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Communicable diseases responsible for majority of deaths in Africa, WHO official says

Speaking on Monday in Luanda, Angola, at the opening session of the inaugural meeting on Medical Education, sponsored by the Faculty of Medicine of Agostinho Neto University, WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Gomes Sambo said communicable diseases account for 63 percent of deaths in Africa, with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) responsible for the majority of those, the Angola Press reports.

25 Oct 2012

Special issue of Global Polio Eradication Initiative news bulletin recognizes World Polio Day

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has published a special issue of its "Polio News" bulletin in recognition of World Polio Day on October 24.

25 Oct 2012

Oxfam says 'no evidence' AMFm has saved lives; Global Fund says claims are 'untrue,' Guardian reports

Noting "the U.K. government has contributed £70 million [$112 million] to the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm)," the Guardian reports, "The charity Oxfam has cast doubt on the international scheme that aims to boost the provision of the most effective treatment for malaria."

25 Oct 2012

Scientists unravel physical properties of lung mucus

Mucus coats our airways' internal surfaces. The viscous gel humidifies the lungs and prevents viruses and other small particles like diesel soot from entering the body unchecked. Previously unclear was the extent to which such nanoparticles are able to move through the lungs' mucus. Here, the research evidence was contradictory. Scientists could not explain why, in inhaled medication development, drug nanoparticles often simply got stuck in the mucus never making it to their target destination inside the lung cells.

25 Oct 2012

Obese patients more likely to have complications after total knee replacement surgery

Obese patients have a greater risk of complications following total knee replacement surgery, including post-surgical infections, according to a new literature review recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS).

25 Oct 2012

New method of oral vaccination could help boost immunity to TB, influenza and C. difficile

Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London have developed a pioneering new method of oral vaccination which could help boost immunity to TB and influenza, as well as prevent C. difficile for which there is currently no vaccine.

25 Oct 2012

Feedback intervention improves hand hygiene compliance in modern hospitals

A major three-year trial led by researchers at UCL, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency, has shown that giving one-to-one feedback to healthcare workers makes them twice as likely to clean their hands or use soap.

25 Oct 2012

New method of testing for West Nile virus

While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world-including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever-mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

24 Oct 2012

Meningitis outbreak linked to pharmaceutical compounding has long history

News outlets report that the FDA released a list of customers - including some major hospitals - of the New England Compounding Center. But the FDA later "found technical problems" and withdrew the list, promising to repost it as soon as the data are corrected.

24 Oct 2012

Blueprint for AIDS-free generation must allow HIV funds to be used for family planning

In the Huffington Post's "Politics" blog, Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, notes that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at the XIX International AIDS Conference in July that all women should be able to decide "when and whether to have children" and that PEPFAR, in a guidance released last week.

24 Oct 2012

Large hospitals not following CAUTI preventive guidelines in their ICUs

Hospital size matters when it comes to intensive care units (ICUs) adopting even the most routine prevention policies for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing, published this month in the American Journal of Infection Control.

24 Oct 2012

Fewer families refusing polio vaccination in Pakistan, but many still not immunized, officials say

Though Pakistani officials said Monday there has been a significant decline in the number of families refusing polio vaccination in the country, almost a half million children did not receive the immunization, Agence France-Presse reports.

24 Oct 2012

International community must ensure political will, financial support necessary to eradicate polio

"Last month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a group of global leaders, including [Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-Chair] Bill Gates and heads of state of polio-affected countries, to renew the commitment to eliminate polio," William Keenan, executive director of the International Pediatric Association, and Robert Block, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, note in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

24 Oct 2012

NEJM report on best options for safe, effective patient treatment against fungal meningitis

As the number of fungal meningitis cases continues to rise, physicians across the country are faced with how best to provide the early treatment that can save lives.

24 Oct 2012

Probiotic supplementation improves health-related quality of life during common cold

College students are notoriously sleep-deprived, live in close quarters and lead stress-filled lives, making them especially susceptible for contracting colds and upper-respiratory infections. For these reasons, a team lead by researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Health Related Professions (UMDNJ-SHRP) selected this population to study the effects of probiotic supplementation on health-related quality of life (HRQL) during the common cold.

24 Oct 2012

Researchers increase potency of a compound that reactivates antibiotics against MRSA

Researchers from North Carolina State University have increased the potency of a compound that reactivates antibiotics against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant form of Staphylococcus that is notoriously difficult to treat. Their improved compound removes the bacteria's antibiotic resistance and allows the antibiotic to once again become effective at normal dosage levels.

23 Oct 2012

Disease/Infection News

Communicable diseases responsible for majority of deaths in Africa, WHO official says

Special issue of Global Polio Eradication Initiative news bulletin recognizes World Polio Day

Oxfam says 'no evidence' AMFm has saved lives; Global Fund says claims are 'untrue,' Guardian reports

Scientists unravel physical properties of lung mucus

Obese patients more likely to have complications after total knee replacement surgery

New method of oral vaccination could help boost immunity to TB, influenza and C. difficile

Feedback intervention improves hand hygiene compliance in modern hospitals

New method of testing for West Nile virus

Meningitis outbreak linked to pharmaceutical compounding has long history

Blueprint for AIDS-free generation must allow HIV funds to be used for family planning

Large hospitals not following CAUTI preventive guidelines in their ICUs

Fewer families refusing polio vaccination in Pakistan, but many still not immunized, officials say

International community must ensure political will, financial support necessary to eradicate polio

NEJM report on best options for safe, effective patient treatment against fungal meningitis

Probiotic supplementation improves health-related quality of life during common cold

Researchers increase potency of a compound that reactivates antibiotics against MRSA

Improper tinted contact lense use could cause severe eye damage

KIF3A protein ferries HIV to the plasma membrane

Examining ethics surrounding Taliban's ban on polio vaccination in Pakistan

Sierra Leone kicks off four-day polio vaccination drive targeting 1.3M children under 5

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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