Immunodeficiency News and Research

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Immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent.

Kids who are at highest risk for STD's are not getting tested

In the first study of its kind focusing on newly homeless youth, UCLA researchers have found that high-risk sexual behavior did not predict whether these youths were tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Instead, they were tested only when someone became pregnant or got someone pregnant.

21 Feb 2006

Nod1 found to control tumor growth in certain breast cancers

This protein was previously thought to play a role solely in the innate immune system's response to bacterial infection. In the new study, which will be published on-line by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

12 Feb 2006

Discovery of the molecular mechanism that inhibits HCV replication in vitro

Since its discovery several decades ago, the insidious human pathogen has stymied the quest for anti-viral therapies by refusing to reproduce in test tubes for more than a few hours or days, denying scientists an efficient virus production and infection system for experimental research.

7 Feb 2006

Researchers use yogurt to fight AIDS

Researchers have come up with a novel delivery system for anti-AIDS drugs: milk-curdling bacteria used to make yogurt and cheese.

25 Jan 2006

Bugs in yoghurt may stop the spread of AIDS

Scientists have found that some of the 'friendly bacteria' found in yoghurt can be genetically modified to release a drug that blocks HIV infection.

18 Jan 2006

Approval of first immune globulin for use beneath the skin

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the approval of the first immune globulin product for subcutaneous injection for the prevention of serious infections in patients with Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases (PIDD).

10 Jan 2006

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

Abstinence and Abstinence-Only Education: A Review of U.S. Policies and Programs

While few Americans remain abstinent until marriage and most initiate sexual intercourse as adolescents, abstinence from sexual intercourse is an important behavioral strategy for preventing human immunodeficiency virus, other sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy among adolescents

5 Jan 2006

Drug partners in fight against AIDS say measles shot could be the answer!

Major drug company GlaxoSmithKline is hoping to develop an experimental AIDS vaccine by "piggy-backing" on a shot against measles.

29 Nov 2005

"Luckiest man" - cured of AIDS - will have further tests

The British man thought to be the first person to have shaken off HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is to undergo further clinical tests in the hope of a breakthrough in treating the condition.

14 Nov 2005

HIV antiretroviral therapy does help those in third world

With preliminary results from a study in Botswana, Harvard School of Public Health researchers have found that people with HIV-1 subtype C in resource-poor settings, who receive antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, can achieve comparable results to those in the developed world.

7 Nov 2005

Clinicans warned about randomized clinical trials

A review article in the November 2 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests clinicians ought to view with skepticism the results of randomized clinical trials stopped early because of apparent benefit.

3 Nov 2005

Drug giants join forces to develop gel for women in fight against AIDS

Giant American drug companies Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb, have signed agreements to develop a treatment called a microbicide, a gel or a cream that women can use to protect themselves from AIDS.

2 Nov 2005

Vaginal gel shown to protect female monkeys against an HIV-like virus

Research with female monkeys at the Tulane National Primate Research Center has for the first time shown that three different anti-viral agents in a vaginal gel protect the animals against an HIV-like virus.

1 Nov 2005

Preventing pneumonia in children helps prevent pneumonia in older adults

The incidence of pneumonia among older adults has decreased substantially, linked to the introduction of a pneumonia vaccine for children in 2000, according to a study in the October 26 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

25 Oct 2005

New strategies to help developing countries address neglected diseases

For the health challenges facing developing countries, the numbers alone are staggering. Every day, 40,000 people - enough to fill a sports stadium - die from preventable infectious diseases and malnutrition. Entire generations of human potential are perishing.

25 Oct 2005

No shred of evidence that HIV-positive men who lose fat in their legs reciprocally gain fat in their bellies

There is no syndrome that causes increased belly fat and decreased facial and limb fat among HIV-positive men who take antiretroviral drugs, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

13 Oct 2005

Evaluation of the efficacy of buprenorphine hydrochloride and clonidine hydrochloride, in detoxification of opioid-dependent teenagers

In a comparison of two drugs prescribed to treat teenagers dependent on heroin and other opioids, the drug buprenorphine was more effective, especially in treatment retention, according to a study in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 Oct 2005

Body's own defenses may cause HIV-related dementia

Publishing in the Sept. 2005 issue of the Journal of Virology, the researchers show that HIV in the temporal lobe mutates at a rate 100 times faster than in other parts of the body, triggering white blood cells to continually swarm to attack the infection. The associated overcrowding and inflammation appear to cause the dementia.

3 Oct 2005

Clinical trials of daily oral antiretroviral dosing as pre-exposure prophylaxis

Writing in the journal Science, an international team of researchers, clinicians and others explains that a promising, relatively new approach is for people not infected but at high risk to take drugs that might prevent them from contracting HIV. But debate over the particulars of the strategy has slowed progress.

3 Oct 2005