Strep Throat News and Research

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Acute inflammation of the structures of the pharynx and tonsils, also known as tonsillopharyngitis, represents a common condition that is usually encountered in outpatients seeking healthcare interventions. Sore throat and fever are the dominant symptoms of this condition which usually follows a benign course that resolves without any antimicrobial treatment.

Guidelines for parents to beat back-to-school bugs

School bells are beginning to sound again across the country, so it will only be a matter of time until every parent comes face-to-face with a child who wakes up with a cold, fever or upset stomach.

24 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Trouble keeping health costs down; Ignagni says law needs some revisions; Coverage is like clean water

Now that the Supreme Court has provided legal certainty on the recent healthcare reform law, the nation must turn its attention to affordability. While the law expands coverage to millions of Americans, a goal health plans have long supported, major provisions of the law need to be changed to avoid significant cost increases for consumers and employers.

12 Jul 2012

First Edition: June 26, 2012

Today's headlines include reports setting the scene for Thursday's Supreme Court decision that will determine the health law's future.

26 Jun 2012

Routine screening with echocardiogram can detect more cases of RHD

Routine screening with echocardiogram can detect three times as many cases of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) as clinical examinations, offering a novel approach in preventing this common disease, according to a new study in Circulation.

12 Jun 2012

Rare CARD14 gene mutations can lead to plaque psoriasis

Scientists led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first gene directly linked to the most common form of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition.

20 Apr 2012

State roundup: Health costs cloud forecast for state budgets; Minnesota to use HMO refund on personal care

U.S. state and local governments' fiscal situations have improved recently but will still deteriorate through 2060, the Government Accountability Office said on Thursday. ... The outlook remains gloomy for the future, with healthcare costs, both for public employees and for the Medicaid insurance program for the poor, swelling and weighing on budgets, GAO said.

7 Apr 2012

Common infections could become deadly with increase in antibiotic resistance, WHO's Chan says

As more bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, "common infections could become deadly, according to" WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who spoke on Wednesday at a conference titled "Combating Antimicrobial Resistance: Time for Action" in Copenhagen, ABC News reports.

19 Mar 2012

Promising antibiotic alternative to fight bacteria that causes strep throat

Researchers have discovered a promising alternative to common antibiotics used to fight the bacteria that causes strep throat. In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists discussed how their discovery could fight the infection with a reduced risk of antibiotic resistance.

22 Feb 2012

State roundup: Wis. physician shortage predicted; CVS blacklisting some Fla. docs; 'Ambitious' Baltimore HIV initiative

The state needs to train or recruit an additional 100 physicians a year through 2030 to meet the projected demand for health care, according to a new Wisconsin Hospital Association report. ... The group says the state must act immediately ... Primary care physicians - doctors who specialize in family and internal medicine and pediatrics - will account for 80 percent of the projected shortage.

1 Dec 2011

Sore throat among young adults taking antibiotics for acne: Study

A new study reveals that young adults who take oral antibiotics for acne may be more likely to get sore throats. The reason behind this is unclear say researchers. However they add that long-term use of antibiotics might change the balance of bacteria in the throat. In principle, that could allow infection-causing strains to multiply.

22 Nov 2011

Beware mail order Chicken pox warn Doctors

Doctors have warned against a new trend that has emerged via social networking websites like Facebook - one that guides parents through a process of exposing their children to chicken pox, so that they can get the virus, early and avoid any need for vaccination.

7 Nov 2011

Vaxent, PREVENT sign license agreement to develop and commercialize Strep-A vaccine

An international collaboration between Vaxent, a Memphis-based early stage vaccine development company in the Memphis Bioworks Foundation Incubator, and The Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise Inc. (PREVENT), a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) in Saskatchewan, has put a vaccine for group A streptococcus (Strep-A) back on the path for potential commercialization.

26 Sep 2011

Four-step plan for allergy sufferers to improve quality of life

While most of us acknowledge the need to see a doctor and take antibiotics for, say, strep throat, many of us attempt to power through when it comes to allergies. Whether we take pride in toughing it out, put off making a doctor's appointment, or simply assume allergies will go away quickly on their own, many of us suffer unnecessarily, a Saint Louis University allergist says.

31 Aug 2011

Azithromycin can help reduce wheezing, other acute symptoms of COPD

A common antibiotic can help reduce the severe wheezing and other acute symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a large, multicenter clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

29 Aug 2011

Azithromycin can effectively reduce acute COPD exacerbations

A common antibiotic added to the usual treatment plan for some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can reduce acute exacerbations — sudden onsets of worsened cough, wheezing and labored breathing — and improve quality of life, according to findings from the COPD Clinical Research Network reported in the Aug. 25, 2011, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Aug 2011

Winter airway infections appear to trigger narcolepsy: Study

The onset of narcolepsy appears to follow seasonal patterns of H1N1 and other upper airway infections, according to a new study of patients in China that was led by Stanford University School of Medicine narcolepsy expert Emmanuel Mignot, MD.

22 Aug 2011

Pharmaceutical waste forms a whole new range of contaminants

The health implications of polluting the environment weigh increasingly on our public consciousness, and pharmaceutical wastes continue to be a main culprit. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher says that current testing for these dangerous contaminants isn't going far enough.

21 Jul 2011

Cloud computing technology shortens development time for new antibiotics

IBM today announced researchers from science and technology university ETH Zurich and CloudBroker, a high-performance cloud computing company, have partnered with IBM to use cloud computing technology to conduct cutting-edge research focused on developing new antibiotics to fight disease.

8 Jul 2011

MinuteClinic, OhioHealth enter affiliation to enhance high quality care services

MinuteClinic, the retail health care division of CVS Caremark, and OhioHealth, a nationally recognized not-for-profit, charitable health care organization based in Columbus, Ohio, have entered into a clinical affiliation that will enhance the high quality, affordable health care services they provide in central Ohio.

13 Jun 2011

Experts say signs and treatment of bacterial infection often misunderstood

According to the Canadian Foundation for Infectious Diseases, antibiotics are the second most frequently prescribed class of drugs - second only to pain relievers. Yet most people don't know the difference between a true bacterial infection, like chronic bronchitis that can be treated with antibiotics — and viruses like the common cold, which cannot.

17 Feb 2011