Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Travel, hunting, and venison consumption linked to prion diseases

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have examined the potential for human exposure to prion diseases, looking at hunting, venison consumption, and travel to areas in which prion diseases have been reported in animals.

23 May 2011

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher selected Fellow of the Royal Society

Internationally recognised malaria researcher Professor Alan Cowman from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the UK's peak academy promoting excellence in science.

21 May 2011

First nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose early stages of Q fever infections receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared the first nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose the early stages of Q fever infections in military personnel serving overseas.

21 May 2011

African Americans with SLE have higher antibody response to influenza vaccination: Study

New research shows that African Americans with systemic lupus erythematosus had a higher antibody response to influenza vaccination than European American patients.

21 May 2011

Technology to determine most effective chemotherapy treatment wins first prize in UC Davis Big Bang! competition

A technology that could allow cancer specialists to better determine the most effective chemotherapy treatment for a given patient won the $10,000 in first prize money in the 11th annual Big Bang! Business Plan Competition at the University of California, Davis. The contest is run by MBA students in the Graduate School of Management.

20 May 2011

Medivir reports positive results from ASPIRE TMC435 phase 2b study for genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

Medivir AB, the emerging research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, today announced results from the ASPIRE phase 2b study that evaluates the addition of once daily TMC435 to pegylated interferon and ribavirin in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C whose prior treatment with pegylated-interferon (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV) was unsuccessful either because they relapsed, had a partial response or had a null response.

20 May 2011

AIDS mortality in China drops by nearly two thirds since 2002 when country began free treatment program

China's HIV/AIDS-related mortality has dropped from 39.3 per 100 person-years in 2002 to 14.2 in 2009, or 64 percent, since the nation began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2002, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published online Wednesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, the New York Times reports (McNeil, 5/18).

20 May 2011

PolyMedix's PMX-30063 compound mitigates ulcerative mucositis in pre-clinical studies

PolyMedix, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat patients with acute infectious diseases and cardiovascular disorders, announced today that its lead defensin-mimetic antibiotic compound, PMX-30063, when administered topically as an oral rinse, has shown activity against oral mucositis in an animal study.

19 May 2011

Isis receives $5M milestone payment from GSK for initiating ISIS-TTRRx Phase 1 study

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has earned a $5 million milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline related to the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical study for ISIS-TTRRx.

19 May 2011

People living with HIV/AIDS in China face discrimination when accessing health care, report says

HIV-positive people living in China "are routinely being denied medical treatment in mainstream hospitals due to fear and ignorance about the disease," according to a study based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV/AIDS and 23 health care workers that was conducted by the International Labor Organization and China's National Center for STD and AIDS Prevention and Control, Reuters reports.

19 May 2011

Humanized BLT mice help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission

The more than 2.7 million new HIV infections recorded per year leave little doubt that the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread globally. That's why there's the need for safe, inexpensive and effective drugs to successfully block HIV transmission.

19 May 2011

Abbott RealTime PCR assay for measuring HCV viral load receives FDA marketing approval

Abbott announced today that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its RealTime PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for measuring the viral load of hepatitis C (HCV), the leading cause of liver cancer in the United States.

19 May 2011

Vitamin D plays a key role in protection against childhood asthma

Vitamin D, which is primarily absorbed from the sun, plays a role in protection against childhood asthma. Now, a new study led by Valencian researchers has shown that children who live in colder, wetter cities are at greater risk of suffering from this respiratory problem, since there are fewer hours of sunlight in such places.

19 May 2011

Affymetrix launches new menu of multiple genomic microarray tools

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced the availability of multiple genomic microarray tools that will further enable scientists in the applied research field.

18 May 2011

Kool Smiles inaugurates new Takoma Park dental office

Kool Smiles, a leading dental health provider for children and adults, now has opened its doors to additional families in Maryland with a new office location in Takoma Park. Kool Smiles of Takoma Park officially opened on May 2 as the organization continues to expand access to quality dental care for families in underserved communities across the nation.

18 May 2011

Bill Gates calls for greater immunization efforts in World Health Assembly address

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday called for a "Decade of Vaccines" in a keynote address at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, saying strengthening immunization programs against infectious diseases worldwide could save 10 million lives by 2020, Reuters reports.

18 May 2011

Impaired ability to handle oxidative stress may contribute to asthma development

An impaired ability to handle oxidative stress that arises from exposure to secondhand smoke and other environmental triggers may contribute to the development of asthma, according to results obtained from the Shanghai Women's Health Asthma and Allergy Study. The results of the study suggest regulating the body's antioxidant defense system may play an important role in asthma prevention.

18 May 2011

Thirty years of AIDS

Thirty years ago next month, the CDC released the first report on a mysterious disease among gay men in Los Angeles. The AIDS epidemic had begun. It has since claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Americans and is currently ravaging Africa.

18 May 2011

New research demonstrates how geographic profiling can help combat infectious diseases

Every 30 seconds, infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis kill as many people as Jack the Ripper did in his entire career. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal International Journal of Health Geographics demonstrates how the mathematical model of geographic profiling, used in the hunt for serial killers, can help combat infectious diseases.

18 May 2011

Bill Gates urges wiser vaccine coverage worldwide to save millions

Tuesday this week, Bill Gates called for strengthened immunization programs against infectious diseases to save 4 million lives by 2015 and 10 million lives by 2020, calling it the best possible investment in global health. He was addressing the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, attended by health ministers from the U.N. agency's 193 member states.

17 May 2011

Infectious Diseases News and Research

Travel, hunting, and venison consumption linked to prion diseases

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher selected Fellow of the Royal Society

First nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose early stages of Q fever infections receives FDA approval

African Americans with SLE have higher antibody response to influenza vaccination: Study

Technology to determine most effective chemotherapy treatment wins first prize in UC Davis Big Bang! competition

Medivir reports positive results from ASPIRE TMC435 phase 2b study for genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

AIDS mortality in China drops by nearly two thirds since 2002 when country began free treatment program

PolyMedix's PMX-30063 compound mitigates ulcerative mucositis in pre-clinical studies

Isis receives $5M milestone payment from GSK for initiating ISIS-TTRRx Phase 1 study

People living with HIV/AIDS in China face discrimination when accessing health care, report says

Humanized BLT mice help prevent HIV/AIDS transmission

Abbott RealTime PCR assay for measuring HCV viral load receives FDA marketing approval

Vitamin D plays a key role in protection against childhood asthma

Affymetrix launches new menu of multiple genomic microarray tools

Kool Smiles inaugurates new Takoma Park dental office

Bill Gates calls for greater immunization efforts in World Health Assembly address

Impaired ability to handle oxidative stress may contribute to asthma development

Thirty years of AIDS

New research demonstrates how geographic profiling can help combat infectious diseases

Bill Gates urges wiser vaccine coverage worldwide to save millions

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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