Disease/Infection News

RSS

New AACN Practice Alert on catheter-associated urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections account for nearly 40 percent of hospital-acquired infections in acute care hospitals, triggering increased hospital costs and higher patient morbidity and mortality rates. Compounding the toll of these infections, Medicaid, Medicare and many other payers no longer reimburse costs related to treatment because of their presumed preventability.

19 Jan 2012

Study demonstrates possibility of curing hepatitis C without use of interferon

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced the full results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, from a Phase II clinical trial in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 who had not responded to prior therapy with PEG-interferon alfa and ribavirin ('null responders').

19 Jan 2012

Aspirin may benefit HIV-infected women at risk of cervical cancer

Research conducted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center global health investigators and cancer specialists in New York, Qatar and Haiti suggests that aspirin should be evaluated for its ability to prevent development of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women.

19 Jan 2012

The AJMS publishes updates on type 2 diabetes, STIs

Research is leading to new insights on two major public health challenges: preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and improving disease control for patients with type 2 diabetes. Expert updates on these critical topics appear in a special symposium section of the January issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (The AJMS), official journal of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation.

19 Jan 2012

Community health workers vital to improving health care in Africa

Community health workers (CHWs) "are seen to be a key part of a functioning primary health system," especially in African nations, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a post on Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

19 Jan 2012

New York Times examines history of malaria drug artemisinin

The New York Times examines the history of the Chinese drug artemisinin, "hailed as one of the greatest advances in fighting malaria ... since the discovery of quinine centuries ago," noting the drug "is being talked about as a candidate for a Nobel Prize in Medicine."

19 Jan 2012

Assessing the cost of polio eradication efforts

"After more than a century as a global scourge and hundreds of thousands lives lost, polio may now be on the verge of being the second human disease wiped off the face of the Earth," Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, writes in his column for ForeignPolicy.com, "The Optimist."

19 Jan 2012

Risks of modifying flu strains to become highly transmissible in humans outweigh benefits

In this Journal Sentinel Online opinion piece, Thomas Inglesby, chief executive officer and director of the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC in Baltimore; Anita Cicero, chief operating officer and deputy director of the center; and D.A. Henderson, a distinguished scholar at the center, comment on a recent announcement by scientists that they have genetically modified a strain of H5N1 bird flu that is "capable of spreading through the air between ferrets that were physically separated from each other," indicating "it would be readily transmissible by air between humans."

19 Jan 2012

NGOs in Balkan countries to establish regional body to fight HIV/AIDS stigma, discrimination

Agence France-Presse reports that a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is working to establish a regional association to combat HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination that is prevalent in the Balkan countries.

19 Jan 2012

USAID's worldwide polio eradication coordinator addresses India's polio progress, global efforts

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog interviews Ellyn Ogden, USAID's worldwide polio eradication coordinator since 1997, about India's progress in eradicating polio as it marked one year without a confirmed case and discusses what the overall eradication fight looks like today.

19 Jan 2012

New combo drug helps suppress hepatitis C genotype 1 infection

A new combination of investigational drugs successfully suppressed hepatitis C genotype 1 infection in a high percent of patients who had not responded to previous treatment in a study led by a University of Michigan hepatologist.

19 Jan 2012

PfSET10 molecule plays a crucial role in malaria infection

The discovery by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of a molecule that is key to malaria's 'invisibility cloak' will help to better understand how the parasite causes disease and escapes from the defenses mounted by the immune system.

19 Jan 2012

Soligenix reports results from long-term stability studies of SGX204 anthrax vaccine

Soligenix, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, announced today results from long-term stability studies of its proprietary DNI anthrax rPA subunit protein vaccine, known as SGX204.

19 Jan 2012

Gilead Sciences receives FDA approval for Viread to treat pediatric HIV infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Viread in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in pediatric patients ages 2-12.

19 Jan 2012

Scientists crack genetic code for Schistosoma haematobium

Scientists have cracked the genetic code and predicted some high priority drug targets for the blood parasite Schistosoma haematobium, which is linked to bladder cancer and HIV/ AIDS and causes the insidious urogenital disease schistosomiasis haematobia in more than 112 million people in Africa.

19 Jan 2012

Bristol-Myers Squibb agrees purchase of Inhibitex for $2.5Bn

American pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed the purchase of US biotech company Inhibitex, in a $2.5Bn (£1.6bn) deal which includes the promising new anti-hepatitis C drug INX-189, first designed and prepared in Cardiff University.

19 Jan 2012

TB associated with EGFR mutations in patients with lung adenocarcinoma

Tuberculosis (TB) has been suspected to increase a person's risk of lung cancer because the pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis can induce genetic damage. However, direct evidence of specific genetic changes and the disease have not been extensively reported.

19 Jan 2012

Alpha-hemolysin may play an unexpected role in UTIs

Researchers from the University of Utah have identified a process by which the most common types of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are able to trigger bladder cell shedding and disable immune responses. According to this new study, published in the Jan. 19, 2012, issue of Cell Host & Microbe, α-hemolysin, a toxin secreted by many strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), may play an important, unexpected role during both the establishment and persistence of urinary tract infections.

19 Jan 2012

Counterfeit malaria drugs endanger millions of lives

According to researchers fake and poor quality anti-malarial drugs are threatening efforts to control the disease in Africa and could put millions of lives at risk. These counterfeit medicines could harm patients and promote drug resistance among malaria parasites, warns the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

18 Jan 2012

Indian, WHO officials to meet to discuss managing cases of highly drug-resistant TB

Health officials from India and the WHO are scheduled to meet in Mumbai on Tuesday to discuss how to manage the cases of at least 12 patients infected with a highly drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) strain, Bloomberg reports (Narayan, 1/17).

18 Jan 2012