Disease/Infection News

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Scientists develop novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks

A team of scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a novel method to accurately predict dengue fever outbreaks several weeks before they occur.

24 Mar 2013

Organizations highlight World TB Day

World TB Day is commemorated each year on March 24, recognizing the discovery of the tuberculosis bacilli by Robert Koch in 1882.

22 Mar 2013

Swaziland, South Africa announce initiative to improve diagnosis, treatment of TB/HIV co-infection

"Health ministers from Swaziland and South Africa have agreed to radically change the diagnosis and treatment of the co-epidemic of [tuberculosis (TB)]/HIV in their countries," VOA News reports.

22 Mar 2013

New testing technologies can help fight TB, but new treatments needed

"[F]or many low-income populations, [tuberculosis (TB)] is nothing less than a modern-day public health emergency," and "[t]o make things worse, many of these patients [a]re living with HIV," U.N. Under-Secretary General and UNITAID Chair Philippe Douste-Blazy writes in a Huffington Post "Impact" blog opinion piece.

22 Mar 2013

Male circumcision a 'staggeringly under-utilized tool'

"PrePex, the new nonsurgical circumcision tool experts believe could revolutionize the prevention of HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, is easier to assemble than a toy you might find in a Happy Meal," freelance journalist Patrick Adams writes in the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog.

22 Mar 2013

Global health community calls for more effective, accessible TB treatment in MSF statement

"Patients, doctors and international aid groups are calling on donors and governments to support measures that would make treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis more effective and accessible," Inter Press Service reports, noting, "The demands are being made amidst the recent or imminent approval of two new drugs" that some advocates say "present an historic opportunity to tackle the notoriously difficult-to-treat disease."

22 Mar 2013

Effectiveness of candidate malaria vaccine decreases over time, study shows

"The effectiveness of an experimental malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline wanes over time, with the shot protecting only 16.8 percent of children over four years, according to trial data," Reuters reports.

22 Mar 2013

Blog describes efforts to fight NTDs in Brazil

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End The Neglect" blog reports on the Brazilian Ministry of Health's launch of "a public health campaign to diagnose and treat soil-transmitted helminths (or intestinal parasites) and leprosy in school-aged children" and says it will feature stories related to the fight against NTDs in Brazil over the coming days.

22 Mar 2013

Fralin Life Science Institute researchers use TALENS to alter mosquito genome

Virginia Tech researchers successfully used a gene disruption technique to change the eye color of a mosquito - a critical step toward new genetic strategies aimed at disrupting the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever.

22 Mar 2013

Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

Decades of research and three large-scale clinical trials have so far failed to yield an effective HIV vaccine, in large part because the virus evolves so rapidly that it can evade any vaccine-induced immune response.

22 Mar 2013

New hope for treating, preventing malaria

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland VA Medical Center have developed a drug that may represent one of the world's best hopes for treating and preventing malaria - a disease that kills more than one million people each year.

22 Mar 2013

Cocaine can be lethal for people living with HIV

Cocaine, already a damaging drug for those with healthy immune systems, can be lethal for those living with human immunodeficiency virus. Mudit Tyagi, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has received two federally funded grants to study how dangerous this combination is in HIV patients.

22 Mar 2013

HIV home tests: an interview with Dr Nitika Pant Pai, McGill University

30 years into the HIV epidemic, there is no vaccine in sight. Yet, even though there are fantastic and effective cheap and universally available drugs, and a treatment as prevention strategy is known to work, people do not wish to get tested for HIV! If everyone got tested, and treated, we could have brought the infection under control a long time ago!

21 Mar 2013

Some public health experts concerned over Saudi Arabia's response to SARS-like virus

"A SARS-like virus has infected 15 people, nine of whom have died, mostly in Saudi Arabia, worrying some Western scientists who question whether the kingdom is sharing enough critical data on the outbreak," "[b]ut a top Saudi Arabia health official rejected those complaints on Tuesday and said the virus posed a low risk of pandemic," the Wall Street Journal reports.

21 Mar 2013

Positive results from Affinium Pharmaceuticals' Phase 2a clinical trial of AFN-1252 in ABSSSI

Affinium Pharmaceuticals announced today that its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating oral AFN-1252 in acute bacterial skin & skin structure infections demonstrated excellent efficacy and safety data, marking a significant proof-of-concept milestone for Affinium's first-in-class, novel antibiotic targeted against bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis inhibition (FabI inhibitors).

21 Mar 2013

More action needed to fight TB, as drug resistance spreading

"As we mark World [Tuberculosis (TB)] Day on Sunday March 24, there can be no denying that TB, fueled by drug resistance, continues to pose a serious global health threat -- one that must be urgently addressed," John Lechleiter, chair, president and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company and chair of the board of PhRMA, writes in a Forbes opinion piece, adding, "With resistance spreading, we need a renewed global commitment that combines public and private efforts to defeat TB."

21 Mar 2013

Lancet to launch new global health journal

The Lancet on Monday announced the launch of a new journal, Lancet Global Health, according to a press release (3/18).

21 Mar 2013

TSRI receives fund to develop new field test for Onchocerciasis

Philanthropist, businessman and community leader John Moores has given The Scripps Research Institute approximately $2 million to fund the development of a new field test for Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions.

21 Mar 2013

GlobalPost, humanitarian agencies examine impact of childhood TB

Noting the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Monday issued a joint statement calling for an additional $1.6 million a year to fight tuberculosis (TB) in low- and middle-income countries, GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog examines the global impact of childhood TB, writing, "While health officials did not single out the devastating impact of the disease on children ... WHO estimates that at least 500,000 children contract TB each year and that 70,000 die from the disease, largely in Asia and Africa."

21 Mar 2013

New class of anti-malarial compounds discovered

A group of researchers from 16 institutions around the world has identified a new class of anti-malarial compounds that target multiple stages of the malaria parasite's life cycle.

21 Mar 2013