Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Emergency readmission after endoscopy linked to mortality risk

The risk for mortality is significantly increased among patients who are readmitted urgently following endoscopy, compared with other endoscopy patients, a UK study shows.

30 Aug 2012

Drug-resistant tuberculosis levels described as alarming by international study

A large, international study published Online First in The Lancet reveals alarming levels of tuberculosis (TB) that are resistant to both first-line and second-line drugs. The findings show high prevalence of resistance to at least one second-line drug (43.7%) among multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB patients from eight countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Worse still, the study found higher than expected overall levels of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.

30 Aug 2012

Janssen receives FDA Priority Review for ZYTIGA sNDA to treat mCRPC

Janssen Research & Development, LLC, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review to the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for ZYTIGA (abiraterone acetate) administered in combination with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic after failure of androgen deprivation therapy.

30 Aug 2012

Country drinking water may pose child health risk

Findings from a UK study published in PLoS ONE suggest that small private drinking water supplies, typically found in countryside locations, are more likely to be contaminated and result in gastrointestinal illness in children than standard mains water supplies.

29 Aug 2012

Sleep disorder treatment: an interview with Dr Seth Lederman, President and CEO of Tonix Pharmaceuticals

Sleep disorders are a large area. We are focused on one particular type of sleep disturbance called “non-restorative” sleep. People with this problem do sleep, but they don’t wake up feeling refreshed or feeling that their sleep has had the restorative effects of healthy sleep.

29 Aug 2012

Washington Post examines Guinea worm eradication efforts

The Washington Post examines global efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease, writing, "The parasitic infection which has sickened millions, mostly in Asia and Africa, is on the verge of being done in not by sophisticated medicine but by aggressive public health efforts in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world."

29 Aug 2012

TaiMed, WuXi enter ibalizumab manufacturing agreement

WuXi PharmaTech today announced that it has a contract manufacturing agreement with TaiMed Biologics Inc. for the manufacture of ibalizumab (TMB-355) in support of Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials globally.

29 Aug 2012

Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics Special Focus provides critical view on cancer vaccines

In one of the most comprehensive peer-reviewed discussions on cancer vaccines and immunotherapeutics, a Special Focus in the journal Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics provides a critical view on cancer vaccines and a discussion on best approaches for the future.

28 Aug 2012

High doses of vitamin B3 stimulate CEBPE gene, enhance WBCs’ ability to combat staph infections

Cedars-Sinai researchers have found that a common vitamin may have the potential to provide a powerful weapon to fight certain "superbugs," antibiotic-resistant staph infections that health experts see as a threat to public health.

28 Aug 2012

Nicotinamide may combat antibiotic-resistance staph infections

A new study suggests that nicotinamide, more commonly known as vitamin B3, may be able to combat some of the antibiotic-resistance staph infections that are increasingly common around the world, have killed thousands and can pose a significant threat to public health.

28 Aug 2012

Gilead Sciences receives FDA approval for Stribild to treat HIV-1 infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Stribild (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg), a complete once-daily single tablet regimen for HIV-1 infection for treatment-naïve adults.

28 Aug 2012

BD announces acquisition of Sirigen

BD, a leading global medical technology company, announced today that it has acquired Sirigen Group Limited, a developer of unique polymer dyes that are used in flow cytometry and can be applied to other technologies.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 27 Aug 2012

Lunch boxes and school eating areas are hotspots for bacteria

Canadian moms earn top marks when it comes to good hygiene practices, but a new study by Lysol and the Global Hygiene Council reveals they could do more to safeguard against bacteria hotspots in schools, especially at lunch time.

27 Aug 2012

Bleeding risk from aneurysm high in hemorrhagic AVM radiosurgery

In patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery for hemorrhagic arteriovenous malformations, endovascular or surgical strategies that reduce bleeding risk should be used if an aneurysm is found, advise US researchers.

24 Aug 2012

Dartmouth’s professor shares news of DAR-901 TB vaccine development

Tuberculosis (TB) is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide attributable to a single infectious agent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). With 8.8 million cases in 2010 and 95 percent of TB deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries, the disease continues to be a major public health problem in the developing world. In a July address to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Dartmouth's C. Fordham (Ford) von Reyn shared news of a promising vaccine in the works.

24 Aug 2012

Diabetes journal reports results from novel experimental therapy

Results from a novel experimental therapy for Type 1 diabetes that boosts parts of the healthy immune system are reported today in the scientific journal Diabetes.

24 Aug 2012

Study highlights importance of using appropriately treated water for sinus irrigation

When water containing the Naegleria fowleri ameba, a single-celled organism, enters the nose, the organisms may migrate to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a very rare-but usually fatal-disease. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases describes the first reported cases in the United States implicating nasal irrigation using disinfected tap water in these infections.

24 Aug 2012

Researchers discover new way to disarm harmful bacteria

Rather than trying to kill bacteria outright with drugs, Université de Montréal researchers have discovered a way to disarm bacteria that may allow the body's own defense mechanisms to destroy them. "To understand this strategy one could imagine harmful bacteria being like Darth Vader, and the anti-virulence drug would take away his armor and lightsaber," explained Dr. Christian Baron, the study's lead author and Professor at the Department of Biochemistry.

24 Aug 2012

New disease causes AIDS-like symptoms but not spread through virus

"Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV," the Associated Press reports.

24 Aug 2012

The Wistar Institute, MSKCC partner to publish first annotated atlas of Epstein-Barr virus genome

Researchers from The Wistar Institute and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have teamed to publish the first annotated atlas of the Epstein-Barr virus genome, creating the most comprehensive study of how the viral genome interacts with its human host during a latent infection. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which is thought to be responsible for one percent of all human cancers, establishes a latent infection in nearly 100 percent of infected adult humans.

24 Aug 2012