Disease/Infection News

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Chemists create new molecule that can tangle inside the DNA for up to 16 days

Chemists at The University of Texas at Austin have created a molecule that's so good at tangling itself inside the double helix of a DNA sequence that it can stay there for up to 16 days before the DNA liberates itself, much longer than any other molecule reported.

15 Feb 2012

Updated tool to track NTD funding, identify gaps

The Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program (NTD Control Program), funded by USAID and managed by Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International), has released an updated version of its NTD Funding Gap Analysis Tool (NTD-FGAT), which "helps users accurately estimate the costs and funding gaps of public health programs" and "is intended as a supplementary instrument to improve resource and strategic planning in an already existing national NTD plan," according to the Global Network for NTDs' "End the Neglect" blog.

15 Feb 2012

Bird flu controversy an opportunity to set a higher tone for public debate

In this Huffington Post opinion piece, Leslie Gerwin, associate director of law and public affairs at Princeton University, reflects on the recent controversy over whether to research and publish data about potentially dangerous strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus, writing, "I am disturbed that so much coverage of this dispute -- so deserving of sober consideration -- is fixated on fear mongering."

15 Feb 2012

President Obama releases FY13 budget proposal with overall decrease for GHI

"President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2013 that aims to slash the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years," the Associated Press reports, and provides an agency-by-agency breakdown of the proposed budget.

15 Feb 2012

Tissues in SIV-infected monkeys can ramp up production of Tregs

Tissue in monkeys infected with a close relative of HIV can ramp up production of a type of T cell that actually weakens the body's attack against the invading virus. The discovery, in lymph nodes draining the intestinal tract, could help explain how the HIV virus evades the body's immune defenses.

15 Feb 2012

Legislation in Chinese autonomous region would eliminate anonymous HIV testing, require names

"Health officials in southern China are proposing new legislation to require real-name registration for HIV testing, a move aimed at lowering infection rates that has sparked controversy over personal privacy," the Wall Street Journal's "China Real Time Report" blog reports.

15 Feb 2012

Water-associated disease outbreaks more likely to occur in high population density areas

Water-associated infectious disease outbreaks are more likely to occur in areas where a region's population density is growing, according to a new global analysis of economic and environmental conditions that influence the risk for these outbreaks.

15 Feb 2012

First study to look at suicide ideation and self-harm in LGBT youths

What protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youths from considering suicide and, conversely, what makes them most vulnerable to it? The question is of paramount concern because these youths are at least twice as likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youths, prompting the national "It Gets Better Project" with encouraging video messages from such public figures as Lady Gaga and President Barack Obama.

15 Feb 2012

New vaccine can prevent bacterial infection of orthopaedic implants

Methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) infections are resistant to antibiotics and can cause a myriad of problems -- bone erosion, or osteomyelitis, which shorten the effective life of an implant and greatly hinder replacement of that implant. MRSA can result in prolonged disability, amputation and even death.

15 Feb 2012

Antibiotic prescriptions do not reduce sinus symptoms

Antibiotics that doctors typically prescribe for sinus infections do not reduce symptoms any better than an inactive placebo, according to investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

15 Feb 2012

Study shows how malaria parasite changes into banana form before sexual reproduction

New research from the University of Melbourne shows how the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) changes into a banana shape before sexual reproduction, a finding that could provide targets for vaccine or drug development and may explain how the parasite evades the human immune system.

14 Feb 2012

Ugandan government announces $3M plan to fight nodding disease

"The growing threat of nodding disease and increased pressure for action has spurred the Ugandan government to announce a $3 million (USD) plan to address the mystery illness," Global Health Frontline News reports, adding, "Initial funds will be used to set up screening centers and treat those affected in Pader, Kitgum, and Lamwo districts in northern Uganda as early as this month."

14 Feb 2012

WHO warns battle against leprosy not over in Western Pacific region

"The World Health Organization warned Monday that the battle against the age-old scourge of leprosy is not yet over, with more than 5,000 new cases reported yearly in the Western Pacific, where the disease was declared eliminated in 1991," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (2/13).

14 Feb 2012

Scientists create fungi with additional foreign genes to produce chemicals for drugs

Usually, mould fungi are nothing to cheer about - but now they can be used as "chemical factories". Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have succeeded in introducing bacterial genes into the fungus Trichoderma, so that the fungus can now produce important chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. The raw material used by the fungus is abundant - it is chitin, which makes up the shells of crustaceans.

14 Feb 2012

Pakistan, Afghanistan form joint action plan against polio

Pakistan and Afghanistan, "the world's two worst polio-affected countries," have "decided to form a joint block under the World Health Organization to eradicate the infectious disease -- which causes motor paralysis and the atrophy of skeletal muscles, often resulting in permanent physical disability or deformity -- by December 2012," Inter Press Service reports.

14 Feb 2012

Stress protein effectively activates replication of HBV in liver cells

People who have received a donor organ need lifelong immunosuppressant drugs to keep their immune system from attacking the foreign tissue. However, with a suppressed immune system, many infectious agents turn into a threat. Infections such as with human cytomegalovirus and a certain type of human polyomavirus frequently cause complications in transplant recipients.

14 Feb 2012

GAO finds big disparities in prices of some medical devices

News outlets examine a variety of health workplace issues, including a GAO report on medical device prices and efforts to get health workers vaccinated for the flu.

14 Feb 2012

Promising compound may counteract HIV's ability to hijack CD59 protein

One of the frustrations for scientists working on HIV/AIDS treatments has been the human immunodeficiency virus' ability to evade the body's immune system. Now an Indiana University researcher has discovered a compound that could help put the immune system back in the hunt.

14 Feb 2012

Large NTD public-private partnership has greater potential than smaller efforts

The announcement at the end of January of the largest coordinated effort to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) provides "more reason to hope that we may soon see a future free of these diseases," Adetokunbo Lucas, former director of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, writes in a Daily Monitor opinion piece.

14 Feb 2012

FDA requests a budget of $4.5 billion to protect and promote public health

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting a budget of $4.5 billion to protect and promote the public health as part of the President's fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget – a 17 percent increase over the FDA enacted budget for FY 2012.

14 Feb 2012