Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Natural, needle-free vaccination against malaria

If mice are administered an antibiotic for three days and are simultaneously infected with malaria, no parasites appear in the blood and life-threatening disease is averted. In addition, the animals treated in this manner also develop robust, long-term immunity against subsequent infections. This discovery was made by the team headed by Dr. Steffen Borrmann from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital in cooperation with Dr. Kai Matuschewski of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. The scientists think that safe and affordable prophylaxis with antibiotics in residents of areas with high malaria transmission has the potential to be used as a natural "needle-free" vaccination against malaria.

21 Jul 2010

Tenofovir gel reduces HIV by 39% in women: CAPRISA 004 study

Researchers who conducted a study testing a vaginal microbicide with an antiretroviral (ARV) drug called tenofovir found its use before and after sex was significantly more protective against HIV infection than a placebo gel among women at high risk of HIV. Results of the study, known as CAPRISA 004, are to be reported at the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) in Vienna and published online by the journal Science.

20 Jul 2010

Only 51% of HIV-exposed infants received minimal dose of prevention drug nevirapine: Study

In the ongoing battle to prevent mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), not all weapons are being used: Only about half of HIV-exposed infants in some African countries received a minimal dose of the prevention drug nevirapine, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

20 Jul 2010

NanoViricides presents study results of nanoviricides anti-Ebola agents

NanoViricides, Inc. reports that the results of the evaluation of several of its nanoviricides anti-Ebola agents were presented July 17th at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology, July 17-21, at Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. Dr. Corinne Scully delivered the presentation, which was entitled "Polymeric Micelle Nanomaterials as Antiviral Compounds For Ebola Virus Infection."

20 Jul 2010

Re-framing climate change issue helps people better understand climate-related problem: Research

Framing climate change as a public health problem seems to make the issue more relevant, significant and understandable to members of the public-even some who don't generally believe climate change is happening, according to preliminary research by George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication.

20 Jul 2010

Scientists find major shortcomings in assessing CVD risk in HIV patients

At the same time that medical science has nearly eliminated AIDS deaths in patients treated for human immunodeficiency virus, two international meetings of HIV/AIDS scientists and patient advocates find major shortcomings in the design and analysis of studies used to assess cardiovascular disease risk in people with HIV with significant implications for improving medical care.

20 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 studies, releases: Treating HIV-positive patients with ARVs drove down number of new HIV infections, study finds

"Treating HIV patients with cocktails of AIDS drugs helps to stop them spreading the infection further and more than halved the number of new HIV diagnoses in a study in Canada, scientists said on Sunday," Reuters reports.

20 Jul 2010

Abbott presents 48-week PROGRESS study results at 28th International AIDS Conference

Abbott today presented 48-week findings comparing an HIV regimen of its protease inhibitor (PI), Kaletra® (lopinavir/ritonavir), and Merck's integrase inhibitor, Isentress® (raltegravir), to a traditional HIV regimen of Kaletra and the nucleotide/nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in Truvada® (tenofovir and emtricitabine) in antiretroviral-naive adult patients. Efficacy data were collected over the first 48 weeks of the 96-week PROGRESS (PROtease/InteGRasE Simplification Study) study.

20 Jul 2010

Infants in African countries receive minimum help to reduce risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission: Study

Only about half of infants born to HIV-infected mothers in some African countries receive a minimum preventive dose of the drug nevirapine to help reduce the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission, according to a study in the July 21 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

20 Jul 2010

AIDS 2010 opens: Leaders weigh in on global HIV/AIDS funding; Clinton, Gates on efficiency

The six-day International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 kicked off Sunday in Vienna, Austria "amid resurgent fears that advances in the 29-year war against the disease were threatened by a slump in funding," Agence France-Presse reports.

20 Jul 2010

Corgenix, ELITech establish broad strategic alliance

Corgenix Medical Corporation, a worldwide developer and marketer of diagnostic test kits, and the ELITech Group, a Paris, France-based, privately held group of companies and worldwide manufacturer and distributor of in-vitro diagnostic equipment and reagents, today announced a broad strategic alliance.

19 Jul 2010

Encorium CRO acquires Progenitor

Encorium Group, Inc., a full service multinational clinical research organization (CRO) conducting studies in over 30 countries for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, today announced that it has acquired Progenitor Holdings AG, a corporation organized in Switzerland and its wholly-owned subsidiaries organized in Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Switzerland, India and Hong Kong for cash and stock valued at EURO 1.7 million, plus earn-out consideration of cash and stock with a value of up to EURO 1.5 million.

19 Jul 2010

Phase 2 CUBICIN study for prosthetic joint infections meets primary endpoint

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading acute care therapeutics company, today announced that its Phase 2 safety study of CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection) in the treatment of prosthetic joint infections caused by certain Gram positive pathogens met its study objectives. This study was a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled Phase 2 trial studying anti-infective therapy in the setting of 2-stage surgery for the replacement of infected prosthetic hip or knee joints.

