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Study shows absence of zoonotic parasitic worms in European farmed fish

A recent study conducted by the EU Horizon 2020-funded ParaFishControl project aimed to demonstrate the absence of zoonotic parasitic worms in European farmed fish, specifically in gilthead sea bream, European sea bass, turbot, Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and common carp.

8 Jun 2018

Researchers identify oldest bubonic plague genome

An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History has analyzed two 3,800-year-old Y. pestis genomes that suggest a Bronze Age origin for bubonic plague.

8 Jun 2018

Livestock may play important role in epidemiology of leptospirosis in sub-Saharan Africa

Leptospirosis, which affects more than one million people worldwide each year, is known to be transmitted to humans from a wide range of animals. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have discovered that more than 7 percent of the cattle and 1 percent of sheep and goats in local slaughterhouses in northern Tanzania are infected with Leptospira bacteria.

8 Jun 2018

Study finds cattle as possible source of human leptospirosis in Africa

The bacterial infection leptospirosis is increasingly recognized as an important cause of fever in Africa. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have analyzed the major risk factors for contracting leptospirosis and discovered that rice and cattle farming are associated with acute infection.

8 Jun 2018

Treating silent malaria cases could help stop spread of disease, shows study

In regions where malaria illness is widespread, it is common to find many individuals who are infected with malaria parasites, but without symptoms.

8 Jun 2018

New project maps impact of climate change on tropical diseases

The HEALTHY FUTURES project developed an online interactive atlas that maps and predicts the risk in eastern Africa of three deadly tropical diseases: malaria and Rift Valley fever, both transmitted by mosquitos, and schistosomiasis, which is caused by worms that emerge from freshwater snails.

7 Jun 2018

Mucus appears to protect flu virus when it becomes airborne, shows study

Mucus and other airway secretions that are expelled when a person with the flu coughs or exhales appear to protect the virus when it becomes airborne, regardless of humidity levels, a creative experiment conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech discovered.

7 Jun 2018

Study finds high insurance denial rates for life-saving hepatitis C drugs in the U.S.

The number of insurance denials for life-saving hepatitis C drugs among patients with both private and public insurers remains high across the United States, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported in a new study published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

7 Jun 2018

Study examines practitioner views on twitter-based food borne illness reporting tool

Foodborne illness is a serious and preventable public health problem, affecting one in six Americans and costing an estimated $50 billion annually.

7 Jun 2018

New approach to kill specific bacteria could be alternative to antibiotics

A new approach to killing C. difficile that silences key bacterial genes while sparing other bacteria may provide a new way to treat the most common hospital-acquired bacterial infection in the United States, according to researchers.

7 Jun 2018

PrEP uptake on the rise and condom use declines in gay men

Some parts of Australia show an increase in uptake of pills that can prevent contracting HIV but also a sharp drop in condom use among men having sex with men. This was found in a major study and is cause for concern.

7 Jun 2018

New approach to improve diagnosis and management of febrile patients

Febrile illness – the manifestation of a high fever – can be problematic for healthcare providers who, in their search to identify the cause, cannot always tell whether a patient is suffering from a bacterial or viral infection.

6 Jun 2018

Immunosuppressed patients with sepsis more likely to die if treated in hospitals caring for few such patients

Immunosuppressed patients with sepsis appear more likely to die if they are treated in a hospital caring for a relatively small number of these patients, according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

6 Jun 2018

Study reveals how pesticides cause Parkinson's Disease

A recent study has shown that pesticides prevent mitochondria from functioning correctly, causing cell death and Parkinson’s Disease.

6 Jun 2018

Cedars-Sinai study identifies gut gas associated with diarrhea

Cedars-Sinai investigators have for the first time identified a gas produced in gut that could improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with two common intestinal illnesses - small intestine bacterial overgrowth and irritable bowel syndrome.

6 Jun 2018

Syphilis and gonorrhea on the rise in England

Both sexually transmitted infections (STIs), syphilis and gonorrhoea, are on the rise in modern England, staging a comeback from the Victorian era. Over the past one year, there has been a 20 percent rise in the incidence of STIs. The rates of syphilis for example is on a 70 year high last year according to the Public Health England statistics.

6 Jun 2018

Study demonstrates that HIV infection in the brain can be established, maintained by T cells

A new study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers has found that T cells, a type of white blood cell and an essential part of the immune system, are sufficient by themselves to establish and maintain an HIV infection in the brain.

6 Jun 2018

HIV diagnoses continue to increase among African-Americans

African-Americans are still much more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white Americans. A new paper on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African-American community shows that despite recent drops in HIV diagnoses across every population in the US, there are still great disparities between ethnic groups.

5 Jun 2018

Researchers gain new insights into hepatitis B virus

Researchers at the University of Delaware, working with colleagues at Indiana University, have gained new insights into the virus that causes hepatitis B -- a life-threatening and incurable infection that afflicts more than 250 million people worldwide.

4 Jun 2018

Researches identify genetic material from Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus in ticks

In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University and other institutions have identified genetic material from the recently identified Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus in the tick species Hyalomma rufipes. The discovery was made after thousands of ticks were collected from migratory birds captured in the Mediterranean basin. The results indicate that birds could contribute to spreading the virus to new geographical areas.

4 Jun 2018