Disease/Infection News

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Mimotopes can help develop new diagnostic tests for sleeping sickness

Each year many thousands of Africans contract sleeping sickness. The cause is a unicellular parasite, a trypanosome, which is transmitted by the bite of tsetse flies. First the parasite multiplies in blood and lymph, while evading the human immune system. It then lodges in organs like heart and kidneys and finally in the brain. Patients become disoriented, their sleeping pattern disintegrates and they get motor and mental problems.

23 May 2012

Scientists trace origin and development of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus

National Institutes of Health-funded scientists have determined the genome sequences of a dozen strains of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria known to be resistant to vancomycin, an antibiotic of last resort. The researchers demonstrated -that resistance arose independently in each strain, and identified shared features among the strains that may have helped them acquire vancomycin resistance and evade human immune defenses.

23 May 2012

HVTN opens enrollment in GeoVax’s GM-CSF adjuvanted vaccine Phase 1 trial for HIV

GeoVax Labs, Inc., an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, today announced that the NIH-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) has opened enrollment for a Phase 1 trial for the company's second-generation HIV vaccine.

23 May 2012

Fake, substandard malaria drugs threatening gains made in fight against disease, NIH study warns

"Low-quality and fake anti-malarial drugs flooding into markets in Asia and Africa are driving drug resistance and threatening gains made in the fight against the disease in the past decade, according to a study" conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, Reuters reports.

23 May 2012

Researcher restructures innovative virus-tracking software

A biomedical informatics researcher who tracks dangerous viruses as they spread around the globe has restructured his innovative tracking software to promote even wider use of the program around the world.

23 May 2012

B cells in breast milk can produce HIV-neutralizing antibodies

Antibodies that help to stop the HIV virus have been found in breast milk. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center isolated the antibodies from immune cells called B cells in the breast milk of infected mothers in Malawi, and showed that the B cells in breast milk can generate neutralizing antibodies that may inhibit the virus that causes AIDS.

23 May 2012

Sarcoidosis accounts for 25% of all deaths in African-American women

A new study conducted by researchers from Boston University has found that sarcoidosis accounts for 25 percent of all deaths among women in the Black Women's Health Study who have the disease. The study is the largest epidemiologic study to date to specifically address mortality in black females with sarcoidosis.

23 May 2012

H1N1 flu vaccination during pregnancy provides unanticipated benefits to the baby

Getting a flu shot during pregnancy provides unanticipated benefits to the baby, according to the authors of a large population-based study examining the issue. Specifically, the study showed that H1N1 vaccination during the pandemic was associated with a significantly reduced risk of stillbirth, preterm birth and extremely small babies at birth.

23 May 2012

Researchers identify new mechanism for drug-related autoimmune reactions

A team of researchers led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has discovered a new mechanism for identifying and understanding drug-related autoimmune reactions.

23 May 2012

Microfluidic chip can diagnose latent TB

Biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed a microfluidic chip to test for latent tuberculosis. They hope the test will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than current testing for the disease.

23 May 2012

C. difficile infection on the rise

A study presented by Mayo Clinic researchers during Digestive Disease Week 2012 provides clear evidence that the number of people contracting the hard-to-control and treat bacterial infection Clostridium difficile (C. difficile or C. diff) is increasing, and that the infection is commonly contracted outside of the hospital.

22 May 2012

Globe and Mail examines resurgence of malaria in Congo

The Globe and Mail reports on "a massive resurgence of malaria [in the Democratic Republic of the Congo] that has baffled scientists and raised doubts about the global fight against the deadly scourge."

22 May 2012

Bill introduced in U.S. Senate is latest push to award prizes for new drug development

"As Washington prepares for a major international AIDS conference this summer, developments on the drug front are once again elevating the subject of the continuing epidemic in the public eye," CQ HealthBeat reports.

22 May 2012

Government-supported 'Prize Funds' would help important drugs have greater social impact

"Every year, millions of people die from preventable and treatable diseases, especially in poor countries," World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate, writes in this BusinessDay opinion piece.

22 May 2012

New research reveals effective treatments for gastrointestinal conditions

New research being presented at Digestive Disease Week- (DDW) reveals effective treatments for a number of gastrointestinal conditions, which are often chronic and costly.

22 May 2012

New knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria

Researchers from Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Edinburgh have uncovered new knowledge related to host-parasite interaction in severe malaria, concerning how malaria parasites are able to bind to cells in the brain and cause cerebral malaria - the most lethal form of the disease.

22 May 2012

Some patients appear to be more predisposed for recurrent infection from C. diff

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have found that some patients appear to be more predisposed for recurrent infection from the bacterium Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, and that it may advance to a more serious inflammatory condition in those individuals.

22 May 2012

Human cytomegalovirus associated with neovascular AMD

A team of researchers, including a scientist from the Viral Immunology Center at Georgia State University, have found that a type of herpesvirus infection of the eye is associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that causes blindness in the elderly.

22 May 2012

FDA clears Teleflex’s ARROW PICC with Chloragard technology

Teleflex Incorporated announced today that in addition to broad-spectrum antimicrobial protection, the pressure-injectable ARROW PICC with Chloragard Technology provides antithrombogenic protection for at least 30 days.

22 May 2012

T cell imbalance may put certain people at increased risk of C. difficile infection

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have found that an imbalance in the regulation of certain T cells-the cells in the body that fight off infection or attack the system in certain autoimmune diseases-may put certain people at a higher risk of having recurrent cases of Clostridium difficile, or C. Diff, infection.

22 May 2012