Disease/Infection News

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Cholesterol receptor allows entry of HCV virus into human liver cells

A molecule embedded in the membrane of human liver cells that aids in cholesterol absorption also allows the entry of hepatitis C virus, the first step in hepatitis C infection, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

24 Jan 2012

Mass. Gov. again seeks health insurance payment overhaul; Iowa lawmakers review denial of health coverage to residents with HIV

Articles detail the Massachusetts state of the state address, efforts in Iowa to probe denials in the high risk pool and other legislative news.

24 Jan 2012

No whooping cough deaths in California in one whole year

The news comes after the state experienced a whooping cough epidemic in 2010 when 9,000 were infected. Most vulnerable to the disease are infants too young to be fully immunized. Ten babies died after exposure from adults or older children. The last year in which no one died was 1991, when the state recorded just 249 cases of pertussis.

24 Jan 2012

Gal-pagos reptiles living near human settlements harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Land and marine iguanas and giant tortoises living close to human settlements or tourist sites in the Gal-pagos islands are more likely to harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria than those living in more remote or protected sites on the islands, researchers report in a new study.

24 Jan 2012

Voluntary action by two research teams to halt work on H5N1 lauded

A Georgetown University Medical Center professor says the voluntary action taken by two research teams to temporarily halt work involving the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is "laudable."

24 Jan 2012

Address drug resistant pathogens as part of 'next stage of global health'

This post in the Foreign Policy Association blog discusses reports from earlier this month of "an emerging strain of 'totally drug-resistant' tuberculosis (TDR-TB)" in India, which the Indian government last week denied, "arguing that the 12 cases were in fact extensively drug resistant (XDR)."

24 Jan 2012

Settling controversy surrounding bird flu research will not be easy

The WHO is expected to hold a meeting in February to discuss controversy over recent research on the H5N1 bird flu virus, after the U.S. National Scientific Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in December advised the journals Science and Nature to withhold publishing two teams' research on the virus for fear the information could "fall into the wrong hands," a commentary in the Economist's "Babbage" blog states.

24 Jan 2012

UNL project to reduce Shiga-toxin producing E. coli threat

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $25 million project to reduce throughout the beef production chain the occurrence of E. coli strains that pose a major threat to public health.

24 Jan 2012

Scientists halt bird flu research for 60 days amid safety concerns

The head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which funded "two projects that created a highly pathogenic [H5N1] flu virus mutation, has welcomed a two-month moratorium on further research while defending the value and safety of the experiments," the Financial Times reports.

24 Jan 2012

U.S. should assume leadership role in saving Global Fund

A funding shortfall led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to announce in November that "it won't make any grants to fund programs for at least two years," a Deseret News editorial notes and calls on the U.S. to take a leadership position in saving the fund.

24 Jan 2012

Pakistan's polio eradication program facing challenges after increase in cases last year

IRIN examines several factors that could be contributing to an increase in polio cases in Pakistan, "despite the launch of a National Emergency Action Plan for Polio Eradication" at the beginning of 2011. In 2010, Pakistan recorded 144 cases of polio and 192 cases in 2011, the news service reports.

24 Jan 2012

China releases updated statistics on HIV/AIDS

"A total of 28,000 people died of HIV/AIDS in China in 2011, and another 48,000 in the country were found newly infected by the virus, according to an official publication" released on Saturday by China's Ministry of Health, UNAIDS, and the WHO, Xinhua/China Daily reports.

24 Jan 2012

International HIV/AIDS Alliance releases report examining potential effects of Global Fund shortfall

The non-governmental organization (NGO) International HIV/AIDS Alliance has released a new report in response to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's announcement in November that "no new grants would be approved until 2014," VOA News reports.

24 Jan 2012

New maps, online portal reveal current global pattern of malaria

A new suite of malaria maps has revealed in unprecedented detail the current global pattern of the disease, allowing researchers to see how malaria has changed over a number of years.

24 Jan 2012

Elderly patients more likely to develop respiratory or gastrointestinal infections after ED visits

Elderly patients who have visited an emergency department (ED) are three times more likely to develop respiratory or gastrointestinal infections in the week following their return to a long-term care facility, such as a Centre d'H-bergement de Soins de Longue Dur-e.

24 Jan 2012

Pets help women manage HIV/AIDS: Study

A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

24 Jan 2012

Study explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, surgical instruments

New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops.

23 Jan 2012

Cooperation needed to fight TB

In this post in Global Health Frontline News' "Notes From the Field" blog, Kevin Cain, chief of the tuberculosis (TB) branch for a research and public health collaboration between the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the CDC in Kisumu, Kenya, reports on TB research underway as part of the collaboration.

23 Jan 2012

Duke team creates vaccine adjuvant of nanoparticles that target lymph nodes

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have created synthetic nanoparticles that target lymph nodes and greatly boost vaccine responses, said lead author Ashley St. John, Ph.D., a researcher at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

23 Jan 2012

UNAIDS officials say progress being made against HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia

Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva on Thursday, Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS director of the regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the region is making progress in scaling up access to prevention and treatment services, including behavior change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs, the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Jan 2012