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Vaccinating families could protect young babies against RSV infection

Research by the University of Warwick indicates that vaccinating families could protect young babies against a common winter virus which can be fatal for infants under six months.

16 Nov 2012

FCTC funding cuts could leave world's poorest countries vulnerable to smoking-related diseases

Proposed funding cuts within the international body responsible for tobacco control will leave the world's poorest countries more vulnerable to smoking-related diseases, a study suggests.

16 Nov 2012

Global Fund uncovers 'financial wrongdoing' in some grants to Cambodia

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Wednesday said an investigation by the group's Inspector General into grants in Cambodia "uncovered credible and substantive evidence of serious financial wrongdoing, on procurement and other issues," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Nov 2012

Meningitis vaccine declared usable without refrigeration for up to four days

"In a breakthrough for the fight against meningitis in poor countries, researchers say the WHO has ruled that a key vaccine can be transported or stored for up to four days without refrigeration," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Nov 2012

Examining private sector, foreign government involvement in Haiti's health system

With recent suggestions "of privatizing the [U.S.] government's emergency response capability for natural and human-caused disasters and infectious diseases," Henry (Chip) Carey, an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University in Atlanta, writes in the World Policy Blog, "One might want to look at Haiti for a case study in the effects of bypassing the government health sector for private organizations."

16 Nov 2012

New 'people-centered investment approach' could lead to end of global AIDS pandemic

Writing in Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog, Lucy Chesire, executive director and secretary to the board of the TB ACTION Group, notes "countries from north and south, U.N. organizations, private sector companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are meeting in Geneva [this week] at the Board meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to discuss how best to invest available resources against the three killer diseases."

16 Nov 2012

FDA chief's call for greater oversight of drug compounders triggers Republican skepticism

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday questioned Food and Drug Administration head Margaret Hamburg and the co-owner of a compounding pharmacy linked with a deadly meningitis outbreak. Hamburg called for Congress to give the FDA greater oversight of compounding pharmacies, which was met with skepticism by Republican lawmakers.

16 Nov 2012

Study finds specific way in which Salmonella counteract defense mechanisms of human cells

A new study by researchers at Imperial College London has identified a way in which Salmonella bacteria, which cause gastroenteritis and typhoid fever, counteract the defence mechanisms of human cells.

16 Nov 2012

Researchers discover unlikely recipe to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria

Washington State University researchers have found an unlikely recipe for antibiotic resistant bacteria: Mix cow dung and soil, and add urine infused with metabolized antibiotic. The urine will kill off normal E. coli in the dung-soil mixture. But antibiotic-resistant E. coli will survive in the soil to recolonize in a cow's gut through pasture, forage or bedding.

16 Nov 2012

Simple iron control mechanism can prevent development of severe forms of malaria

Malaria is a life-threatening condition that exposes approximately half of the world's population to the risk of developing a severe and often lethal form of disease. In a study published in the latest issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe*, Miguel Soares and his team at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC), Portugal, discovered that the development of severe forms of malaria can be prevented by a simple mechanism that controls the accumulation of iron in tissues of the infected host.

15 Nov 2012

Money spent on presidential campaigns could go far in fighting NTDs

Noting that an estimated $2 billion was spent on the U.S. presidential campaigns, Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, writes in the Huffington Post "Healthy Living" blog, "Many of us in the global health community can only look upon that $2 billion figure in awe because of the potential for those dollars to be repurposed to immediately and dramatically improve the lives of the poorest people who suffer from disease."

15 Nov 2012

Flu virus suppresses body's ability to defend against bacteria

When infected with influenza, the body becomes an easy target for bacteria. The flu virus alters the host's immune system and compromises its capacity to effectively fight off bacterial infections. Now, a team of immunologists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and cooperation partners has discovered that an immune system molecule called TLR7 is partly to blame. The molecule recognizes the viral genome - and then signals scavenger cells of the immune system to ingest fewer bacteria.

