Disease/Infection News

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OraSure Technologies receives FDA approval for new in-home HIV test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, the first over-the-counter, self-administered HIV test kit to detect the presence of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2).

4 Jul 2012

Being a parent influences health in a positive way

There is no question that being a parent is, at times, challenging both physically and mentally. However knowledge of the actual affect parenthood has on health has been inconsistent at best, until now. New research led by Carnegie Mellon University's Sheldon Cohen and Rodlescia S. Sneed shows that being a parent influences health in a positive way. Published in Psychosomatic Medicine, the research provides the first evidence that, when exposed to a common cold virus, parents are 52 percent less likely to develop a cold than non-parents.

4 Jul 2012

Cuban company's sales of larvicides to fight malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa continue despite U.N. concern, Miami Herald reports

The Cuban state-owned company Labiofam "is increasing sales of its mosquito larvicides to fight malaria in Africa, despite cautions by U.N. experts that such products have limited use and are not the most cost-effective method of attacking the disease," the Miami Herald reports.

4 Jul 2012

Study to investigate costs and benefits of home-based HIV testing in Malawi

HIV remains a huge killer in Sub-Saharan Africa; especially in Malawi where up to 18% of the population is HIV positive. Early detection of the virus coupled with appropriate treatment can enormously improve both quality and length of life after diagnosis, which is why researchers at Warwick Medical School are embarking on a study to investigate the costs and benefits of home-based HIV testing in Malawi.

4 Jul 2012

WSU researcher looks for clues on link between H1N1 flu and obesity

The recent H1N1 flu pandemic was found to be particularly dangerous to obese people, and a Wayne State University researcher is looking for clues as to why.

3 Jul 2012

Being a parent protects against cold: Study

Being a parent reduces your risk of catching a cold—possibly because of unknown "psychological or behavioral differences between parents and nonparents," according to a study in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society.

3 Jul 2012

Research highlights three factors that could determine outbreak of pandemic flu

A major collaboration between US research centers has highlighted three factors that could ultimately determine whether an outbreak of influenza becomes a serious epidemic that threatens national health. The research suggests that the numbers in current response plans could be out by a factor of two or more depending on the characteristics of the particular pandemic influenza.

3 Jul 2012

IRIN examines antibiotic resistance, efforts to discover new drugs

IRIN examines a global increase in resistance to antibiotics, writing, "Almost one in every five deaths worldwide occurs as a result of infection, but many bacterial illnesses will become incurable as the efficacy of current antibiotic drugs wanes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)."

3 Jul 2012

Study shows link between changing rates of antibiotic consumption and resistance

A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online shows how seasonal changes in outpatient antibiotic use - retail sales of antibiotics typically get a boost during the winter - can significantly alter seasonal patterns of drug resistance. The findings suggest that hospital campaigns to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use should be coordinated with efforts in the broader community if they are to be most effective.

3 Jul 2012

Study identifies possible new approach to defeat bacterial infections

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has identified a possible new approach to defeating bacterial infections by targeting an innate immune system component in a bid to invigorate the immune response.

3 Jul 2012

Bacterial vaginosis associated with increased risk of HIV transmission from women to men, study shows

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition characterized by a disruption in normal vaginal bacteria, is associated with a more than three-fold increased risk of HIV transmission from an infected woman with the condition to her uninfected male partner, according to a study published June 26 in PLoS Medicine, VOA News reports.

3 Jul 2012

Study examines prevalence of pain among HIV patients in two Ugandan outpatient sites

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 69 percent of HIV cases worldwide and 72 percent of AIDS deaths. A study published in The Journal of Pain showed that pain is highly prevalent among well functioning HIV patients in Africa, has a debilitating impact of quality of life, and there is a significant level of unmet need for pain relief.

3 Jul 2012

Study investigates association between SCC and cutaneous HPV types belonging to five different genera

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida, the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, conducted a case control study and found associations between having antibodies to certain types of cutaneous human papillomavirus (HPV) and a kind of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

2 Jul 2012

FDA approves Roche's new HIV viral load test

Roche announced today that a new HIV viral load test has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and will be commercially available in the US later this year.

2 Jul 2012

Janssen seeks accelerated FDA approval for bedaquiline to treat MDR-TB

Janssen Research & Development, LLC today announced it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking accelerated approval for the use of the investigational drug bedaquiline (TMC207) as an oral treatment, to be used as part of combination therapy for pulmonary, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in adults.

2 Jul 2012

Safer alternative to experimental gene therapy against HIV infection

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a surprisingly simple and safe method to disrupt specific genes within cells. The scientists highlighted the medical potential of the new technique by demonstrating its use as a safer alternative to an experimental gene therapy against HIV infection.

2 Jul 2012

Big challenges from antibiotic resistant bacteria

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are increasing and spreading at an alarming speed. The bacterial evolution is overwhelming our antibiotic defense. More and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics resulting in fatal consequences for millions of people. We need common action and responsibility for the development of new effective antibiotics and to stop antibiotic misuse.

30 Jun 2012

New Lancet issue focuses on HIV ahead of AIDS 2012 conference

This week's issue of the Lancet "has an HIV theme ahead of the International AIDS Society meeting in Washington, D.C., ... on July 22-27," a Lancet editorial states, noting, "The issue of antiretrovirals for prevention, specifically pre-exposure prophylaxis, is presently under intense debate."

30 Jun 2012

Cooperation 'essential' to fight diseases that easily cross borders

"Cooperation is essential to combat diseases that cross national borders," Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy and a research scholar and lecturer at Princeton University, and Bryan Grenfell and Petra Klepac of Princeton University write in a SciDev.Net opinion piece.

29 Jun 2012

IAS president will use AIDS 2012 to say 'thank you' to U.S. for contributions to HIV/AIDS battle

Elly Katabira, president of the International AIDS Society and co-chair of the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), said he will use the conference as an occasion to say "thank you" to the U.S., VOA News reports.

29 Jun 2012