19 Jul 2010

Phase II data on Genetic Immunity's DermaVir vaccine to be presented at XVIII International AIDS Conference

Genetic Immunity, a US/Hungarian biopharmaceutical company developing nanomedicine-based immunotherapies for HIV/AIDS and other chronic diseases, is releasing Phase II data on the Company's novel DermaVir therapeutic vaccine for HIV/AIDS during the XVIII International AIDS Conference this week in Vienna, Austria. DermaVir, the first dendritic cell-targeting topical HIV vaccine candidate, employs nanotechnology to induce multi-faceted and long-lived immune responses capable of eliminating HIV infected cells.

19 Jul 2010

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine appears to reduce pneumonia, serious complications in infants: Research

A pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduced in the U.S. 10 years ago appears to reduce pneumonia and serious associated complications, such as blood infections, in the vaccine's target range, children less than a year old, according to new research.

19 Jul 2010

New tactics for repelling, controlling disease-carrying insects

In the battle between insect predators and their prey, chemical signals called kairomones serve as an early-warning system. Pervasively emitted by the predators, the compounds are detected by their prey, and can even trigger adaptations, such a change in body size or armor, that help protect the prey. But as widespread as kairomones are in the insect world, their chemical identity has remained largely unknown. New research by Rockefeller University's Joel E. Cohen and colleagues at the University of Haifa in Israel has identified two compounds emitted by mosquito predators that make the mosquitoes less inclined to lay eggs in pools of water.

17 Jul 2010

Study examines HIV-positive patients' death risk at CD4 counts above 350

"Having HIV appears to be associated with a greater risk of death, even when the immune system is relatively robust and patients have not started treatment," according to a study published Friday in the Lancet, MedPage Today reports (Smith, 7/15).

17 Jul 2010

Also in Global Health News: WHO reacts to Amnesty's N. Korea report; Universal flu vaccine; Malaria-resistant mosquitoes

The WHO is questioning the validity of the findings of a recent Amnesty International report which highlighted the dire needs of North Korea's health system, "contradict[ing] the rosier picture given by WHO chief Margaret Chan after her April trip there," the Associated Press reports. Although WHO spokesman Paul Garwood "insisted he wasn't criticizing Amnesty's work … he said Thursday's report was anecdotal, with stories dating back to 2001," which "[h]e contrasted … with WHO's science-based approach" (7/16).

17 Jul 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

As part of a series in advance of AIDS 2010, the "Science Speaks" blog features an interview with U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby "about his expectations for the conference, what was behind the Uganda problem with shortages of AIDS medicine, and whether The New York Times was right when it reported in May that the Ugandan drug shortfall was 'the first example … of how the war on AIDS is falling apart.'"

16 Jul 2010

Studying retrovirus assembly can help new drug development for infection control

How a retrovirus, like HIV, reproduces and assembles new viruses is different than previously thought, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Understanding the steps a virus takes for assembly could allow development of a way to prevent the spread of retroviral diseases. The team studied a chicken virus called Rous sarcoma virus that causes cancer in chickens and is similar to HIV.

16 Jul 2010

Infectious Diseases News and Research

Natural, needle-free vaccination against malaria

Tenofovir gel reduces HIV by 39% in women: CAPRISA 004 study

Only 51% of HIV-exposed infants received minimal dose of prevention drug nevirapine: Study

NanoViricides presents study results of nanoviricides anti-Ebola agents

Re-framing climate change issue helps people better understand climate-related problem: Research

Scientists find major shortcomings in assessing CVD risk in HIV patients

AIDS 2010 studies, releases: Treating HIV-positive patients with ARVs drove down number of new HIV infections, study finds

Abbott presents 48-week PROGRESS study results at 28th International AIDS Conference

Infants in African countries receive minimum help to reduce risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission: Study

AIDS 2010 opens: Leaders weigh in on global HIV/AIDS funding; Clinton, Gates on efficiency

Corgenix, ELITech establish broad strategic alliance

Encorium CRO acquires Progenitor

Phase 2 CUBICIN study for prosthetic joint infections meets primary endpoint

Phase II data on Genetic Immunity's DermaVir vaccine to be presented at XVIII International AIDS Conference

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine appears to reduce pneumonia, serious complications in infants: Research

New tactics for repelling, controlling disease-carrying insects

Study examines HIV-positive patients' death risk at CD4 counts above 350

Also in Global Health News: WHO reacts to Amnesty's N. Korea report; Universal flu vaccine; Malaria-resistant mosquitoes

Recent releases in Global Health

Studying retrovirus assembly can help new drug development for infection control

Industry Focus eBook - Infectious Diseases (3rd Edition) eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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