Disease/Infection News

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Funding shortfalls could hinder implementation of treatment as prevention strategies, Al Jazeera reports

Al Jazeera examines the administration of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) worldwide, focusing on treatment as prevention (TasP), but says current funding levels are insufficient to implement the strategy.

3 Apr 2012

Computer model can predict malaria epidemics in India

Scientists from the University of Liverpool are working with computer modelling specialists in India to predict areas of the country that are at most risk of malaria outbreaks, following changes in monsoon rainfall.

3 Apr 2012

Researchers discover regulation and functional significance of acute phase response during pneumonia

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered the regulation and functional significance of the acute phase response during a lung infection. The findings, which will be published in the May edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, demonstrate that the liver responds in order to increase defenses in the blood that prevent localized infections from spreading throughout the body.

3 Apr 2012

Positive outcome from AiCuris’ Letermovir phase 2b trial on HCMV infections

AiCuris announced today that data on the positive outcome of Letermovir (AIC246) tested in a phase 2b trial in transplant patients will be disclosed at several international meetings on behalf of the AIC246 study team.

3 Apr 2012

Merck announces data from ZOSTAVAX Phase III study on shingles

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that data from the pivotal Phase III study with ZOSTAVAX(Zoster Vaccine Live) in adults ages 50 to 59 were published in the April 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

3 Apr 2012

Clemson researcher to continue African sleeping sickness study

Clemson University researcher James Morris received a $360,079 competitive renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his study of Trypanosoma brucei, the single-celled parasite that causes African sleeping sickness.

3 Apr 2012

Controversial study on lethal bird flu virus strain to be published

The controversial study on lethal flu virus strain is likely to be published in full. Last December the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity - NSABB recommended the two papers not be published in full by the journals - Nature and Science. The panel was concerned that details of the studies, which induced mutations in the H5N1 avian flu virus that made it transmissible among mammals by air rather than by close physical contact, could be used for bioterrorism. Critics of the recommendation raised fears that important science was being censored.

2 Apr 2012

Special fatty molecules pave novel way to treat infections, autoimmune diseases, allergies and cancer

An international research team led by scientists from Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) discovered that a special class of fatty molecules is essential for activating a unique group of early-responding immune cells.

2 Apr 2012

IPT has an ongoing protective effect against malaria in infants

Malaria infections among infants can be cut by up to 30 per cent when antimalarial drugs are given intermittently over a 12 month period, a three-year clinical trial in Papua New Guinea has shown.

2 Apr 2012

Rare T follicular helper cells essential for developing antibody responses to infectious agents

The characterisation of a rare immune cell's involvement in antibody production and ability to 'remember' infectious agents could help to improve vaccination and lead to new treatments for immune disorders, say researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

2 Apr 2012

New York Times examines global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic

The New York Times examines the global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic, writing that while "[m]any health officials consider the cholera response 'pretty remarkable,' as John Vertefeuille, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director in Haiti, said ... [o]thers ... believe the bar for success was set too low and more lives could have been saved."

2 Apr 2012

Novel tetracyclines with improved potency, efficacy against contemporary P. aeruginosa isolates

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on next-generation antibiotics, announced today that it is presenting new results from studies that demonstrate the improved potency and pharmacokinetics of several of its newest discovery-stage tetracycline analogs.

2 Apr 2012

Study sheds light on cellular mechanisms involved in flu resistance

Scientists from the University of Utah School of Medicine have discovered that a mouse protein called IFITM3 contributes to the body's defense against some types of viral infections by binding to an enzyme responsible for regulating the pH of a cell's waste disposal system.

2 Apr 2012

NanoViricides reports positive pre-IND meeting with USFDA for FluCide

NanoViricides, Inc. announced today that its previously announced pre-IND Meeting was held with the USFDA on March 29th, 2012, as scheduled. This pre-IND meeting focused on FluCide, designated as NV-INF-1, the Company's novel anti-influenza drug.

2 Apr 2012

Phage therapy can combat Pseudomonas infections in CF patients

Scientists in Cork have identified a novel therapy for the bacteria which cause infections in cystic fibrosis patients.

2 Apr 2012

ViiV, Shionogi announce initial results from dolutegravir Phase III study on HIV-1

ViiV Healthcare and Shionogi & Co., Ltd. today announced that initial results have been received from the SPRING-2 (ING113086) Phase III study of the investigational integrase inhibitor dolutegravir in treatment-naive adults with HIV-1.

2 Apr 2012

Vaccines for measles may not increase risk of febrile seizures in 4-6 year olds

Vaccines for measles were not associated with an increased risk of febrile seizures among 4-6 year olds during the six weeks after vaccination, according to a study by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center that appears in the current issue of Pediatrics.

2 Apr 2012

ERS, ECDC publish European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care

Today, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) publish their jointly developed European Union Standards for Tuberculosis Care.

2 Apr 2012

Report examines political history of international AIDS conferences

In this post in the Center for Strategic & International Studies' (CSIS) "Smart Global Health" blog, Katherine Bliss, deputy director and senior fellow at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, discusses a report -- titled, "The International AIDS Conference Returns to the United States" -- that "examines the political history of the international AIDS conferences from 1985 to the present."

31 Mar 2012

India's success against polio is promising step in defeating disease worldwide

"That India is free of wild polio today is a testament to the commitment of the Indian government," which "invested more than $1 billion over the last decade and collaborated with community leaders, health workers, businesses, and parents," as well as governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral agencies, to fight the disease, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes in a Foreign Affairs opinion piece.

31 Mar 2012