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Researchers discover new immune response mechanism during infection

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a new "first response" mechanism that the immune system uses to respond to infection. The findings challenge the current understanding of immunity and could lead to new strategies for boosting effectiveness of all vaccines. The study, conducted in mice, published online today in the journal Immunity.

31 Aug 2012

Scientists open new front against cause of sleeping sickness

Scientists of the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITG) opened a new front against the cause of sleeping sickness. This parasite is transmitted between humans by tsetse flies. The researchers learned a bacterium living in those flies how to produce antibodies against the parasite. Application in the field is still a long way of, but the technique shows quite some promise.

31 Aug 2012

New antibacterial coating on surgical sutures effectively reduces infections

Responding to an urgent need for better antibacterial coatings on surgical sutures, scientists are reporting the discovery of a new coating that is almost 1,000 times more effective than the most widely used commercial coating.

31 Aug 2012

Guinea worm disease on verge of eradication, WHO reports

"The World Health Organization reports Guinea worm disease, which has plagued people for thousands of years, is on the verge of eradication," VOA News reports. "The U.N. agency says fewer than 400 cases of the infectious parasitic disease exist in four African countries, and that it will soon become only the second, after smallpox, to be wiped off the face of the earth," the news service writes.

30 Aug 2012

Global guidance on bednet purchasing needed, analysis suggests

"According to analysis led by Kanika Bahl and Pooja Shaw of Results for Development's (R4D's) Market Dynamics team, improved global incentives and information on cost-effectiveness could save the fight against malaria up to $630 million over the next five years and encourage manufacturers to produce better-performing nets," Bahl, a managing director for R4D, and Shaw, a program officer in the Market Dynamics Practice at R4D, write in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

30 Aug 2012

Ambassador Rice lauds India's role in fighting polio, ensuring child survival

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice on Tuesday spoke at a reception at the U.S. Embassy in India meant "to highlight the Call to Action initiative against child mortality," Zee News reports.

30 Aug 2012

India's contribution to global health R&D needs domestic, international support

As the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- invest more in innovations in health technologies and other areas, "many are looking to these countries to correct the global health research and development (R&D) imbalance that leaves the poor without needed products such as an improved tuberculosis (TB) vaccine or tests to help diagnose patients in remote rural settings," David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), writes in the Huffington Post Blog.

30 Aug 2012

Cuban government says cholera outbreak that sickened 417, killed 3, has ended

"Cuba's government declared Tuesday that health workers had eradicated a cholera outbreak that infected 417 people and killed three, according to a statement from the country's Health Ministry," CNN reports.

30 Aug 2012

UTMB to offer HPV vaccination against cervical cancer

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston's Dr. Abbey Berenson has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to start a program that will provide a vaccination against cervical cancer to many hundreds of low-income women who receive health care services at UTMB.

30 Aug 2012

Aidspan publishes new issue of 'Global Fund Observer'

Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on Monday published Issue 193 of its "Global Fund Observer."

30 Aug 2012

Global Fund Board approves 45 new two-year grants as part of Transitional Funding Mechanism

"The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved 45 new two-year grants, from 37 countries, totaling $419.2 million, to fund essential prevention, treatment, and care services provided to the people affected by the three diseases," according to a Global Fund press release.

30 Aug 2012

Sri Lanka succeeds in reducing malaria cases by 99.9% since 1999

Despite nearly three decades of conflict, Sri Lanka has succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9 percent since 1999 and is on track to eliminate the disease entirely by 2014.

30 Aug 2012

Climate change associated with increased risk of avian flu transmission in wild birds

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, more intense rainstorms and more frequent heat waves are among the planetary woes that may come to mind when climate change is mentioned. Now, two University of Michigan researchers say an increased risk of avian influenza transmission in wild birds can be added to the list.

30 Aug 2012

Flu virus can be passed on before appearance of symptoms

Research at Imperial College London examining influenza transmission in ferrets suggests that the virus can be passed on before the appearance of symptoms. If the finding applies to humans, it means that people pass on flu to others before they know they're infected, making it very difficult to contain epidemics.

30 Aug 2012

Israel's Ministry of Health approves Medgenics’ INFRADURE Phase I/II clinical trials for hepatitis C

Medgenics, Inc., the developer of Biopump, a novel technology for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins in patients using their own tissue, today announced that Israel's Ministry of Health (MOH) has approved two Phase I/II clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of INFRADURE in patients with hepatitis C.

30 Aug 2012

Antibiotic residues in meat can allow pathogenic bacteria to proliferate

Antibiotic residues in uncured pepperoni or salami meat are potent enough to weaken helpful bacteria that processors add to acidify the sausage to make it safe for consumption, according to a study to be published in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on August 28.

29 Aug 2012

Bill Gates reflects on Angola's success against polio

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, reflects on Angola's success against polio, writing, "Angola marked a full year without a new case of polio" this month, an accomplishment that serves as "the latest evidence that we are extremely close to ending polio forever."

29 Aug 2012

Washington Post examines Guinea worm eradication efforts

The Washington Post examines global efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease, writing, "The parasitic infection which has sickened millions, mostly in Asia and Africa, is on the verge of being done in not by sophisticated medicine but by aggressive public health efforts in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world."

29 Aug 2012

Johns Hopkins' Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality receives Moore Foundation grant

Johns Hopkins' Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has received an $8.9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the first award given as part of an ambitious new $500 million, 10-year program designed to eliminate all preventable harms that patients experience in the hospital.

29 Aug 2012

Global Fund, Nigeria sign agreements worth $225M to prevent, treat malaria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Nigeria on Friday "signed two grant agreements ... worth a total of $225 million to support programs that will prevent and treat malaria," a Global Fund press release reports.

29 Aug 2012