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Study finds traces of bacteria listeria in ready-to-eat fish products in Vancouver

A University of British Columbia study has found traces of the bacteria listeria in ready-to-eat fish products sold in Metro Vancouver, Canada.

28 Feb 2012

New protocol decreases sternum infections in kids by 61%

A two-year effort to prevent infections in children healing from cardiac surgery reduced sternum infections by 61 percent, a San Antonio researcher announced at the Cardiology 2012 conference Feb. 23 in Orlando, Fla.

28 Feb 2012

FDA clears Meridian Bioscience's TRU Legionella test

Meridian Bioscience, Inc. today announced that it has received FDA clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for TRU Legionella, a new rapid assay for detection of legionellosis.

28 Feb 2012

Chemically altered osteoporosis drug may fight malaria

A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

27 Feb 2012

USPTO issues two patents on 'Novel Shigella protein antigens and methods' to IVI

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization based in Seoul devoted to research on the development and introduction of vaccines for the developing world, reached a milestone in its aim to prevent and control dysentery (also commonly called shigellosis or bloody diarrhea), a deadly disease that affects several million people worldwide.

27 Feb 2012

Typhoid on Christmas Island

As of now people seeking asylum on Christmas Island will have to wait to be transferred to mainland Australia, after typhoid fever was detected on the island.

27 Feb 2012

WHO removes India from list of countries with endemic Polio

India is nearly free of deadly paralyzing viral infection polio. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the WHO removed India from the list Saturday after the country passed one year without registering any new cases. This means only three countries with endemic polio — Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. India must pass another two years without new cases to be declared polio-free.

27 Feb 2012

Flu season starts late but may be just as virulent: CDC

Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology prevention branch at the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said for the third consecutive week this season the percent of respiratory specimen testing positive for flu surpassed 10 percent, which is generally a marker to indicate the flu season has begun. “This is the latest start to a flu season in the past 29 years,” said Dr. Bresee.

27 Feb 2012

Cross-protective vaccines will make a bout with influenza less severe

An emerging class of long-lasting flu vaccines could do more than just save people the trouble of an annual flu shot.

27 Feb 2012

BioConnections, Yissum to commercialize kits that detect MDR and XDR infections

Yissum, the research and development company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, had signed a licensing agreement with BioConnections, a UK based microbiology company, for the commercialization of kits that enables immediate detection of all multidrug resistant (MDR) and of any extremely drug resistant (XDR) infections.

27 Feb 2012

Scripps Florida receives NIH grant to create novel HIV inhibitors

A Scripps Florida team has been awarded nearly $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to identify and develop novel potent inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS.

27 Feb 2012

New technique effective in jumpstarting defective immune systems against many diseases

In a study published in Nature Medicine, Loyola researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer.

26 Feb 2012

Bird flu may be more common and less deadly: Study finds

The H5N1 influenza virus commonly called “bird flu” or “avian flu” could be more prevalent and less deadly than health officials had thought, according to a new study published online (Feb. 23) by the journal Science.

26 Feb 2012

Five things that can aggravate suffering of people with spring allergies

Fruits and veggies, air filters, spring breezes, procrastination and self-medication - each can delay relief from a stuffy nose, sneezing, sniffling or other symptoms if you're one of the more than 35 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies.

24 Feb 2012

South Sudan's army calls for concerted efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

"South Sudan's army on Wednesday appealed for concerted efforts to fight against HIV/AIDS, stressing that the war against the sexually transmitted disease cannot be fought by one institution or group of some officials tasked by the government," the Sudan Tribune reports.

24 Feb 2012

Two new analyses raise questions about mortality rate of bird flu

In an analysis published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science, a team led by virologist Peter Palese of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York argue the mortality rate from H5N1 bird flu is under one percent, much lower than the WHO's estimated fatality rate of 59 percent, Reuters reports.

24 Feb 2012

HIV to be covered under insurance in India beginning in October

In this post in PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog, Benoy Peter, senior manager for knowledge management at Project Connect in India, reports that the government of India will cover HIV care under insurance in the country beginning in October 2012.

24 Feb 2012

Despite economic downturn, Global Fund 'needs and deserves' international support

In recognition of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's 10th anniversary, Sisonke Msimang, executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, recounts the Fund's history and development in this Project Syndicate opinion piece, stating that the organization is "driven by the idea that people need not die of preventable and treatable diseases simply because they are poor."

24 Feb 2012

Eradication of river blindness in Africa is feasible

In this AlertNet opinion piece, Simon Bush, director of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) at Sightsavers, an international NGO helping people with visual impairments in developing countries, examines efforts to rid Africa of onchocerciasis -- a blinding NTD.

24 Feb 2012

Additional discussion needed before final decision made on publication of bird flu studies

Attendees of a recent WHO meeting that discussed the possible publication in the journals Nature and Science of two studies that modified H5N1 bird flu strains to show the virus could be more easily transmissible among humans decided publication of redacted versions would be ineffective and that "a system for distributing the full paper only to selected individuals would be impossible to set up on any relevant timescale," a Nature editorial states.

24 Feb 2012