Infectious Diseases News and Research

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WHO publishes new guidelines for safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater

In many parts of the world, good quality fresh water resources are becoming increasingly scarce. At the same time, wastewater is produced in ever-larger quantities, mainly as a result of the continued growth of the human population and the process of rapid urbanization.

11 Sep 2006

FDA fines Red Cross for failing to meet blood safety laws

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that the American Red Cross (ARC) is being fined $4.2 million for failure to comply with requirements under Federal laws and FDA regulations relating to the collection of blood products.

11 Sep 2006

Weakened immune response resulting from HIV infection can lead to trouble when it comes to treating malaria

"Our study demonstrates that HIV-1 infected patients with suppressed immunity represent, next to children and pregnant women, an additional vulnerable group for malaria," says Jean-Pierre Van geertruyden, MD, MSc, lead author of the article.

7 Sep 2006

Mexico's health system reforms working

Julio Frenk, Minister of Health of Mexico, outlines the results of the country's 6-year project of health system reform in a Public Health article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

7 Sep 2006

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

China appears to have beaten the world to a bird flu vaccine

Scientists in China have developed a potential vaccine against the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus currently sweeping across Asia.

7 Sep 2006

Three top global health positions need filling

Three key global health posts are to be filled later this year, and the individuals selected to fill the vacancies will help shape the global strategy to combat diseases such as HIV/AIDS, the Wall Street Journal reports.

5 Sep 2006

Messy nappies may be sign of severe intestinal infection

Anyone who's ever cared for an infant or young child knows what it's like to change the occasional smelly, messy diaper.

5 Sep 2006

Prevention programs for teens can reduce methamphetamine abuse

New research supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, shows that prevention programs conducted in middle school can reduce methamphetamine abuse among rural adolescents years later.

4 Sep 2006

Kaiser highlights recently published Journal of Infectious Diseases studies

Summaries of studies recently published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

4 Sep 2006

Emergent BioSolutions awarded $3.8 million to develop anthrax immune globulin therapeutic

Emergent BioSolutions has announced that it has been awarded two grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) totaling $3.8 million to support the development of the company's anthrax immune globulin (AIG) therapeutic product.

1 Sep 2006

MRSA - surveillance, rapid screening and hospital hygiene

The origins and future perspectives about meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are outlined in a Review in this week's issue of The Lancet.

31 Aug 2006

Excluding deer could be a counterproductive strategy for controlling tick-borne infections

Excluding deer could be a counterproductive strategy for controlling tick-borne infections, because the absence of deer from small areas may lead to an increase in ticks, rapidly turning the area into a potential disease hotspot, according to a team of U.S. and Italian researchers.

30 Aug 2006

Morphotek granted two European technology patents

Morphotek has announced that the European Patent Office has given a "Decision of Grant" regarding the Company's US Patent 6,921,666 entitled "Methods for Generating Hypermutable Yeast" and US Patent 6,737,268 entitled "A Method for Generating Genetically Altered Antigens."

30 Aug 2006

Swedish HIV vaccine study shows prmoise

A Swedish HIV vaccine study conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Karolinska University Hospital and the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI) has produced surprisingly good results.

30 Aug 2006

FluChip can spot bird flu in under 12 hours

Scientists in the United States have developed a new technology that reduces the time it takes to achieve a detailed diagnosis of avian flu, from one week or more down to less than 12 hours.

30 Aug 2006

New microchip enables quick diagnosis of flu strains

Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a microchip-based test that may allow more labs to diagnose influenza infections and learn more about the viruses causing illness.

30 Aug 2006

Chinese scientists come up with safe and effective bird flu vaccine

According to official reports a bird flu vaccine for humans developed by Chinese researchers has proven to be both safe and effective.

29 Aug 2006

Waterborne infectious diseases could soon be consigned to history

Waterborne infectious diseases, which bring death and illness to millions of people around the world, could largely be consigned to history by 2015 if global health partnerships integrate their programmes, according to Alan Fenwick writing in Science.

28 Aug 2006

Lyme disease vaccine could be on the cards

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, and the most common tick-borne illness in the United States and Europe.

24 Aug 2006