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Report: Patients still experience CLABSIs and CAUTIs in U.S. hospitals

Though hospitals are making strides in avoiding central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), a report released today, in the midst of Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 13-19), shows patients are still experiencing these serious, and sometimes fatal, infections too frequently.

16 Mar 2016

OIE, WHO release new global framework to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies

In accordance with the consensus of the Global Conference held in Geneva on 10-11 December 2015, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the World Health Organization are releasing their global framework for the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and with the support of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.

16 Mar 2016

New study further supports link between Zika virus and microcephaly

New research, based on data from the 2013-14 Zika outbreak in French Polynesia, further supports the association between Zika virus and microcephaly.

16 Mar 2016

AMP disappointed as FDA takes enforcement action against physicians for Zika virus test

The Association for Molecular Pathology, the premier global, professional society serving molecular diagnostics professionals, is very concerned and disappointed to see the FDA taking enforcement action against the physicians at Texas Children's Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital for their laboratory developed procedure (LDP) for Zika virus, which was designed to identify virus-specific RNA sequences in a large metropolitan area.

16 Mar 2016

Multiplex test could detect common sexually transmitted infections in 30 minutes

One test that could detect four of the most common sexually transmitted infections in 30 minutes and allow them to be rapidly treated, will be developed by St George's, University of London and diagnostics company Atlas Genetics.

16 Mar 2016

Conflicting expectations result in failure of young girls completing HPV vaccinations series

Conflicting expectations between parents and medical providers about who is responsible for scheduling follow-up appointments is resulting in a failure of young girls completing the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination series, according to a new study led by Boston Medical Center researchers.

16 Mar 2016

Global research links genes to five common, hard-to-treat inflammatory diseases

A global study involving 50 different research centres has found hundreds of genes which cause five common, hard-to-treat and debilitating inflammatory diseases, paving the way to new treatments for these conditions

16 Mar 2016

Study: New SARS-like WIV1-CoV virus poised to infect humans

A SARS-like virus found in Chinese horseshoe bats may be poised to infect humans without the need for adaptation, overcoming an initial barrier that could potentially set the stage for an outbreak according to a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

16 Mar 2016

Researchers describe antibiotic resistance as either selfish or co-operative

Trace concentrations of antibiotic, such as those found in sewage outfalls, are enough to enable bacteria to keep antibiotic resistance, new research from the University of York has found. The concentrations are much lower than previously anticipated, and help to explain why antibiotic resistance is so persistent in the environment.

15 Mar 2016

BD MedMined Surveillance Advisor finishes first in Infection Control and Monitoring category

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading medical technology company, announced today that BD MedMined Surveillance Advisor has been named a 2015/2016 Category Leader for Infection Control and Monitoring in the 2015/2016 Best in KLAS: Software and Service report, based on customer feedback.

15 Mar 2016

St. Jude scientists develop insights to guide development of powerful novel anti-influenza drugs

By analyzing the molecular details of how artificially created drug-resistant flu strains manage to survive treatment, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed insights to guide development of powerful new anti-influenza drugs. These compounds will target a viral enzyme critical to the virus' proliferation in the body.

15 Mar 2016

UCSF study marks important step toward finding cure for Ebola

In experiments carried out partly at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists have determined in atomic detail how a potential drug molecule fits into and blocks a channel in cell membranes that Ebola and related "filoviruses" need to infect victims' cells.

15 Mar 2016

Heart failure drug has unexpected ability to block herpesvirus infection

Today, there is only one class of antiviral medicines against herpesviruses - a family of viruses that cause mononucleosis, herpes, and shingles, among other illnesses - meaning options for treating these infections are limited. If viruses become resistant to these frontline treatments, a growing problem particularly in clinical settings, there are no alternative drugs to serve as backup.

15 Mar 2016

Researchers discover potentially-pathogenic bacteria in water supply pipes

The human microbiome, a diverse collection of microorganisms living inside us and on our skin, has attracted considerable attention for its role in a broad range of human health issues. Now, researchers are discovering that the built environment also has a microbiome, which includes a community of potentially-pathogenic bacteria living inside water supply pipes.

15 Mar 2016

One-fourth of seniors acquire new superbugs during hospital stay

One in four seniors is bringing along stowaways from the hospital to their next stop: superbugs on their hands.Moreover, seniors who go to a nursing home or other post-acute care facility will continue to acquire new superbugs during their stay, according to findings made by University of Michigan researchers published today in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter.

15 Mar 2016

New microfluidic biosensor can identify white blood cells quickly for AIDS diagnosis

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a highly sensitive biosensor based on a differential immuno-capture technology that can detect sub-populations of white blood cells. As part of a small, disposable biochip, the microfluidic biosensor can count CD4+/CD8+ T cells quickly and accurately for AIDS diagnosis in the field.

14 Mar 2016

Biological change in mosquito mating could be used to fight mosquito-borne diseases

Genetic cues from male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes passed on during sex affect which genes are turned on or off in a females' reproductive tract post-mating, including genes related to blood feeding, egg development and immune defense, according to new Cornell research.

14 Mar 2016

NIH-funded investigators develop therapeutic compound effective against malaria

An international team that includes NIH-funded researchers at Stanford University has developed a therapeutic compound that is effective in inhibiting Plasmodium falciparum, one of five species of parasite that infects people with malaria, and the strain which causes the highest number of malaria deaths.

13 Mar 2016

Russian scientists propose new technique to analyze intestinal metagenomes

A group of Russian scientists, among them staff at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have proposed a new method for the comparison of metagenome-coupled DNA sequences from all of the organisms in a sample of biological material being investigated.

11 Mar 2016

Low bone mass higher in HIV-infected males than in females

Accumulating evidence suggests that rates of low bone mass are greater in HIV-infected males than in females. Researchers led by Grace Aldrovandi, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, studied 11 biomarkers associated with inflammation, bone loss and/or bone formation in about 450 individuals - assessed by sex and HIV status - to try to determine causes of this differential bone loss.

11 Mar 2016