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IBM Maximo software helps GNL ensure optimal performance of equipment in fight against emerging infectious diseases

In the fight against emerging infectious diseases, The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL), one of two National Institutes of Health funded bio-containment laboratories in the United States, is benefiting from IBM software to ensure the optimal performance of all equipment functioning within its facility. The GNL, which is dedicated to the study and prevention of emerging infectious diseases, will use IBM Maximo Asset Management Software to help automate, manage and ensure the performance of its 3,000 operating assets in one of the world's most complex medical research environments.

24 Feb 2010

Survey shows one quarter of Ontario hospitals have no influenza pandemic plan

One quarter of Ontario hospitals surveyed in a Queen's University-led study do not have an influenza pandemic plan and few plans that do exist have been tested. In addition, key players were not involved in developing the plans, and funding for pandemic preparedness was inadequate.

11 Feb 2010

Loyola University Chicago offers new research-intensive program for healthcare industry

Registration is underway for Loyola University Chicago's new infectious disease & immunology master's degree program that will prepare graduates for challenging health-related positions in government, research and private industry.

10 Feb 2010

ONA urges Ontario government to retain RNs and prevent negative impact on patient care

Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN is calling for the Ontario government to use limited health-care funding available where it's going to matter most: improving patients' health outcomes by preserving registered nursing positions that are being cut as hospitals struggle to balance budgets.

3 Feb 2010

Study identifies key demographic and psychological factors that predict protective behaviour during pandemics

A study that looked at how people behave during pandemics has identified key demographic and psychological factors that may predict protective behaviours. The study is published online today, 30th January 2010, in the British Journal of Health Psychology.

30 Jan 2010

Special issue explores how evolution can help doctors understand and treat diseases

What does evolution - a field that often deals with changes over many generations - have to do with preventing and treating disease in our lifetime?

28 Jan 2010

NewsRx publishes new encyclopedia on vaccines

NewsRx, a 25-year-old publisher and international news organization headquartered in Atlanta, has published a new encyclopedia on vaccines -- Encyclopedia of Vaccines, 2009: An encyK Resource for Parents, Patients & Professionals.

28 Jan 2010

BioSyent Pharma receives exclusive rights to manufacture and market Virsani sanitizer in Canada and U.S.

BioSyent Inc. ("BioSyent") announces that its subsidiary BioSyent Pharma Inc. has signed a license and distribution agreement with Notlers for VirsaniTM personal sanitizer.

22 Jan 2010

UCI finding could complicate quest to eradicate deadly disease in humans

Chimpanzees were known to carry the parasite Plasmodium reichenowi, but most scientists assumed the two parasites had existed separately in humans and chimpanzees for the last 5 million years.

20 Jan 2010

U.S. changes HIV policy to allow foreigners with virus to enter

Los Angeles Times: "Last Monday, for the first time in 22 years, foreigners with HIV were legally allowed to enter the United States without their infection status being considered. Before that, even short-term visitors had to receive special permission — or lie on their visa application — to come here.

12 Jan 2010

H1N1 can spread during commercial flights; avoid economy and fly first class, UCLA researchers say

Viruses love plane travel. They get to fly around the world inside a closed container while their infected carrier breathes and coughs, spreading pathogens to other passengers, either by direct contact or through the air. And once people deplane, the virus can spread to other geographical areas.

8 Jan 2010

GlobalPost examines antibiotic resistance in China

GlobalPost examines antibiotic resistance and overprescribing in China. The country "has high rates of antibiotic resistance and a health care system that provides strong financial incentives for over-prescribing antibiotics.

23 Dec 2009

Former CDC head to lead Merck's vaccine division

The pharmaceutical company Merck on Monday named former CDC head Julie Gerberding as president of the company's vaccine division, Reuters reports. "Gerberding, who led the CDC from 2002 to 2009 and stepped down when President Barack Obama took office, will head up the company's $5 billion global vaccine business that includes shots to prevent chickenpox, cervical cancer and pneumonia," the news service reports.

22 Dec 2009

Government not held accountable for keeping nurses safe during SARS, Supreme Court denies appeal

Registered nurses in Ontario are devastated today to learn that the Supreme Court of Canada has denied an appeal of an earlier legal decision regarding responsibility for keeping nurses safe during the SARS outbreak.

18 Dec 2009

NCKUH and NHRI sponsor virology lab in Vietnam Children’s Hospital

A Virology Lab in Children’s Hospital No. 1 (CH1), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, sponsored by National Cheng Kung University Hospital (NCKUH) and National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) in Taiwan was launched on November 11th, 2009.

11 Dec 2009

Lethality of H1N1 virus has dropped from its peak of 3.7, shows new data

Biotech firm Replikins Ltd., which has analyzed the H1N1 virus' genomic data from the 1918 pandemic through the prediction, outbreak, and progress of the current H1N1 pandemic, today issued its latest biochemical analysis of the virus.

25 Nov 2009

Evidence does not connect H1N1 vaccine to patient deaths, WHO says

The deaths of 41 people from six countries who had received the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine were not directly linked to the vaccine, the WHO said Thursday, the Associated Press/MSNBC reports (11/19).

20 Nov 2009

Handwashing: A simple, effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases

In this day and age, with the latest in medical equipment and scientific advances adding both quantity and quality to our lives, it is easy to forget that the simplest actions can provide some of the most important results. In fact, your mother's instructions to "wash up before dinner" should be considered some of the soundest medical advice ever offered.

17 Nov 2009

Los Angeles Times examines health care in Sierra Leone

The Los Angeles Times writes: "Sierra Leone is one of those nations where decades of foreign aid have failed to appreciably lift the fortunes of the people. The country is a charity case: 60% of its public spending comes from foreign governments and nonprofit organizations.

16 Nov 2009

CDC expected to revise estimated number of U.S. H1N1 deaths

Ahead of the anticipated CDC release of revised U.S. H1N1 (swine flu) death toll estimates, Reuters examines how the agency and WHO measure the impact of the virus, after both organizations "stopped trying to count actual cases months ago, once it became clear that H1N1 was a pandemic that would infect millions."

12 Nov 2009