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Kaiser Permanente bans 'germ-fighting' antimicrobial agents for use in hospitals

Concerned about mounting exposure to toxic chemicals in everyday life and the threat of drug-resistant bacteria, Kaiser Permanente has banned paint and other interior building products treated with "germ-fighting" antimicrobial agents for use in its hospitals and other buildings.

13 Dec 2015

New rapid test can detect malaria parasites, viruses and biomarkers

Nothing could be simpler: a drop of blood is placed on a special carrier substance; after a wait of a few minutes, the slide is placed on a device that emits polarised light thanks to an inexpensive polarisation filter. It is covered with a lid containing a second polarisation filter, which blocks the light from all materials except crystalline or materials with directional properties.

13 Dec 2015

Four journalists from China and India win 2016 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters

Four early-career journalists from China and India have emerged from the fiercest competition to date to win the 2016 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters.

13 Dec 2015

Increasing alcohol taxes decreases gonorrhea rates by 24% in Maryland

Increasing state alcohol taxes could help prevent sexually transmitted infections, such as gonorrhea, according to University of Florida Health researchers, who found that gonorrhea rates decreased by 24 percent in Maryland after the state increased its sales tax on alcohol in 2011.

13 Dec 2015

U.S. has sufficient capacity for treating Ebola outbreak but financial, resource challenges remain as hurdle

The United States has sufficient capacity for treating another outbreak of the Ebola virus, but financial, staffing and resource challenges remain a hurdle for many hospitals and health systems attempting to maintain dedicated treatment centers for highly infectious diseases, according to new study released today.

12 Dec 2015

Access to harm reduction programs vey low in rural and suburban areas affected by HIV infections

Access to harm reduction programs such as syringe exchange is lowest in rural and suburban areas, where rates of addiction to heroin and other opioids are on the rise, according to a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

12 Dec 2015

NIAID scientists successfully test prime-boost H7N9 influenza vaccine concept in clinical trial

In clinical trials, several candidate H7N9 pandemic influenza vaccines made from inactivated viruses have been shown to be safe and to generate an immune response. However, scientists believe for practical use, these potential vaccines would require multiple doses or the addition of adjuvants, which enhance the immune response.

12 Dec 2015

Abbott, UCSF identify human pegivirus 2 among some patients with hepatitis C

Abbott and University of California San Francisco published research identifying a newly discovered human virus, known as human pegivirus 2 (HPgV-2), and proving it is found among some patients with hepatitis C (HCV).

12 Dec 2015

AIDS treatment can improve well-being of HIV-negative people

In rural Malawi, roughly 10 percent of the adult population has HIV. At the peak of the epidemic, in the 1990s and early 2000s, nearly everyone knew someone infected with or affected by the virus, what demographer Hans-Peter Kohler of the University of Pennsylvania describes as a generalized epidemic.

12 Dec 2015

Penn State researchers receive $10.2 million grant to investigate new method for preventing malaria

In collaboration with partners in Europe and Africa, researchers at Penn State have received a five-year, $10.2-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate a new method for preventing the transmission of malaria.

12 Dec 2015

Sangamo presents Phase 2 data from two ongoing clinical trials of SB-728-T for treatment of HIV/AIDS

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., the leader in therapeutic genome editing, announced the presentation of Phase 2 data from two of the Company's ongoing clinical trials (SB-728-1101 Cohort 3* and SB-728-mR-1401) of SB-728-T, which is being developed for the functional control of HIV/AIDS.

11 Dec 2015

UC San Diego biologists develop a method to screen natural products for new antibiotics

Biologists at UC San Diego have found that a method they developed to identify and characterize new antibiotics can be employed to screen natural products quickly for compounds capable of controlling antibiotic resistant bacteria.

11 Dec 2015

Early life exposures to toxic chemicals reduce infants' response to TB vaccine

Early life exposures to toxic chemicals such as PCBs and DDT dampen an infant's response to the tuberculosis vaccine, according to a new study from the University of Rochester Environmental Health Sciences Center.

11 Dec 2015

Researchers set up citizen science program to gain insight into triatomine insects in Texas

Chagas disease is caused by a parasitic protozoan (Trypanosoma cruzi) and transmitted via triatomine insects known locally in Texas as "kissing bugs". Due to the success of community based triatomine surveillance and collection in Central and South America, researchers from Texas A & M University set up a citizen science program to gain insight into the distribution and infection prevalence of triatomine insects in Texas.

11 Dec 2015

Virologists demonstrate how poxviruses defeat the body's host immune defenses

Smallpox virus, which killed millions of humans through the ages, ranks among the world's most feared bioterrorism agents. Human monkeypox continues to occur sporadically in remote African villages.

11 Dec 2015

Scientists find effective antiviral mechanisms to inhibit chikungunya virus

Scientists looking at the antiviral mechanisms of two previously identified human monoclonal antibodies have found they potently inhibit chikungunya virus (CHIKV) at multiple stages of infection.

11 Dec 2015

TB sidetracked in the fight against HIV epidemic in Malawi

Tuberculosis seems to have fallen between the cracks in poverty-stricken Malawi's sponsor-dependent health sector. The dominating focus on HIV may have left parts of Africa with a skewed health service, say researchers.

11 Dec 2015

New framework launched for global elimination of human rabies

A new framework to eliminate human rabies and save tens of thousands of lives each year has been launched today by the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Global Alliance for the Control of Rabies.

10 Dec 2015

Halyard Health to develop high-speed machine to manufacture respirators for use during pandemic

Halyard Health Inc., formerly Kimberly-Clark Health Care, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Under the contract, BARDA will fund research by Halyard to develop a one-of-a-kind, high-speed machine to manufacture N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFRs) that can be used during a pandemic.

10 Dec 2015

Sinovac gets approval to begin clinical trials on Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine candidate

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that the Company has obtained approval to begin human clinical trials on its Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine (or "sIPV") candidate.

10 Dec 2015

Disease/Infection News

Kaiser Permanente bans 'germ-fighting' antimicrobial agents for use in hospitals

New rapid test can detect malaria parasites, viruses and biomarkers

Four journalists from China and India win 2016 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters

Increasing alcohol taxes decreases gonorrhea rates by 24% in Maryland

U.S. has sufficient capacity for treating Ebola outbreak but financial, resource challenges remain as hurdle

Access to harm reduction programs vey low in rural and suburban areas affected by HIV infections

NIAID scientists successfully test prime-boost H7N9 influenza vaccine concept in clinical trial

Abbott, UCSF identify human pegivirus 2 among some patients with hepatitis C

AIDS treatment can improve well-being of HIV-negative people

Penn State researchers receive $10.2 million grant to investigate new method for preventing malaria

Sangamo presents Phase 2 data from two ongoing clinical trials of SB-728-T for treatment of HIV/AIDS

UC San Diego biologists develop a method to screen natural products for new antibiotics

Early life exposures to toxic chemicals reduce infants' response to TB vaccine

Researchers set up citizen science program to gain insight into triatomine insects in Texas

Virologists demonstrate how poxviruses defeat the body's host immune defenses

Scientists find effective antiviral mechanisms to inhibit chikungunya virus

TB sidetracked in the fight against HIV epidemic in Malawi

New framework launched for global elimination of human rabies

Halyard Health to develop high-speed machine to manufacture respirators for use during pandemic

Sinovac gets approval to begin clinical trials on Sabin Inactivated Polio Vaccine candidate

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