical Center successfully moved approximately 200 patients into the Tower, Rush's new, 14-story, state-of-the-art hospital building, located at Ashland Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway.

10 Jan 2012

CNBG, Aeras reach final agreement to develop new TB vaccines

The global fight against the tuberculosis epidemic receives a boost today as Aeras and the China National Biotec Group (CNBG) announce that they have reached final agreement to jointly develop new tuberculosis (TB) vaccines.

10 Jan 2012

MPIIB, QIAGEN partner to develop latent TB diagnostic test

QIAGEN N.V. and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPIIB), Department of Immunology have announced a new collaboration to develop a molecular diagnostic test to assess the risk of an individual with latent tuberculosis (TB) developing active TB disease during their lifetime.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 9 Jan 2012

Bristol-Myers Squibb signs definitive agreement to acquire Inhibitex

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Inhibitex, Inc. announced today that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire Inhibitex for $26.00 per share in cash pursuant to a cash tender offer and second step merger.

8 Jan 2012

Anthrax defenses need to be strengthened say experts

It has been a decade since the anthrax attacks brought home the reality of bioterrorism and the nation has a stockpile of some basic tools to fight back against a few of the threats that worry defense experts the most.

8 Jan 2012

The Lancet announces first iPad app for healthcare professionals

The Lancet, the world's leading independent general medical journal, today announced its first app for iPad is now available on the App Store. The Lancet App is an innovative article-based navigation app that makes it easier for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to find the information they need quickly and efficiently from the convenience of their iPad.

7 Jan 2012

FDA approval of raltegravir offers new weapon to treat HIV infection in children

For children and adolescents with HIV infection, the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the use of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug that slows the spread of HIV infection, offers a new weapon to treat HIV infection in children.

7 Jan 2012

APUA applauds FDA for acting to limit antibiotics in food-producing animals

The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) today praised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for acting to limit certain extra label uses of cephalosporins in major animal species – cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys – where misuse and overuse are cause for great concern. Extra label use occurs when use of a drug does not comply with the approved labeling.

6 Jan 2012

UNC HIV researcher Cohen discusses his work, HPTN 052

PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog features a video from the UNC Medical Center News Office in which Myron Cohen, a professor of medicine, microbiology, immunology and public health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, discusses his research into HIV/AIDS prevention, including his lead role in HPTN 052.

6 Jan 2012

TrovaGene enters definitive agreement to acquire MultiGEN

TrovaGene, Inc., a developer of trans-renal molecular diagnostics, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MultiGEN Diagnostics, Inc.'s clinical laboratory assets in exchange for the issuance of 750,000 shares of common stock of TrovaGene, with an additional earn-out of up to $3.7 million in cash and common stock, subject to the achievement of specific sales and earnings targets.

6 Jan 2012