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First international podoconiosis initiative launched

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog highlights "the first-ever international podoconiosis initiative, Footwork," launched on March 15.

19 Mar 2012

PaxVax announces FDA acceptance of IND for PXVX-0200 cholera vaccine

PaxVax Corporation, developer of innovative and socially responsible oral vaccines against infectious diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its investigational new drug (IND) application for its single-dose oral cholera vaccine, clearing the way to begin clinical trials. The company intends to begin Phase 3 trials later this year.

19 Mar 2012

Tiny Tim may have suffered from rickets and TB

Le Bonheur Professor Russell Chesney, M.D. believes he knows what was ailing Tiny Tim, the iconic character from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Based on detailed descriptions of both the symptoms and living conditions of 18th century London, Dr. Chesney hypothesizes that Tiny Tim suffered from a combination of rickets and tuberculosis (TB).

17 Mar 2012

New EU project to assess risk of contaminated food brought in from other countries

The EHEC crisis in Germany in 2011 proved that food brought in from other countries can potentially carry agents that cause life-threatening diseases. Nevertheless, there have been extremely few investigations of the actual danger posed by germs that enter the EU along with food. The gap is now to be addressed by a new project, with the EU providing almost three million Euro to cover the costs.

17 Mar 2012

Greater Than AIDS, SiriusXM OutQ to launch SpeakOUT

SiriusXM OutQ, the nation's first and only 24/7 LGBT radio channel, and Greater Than AIDS, a national movement to respond to AIDS in America, announced today the launch of SpeakOUT: Real Talk about AIDS in Gay America, a limited-run series of live, call-in shows that will connect listeners across the country with medical experts, people living with HIV and notable members of the LGBT community to have an honest and challenging dialogue about the current state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the gay community as well as the country at large.

17 Mar 2012

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator discusses AIDS 2012 conference

"For the first time in over 20 years, the biennial International AIDS Conference will be hosted on American soil," U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby writes in this post in the AIDS.gov blog.

17 Mar 2012

Partnerships critical to stopping HIV/AIDS, GBV among women

"For the past two weeks, the buzz in Washington, D.C., and at the White House is all about women and girls," Roxana Rogers, director of the USAID Office of HIV/AIDS, writes in this "IMPACTblog" post. She highlights a recently announced initiative, funded through PEPFAR, "to help local communities and grassroots organizations fight HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence.

17 Mar 2012

People of faith can work together to make water safe worldwide

"We don't honor God when 4,500 children die every day -- but they do -- from the lack of something so simple, each of us takes it for granted: a safe glass of water," Rabbi Jack Bemporad, executive director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding, and journalist Susan Barnett write in Huffington Post's "Religion" blog.

17 Mar 2012

Cuts to health budget lead to increases in HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB incidence in Greece

"The savage cuts to Greece's health service budget have led to a sharp rise in HIV/AIDS and malaria in the beleaguered nation, said a leading aid organization on Thursday," the Guardian's "News Blog" reports.

17 Mar 2012

Zimbabwe's plan to conduct household HIV testing raises concerns among some advocates

PlusNews examines the challenges and concerns surrounding Zimbabwe's plan to conduct a door-to-door HIV testing campaign, which has not yet begun but "is already being met with skepticism by activists who feel this is not a priority for the country, especially with global HIV/AIDS funding on the decline."

17 Mar 2012

World Bank report urges African governments, development aid donors to increase HIV prevention efforts

"With much of the global economy facing slowing growth and uncertain prospects, especially in developed countries, a new World Bank report" -- titled "The Fiscal Dimension of HIV/AIDS in Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, and Uganda" -- "urges African governments and their development aid donors to do significantly more to prevent new HIV infections" and "warns that current spending on HIV/AIDS relates to past infections and is a potentially misleading indicator of the long-term public cost of the fight against HIV/AIDS," a World Bank press release states.

17 Mar 2012

The northeastern U.S. should prepare for a surge in Lyme disease this spring

The northeastern U.S. should prepare for a surge in Lyme disease this spring. And we can blame fluctuations in acorns and mouse populations, not the mild winter. So reports Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.

17 Mar 2012

Researchers describe preparation of chitosan nanoparticles

Nanoparticles containing chitosan have been shown to have effective antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Escherichia coli. The materials could be used as a protective wound-healing material to avoid opportunistic infection as well as working to facilitate wound healing.

17 Mar 2012

Only 21 states require public reporting of hospital data on surgical site infections

Only 21 states require public reporting of hospital data on surgical site infections and, even when disclosure is mandated, the information is often not easily accessible to patients who could use it to make decisions about their medical care, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

17 Mar 2012

Deletion of Hms1 protein inhibits Candida albicans infection

Scientists at the University of Toronto have found a molecular mechanism that plays a key role in the transition of Candida albicans yeast into disease-causing fungus-one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infection.

17 Mar 2012

Gates Foundation grants biotech firm Aeras $220 million over 5 years to develop TB vaccines

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is "to give $220 million over five years to the non-profit biotech firm Aeras to develop vaccines to fight tuberculosis [TB], a company statement said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports (3/15).

17 Mar 2012

Extremely contagious RSV virus can lead to serious illness in young children

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common virus that infects the lungs and breathing passage ways. Though it may only produce minor cold symptoms in adults, it can lead to serious illness in young children and those with compromised immune systems.

17 Mar 2012

Collaborative research discovers genetic marker that identifies pigs with reduced susceptibility to PRRS

A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may improve animal health and save the U.S. pork industry millions of dollars each year.

16 Mar 2012

Study reveals why development of HIV treatments has been difficult

A new research report appearing in the March 2012 issue of the journal Genetics shows why the development of a cure and new treatments for HIV has been so difficult. In the report, an Australian scientist explains how he used computer simulations to discover that a population starting from a single human immunodeficiency virus can evolve fast enough to escape immune defenses.

16 Mar 2012

Joint initiative to support GBV programs with PEPFAR funding

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby on Monday "announced a joint initiative to provide $4.65 million in small grants to grassroots organizations to address gender-based violence (GBV) issues" through HIV/AIDS programs, according to a State Department press release.

16 Mar 2012