Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Rotavirus vaccination associated with decline in U.S. hospitalization rates for acute gastroenteritis: Study

Vaccinating infants against rotavirus, a leading cause of severe diarrhea and dehydration among babies and young children, was associated with a dramatic decline in U.S. hospitalization rates for acute gastroenteritis.

14 May 2010

UGA researchers discover SERS method to identify rotavirus strains, genotypes

Using nanotechnology and a patented signal enhancing technique developed at the University of Georgia, UGA researchers have discovered a rapid, sensitive and cost-effective method to detect and identify a number of rotavirus strains and genotypes in less than one minute with greater than 96 percent accuracy.

14 May 2010

MitoSciences awarded $590,000 to support development of companion diagnostic tests for antiviral drugs

MitoSciences announces that it has just been awarded $590,000 by the National Institutes of Health to support the development of companion diagnostic tests for antiviral drugs. The award was made after competitive scientific review and was issued under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

14 May 2010

Daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps tackle age-related changes in immune system: Research

Scientists in Finland have discovered that cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic bacteria. The research, published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, reveals that daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps to tackle age-related changes in the immune system.

13 May 2010

ACHN reports net loss of $5.6M for first-quarter 2010: MicroStockProfit.com

MicroStockProfit.com announces an investment report featuring Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. The report includes financial, comparative and investment analyses, and industry information you need to know to make an educated investment decision.

13 May 2010

Sex can affect frequency and severity of adverse effects of vaccination

Biological differences between the sexes could be a significant predictor of responses to vaccines, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They examined published data from numerous adult and child vaccine trials and found that sex is a fundamental, but often overlooked predictor of vaccine response that could help predict the efficacy of combating infectious disease.

13 May 2010

Two-thirds of child deaths in 2008 due to infectious diseases, report finds

Pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and other infectious diseases accounted for two-thirds of the 8.8 million deaths in 2008 among children under age 5 around the world, according to a Lancet study published on Wednesday, HealthDay News/Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. The highest numbers of childhood deaths were in Africa (4.2 million) and Southeast Asia (2.39 million), according to the news service (5/11).

13 May 2010

Merck hosts R&D and Business Briefing

Merck & Co., Inc. today hosted its first R&D and Business Briefing since the completion of the Merck and Schering-Plough merger. The event included a comprehensive review of the company's late-stage pipeline, as well as the company's commercial strategy and progress made in the integration of Merck's worldwide operations.

12 May 2010

Preventable infectious diseases cause two-thirds of child deaths: The Lancet

Preventable infectious diseases cause two-thirds of child deaths, according to a new study published today by The Lancet. Experts from the World Health Organization and UNICEF's Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group assessed data from 193 countries to produce estimates by country, region and the world.

12 May 2010

Potential new drug therapies for treatment of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) has been present in humans since ancient times. The origins of the disease date back to the first domestication of cattle, and skeletal remains show prehistoric humans (4,000 B.C.) had TB. Although relatively rare in the United States, it is the single leading bacterial cause of death worldwide. Approximately 8 million people are infected each year and 2 million people die from TB.

11 May 2010

Intercell reports EUR 4.8m revenue, EUR 14.7m net loss for first-quarter 2010

Today, the biotech-vaccine company Intercell AG announced its financial results for Q1 and presented an update on the Company's development programs.

11 May 2010

New York Times examines global fight against HIV/AIDS

Several articles in the New York Times examine the global fight against HIV/AIDS. "Uganda is the first country where major clinics routinely turn people away" because they lack funding, the newspaper writes in an article that reports "money for [HIV/AIDS] treatment has stopped growing."

11 May 2010

Achillion reports lower net loss of $5.6M for first-quarter 2010

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs to combat the most challenging infectious diseases, today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2010. For the first quarter of 2010, the Company reported a net loss of $5.6 million or $0.16 per share, compared with a net loss of $6.7 million or $0.25 per share for the first quarter of 2009. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2010 were $25.0 million, up $15.3 million compared with December 31, 2009.

10 May 2010

Creator of California Tay-Sachs Disease Prevention Program among the honorees

A mere 40 years ago, parents didn't know they were carriers of the Tay-Sachs disease until after they'd given birth to a child with this fatal genetic disorder.

7 May 2010

Encouraging B. anthracis to unwittingly unmask itself will help eradicate the pathogen

Anthrax-causing bacteria can be engineered to shed their invisibility cloaks, making it easier for the immune system to eradicate it, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The work could lead to new measures to treat anthrax infection in the event of a biological warfare attack.

7 May 2010

ETH Zurich researchers discover HIV transmission chains

Since the emergence of the first AIDS cases in the early 1980s, an infectious wave has spread over Switzerland. Every year, several hundred people are infected with the HI-virus which triggers the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, AIDS. Does the infection spread according to a particular pattern? Do these patterns vary among the transmission groups such as drug addicts, homosexual or heterosexual persons?

7 May 2010

New CD4 test kit can improve quality of life for HIV and AIDS patients

The use of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests for the measurement of CD4 T-cells, a marker of the immune system will be an important factor in improving the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS especially in developing and resource-poor countries.

7 May 2010

Genzyme to initiate $2 billion stock buyback

Genzyme Corp. today announced that its Board of Directors has voted to pursue several actions to increase shareholder value. The company will initiate a $2 billion stock buyback, under which $1 billion of stock will be repurchased in the near term and financed with debt. The additional $1 billion of stock will be repurchased during the next 12 months.

7 May 2010

Darwin may have lost his own children due to ill effects of inbreeding

Charles Darwin whose theories on evolution have been the basis of all that we know about the evolution of mankind and genetics may have lost his own progeny to inbreeding says a new study.

6 May 2010

Researchers demonstrate how Plasmodium falciparum can able to circumvent action of artemisinin

Researchers from CNRS, INSERM and Toulouse University Hospital have demonstrated how the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes severe forms of malaria, is able to circumvent the action of artemisinin and its derivatives, which are today the first-line drugs used to treat this disease. This study supplies some important findings that will enable a clearer understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to antimalarial drugs and the testing of novel therapeutic strategies in a context where the drug resistance of parasites is of increasing concern.

6 May 2010