Disease/Infection News

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ConvertibleCAR immunotherapy can be used to attack HIV latent reservoir

A team of Gladstone scientists and their partners at Xyphos Biosciences, Inc. describe a new way of attacking cells infected by HIV in this week's issue of the journal Cell.

24 Oct 2019

GHS Index: Not a single country fully prepared to handle epidemic or pandemic

A new Global Health Security Index released today, the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries, suggests that not a single country in the world is fully prepared to handle an epidemic or pandemic.

24 Oct 2019

Vaccine for Lassa fever set to enter clinical testing in humans

There is currently no vaccine for the Lassa arenavirus, which causes Lassa fever. This hemorrhagic fever, endemic in West Africa, infects up to 300,000 people each year.

24 Oct 2019

Scientists find new strains of human adenovirus in Singapore

Human adenovirus (HAdV) infections in Singapore and Malaysia have caused severe respiratory disease among children and adults in recent years, but scientists still don't know whether these outbreaks are due to new or re-emerging virus strains.

24 Oct 2019

Cooperative research center at LLNL aims to develop vaccines for chlamydia

A cooperative research center that aims to develop vaccines for chlamydia has been established by the National Institutes of Health at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

24 Oct 2019

Emory researchers awarded NIAID contract to develop better drug against influenza

With the flu killing an average of 20,000 people annually in the United States and posing the larger threat of global pandemics, Emory University's strides in influenza research carry the hope of saving lives here and abroad.

23 Oct 2019

UAB researchers awarded grant to study a vaccine for gonorrhea

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have been awarded a three-year contract with a total potential amount of $10 million to study the efficacy of the vaccine Bexsero - already licensed to prevent meningitis - in protecting vulnerable populations from infection with the bacteria that causes gonorrhea.

23 Oct 2019

E. coli superbug spreading by poor toilet hygiene, not through food

A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on October 22, 2019, says that one common superbug that causes more than 5,000 cases of food poisoning in England every year is spread not through contaminated food but through contaminated toilet surfaces.

23 Oct 2019

New collaboration aims to develop gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV

The National Institutes of Health plans to invest at least $100 million over the next four years toward an audacious goal: develop affordable, gene-based cures for sickle cell disease and HIV.

23 Oct 2019

New $30M contract signed to accelerate TB vaccine development across the country

Tuberculosis (TB) is the number-one cause of death from an infectious disease in the world: In 2017, the most recent data available, 10 million people developed TB and 1.6 million died.

23 Oct 2019

Anti-arthritis drug can stop tuberculosis bacillus from infecting blood stem cells

Immunologist Johan Van Weyenbergh (KU Leuven) and his Belgian-Brazilian colleagues have shown that a drug used to fight arthritis also stops the process that allows the tuberculosis bacillus to infect and hijack blood stem cells.

23 Oct 2019

Researchers assess accuracy of lateral flow urine LAM test in detecting TB in HIV-positive people

Tuberculosis (TB) causes more deaths in people living with HIV than any other disease, with more than 300,000 deaths in 2017. When detected, early TB can be treated effectively; however, people with advanced HIV are at high risk of death, often without knowing they have TB.

22 Oct 2019

Los Alamos' predictive AI computer model wins FluSight Challenge

A probabilistic artificial intelligence computer model developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory provided the most accurate state, national, and regional forecasts of the flu in 2018, beating 23 other teams in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's FluSight Challenge. The CDC announced the results last week.

22 Oct 2019

E. coli bacteria study may provide clues about drug resistance

Swapping a single amino acid in a simple bacterial protein changes its structure and function, revealing the effects of complex gene evolution, finds a new study published in the journal eLife.

22 Oct 2019

Research introduces a revolutionary treatment for infections

Titanium has many properties that make it a great choice for use in implants. Its low density, high stiffness, high biomechnanical strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance have led to its use in several types of implants, from dental to joints.

22 Oct 2019

Ebola virus vaccine still effective against the infection even in low concentrations

The Ebola virus (EBOV), variant Makona, was the causative agent of the 2014-2016 West African epidemic that took over 11,000 lives and infected nearly 30,000 people. But with the combination of globally-supported containment efforts, health experts were able to track the spread of the outbreak, as well as use precautionary and quarantine procedures.

21 Oct 2019

Patients with diabetes may have worse lung infections

People with diabetes are at a higher risk of various complications, including worse respiratory diseases. One of the most dreaded lung diseases is the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

21 Oct 2019

Neutrophil extracellular traps could cause organ damage in malaria

Malaria is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases: a small mosquito bite delivers numerous malaria parasites into the bloodstream. The human body defends itself valiantly against the parasite, which usually results in periodic flu-like symptoms and severe fever. Severe cases of the disease are accompanied by tissue damage and result in potentially fatal organ failure.

21 Oct 2019

TB care reaches 7 million says WHO report

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report on the latest status of treatment of tuberculosis worldwide. The report shows that around the world more people are getting adequate care for tuberculosis in 2018 than ever before but some vulnerable populations are still left out.

21 Oct 2019

OPAT adherence device took top prize at IDEA Incubator competition

A device designed to improve adherence to outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy took top prize at the second IDEA Incubator, a competition showcasing inventions, products and devices to improve patient care for infectious diseases, which takes place during IDWeek.

18 Oct 2019