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U.S. FDA approves Gilead’s Truvada to minimize risk of sexually-acquired HIV infection

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), the first drug approved to reduce the risk of HIV infection in uninfected individuals who are at high risk of HIV infection and who may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners. Truto reduce the risk of sexually-acquired HIV infection in adults at high risk.

17 Jul 2012

Helper T cells may be frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection

Helper cells traditionally thought to only assist killer white blood cells may be the frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children's Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

17 Jul 2012

Drug treatments, scientific advances fuel hope for HIV control as AIDS 2012 conference draws near

"A cure for AIDS remains a distant prospect but a host of drug treatments and other advances have fueled fresh hope that new HIV infections may someday be halted for good," Agence France-Presse reports.

17 Jul 2012

Pakistan polio immunization campaign might not reach 240,000 children because of militant leaders' bans on vaccine

A national polio vaccination campaign set to begin this week in Pakistan might not reach 240,000 children in the northwest because of a Taliban ban on the inoculations, Agence France-Presse reports. Local militant leaders "have banned polio vaccinations in the northwestern tribal region of Waziristan to protest against U.S. drone attacks" and "have condemned the immunization campaign, which is slated to begin on Monday, as a cover for espionage," the news agency writes.

17 Jul 2012

CDC launches Let's Stop HIV Together campaign

To combat two major obstacles to HIV prevention—stigma associated with the infection and complacency about the epidemic—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today launched Let's Stop HIV Together, a national communication campaign that gives voice to Americans living with HIV, and to their loved ones.

17 Jul 2012

IBMP delivers 11,000 ounces of donor breast milk to South African infants

The US-based International Breast Milk Project (IBMP), Prolacta Bioscience and Quick International Courier in a joint humanitarian effort delivered 11,000 ounces (2,375 bottles) of donor breast milk to South Africa, this week.

17 Jul 2012

New CD141hi DC subset plays a critical role in activating immune response against pathogens

Scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), in collaboration with Newcastle University, UK, the Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences and clinicians from multiple hospitals in Singapore, have identified a new subset of dendritic cells (DCs) in human peripheral tissue which have a critical role in activating our immune response against harmful pathogens.

17 Jul 2012

Gilead receives FDA approval for Truvada to reduce risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved once-daily oral Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), in combination with safer sex practices, to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection in adults at high risk.

17 Jul 2012

ACLA announces full and strong support for TEST Act

The American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) today announced its "full and strong support" for H.R. 6118, the Taking Essential Steps for Testing Act or TEST Act introduced by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) in the House of Representatives.

16 Jul 2012

AIDS 2012 conference to discuss problem of HIV in Black community

In a series of presentations, panel discussions, and training sessions at the 2012 International AIDS Conference (AIDS2012), the Black AIDS Institute (The Institute) will bring together leaders in medicine, politics, journalism, and the arts to discuss the problem of HIV/ AIDS in the Black Community.

16 Jul 2012

Researchers discover HVEM’s unknown role in fighting off E. coli infections

Despite ongoing public health efforts, E. coli outbreaks continue to infiltrate the food supply, annually causing significant sickness and death throughout the world. But the research community is gaining ground. In a major finding, published today in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have discovered a molecule's previously unknown role in fighting off E. coli and other bacterial infections, a discovery that could lead to new ways to protect people from these dangerous microorganisms.

16 Jul 2012

Johns Hopkins doctoral program graduate explores ways to control infectious diseases

Her passport is stamped with exotic locations: Myanmar, Tibet, South Africa, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as Baltimore, MD. But, when Carrie Tudor, PhD, MPH, RN, looks at it, she sees global battlefields in the fight against infectious disease. Her weapons: immunizations, programs to curb tuberculosis and HIV transmission, and a drive to carry on a rich tradition of public health nursing research.

16 Jul 2012

Special issue of AIDS and Behavior looks at latest behavioral interventions research

HIV prevention must be better targeted, according to David Holtgrave from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and colleagues. Health care professionals need a more detailed analysis and understanding of the interplay between HIV risk behavior, access to treatment and treatment success among those living with HIV. The authors discuss their proposed framework in a study in a special issue of Springer's journal AIDS and Behavior.

16 Jul 2012

Report examines PEPFAR GBV initiative in Tanzania

PEPFAR's gender-based violence (GBV) initiative is bringing "new momentum" and attention to the intersection of HIV and GBV, Janet Fleischman, senior associate at the Global Health Policy Center of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), writes in a post on the center's "Smart Global Health" blog.

14 Jul 2012

Kaiser Family Foundation releases updated reporting manual

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) "has released an updated reporting manual on HIV/AIDS ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) taking place in Washington, D.C.," this month, according to a Kaiser email alert.

14 Jul 2012

Five recent Science and Nature papers shed light on elusive 'GPCRs'

Readers of the top-ranked scientific journals Science and Nature might have noticed a recent wave of articles, most recently in the July 13, 2012 issue of Science, with deep importance for biology and medicine.

14 Jul 2012

GlobalPost blog interviews head of WHO's Stop TB Department

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog interviews Mario Raviglione, the director of the WHO's Stop TB Department since 2003, "about the progress and frustrations with detection and treatment of tuberculosis [TB]."

14 Jul 2012

Financial boost to malaria fight would result in beneficial gains

"[A] surge in money for insecticide-treated nets and other interventions" to fight malaria over the past decade has reduced the malaria-related death rate by 26 percent since 2000, and a "new push" to fight the disease, which killed 655,000 people in 2010, would have beneficial results, according to a report set to be released by Ray Chambers, the U.N. special envoy for malaria, an Economist editorial notes.

14 Jul 2012

CDC releases Global Health Strategy 2012-2015

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Global Health Strategy 2012-2015, which "outlines how CDC will leverage its core strengths to advance four overarching global health goals: improving the health and well-being of people around the world, improving capabilities for preparing and responding to infectious diseases and emerging health threats, building country public health capacity and maximizing organizational capacity," according to the strategy website.

14 Jul 2012

College-age children also need immunizations, says UMDNJ professor

Most parents take their young children regularly for immunization shots that protect against polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps and other diseases. But many do not consider that their college-age children also need immunizations.

14 Jul 2012