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HHS awards $56.9 million to tackle health disparities

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has announced the awarding of $56.9 million by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD).

10 Jan 2006

Fruit bats a reservoir for Ebola virus

IRD researchers have succeeded in the first identification of bats as a potential natural reservoir of Ebola virus. Several epidemics of haemorrhagic fever have raged in the Republic of Congo and Gabon since 2001, hitting both humans and primates simultaneously.

6 Jan 2006

Data establishes safety profile of new GlaxoSmithKline rotavirus vaccine candidate

Data from one of the largest infant vaccine trials ever conducted, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), showed GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) rotavirus vaccine candidate as effective against rotavirus disease (rotavirus gastroenteritis) in the first year of life. Rotavirus is the leading recognized cause of diarrhea-related illness and death among infants and young children.

6 Jan 2006

Bird flu case number seven in China

China has confirmed its seventh human infection and third human death from bird flu which follows two fatalities from the virus in Anhui province in eastern China.

29 Dec 2005

World's deadliest malaria parasite cloaking gene revealed

The world's deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, sneaks past the human immune system with the help of a wardrobe of invisibility cloaks. If a person's immune cells learn to recognize one of the parasite's many camouflage proteins, the surviving invaders can swap disguises and slip away again to cause more damage. Malaria kills an estimated 2.7 million people annually worldwide, 75 percent of them children in Africa.

29 Dec 2005

Children could be saved from neuroblastoma using antibody therapy

Combination of T cell, antibody to neuroblastoma cells and molecule that spurs T cell growth is designed to treat low initial tumor levels or small cancer cell populations that survive initial treatment, according to St. Jude.

22 Dec 2005

Extremely infectious pneumonia-like disease slips through body's immune system

A new study found that an extremely infectious pneumonia-like disease in humans slips through the immune system's usual defense mechanisms.

21 Dec 2005

Rockeby Biomed ships first batch of Avian Flu Test kits

Rockeby Biomed has announced that the first batch of its Avian Flu Test kits was sold early this month and shipped to Singapore, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Romania, Austria, South Africa, Netherlands and UK. The second shipment will be distributed before Christmas.

15 Dec 2005

New understanding of Mediterranean spotted fever

New research by a team of scientists in France and the United States has identified both the bacterial and host receptor proteins that enable Rickettsia conorii, the Mediterranean spotted fever pathogen, to enter cells.

15 Dec 2005

Scientists working to protect us against avian and pandemic flu

The expression 'prevention is better than a cure' is a truism when it comes to vaccine research. European scientists in various EU-funded projects are hard at work developing new vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools against some of the deadliest and most virulent viruses, including strains of avian flu.

15 Dec 2005

Update on the bird flu scenario

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that a 10-year-old girl in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi is the latest human victim of H5N1 avian influenza.

11 Dec 2005

WHO suspects bird flu may go undetected in China's villages

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there had been no reports of bird flu in the Chinese village where a 10-year-old girl has fallen ill with bird flu, and they are concerned that poultry outbreaks may be going undetected or unreported in China.

7 Dec 2005

One more human bird flu case found in China

According to Chinese health officials, a 10-year-old girl has been infected with the bird flu virus.

7 Dec 2005

Bats possible carriers of Ebola virus

According to recent research scientists say that three species of bats that are eaten by people in central Africa may be carriers of the Ebola virus that has killed hundreds of humans and great apes.

2 Dec 2005

Two more cases of bird flu in China makes experts jumpy

The confirmation of two new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry in China is causing concern among health experts as the virus continues to take its toll on Asia, and the world searches for ways to contain it.

29 Nov 2005

Five dead, 45 infected, with haemorrhagic fever in Pakistan

According to health officials in Pakistan, haemorrhagic fever has killed at least five people, including a woman doctor, and infected around 45 people the country's biggest city of Karachi.

28 Nov 2005

Passenger and crew lists on demand will protect America from disease say US health officials

U.S. health officials, using the excuse that they need to protect Americans from bird flu and other diseases, are proposing regulations that will require airlines and shipping firms to hand over passenger and crew lists on demand and expand how they report serious illnesses.

24 Nov 2005