Infectious Diseases News and Research

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Campaign to stop sale of electronic mosquito repellents by major airlines begins to bear fruit

A campaign to stop the sale of electronic mosquito repellents by major airlines is beginning to bear fruit with the immediate withdrawal of the products from KLM flights. The issue being that these electronic repellents, sold to airline passengers, many on their way to malaria endemic countries, just don't work.

25 Feb 2010

Texas Plant-Expressed Vaccine Consortium announces biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative for infectious diseases

Leaders of the Texas Plant-Expressed Vaccine Consortium today announced a biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative designed to show proof of concept for a landmark new technology that could dramatically increase the nation's capability to produce vaccines for infectious diseases, including influenza.

25 Feb 2010

Texas-based consortium announces biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative for vaccine production

25 Feb 2010

α-defensins1-3 may be potential prophylactic agents in treatment of HIV / AIDS

HIV/AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health challenges, particularly in developing countries. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1), the variant responsible for the pandemic, has the ability to infect different cell types such as T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells (DC). These latter cells are crucial in the defense against infectious agents and play a major role in viral pathogenesis.

25 Feb 2010

Internet-based surveillance helps confront infectious disease threats at mass gatherings

Integrating real-time Internet-based infectious disease surveillance with knowledge of worldwide air traffic patterns could help in confronting infectious disease threats at mass gatherings, such as the Olympics and other large scale events, suggests an article in CMAJ.

25 Feb 2010

Mariner to present HAI controlling dashboard at 2010 Microsoft Health User Group Exchange

Mariner, an industry-leading business intelligence, performance management and analytics solutions provider, will present an exciting new data-driven dashboard at the Microsoft Health User Group Exchange 2010 taking place during HIMSS10 at the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia, February 28th. Designed to help the medical center’s infection control practitioner’s control HAIs, the Dashboard has been the subject of recent POC activity at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC).

25 Feb 2010

Chilean hospital's early use of antiviral treatment and aggressive measures helped reduce H1N1 cases

A Chilean hospital's early use of antiviral treatment in influenza patients and other aggressive measures helped reduce the number of severe H1N1 cases and related deaths. Those are the findings of a new study, now available online (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/650750), published in the March 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

25 Feb 2010

Nevirapine taken to protect fetus from HIV should be avoided for one year after childbirth, say researchers

Women given the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention drug nevirapine to protect their fetus should not use an HIV-drug regimen that contains nevirapine for at least one year after childbirth, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

25 Feb 2010

Researchers team up to monitor and assess potential infectious disease threats to Vancouver

As the world watches the Vancouver Olympics, researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Children's Hospital Boston have teamed up to monitor and assess potential infectious disease threats to Vancouver during the Winter Games by integrating two independently developed intelligence systems that focus on global infectious diseases; bio.DIASPORA and HealthMap.

24 Feb 2010

PharmAthene awarded total of $78.4M in additional funding to develop SparVax vaccine

PharmAthene, Inc. a biodefense company specializing in the development and commercialization of medical countermeasures against chemical and biological threats, announced today that the Department of Health and Human Services, through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has modified its existing research and development contract with PharmAthene providing for up to a total of $78.4 million in additional funding, provided that certain milestones are achieved and that all contract options and extensions are exercised by the government, to support the continued advanced development of SparVax™, a second generation recombinant protective antigen (rPA) anthrax vaccine targeted for future procurement in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.

24 Feb 2010

IBM Maximo software helps GNL ensure optimal performance of equipment in fight against emerging infectious diseases

In the fight against emerging infectious diseases, The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL), one of two National Institutes of Health funded bio-containment laboratories in the United States, is benefiting from IBM software to ensure the optimal performance of all equipment functioning within its facility. The GNL, which is dedicated to the study and prevention of emerging infectious diseases, will use IBM Maximo Asset Management Software to help automate, manage and ensure the performance of its 3,000 operating assets in one of the world's most complex medical research environments.

24 Feb 2010

LifeSciences British Columbia, UBC to host global summit on HIV/AIDS

LifeSciences British Columbia, the BC Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and the University of British Columbia will host a global summit on HIV/AIDS on Feb. 26th, 2010, against the backdrop of the 2010 Olympic Games.

