Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Tired B cells hamper immune response to HIV

Recent studies have shown that HIV causes a vigorous and prolonged immune response that eventually leads to the exhaustion of key immune system cells--CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells--that target HIV.

14 Jul 2008

Malaria prevention in schools reduces anaemia and improves educational potential in Kenyan school children

Providing preventive treatment for malaria, given once per term, dramatically reduces rates of malaria infection and anaemia among schoolchildren, and significantly improves their cognitive ability, according to new research published today in the Lancet.

10 Jul 2008

Researchers crack final part of the immune system code

A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen have developed models of neural networks that make it possible to simulate how the body protects itself from disease and predict the immune system's access codes.

10 Jul 2008

Enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver

A key enzyme may explain how hepatitis C infection causes fatty liver - a buildup of excess fat in the liver, which can lead to life-threatening diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, report University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine researchers.

10 Jul 2008

Researchers to compare common ARV as a pill and vaginal gel in unique HIV prevention study

In battle with an epidemic that has outpaced nearly all efforts to contain it, researchers are turning to strategies centered on the same antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that have been used successfully to treat HIV in hopes they will be as effective a stronghold for preventing the virus.

9 Jul 2008

The paradox of anti-HIV vaginal microbicides

With no HIV/AIDS vaccine or cure in sight, vaginal microbicides now in clinical trials are one of the most promising weapons that will protect women against HIV infection. Yet these microbicides could be of more benefit to men than to women, according to a new study co-authored by the University of New South Wales' National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) and UCLA.

7 Jul 2008

Complacency combined with risky behaviour could lead to HIV superinfection

Experts say almost every country in the developed world, including Australia, is experiencing significant and consistent rises in the rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM).

7 Jul 2008

Being an MRSA carrier increases risk of infection and death

Patients harboring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for long periods of time continue to be at increased risk of MRSA infection and death, according to a new study in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

2 Jul 2008

Bacteriophages treat deadly bacterial infections in mice

By the time antibiotics made their clinical debut 70 years ago, bacteria had long evolved strategies to shield themselves. For billions of years, bacteria hurled toxic molecules at each other in the struggle to prosper, and those that withstood the chemical onslaught marched on.

2 Jul 2008

HIV/AIDS cases among adults ages 50, older in Georgia increasing

New HIV/AIDS diagnoses among adults ages 50 and older in Georgia has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, according to recent data from the state Department of Human Resources' Division of Public Health, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

2 Jul 2008

Predicting tuberculosis outbreaks based on the first 2 cases

Outbreaks of tuberculosis (TB) may be able to be identified by looking at certain characteristics of the first two patients, according to new research. If the first two patients are diagnosed within three months of each other, live in urban areas, and if one or both are of sub-Saharan African origin, there is a 56 percent chance that the two cases will lead to a large outbreak of TB, whereas if the patients exhibit none of those characteristics, the odds are just one percent.

1 Jul 2008

Taking action against hospital acquired infections

Patients enter hospitals every day for a variety of reasons but usually without the thought of developing a new health problem. Yet every year thousands of hospitalized Americans acquire infections during hospital stays, causing risk of complications, prolonged stays and an increased burden on the health-care system.

1 Jul 2008

Hypertension, insulin resistance and immune suppression links

Many of the 75 million Americans with essential hypertension also develop diabetes and other complications in addition to their high blood pressure, and researchers have discovered a common molecular mechanism in a strain of rat that explains why such metabolic disorders arise together in mammals.

30 Jun 2008

Scientists challenge the public to predict the best way to control disease epidemics

Scientists will be challenging the public this week to pit their powers of prediction against the latest computer simulations. A brand new interactive exhibit will be displayed at the Royal Society's summer science exhibition that showcases the value of mathematical models in the fight to prevent and control diseases such as bluetongue.

30 Jun 2008

NIAID announces grants to stimulate food allergy research

Twelve investigators have received grants totaling $5 million over two years to lead high-impact, innovative studies of food allergy, a significant public health concern.

30 Jun 2008

Increasing number of severe bone infections, health complications in children linked to MRSA

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a major pathogen has led to more complications and longer hospital stays for children with acute bone infections, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report

30 Jun 2008

Anthrax attacks in the U.S. 'suspect' awarded $2.8 million

A former U.S. Army scientist has won his case against the United States Justice Department for being unfairly implicated in anthrax attacks in 2001.

30 Jun 2008

Cancer cure in mice to be tested in humans

Scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are about to embark on a human trial to test whether a new cancer treatment will be as effective at eradicating cancer in humans as it has proven to be in mice.

30 Jun 2008

New approach to HIV vaccine research taps Rochester expertise

A new national effort to create a vaccine against HIV will include work by a University of Rochester Medical Center rheumatologist who is an expert on a portion of the immune system that has sometimes gotten short shrift in the fight against HIV.

30 Jun 2008

Penn researchers propose major changes to informed consent for transplantation

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine physicians and bioethicists are calling for a new, more standardized way for patients in need of organ transplants to be informed of the risks they face. If adopted, their policy recommendations could promote greater equity in how organs are allocated while restricting patients' abilities to "cherry-pick" the best organs.

26 Jun 2008