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New MMV framework to evaluate risk of resistance for antimalarials

Medicines for Malaria Venture has developed a framework to evaluate the risk of resistance for the antimalarial compounds in its portfolio. A paper based on this work: A framework for assessing the risk of resistance for antimalarials in development has been published in the Malaria Journal today.

23 Aug 2012

One blog examines GAVI Alliance's efforts to accelerate introduction of hepatitis B vaccines in developing countries

"I am looking forward to participating in the 2012 World Cancer Leaders' Summit, to be held in Montreal, Canada on August 27," GAVI Alliance Deputy CEO Helen Evans writes in this post in the One Blog.

23 Aug 2012

Study identifies how RNA viruses hijack a host cell to multiply

By discovering how certain viruses use their host cells to replicate, UC Irvine microbiologists have identified a new approach to the development of universal treatments for viral illnesses such as meningitis, encephalitis, hepatitis and possibly the common cold.

23 Aug 2012

Link between specific weather conditions and dengue fever outbreaks

Dengue fever, transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, affects hundreds of millions of people in around one hundred tropical countries and causes 25 000 deaths per year. In the absence of a vaccine, determining the factors that influence epidemics to predict them better is a real public health challenge. One scientific study, conducted in New Caledonia, demonstrates the essential role of the local climate in epidemic dynamics. IRD researchers and their New Caledonian colleagues analysed epidemiological and climatological data gathered in Noumea over forty years.

23 Aug 2012

New PrescribeWellness initiative aims to increase flu vaccination rates in the U.S.

PrescribeWellness today launched its "A Million More" Flu Shot Initiative with the goal of increasing the influenza vaccination rate by one million more Americans.

22 Aug 2012

Study identifies certain small molecule chemicals that can disrupt quorum sensing in A. baumanni

Acinetobacter baumanni, a pathogenic bacterium that is a poster child of deadly hospital acquired infections, is one tough customer.

22 Aug 2012

Musical memory organized at least partially independent of the hippocampus

Together with his team, Prof. Christoph Ploner, director of the Department of Neurology at the Virchow campus, examined a professional cellist who suffered from encephalitis caused by a herpes virus. As a result of the inflammation, the patient developed serious disturbances in memory. Both his memory for the past (retrograde amnesia), as well as the acquisition of new information (anterograde amnesia) were affected.

22 Aug 2012

Child mortality at double emergency rate in South Sudan refugee camp, MSF reports

"Children in a refugee camp in South Sudan are dying at more than twice the rate internationally recognized as an emergency, according to new figures released by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)," the Guardian reports.

22 Aug 2012

International community must redouble efforts to ensure 'many' AIDS-free generations

A Lancet editorial discusses the agenda of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington last month and asks how the success of the conference will be judged at the XX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), to be held in Melbourne, Australia.

22 Aug 2012

Clinical trial to test whether fecal transplantation is effective in treating relapsing C. difficile

For patients with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), a persistent and potentially deadly bacterial illness, severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting are an everyday event. This particularly virulent infection is prone to recurrence, even after multiple courses of expensive antibiotics, and treatment options are limited for patients who continually relapse or develop antibiotic resistance.

22 Aug 2012

Chimpanzees from African sanctuaries carry drug-resistant strains of Staph

Chimpanzees from African sanctuaries carry drug-resistant, human-associated strains of the bacteria Staphlyococcus aureus, a pathogen that the infected chimpanzees could spread to endangered wild ape populations if they were reintroduced to their natural habitat, a new study shows.

22 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: The importance of hepatitis C testing; Medicaid needs to provide coverage for circumcision

I consider myself to be a fortunate person. I have a good education, a great job and excellent health insurance. I am a baby boomer who has aged reasonably well and can look forward to a fairly comfortable retirement. I am also fortunate because I was diagnosed with hepatitis C by a proactive and knowledgeable doctor in the late 1990s and had the opportunity to be treated and cured. The odds are that if I had not been diagnosed and treated, I would be on a liver transplant list right now, have liver cancer or even be dead from this disease.

22 Aug 2012

Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor IHME's health measurement expert

For the first time, a prestigious technical innovation honor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will go to an expert in health measurement: Abraham Flaxman, an Assistant Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington (UW).

22 Aug 2012

NIAID announces 14 grants for basic research to identify new HIV vaccine approaches

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded 14 grants totaling $7.8 million in first-year funding for basic research to identify new approaches for designing a safe and effective HIV vaccine.

22 Aug 2012

Declining circumcision rates in the US raise healthcare costs and disease risk

A team of disease experts and health economists at Johns Hopkins warns that steadily declining rates of U.S. infant male circumcision could add more than $4.4 billion in avoidable health care costs if rates over the next decade drop to levels now seen in Europe.

21 Aug 2012

Women in developing countries could play a major role in remedying sanitation and water crisis

People in ancient Rome 2,000 years ago had better access to clean water and sanitation that keeps disease-causing human excrement out of contact with people than many residents of the 21st century, a scientist said here today.

21 Aug 2012

DR Congo reports Ebola outbreak near Uganda border

"Nine people have died in an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Health Minister Felix Kabangue said on Saturday," Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Aug 2012

WHO calls for emergency stockpile of cholera vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for the establishment of a global stockpile of the cholera vaccine to respond to outbreaks like the one that has gripped Haiti since an earthquake hit the country in 2010, NPR's "Shots" reports.

21 Aug 2012

International community observes World Humanitarian Day

On World Humanitarian Day, recognized August 19, "United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has highlighted the power of individual actions to spark global changes, and praised the work of humanitarian workers who provide assistance to vulnerable people around the world," the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Aug 2012

World Mosquito Day marks 114 years of battle against malaria

"Each year on August 20, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) celebrates World Mosquito Day to honor the date in 1897 when British doctor Ronald Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between human beings," AlertNet reports.

21 Aug 2012

Disease/Infection News

New MMV framework to evaluate risk of resistance for antimalarials

One blog examines GAVI Alliance's efforts to accelerate introduction of hepatitis B vaccines in developing countries

Study identifies how RNA viruses hijack a host cell to multiply

Link between specific weather conditions and dengue fever outbreaks

New PrescribeWellness initiative aims to increase flu vaccination rates in the U.S.

Study identifies certain small molecule chemicals that can disrupt quorum sensing in A. baumanni

Musical memory organized at least partially independent of the hippocampus

Child mortality at double emergency rate in South Sudan refugee camp, MSF reports

International community must redouble efforts to ensure 'many' AIDS-free generations

Clinical trial to test whether fecal transplantation is effective in treating relapsing C. difficile

Chimpanzees from African sanctuaries carry drug-resistant strains of Staph

Viewpoints: The importance of hepatitis C testing; Medicaid needs to provide coverage for circumcision

Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor IHME's health measurement expert

NIAID announces 14 grants for basic research to identify new HIV vaccine approaches

Declining circumcision rates in the US raise healthcare costs and disease risk

Women in developing countries could play a major role in remedying sanitation and water crisis

DR Congo reports Ebola outbreak near Uganda border

WHO calls for emergency stockpile of cholera vaccine

International community observes World Humanitarian Day

World Mosquito Day marks 114 years of battle against malaria

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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