Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Breakthrough in development of effective therapy against Hendra virus

A team of Federal and university scientists reports a breakthrough in the development of an effective therapy against a deadly virus, Hendra virus. The results of their study, "A Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibody Protects African Green Monkeys from Hendra Virus Challenge," will appear in Science Translational Medicine online.

20 Oct 2011

BUSM, COE receive NIH training grant to examine inflammatory disorders

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the College of Engineering (COE) a five year, $316,875 training grant to examine inflammatory disorders.

20 Oct 2011

SAIC receives NIAID contract to develop biopharmaceutical products for infectious diseases

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today it was awarded a contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to provide preclinical services for the development of biopharmaceutical products for infectious diseases.

19 Oct 2011

Link between development of new lymphoid tissue within the lung and protection against TB

New research from the Trudeau Institute may help in the ongoing fight against tuberculosis. Dr. Andrea Cooper's lab has discovered a connection between the development of new lymphoid tissue within the lung and protection against the disease.

19 Oct 2011

Russia pledges money to support HIV, TB programs in neighboring countries

"Russia plans to step up its international role in fighting infectious disease across eastern Europe and central Asia, in what some observers see as the latest effort by the Kremlin to reassert its political influence over its former Soviet neighbors," the Financial Times reports.

19 Oct 2011

Climate change could be detrimental to global health, conference attendees say

Environmental health experts, scientists and government officials attending a conference in London sponsored by the British Medical Journal on Monday "issued a statement warning that climate change could not only bring a global health catastrophe but could threaten global stability and security as well, a journal release said," UPI.com reports.

19 Oct 2011

Donors need to look beyond emergency funding to long-term, strategic solutions

"Americans are among the most generous people in the world, giving more money to charities than citizens of any other nation in the world," but "much of our charity goes to disaster relief," entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post's "Black Voices."

19 Oct 2011

RTS,S vaccine reduces risk of severe malaria in African children

First results from a large-scale Phase III trial of RTS,S, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), show the malaria vaccine candidate to provide young African children with significant protection against clinical and severe malaria with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile.

19 Oct 2011

First results from phase 3 malaria vaccine candidate trial

18 Oct 2011

Commercialization strategies for next-generation medicines

The Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, in collaboration with Demy-Colton Life Science Advisors, and key opinion leaders from the biotech and biopharmaceutical industries, academia, medical research foundations, and investment community, has organized a two-day event to forge partnerships to accelerate the development of new treatments for some of the world's most devastating diseases affecting millions.

18 Oct 2011

Johnson & Johnson third quarter sales increase 6.8% to $16.0 billion

Johnson & Johnson today announced sales of $16.0 billion for the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 6.8% as compared to the third quarter of 2010. Operational results increased 2.6% and the positive impact of currency was 4.2%. Domestic sales declined 3.7%.

18 Oct 2011

VEC and AMA release updated information guide, 'Vaccines and Teens'

This week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (VEC) and the American Medical Association released an updated information guide called Vaccines and Teens for parents and physicians, detailing the most current recommendations and information about critical immunizations for older children.

18 Oct 2011

FDA clears BioHelix IsoAmp HSV molecular diagnostic assay

BioHelix Corporation has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the company's first molecular diagnostic assay, the IsoAmp HSV Assay. The diagnostic test is intended for the detection of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV1 & HSV2) in genital and oral lesion specimens from symptomatic patients.

18 Oct 2011

Two genetic variants associated with increased susceptibility to severe dengue

Researchers in South East Asia have identified two genetic variants associated with increased susceptibility to severe dengue. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore, offers clues to how the body responds to dengue infection.

18 Oct 2011

Scientists discover a way to accurately map typhoid outbreaks in the city

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Snow mapped cases of cholera in Soho, London, and traced the source of the outbreak to a contaminated water pump. Now, in a twenty-first century equivalent, scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust working in Kathmandu, Nepal, have combined the latest in gene sequencing technology and global positioning system (GPS) case localisation to map the spread of typhoid and trace its source.

18 Oct 2011

Experts from CHOP address American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting

Numerous experts from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will be addressing their colleagues at this year's annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics on topics as varied as vaccine education, fetal surgery, sudden cardiac arrest, and sports injuries, among others.

15 Oct 2011

Health groups urge Secretary of U.S. Army to sustain funding for military HIV research program

"Speaking out against a potential $16 million cut in the Army's base research and development budget for HIV, leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) sent a letter Thursday to the Secretary of the U.S. Army, John McHugh, making the case for sustaining the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP)," according to the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog.

15 Oct 2011

Myths about head lice

Autumn brings tales of scary delight but none terrifies parents so much as the note home from school that a case of lice has been detected.

14 Oct 2011

Penn scientist tracks attitudes and H1N1 vaccination rates on Twitter

A unique and innovative analysis of how social media can affect the spread of a disease has been designed and implemented by a scientist at Penn State University studying attitudes toward the H1N1 vaccine. Marcel Salath-, an assistant professor of biology, studied how users of Twitter -- a popular microblogging and social-networking service -- expressed their sentiments about a new vaccine.

14 Oct 2011

Four companies receive NIAID contracts to develop broad-spectrum therapeutics

Four companies are to develop broad-spectrum therapeutics-antibiotics, antivirals and an antitoxin-to prevent or treat diseases caused by multiple types of bacteria or viruses, under contracts awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Oct 2011