Disease/Infection News

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U.S. government announces grants for implementation science projects on PMTCT

Last week, the U.S. government announced up to $7.5 million in grants over the next two years to fund "implementation science projects exploring how to achieve the goal of eliminating new pediatric HIV infections while keeping mothers alive," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

7 Dec 2012

U.S. House Minority Leader Pelosi announces new top Democrats on House committees

U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday announced the new top Democrats on House committees, Bloomberg reports.

7 Dec 2012

Health workers face 'severe logistical challenges' to vaccinating Maasai tribes in Tanzania

Chris Endean of the GAVI Alliance writes ahead of the GAVI Partners Forum in a CNN opinion piece about efforts to vaccinate members of the Maasai tribes in Tanzania's Arusha National Park. Noting Maasai tribes are "constantly on the move searching for water and fresh pasture for their cattle," he describes "severe logistical challenges" health workers face when trying to reach their patients and notes."

7 Dec 2012

IRIN examines WHO's efforts to communicate HIV risk among injectable hormonal contraceptive users

IRIN examines the WHO's ongoing efforts to synthesize and communicate guidance about the risk of HIV infection and transmission for women taking injectable hormonal contraception, including a meeting scheduled for this week in Geneva.

7 Dec 2012

Strengthen health systems to integrate polio vaccinations into routine childhood immunizations, Save the Children report says

Speaking at the GAVI Partners Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, David Olayemi, senior program adviser at Save the Children in Abuja, Nigeria, said fewer than half of children in Nigeria are receiving routine immunizations for diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough (DTP), and the rate is dropping, Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley reports in her "Global Health Blog."

7 Dec 2012

Nordic project to coordinate initiatives to combat dramatic increase in tick-borne diseases

Last year, more than 40,000 people in Western Scandinavia may have been affected by infections caused by ticks. SEK 17 million has now been invested in a joint Nordic project to coordinate initiatives to combat the dramatic increase in tick-borne diseases.

7 Dec 2012

FDA designates two of Cubist’s Phase 3 antibiotic candidates

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated two of the company's Phase 3 antibiotic candidates, CXA-201 (ceftolozane/tazobactam) and CB-315, as Qualified Infectious Disease Products (QIDP).

6 Dec 2012

Fexinidazole enters Phase II/III clinical study to treat sleeping sickness

A new oral-only treatment for sleeping sickness has entered Phase II/III clinical study in patients with late-stage sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and soon in Central African Republic (CAR).

6 Dec 2012

Examining the definition of neglected diseases

"There's no generally accepted definition" for what characterizes a neglected disease, Kaitlin Christenson, coalition director for the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), writes in the Results for Development Institute's "Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment" blog.

6 Dec 2012

Scientific exploration important on earth, in space

In the New York Times' "Scientist At Work" blog, Alexander Kumar, a physician and researcher at Concordia Station in Antarctica, examines the question of "why humans should venture out to other planets, and perhaps in the process create new problems, when we have so many problems on our own planet," including HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other "largely preventable and treatable" conditions.

6 Dec 2012

PEPFAR to buy additional 150 rapid TB testing devices

PEPFAR will purchase up to 150 rapid tuberculosis (TB) Xpert testing devices and cartridges to test about 450,000 people for TB, "addressing a need to improve diagnoses of drug-resistant strains of disease, and to identify the disease in HIV-positive people in sub-Saharan Africa and Myanmar, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator announced" Tuesday, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

6 Dec 2012

Report examines partnership between PEPFAR, Botswana

This report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), titled "Competing Pressures for U.S. PEPFAR In Botswana: Rising Ambitions, Declining Resources," examines how the "partnership will be tested as the United States and Botswana negotiate a complex, multiyear handoff of PEPFAR-supported HIV/AIDS activities and as U.S. financial assistance is reduced," the report summary states.

6 Dec 2012

Global Post examines unproven, unscientific HIV treatments

Global Post examines how "many HIV patients around the world continue to turn to more affordable but far less reliable treatments" instead of proven -- but more expensive -- therapies, such as antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

6 Dec 2012

Johns Hopkins focuses on MRSA, motherhood in November-December 2012 research news brief

Johns Hopkins Nursing researchers focus on MRSA, motherhood, hospital stress, intimate partner violence, and more in the November-December 2012 research news brief.

6 Dec 2012

U.S. must maintain commitment to research outlined in AIDS blueprint

Noting the recent release of the "PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation", Kim Lufkin, communications officer at the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), writes in the organization's "Breakthroughs" blog, "It's commendable that the U.S. government is continuing its legacy as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, as this blueprint indicates.

6 Dec 2012

IOM's Forum on Microbial Threats to take place from Dec.11-12

A two-day symposium will explore how much we have learned about new and re-emerging infectious diseases in the two decades since the Institute of Medicine issued a 1992 report pointing to major challenges in detecting and managing disease outbreaks.

6 Dec 2012

Maryland P3 Program can improve outcomes of patients with chronic diseases

A new program guide, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), features the Maryland Patients, Pharmacists, Partnerships (P3) as an effective model of how health care teams that include pharmacists can improve the outcomes of patients with chronic diseases.

6 Dec 2012

Vaccine-derived polio outbreak shows gaps in immunization coverage in Pakistan

Though "Pakistan has made a lot of progress this year in wiping out polio," a "recent outbreak of polio there has health officials concerned about the overall effectiveness of the effort to eliminate polio in that country," NPR's "Shots" blog reports.

6 Dec 2012

MSF expresses concerns regarding global vaccination efforts ahead of GAVI forum

"This week, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) is holding a forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley writes in her "Global Health Blog," noting, "Invited are 700 experts from all the organizations and countries GAVI works with, funding immunization programs across the globe and in some of the poorest places on the planet."

6 Dec 2012

ASU scientists use X-ray laser to reveal 3-D structure of cathepsin B enzyme

An international team of scientists, using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, has revealed the three dimensional structure of a key enzyme that enables the single-celled parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness) in humans.

6 Dec 2012