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Patients may not receive all necessary screening tests during medical checkups

New research finds that patients may not always receive all of the screening tests and counseling services that are due during their medical checkups.

30 Jan 2012

Chemicals in packaged food and textiles linked to low immunity in kids: Study

According to researchers children exposed to chemicals from food packaging and textile products may have compromised immune systems. They found kids with more perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, in their blood stream were less likely to respond to routine vaccines.

26 Jan 2012

New study aims to prevent bacterial infections in sub-Saharan African kids

Bacteria infections - most of which are preventable via vaccines readily available in the developed world - and not malaria are the leading cause of death for children in sub-Saharan Africa. A new Michigan State University project based in Nigeria and funded by a $5.8 million grant aims to help prevent these diseases by collecting local data on the ailments, spurring vaccine use and development. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the research led by Stephen Obaro focuses on diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis.

25 Jan 2012

GAVI says Ministries of Health in Cameroon, Niger cooperating to reimburse misused funds

"Following separate investigations into the misuse of GAVI funding in Cameroon and Niger, both Ministries of Health have cooperated fully and confirmed their commitment to take all necessary measures, including the reimbursement of misused funds," the GAVI Alliance said in a statement released on Thursday.

21 Jan 2012

About half of eligible and due services are missed during PHEs

More than 20 percent of U.S. adults receive periodic health examinations (PHE) each year, yet new research shows that patients who have an annual routine visit to their doctor may not receive recommended preventive screening tests and counseling services that could benefit their health.

20 Jan 2012

Soligenix reports results from long-term stability studies of SGX204 anthrax vaccine

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today results from long-term stability studies of its proprietary DNI anthrax rPA subunit protein vaccine, known as SGX204.

19 Jan 2012

Afghan President Karzai urges Taliban to allow polio vaccination teams into insurgent-controlled areas

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday "urged the Taliban to allow teams conducting a polio vaccination campaign access to areas under their control" and "said that whoever hampers the medical workers 'is the enemy of our children's future,'" the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

18 Jan 2012

Pevion announces further data from clinical study of PEV7 therapeutic Candida vaccine

Pevion Biotech AG today announced further data from the ongoing clinical study of its therapeutic Candida vaccine PEV7, demonstrating the generation of specific and functional B cell memory in 100% of vaccinees. Furthermore, the results again confirm the capability of Pevion's second generation virosomal vaccine platform to induce strong and long-lasting immunity in humans against otherwise weak antigens .

17 Jan 2012

One year and no recorded polio cases in India

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that India has recorded no cases of polio for one full year - a significant benchmark for the South Asian nation and an encouraging development for health professionals fighting to eradicate the stubborn disease worldwide.

15 Jan 2012

Despite one year without polio cases, threat of disease still looms in India

T. Jacob John, a former professor of clinical virology an the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, who has served on several Global and National Committees on Immunization and Polio Eradication, writes in this opinion piece in India's Hindu, "While one year has passed without polio caused by natural poliovirus, we can claim complete eradication only after we ensure the absence of wild and vaccine polioviruses in the population."

13 Jan 2012

Bangladesh works to vaccinate 500K children against polio in annual immunization drive

"Mobile health teams in Bangladesh are conducting 'child-to-child' searches to reach the remaining half million children not vaccinated during a nationwide polio immunization campaign launched on 7 January," IRIN reports.

13 Jan 2012

The Nation examines whether Nigeria will be able to attain MDGs related to maternal, infant mortality

Nigeria's "The Nation" examines whether, with three years until the deadline for attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the country will be able to meet the targets of reducing maternal and infant mortality by one-third as set by the U.N.

12 Jan 2012

India on verge of recording polio-free year

If India does not record a new polio case through January 13, "produc[ing] 12 straight months of polio-free surveillance data, it will be removed from the list of countries where polio is considered endemic, leaving only the other three," Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, Scientific American reports.

11 Jan 2012

Nigerian leaders sign onto Gates immunization challenge

"Nigeria's 36 Executive Governors and the Federal Capital Territory have signed up to the Nigeria Immunization Challenge launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year," a Gates Foundation press release states.

10 Jan 2012

UNICEF to ramp up global vaccination program

"UNICEF is preparing ambitious plans to update, strengthen and vastly expand its global vaccination program," and "is gearing up to triple its capacity over the next five years," according to a UNICEF news story.

5 Jan 2012

Tamiflu resistant flu on the rise: Study

According to World Health Organization researchers there is a rise in Australia in the number of seasonal influenza cases resistant to Tamiflu, the most commonly used antiviral drug. The rise in such cases involving the pandemic 2009 A (H1N1) flu strain, also known as swine flu, took place during Australia's most recent winter: May through August of 2011.

2 Jan 2012

FDA approves Pfizer's Prevnar 13 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine as a single dose for adults

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval of the Company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]) as a single dose for use in adults.

31 Dec 2011

Synthetic drugs treat Crohn's disease in mice

A team of Weizmann Institute scientists has turned the tables on an autoimmune disease. In such diseases, including Crohn's and rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues. But the scientists managed to trick the immune systems of mice into targeting one of the body's players in autoimmune processes, an enzyme known as MMP9.

26 Dec 2011

Potential new strategy against bacteria with multi-drug resistant organisms

Vaccines with broader reach might be made by stimulating specialized immune cells to recognize foreign cell membrane proteins that are shared across bacterial species, say researchers from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in a report published online today in Immunity.

23 Dec 2011

UNICEF aims to vaccinate 1.7M children against measles in DRC

A UNICEF measles immunization campaign in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aimed to vaccinate 1.7 million children under age five between December 19 and December 21, IRIN reports.

23 Dec 2011