Contagion News and Research

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Real-life health risks of outbreak portrayed in the movie 'Contagion'

Two opinion pieces published Monday examine the real-life health risks of an outbreak portrayed in "Contagion," a movie that opened this weekend in which a mysterious airborne virus kills thousands of people.

14 Sep 2011

Risks of infectious disease outbreak portrayed in the film 'Contagion' are 'very real'

In this New York Times opinion piece, W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and a professor of neurology and pathology at Columbia University and a paid technical consultant on the film "Contagion," which opened this weekend, writes about the risks of an infectious disease outbreak as portrayed in the film, stating, "Those risks are very real -- and are increasing drastically."

12 Sep 2011

CAMFT rolls out seven new videos on mental wellness, child development

The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) rolled out seven new videos offering additional resources for Californians searching for information about mental wellness, child development and maintaining relationships.

9 Aug 2011

OR models verify cost effectiveness of hepatitis B interventions

With hepatitis B infecting as many as 10% of people of Asian descent, operations researchers collaborated with a liver transplant surgeon to develop mathematical models that verified the cost effectiveness of hepatitis B interventions.

27 Jul 2011

CDC investigators working to understand nodding syndrome among East African children

Nature News examines the work of a CDC team working in South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda to investigate nodding syndrome, "a poorly understood and seemingly growing problem in eastern Africa."

15 Jul 2011

Previously unknown E. coli strain affects more than 1,500 in Europe; source remains unknown

The WHO on Thursday said "that an unusually lethal strain of E. coli, which has infected more than 1,500 people in Germany, mystified public health officials and threatened to touch off panic in Europe, was a previously unknown variant of the bacteria, raising new concerns about the extent and severity of the contagion," the New York Times reports.

3 Jun 2011

Vatican newspaper article addresses condom use among married couples

Three days before the start of a Vatican conference focusing on "the centrality of care" in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, on Tuesday printed a piece by Spanish theologian Juan Jose Perez-Soba arguing that married couples with one HIV-positive partner "should abstain from sex, because intercourse performed with a condom is, 'from the moral point of view, not a fully conjugal act,'" RNS/Beliefnet News reports.

26 May 2011

Research sheds light on transmission of obesity among friends and family

Obesity is socially contagious, according to research published in the past few years. How it is "caught" from others remains a murky area. But findings from Arizona State University researchers published online May 5 in the American Journal of Public Health shed light on the transmission of obesity among friends and family.

7 May 2011

New study sheds light on evolution of 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) virus in Japan

Analysis of mutations of the 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) virus by researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center (OSC) has revealed major genetic differences between the virus in its early phase of infection in Japan and in its peak phase. While yielding valuable clues on the genetic origins of drug resistance, the findings also pave the way toward the development of new diagnostic kits for detecting and preventing the spread of global pandemic diseases.

26 Apr 2011

Vatican issues communique to clarify Pope's statement on condoms

"The Vatican on Tuesday issued its most authoritative clarification on Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks that condoms could sometimes be used for disease prevention, saying that the pope in no way justified their use to prevent pregnancy," the New York Times reports (Donadio, 12/21).

23 Dec 2010

NIAID researchers develop new method to detect prion diseases

A fast test to diagnose fatal brain conditions such as mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans could be on the horizon, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists. Researchers at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have developed a highly sensitive and rapid new method to detect and measure infectious agents called prions that cause these diseases.

3 Dec 2010

Scientists suggest combination vaccine prevents pertussis

If you think you shouldn't be worried about your child's—or your—lingering, nagging cough, think again. Pertussis has reemerged on the scene. In what some public health officials are calling the worst outbreak in 50 years, pertussis, better known by its unique sound—whooping cough, has been found in six states with 1,500 cases reported, six of them fatal.

19 Aug 2010

National Cheng Kung University Hospital's Outpatient Building inaugurated

The Outpatient Building of National Cheng Kung University Hospital was officially inaugurated on June 12th to provide excellent medical service and to further ensure the health of people in Southern Taiwan.

18 Jun 2010

Safe Life increases production of its A400 Series respirators

Safe Life Corp., an innovative antimicrobial company dedicated to developing novel technologies that prevent the spread of infection and disease, announced today that it is ramping production of its comfortable, breathable, A400 Series respirator to help healthcare providers and government agencies address the global shortage of N95 respirators during the H1N1 pandemic.

15 Dec 2009

New research shows people who feel lonely spread that feeling to others

Loneliness, like a bad cold, can spread among groups of people, research at the University of Chicago, the University of California-San Diego and Harvard shows.

1 Dec 2009

NPSF supports obligatory flu vaccination for healthcare workers

The National Patient Safety Foundation recognizes vaccine-preventable diseases as a matter of patient safety and supports mandatory influenza vaccination of health care workers to protect the health of patients, health care workers, and the community.

19 Nov 2009

Historic agreement sets national standard for containing the spread of H1N1

In a dramatic settlement seen as a novel pattern for the nation, the nation's largest nurses union and professional association, and one of the country's biggest hospital systems today announced a landmark agreement that sets a national standard on containing the spread of pandemics such as H1N1 "swine flu."

2 Nov 2009

New Pandemic Influenza Stress Vaccine course for health-care workers

Experts know that a pandemic can increase stress-related absenteeism among health-care workers. To help prevent this, a team of Mount Sinai Hospital psychiatrists and nurses have developed The Pandemic Influenza Stress Vaccine, a computerized course for health-care workers worldwide to build their resilience during a pandemic.

27 Oct 2009

Poor readiness by many hospitals to tackle H1N1 pandemic; RNs step up protest

Some 16,000 registered nurses at 39 hospitals at three Catholic hospital chains in California and Nevada will join a one-day strike and picket October 30 as RNs step up the protest over poor readiness by many hospitals to confront the H1N1 pandemic, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) announced today.

20 Oct 2009

Researchers validate a technique capable of quick TB diagnosis

The team headed by Doctor Manuel Casal, head of Microbiology at Reina Sofia Hospital in Cordoba has validated in patients a technique, originally produced by a German company, capable of diagnosing tuberculosis in only one day and determining whether or not it is resistant to two of the drugs used to treat this disease.

7 Oct 2009