15 Nov 2012

Yellow fever kills more than 100 people in Darfur; WHO, health ministry to provide immunizations

"More than two million people in Sudan's Darfur region will be vaccinated against a rare yellow fever outbreak suspected of killing 107 people since late September, health officials said on Tuesday," Agence France-Presse/France 24 reports (11/13). In a joint statement, the WHO and the Sudanese Ministry of Health said the mosquito-borne disease has spread throughout the western territory, which "has been plagued by conflict since rebels took up arms in 2003," Reuters notes.

15 Nov 2012

Greece faces return of malaria, other public health issues since 2009 economic crash

The Wall Street Journal examines how "Greece has seen decades of advances in public health rolled back, as a flood of illegal immigrants, a dysfunctional government and budget cuts ravage a once proud health-care system."

15 Nov 2012

MRC funds largest ever study of genetics relating to lung disease

Researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester are leading the largest ever study of the genetics relating to lung disease.

15 Nov 2012

Pharmaceutical compounding problems spread under lax regulation

News outlets report that congressional oversight was lacking and the Boston Globe uncovers documents about the company that started the meningitis outbreak.

15 Nov 2012

Paxvax PXVX0200 cholera vaccine demonstrates safety and immunogenicity in Phase 1 clinical trial

PaxVax Inc, which develops and commercializes innovative vaccines against infectious diseases in a socially responsible manner today announced results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of PaxVax's single-dose oral cholera vaccine candidate at the 2012 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

15 Nov 2012

Demand growing for female condoms despite myths

Mary Beth Hastings, vice president of the Center for Health and Gender Equality (CHANGE), writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog that despite "the pervasive myth that no one wants female condoms," "[d]emand is increasing because female condoms provide men and women with something they want: more options when it comes to protecting themselves."

15 Nov 2012

Tuberculosis pathogen has an ingenious defence mechanism against oxygen

Flemish biologists lead by Joris Messens (VIB / Vrije Universiteit Brussel) have discovered that Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the bacterium that causes tuberculosis - has an ingenious defence mechanism against oxygen. This knowledge is important in the search for a treatment for tuberculosis. 9.4 million people are infected with tuberculosis annually and 1.7 million people die as a result.

15 Nov 2012

Global health community should save AMFm because it saves lives

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria began as a pilot program in 2010 to "provide a 'co-payment' to the manufacturers of [artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)], thereby allowing commercial wholesalers and private or government health services to purchase the drugs at a fraction of the already low negotiated price," Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate in economic sciences in 1972 and an emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

15 Nov 2012

Disease/Infection News

Vaccinating families could protect young babies against RSV infection

FCTC funding cuts could leave world's poorest countries vulnerable to smoking-related diseases

Global Fund uncovers 'financial wrongdoing' in some grants to Cambodia

Meningitis vaccine declared usable without refrigeration for up to four days

Examining private sector, foreign government involvement in Haiti's health system

New 'people-centered investment approach' could lead to end of global AIDS pandemic

FDA chief's call for greater oversight of drug compounders triggers Republican skepticism

Study finds specific way in which Salmonella counteract defense mechanisms of human cells

Researchers discover unlikely recipe to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria

Simple iron control mechanism can prevent development of severe forms of malaria

Money spent on presidential campaigns could go far in fighting NTDs

Flu virus suppresses body's ability to defend against bacteria

Yellow fever kills more than 100 people in Darfur; WHO, health ministry to provide immunizations

Greece faces return of malaria, other public health issues since 2009 economic crash

MRC funds largest ever study of genetics relating to lung disease

Pharmaceutical compounding problems spread under lax regulation

Paxvax PXVX0200 cholera vaccine demonstrates safety and immunogenicity in Phase 1 clinical trial

Demand growing for female condoms despite myths

Tuberculosis pathogen has an ingenious defence mechanism against oxygen

Global health community should save AMFm because it saves lives

Evolving spectrophotometry for modern biopharma workflows

Scaling B-cell cloning workflows for antibody development

Fluidics in Modern Healthcare & Medical Device Innovation

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