Disease/Infection News

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UofL researcher receives patent for novel biochemical discovery

University of Louisville researchers are a step closer to eliminating periodontal disease through their work to develop synthetic molecules that prevent a bacteria responsible for the disease from spreading throughout the mouth.

28 Mar 2012

Insecurity threatening success of West, Central African mass polio vaccination campaign

Instability and insecurity in some West and Central African nations are threatening the success of a 20-country polio vaccination campaign, which aims to immunize 111.1 million children against the disease, IRIN reports.

28 Mar 2012

HAART does not completely suppress HIV in sexually active MSM

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Fenway Health have found that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) does not completely suppress HIV in the semen of sexually active HIV-infected men who have sex with men.

28 Mar 2012

Pakistan's draft bill that would punish parents for not vaccinating children 'misses the mark'

"Eradicating polio and improving the health of millions of children in Pakistan depend quite heavily on assuring that all children have access to life-saving vaccines," but "the most recent policy prescription from the Pakistani parliament to improve immunization coverage, however, misses the mark, and badly," Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center, writes in this Huffington Post "World" blog post.

28 Mar 2012

First clinical trial to evaluate intravenous antibiotics for CF lung infection

Experts from Bristol and Nottingham are leading a major new national study to investigate whether intravenous antibiotics are effective in killing a common germ that causes dangerous complications in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.

28 Mar 2012

World Bank presidential nominee Kim begins 7-country 'listening tour' to promote candidacy

The White House nominee for president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, on Tuesday begins a seven-country "listening tour" in order "to promote his candidacy with stops in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Treasury Department announced Monday," Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

28 Mar 2012

Opinion pieces, blog posts, editorial respond to nomination of Jim Yong Kim to lead World Bank

On Friday, March 23, President Obama nominated Jim Yong Kim, a global health expert and president of Dartmouth College, to be the next president of the World Bank.

28 Mar 2012

South African mines must have HIV, TB, workplace safety policies to receive license, Minister says

Speaking at an event where South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe urged the mining industry to take greater steps to address tuberculosis (TB) and HIV among its employees, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu "announced that mining companies, whose HIV, TB and workplace safety policies are being audited by her department, will have to submit their policies as a prerequisite for renewing their mining licenses," PlusNews reports.

28 Mar 2012

Inadequate government TB program, lax drug sale regulations contributing to MDR-TB cases in India, health groups say

"India's inadequate government-run tuberculosis [TB] treatment programs and a lack of regulation of the sale of drugs that fight the disease are responsible for the increasing number of drug-resistant cases that are difficult to treat," health advocacy organizations said in India last week, the Associated Press/Huffington Post reports.

28 Mar 2012

Study: 20.1M individuals infected with HEV across 9 world regions

New research funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 20.1 million individuals were infected with hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotypes 1 and 2 across 9 world regions in 2005.

28 Mar 2012

United Nations Foundation launches Nothing But Nets campaign

Since last June, more than 130,000 refugees—and counting—have entered South Sudan and neighboring countries to escape fighting on the border of Sudan. As the situation worsens, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is providing food, water, and shelter. Living in a country where malaria is the leading cause of death among children under five, the refugee families in South Sudan need another life-saving tool: insecticide-treated bed nets.

28 Mar 2012

New microfluidic chip more effective in detecting flu outbreaks

The H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009 underscored weaknesses in methods widely used to diagnose the flu, from frequent false negatives to long wait times for results. Now Boston University researchers have developed a prototype of a rapid, low-cost, accurate, point-of-care device that promises to provide clinicians with an effective tool to quickly diagnose both seasonal and pandemic strains of influenza, and thus limit the spread of infection.

28 Mar 2012

Improvement in collaboration between TB and HIV services saves 910 000 lives

An estimated 910 000 lives were saved globally over six years by improving collaboration between TB and HIV services that protect people living with HIV from TB, according to global health impact figures released today.

27 Mar 2012

National biosecurity panel to hold closed-door meeting on bird flu research

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) is scheduled this week to hold "a closed-door meeting to once again look at unpublished manuscripts describing" two studies that showed how H5N1 bird flu virus could be manipulated to become transmissible among ferrets, a model for humans, NPR's health blog "Shots" reports, noting that the meeting "will include a classified briefing from the intelligence community."

27 Mar 2012

MedImmune receives FDA approval for FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine

FluMist Quadrivalent, a vaccine to prevent seasonal influenza in people ages 2 years through 49 years, has been approved today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FluMist Quadrivalent is the first influenza vaccine to contain four strains of the influenza virus, two influenza A strains and two influenza B strains.

27 Mar 2012

BRICS countries increasing global health, development aid, report says

As their economies grow, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- known collectively as BRICS -- "are injecting new resources, innovation and momentum into efforts to improve health in the world's poorest countries, according to a report by Global Health Strategies initiatives [GHSi]" released on Monday, Business Live reports.

27 Mar 2012

U.N. SG Ban calls for global effort to fight TB on World TB Day

Speaking on Saturday at a World Tuberculosis (TB) Day event, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "called for a global effort to diagnose and treat tuberculosis," United Press International reports.

27 Mar 2012

White House nominates global health expert Jim Yong Kim to head World Bank

"The White House on Friday named Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth College and a global health expert, as its nominee to lead the World Bank" beginning "on June 30, when its current president, Robert B. Zoellick, will step down at the end of his five-year term," the New York Times reports.

27 Mar 2012

Promotion and education of female condom prevent HIV and save medical care costs

A new economic analysis, conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and featured in the current issue of Springer's journal AIDS and Behavior, showed that the DC Female Condom program, a public-private partnership to provide and promote female condoms, prevented enough HIV infections in the first year alone to save over $8 million in future medical care costs.

27 Mar 2012

Chevron recognized as first 'Global Fund Corporate Champion,' VOA News reports

VOA News reports on a March 20 panel meeting in Washington, D.C., that highlighted the contributions of corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

27 Mar 2012