24 Feb 2010

FDA recommends H1N1 for inclusion in next year's flu vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday recommended that the H1N1 (swine flu) strain be added to next year's seasonal flu vaccine, "putting an end to separate shots deployed against the pandemic," Bloomberg reports. The FDA committee voted unanimously to make the H1N1 strain one of the three strains included in the shot, according to the news service. "The panel's recommendations are routinely adopted and used to guide vaccine manufacturers," Bloomberg writes (Randall, 2/22).

24 Feb 2010

FDA grants EUA for Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay in CLIA high complexity laboratories

Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics today announced it has been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay™ in CLIA high complexity laboratories. . The Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay™ is a ready-use assay that requires no mixing prior to use and has been authorized for use on the ABI 7500.

24 Feb 2010

Also in global health news: Global Fund; MDGs, women; polio eradication

Radio Australia examines the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's push for more funding from Australia and China. Global Fund Executive Director "Michel Kazatchkine is currently touring the world's capitals seeking renewed government pledges to build on an already impressive record and as well as looking to Australia to do more, he's hoping soon to get China to become not just recipient, but donor."

24 Feb 2010

Humans can harbor bacteria in gallstones, infect others with active typhoid fever

A new study suggests that the bacteria that cause typhoid fever collect in tiny but persistent communities on gallstones, making the infection particularly hard to fight in so-called "carriers" - people who have the disease but show no symptoms.

23 Feb 2010

Research reveals human Chlamydia pneumoniae has originated from animal source

Animals have been found to have infected humans sometime in the past with the common respiratory disease Chlamydia pneumoniae, according to Queensland University of Technology infectious disease expert Professor Peter Timms.

23 Feb 2010

NIH awards Sanaria Phase II SBIR grant to develop genetically attenuated, whole parasite malaria vaccine

Sanaria Inc. has received additional support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health in the form of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant. The three-year award totaling approximately $3 million will support collaborative research by investigators at Sanaria and Columbia University.

23 Feb 2010

Global rules barring TB patients from flying are too stringent, study says

A "controversial" study, released on Sunday, "suggests international rules that bar potentially infectious tuberculosis patients from flying are too stringent and airline passengers are really at little risk from catching TB from a fellow traveler," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. The paper is being published in the March edition of Lancet Infectious Diseases (Stobbe, 2/21).

23 Feb 2010

AAAS meeting examines test-and-treat model's potential for fighting HIV spread, TB co-infection

Researchers speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting on Saturday, discussed how a strategy to promote universal voluntary HIV tests and early antiretroviral treatment for patients living in high-risk areas might "derail the spread of [HIV/]AIDS, a battle where a successful vaccine remains elusive," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports

23 Feb 2010

Infectious Diseases News and Research

Campaign to stop sale of electronic mosquito repellents by major airlines begins to bear fruit

Texas Plant-Expressed Vaccine Consortium announces biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative for infectious diseases

Texas-based consortium announces biotherapeutic manufacturing initiative for vaccine production

α-defensins1-3 may be potential prophylactic agents in treatment of HIV / AIDS

Internet-based surveillance helps confront infectious disease threats at mass gatherings

Mariner to present HAI controlling dashboard at 2010 Microsoft Health User Group Exchange

Chilean hospital's early use of antiviral treatment and aggressive measures helped reduce H1N1 cases

Nevirapine taken to protect fetus from HIV should be avoided for one year after childbirth, say researchers

Researchers team up to monitor and assess potential infectious disease threats to Vancouver

PharmAthene awarded total of $78.4M in additional funding to develop SparVax vaccine

IBM Maximo software helps GNL ensure optimal performance of equipment in fight against emerging infectious diseases

LifeSciences British Columbia, UBC to host global summit on HIV/AIDS

FDA recommends H1N1 for inclusion in next year's flu vaccine

FDA grants EUA for Longhorn Influenza A/H1N1-09 Prime RRT-PCR Assay in CLIA high complexity laboratories

Also in global health news: Global Fund; MDGs, women; polio eradication

Humans can harbor bacteria in gallstones, infect others with active typhoid fever

Research reveals human Chlamydia pneumoniae has originated from animal source

NIH awards Sanaria Phase II SBIR grant to develop genetically attenuated, whole parasite malaria vaccine

Global rules barring TB patients from flying are too stringent, study says

AAAS meeting examines test-and-treat model's potential for fighting HIV spread, TB co-infection

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