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New research focuses on rapid identification of disease outbreaks

EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced new research focused on the rapid identification of disease outbreaks in the peer reviewed publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

15 Feb 2013

Improving tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis: an interview with Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD

TB is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nearly 9 million people develop TB every year, and TB kills nearly 1.4 million individuals each year. While the incidence of TB has steadily declined in the west, it remains a huge public health problem in many developing countries, with India having the highest burden.

15 Feb 2013

Researchers solve complete 3-D structure of E6 proteins in HPV 16

For the first time, researchers from the Laboratoire biotechnologie et signalisation cellulaire at the Strasbourg-based Ecole supérieure de biotechnologie (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) and Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (CNRS/Université de Strasbourg/Inserm) have solved the three-dimensional structure of an important oncoprotein involved in cell proliferation and in the development of the human papilloma virus (HPV).

14 Feb 2013

Canada-US-Italian research team develops nature-inspired cocaine biosensor

Since the beginning of time, living organisms have developed ingenious mechanisms to monitor their environment. As part of an international study, a team of researchers has adapted some of these natural mechanisms to detect specific molecules such as cocaine more accurately and quickly. Their work may greatly facilitate the rapid screening-less than five minutes-of many drugs, infectious diseases, and cancers.

14 Feb 2013

Cambodia, China report cases of avian influenza H5N1

"Cambodia reported on Wednesday that another four-year-old girl has contracted avian influenza H5N1, becoming the seventh person who infected the virus in 2013," Xinhua reports.

14 Feb 2013

Eleventh global case of SARS-linked virus confirmed in U.K.

"British officials say a mysterious virus related to SARS may have spread between humans, as they confirmed the 11th case worldwide of the new coronavirus in a patient who they say probably caught it from a family member," the Associated Press reports.

14 Feb 2013

The Atlantic examines 'paradigm shift' in global health response

"The world has an 'historic opportunity' to contain and end three of humanity's deadliest scourges by focusing on their 'hot zones,' according to Mark Dybul, the newly appointed director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria," the Atlantic reports in an article examining a "paradigm shift" in the global health response.

14 Feb 2013

GSK1322322 targets gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant strains of MRSA

An increasing number of bacteria is evolving antibiotic resistance. Much-feared representatives of this steadily growing group include Staphylococci strains. At this point, multi-resistant forms of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus - the "hospital germ" known commonly by its acronym, MRSA - can only be treated with a select subset of antibiotics as many drugs have simply stopped working. This is precisely why the field of medicine is in desperate need of new treatment options.

14 Feb 2013

More polio workers killed than reported cases of disease, NPR reports

"The global effort to eradicate polio has reached a bizarre stage: More people have been gunned down recently over the disease than actually infected with it," NPR's "Shots" blog reports.

14 Feb 2013

Study finds human MPV as second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children

New Vanderbilt-led research published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has identified the relatively unknown human metapneumovirus (MPV) as the second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children.

14 Feb 2013

Blogs examine root causes, implications of myths about polio vaccination

Citing a review by Telegraph correspondent Rob Crilly criticizing the film Zero Dark Thirty "for getting its facts wrong about the CIA vaccination campaign that sought to confirm the DNA of Osama bin Laden's children," development blogger Tom Murphy writes in the Humanosphere blog, "Crilly's larger point is to say that the film gives further ammo to polio vaccine conspiracy theorists."

14 Feb 2013

President Obama delivers SOTU address, mentioning trade agreements, AIDS-free generation

"President Barack Obama outlined an ambitious agenda in his State of the Union address Tuesday that included raising the minimum wage, increasing spending on infrastructure, attacking climate change and passing gun-control legislation," the Wall Street Journal reports.

14 Feb 2013

Updated Cochrane review on vitamin C and common cold

According to an updated Cochrane review on vitamin C and the common cold, vitamin C seems to be particularly beneficial for people under heavy physical stress. In five randomized trials of participants with heavy short-term physical stress, vitamin C halved the incidence of the common cold.

14 Feb 2013

Tousled-like kinases play a key role in suppression and activation of herpesviruses

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) hide within the worldwide human population. While dormant in the vast majority of those infected, these active herpesviruses can develop into several forms of cancer.

14 Feb 2013

AIDS.gov blog examines Global Fund's future

"During January's World Economic Forum, international leaders welcomed former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul as the new head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria," Deborah Derrick, president of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the AIDS.gov blog.

13 Feb 2013

Learning from India's success in eradicating polio

In a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Shelley Thakral, senior communications officer for the foundation's India Country Office, interviews Orin Levine, director of vaccine delivery at the foundation, about his recent trip to India "to observe the experience of Bihar, a state in Northern India, where the polio effort is now being leveraged to strengthen routine immunization in ways that are really exciting."

13 Feb 2013

U.S. News examines growing threat of drug-resistant TB

U.S. News & World Report examines the growing epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), highlighting a "new paper published earlier this week in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal warn[ing] that the first cases of 'totally drug-resistant' tuberculosis have been found in South Africa and that the disease is 'virtually untreatable."

13 Feb 2013

CA-MRSA on the rise in nursing homes

While most infection control measures are focused on hospitals, a new study points to the need for more targeted interventions to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bugs in nursing homes as community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are on the rise in these facilities. The study is published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

13 Feb 2013

U.N. Secretary General condemns violence against health workers in Nigeria

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday "strongly condemned the killing in north-eastern Nigeria of three doctors from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, calling the attack and other recent incidents of violence against health workers 'unacceptable,'" the U.N. News Centre reports.

13 Feb 2013

Bedside baths and bloodstream infections in children: an interview with Aaron Milstone

Bedside baths in the hospital are nothing new. They are typically done for patient comfort and to maintain basic personal hygiene.

13 Feb 2013

Disease/Infection News

New research focuses on rapid identification of disease outbreaks

Improving tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis: an interview with Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD

Researchers solve complete 3-D structure of E6 proteins in HPV 16

Canada-US-Italian research team develops nature-inspired cocaine biosensor

Cambodia, China report cases of avian influenza H5N1

Eleventh global case of SARS-linked virus confirmed in U.K.

The Atlantic examines 'paradigm shift' in global health response

GSK1322322 targets gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-resistant strains of MRSA

More polio workers killed than reported cases of disease, NPR reports

Study finds human MPV as second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children

Blogs examine root causes, implications of myths about polio vaccination

President Obama delivers SOTU address, mentioning trade agreements, AIDS-free generation

Updated Cochrane review on vitamin C and common cold

Tousled-like kinases play a key role in suppression and activation of herpesviruses

AIDS.gov blog examines Global Fund's future

Learning from India's success in eradicating polio

U.S. News examines growing threat of drug-resistant TB

CA-MRSA on the rise in nursing homes

U.N. Secretary General condemns violence against health workers in Nigeria

Bedside baths and bloodstream infections in children: an interview with Aaron Milstone

Redefining control and consistency in anaerobic microbiome workflows

AI in Healthcare: How generative tools are transforming clinical practice

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting

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