Disease/Infection News

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Coronavirus app detects if you’ve been exposed

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) can spread rapidly, with at least a thousand new infections and a hundred of deaths each day. The epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan in China, has been locked down since the peak of the outbreak. Now, Chinese officials say they’ve developed a new coronavirus app that tracks people and alerts them if they have been in close contact with the deadly virus.

11 Feb 2020

Combination of two antibiotics found to be no better than one for treating MRSA blood infections

Researchers attempting to improve the treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood infections have discovered the combination of two antibiotics was no better than one, and led to more adverse effects.

11 Feb 2020

New germ-killing fabric could help stop the spread of communicable diseases

UMass Lowell researchers have created germ-killing fabric that could help stop the spread of communicable diseases.

11 Feb 2020

App-based digital intervention alleviates depressive symptoms in people living with HIV

Globally more than 36 million people are living with HIV (PLWH), and a third of them have elevated depressive symptoms. Most PLWH live in developing countries with limited access to mental health services due to HIV-related stigma and a shortage of mental health professionals. Widely accessible smart phones offer a promising intervention delivery mode to address this gap.

11 Feb 2020

PolyU develops fully automated, rapid diagnostic platform for detecting respiratory infectious diseases

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University today announced the development of the world's most comprehensive automated multiplex diagnostic system (the System) which includes a fully automated machine and a multiplex full-screening panel for the point-of-care genetic testing of respiratory infectious disease including the 2019-nCoV.

11 Feb 2020

Blue Water Vaccines enters into agreement to develop Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine with St. Jude

Blue Water Vaccines Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on creating transformative vaccines solving global health challenges, has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement for the development of a Streptococcus Pneumoniae vaccine with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the nation's leading hospital dedicated to understanding, treating and curing childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

11 Feb 2020

Australian scientists grow live coronavirus virus

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is rapidly spreading across the globe, with the highest magnitude taking a toll on mainland China. Scientists are racing to find a vaccine or a treatment to help contain the virus spread. Now, a team of scientists and health experts in Australia may have found a breakthrough to fight the deadly virus.

11 Feb 2020

Bats' fierce immune response to viruses could drive zoonotic emergence

It's no coincidence that some of the worst viral disease outbreaks in recent years -- SARS, MERS, Ebola, Marburg and likely the newly arrived 2019-nCoV virus -- originated in bats.

10 Feb 2020

Coronavirus could have spread to humans from bats via pangolins

A new research from China reveals that the novel corona virus that has killed hundreds of infected persons in Wuhan from the Hubei province in China and infected thousands across the world could have spread to humans via bats mediated via another species of animals – pangolins.

10 Feb 2020

Coronavirus spread via aerosol raises concern as death toll rises

The Wuhan coronavirus or novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has started to spread in a seafood market in Wuhan China before New Year of 2019 and has since spread to 25 countries and has infected more than 40,000 people. The death toll has surpassed that of the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003, and new developments in the virus’s mode of transmission raise alarm worldwide.

10 Feb 2020

When it comes to the new coronavirus, just who is a ‘close contact’?

Even as U.S. authorities have taken the drastic steps of quarantining residents returning from China, and temporarily banning foreign visitors who recently traveled to affected Chinese regions, they have urged the vast majority of U.S. residents to go about their regular activities.

10 Feb 2020

Improving handwashing at airports could reduce the spread of infectious diseases

A new study estimates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world's leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases.

10 Feb 2020

Geographer produces new interactive map to show worldwide spread of coronavirus

As scientists pin down the origin, governments enact prevention measures and labs look for a cure, news about the outbreak of the novel coronavirus often comes down to two questions: where and how many people are infected?

10 Feb 2020

Novel innate immunity factor inhibits HIV infection by targeting lipid rafts, study finds

The human protein apolipoprotein A-I binding protein inhibits HIV replication by targeting lipid rafts and reducing virus-cell fusion, according to a new study published in the premier American Society for Microbiology journal mBio by researchers from the George Washington University.

10 Feb 2020

Youth with HIV have lower rates of viral suppression than adults

Despite similar rates of enrollment into medical care, youth with HIV have much lower rates of viral suppression--reducing HIV to undetectable levels--compared to adults, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.

10 Feb 2020

InterSystems deploys TrakCare with novel coronavirus screening functionality

InterSystems is releasing global functionality for its TrakCare unified healthcare information system to screen and support patients with 2019-nCoV, the novel coronavirus infection that originated in Wuhan in China.

10 Feb 2020

UK facing a major coronavirus outbreak, experts warn

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV or Wuhan coronavirus) is spreading like wildfire across the globe and health officials are racing to contain the virus. Experts in the United Kingdom warn that the country is facing a major coronavirus outbreak in the coming weeks as the number of confirmed cases rises to four, as more than 25 countries have reported increasing case toll.

9 Feb 2020

Study identifies potential drug target and way to alleviate cerebral malaria

Scientists have identified a key molecule involved in the development of cerebral malaria, a deadly form of the tropical disease. The study identifies a potential drug target and way forward toward alleviating this condition for which few targeted treatments are available.

9 Feb 2020

OU researchers awarded NASA grant to better understand emerging infectious disease threats

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma has been awarded a $730,000 grant from NASA to better understand emerging infectious disease threats in the region of Central Asia, including the 2019 novel coronavirus that is spreading from China.

9 Feb 2020

New strategies needed to reduce pneumococcal meningitis rates

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine have been highly effective in reducing pneumonia and other invasive infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

9 Feb 2020