Disease/Infection News

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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

CSIS report examines polio eradication efforts in Nigeria

This report -- titled "The Race to Eradication," published on Friday by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), and written by Jennifer Cooke, director of the CSIS Africa Program, and Farha Tahir, a program coordinator and research associate in the program -- examines efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria, a country that "remains one of the most entrenched reservoirs of poliovirus in the world," according to the report summary.

14 Feb 2012

Fair trade agreement between E.U., India could impede access to medicine for world's poor

"Current negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union and India are causing serious concern in many quarters over future access to cheap generic medicines used to treat some of the world's great public health threats: HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and also cancer," Philippe Douste-Blazy, U.N. special adviser on innovative financing for development and chair of UNITAID, and Denis Broun, executive director of UNITAID, write in this post in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

14 Feb 2012

FDA accepts Gilead's Truvada sNDA and grants Priority Review

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) and granted a six-month Priority Review for once-daily Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk of HIV-1 infection among uninfected adults.

14 Feb 2012

Compound makes imipenem 16 times more effective against antibiotic-resistant K. pneumoniae

North Carolina State University chemists have created a compound that makes existing antibiotics 16 times more effective against recently discovered antibiotic-resistant "superbugs."

14 Feb 2012

Obama's budget demonstrates his strong commitment to end HIV

"The budget President Obama outlined today yet again demonstrates his strong commitment to ending HIV by increasing funding for prevention and lifesaving care and treatment for those who cannot afford it in the United States," commented Carl Schmid, Deputy Executive Director of The AIDS Institute.

13 Feb 2012

Scientists test new 'therapeutic vaccine' against HIV on volunteers

Scientists from the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp University Hospital and Antwerp University have tested a new 'therapeutic vaccine' against HIV on volunteers. The participants were so to say vaccinated with their own cells.

13 Feb 2012

Help combat antibiotic resistance with better patient communication

The latest NPS News highlights the vital role that prescribers play in limiting the spread of antibiotic resistance, and reviews the latest evidence about antibiotic resistance in the individual.

13 Feb 2012

Starving HIV virus could be the basis for future therapy: Study

In a medical breakthrough researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues have shown how some cells in the body can repel attacks from HIV by starving the virus of the building blocks of life.

13 Feb 2012

Tenofovir associated with significant risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease

Tenofovir, one of the most effective and commonly prescribed antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, is associated with a significant risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease that increases over time, according to a study of more than 10,000 patients led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

13 Feb 2012

DARPA awards fourth milestone payment of $3.56M to Medicago

Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced it has received the fourth milestone payment of US$3.56 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

13 Feb 2012

Elton John AIDS Foundation awards over $3.2 million in new grants

The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) today announced over $3.2 million in new grants that will further its mission to assist the most marginalized populations vulnerable to HIV infection. These new awards brought EJAF's final total grant-making commitments for calendar 2011 to a record $8,316,871, with disbursements totaling $7,006,871 last year.

13 Feb 2012

'The Elders' promote 'Girls Not Brides' initiative in India

"A group of prominent activists from around the world known as 'The Elders' arrived in India Thursday to take a stand against the practice of child marriage" and promote its global "Girls Not Brides" movement, VOA's "Breaking News" blog reports.

13 Feb 2012

SAMHD1 protein cuts off raw material that HIV needs to create DNA and replicate

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online in Nature Immunology.

13 Feb 2012

Sexuality changes throughout life but US policy and research fail to keep up

Americans will spend more than $17 billion on Valentine's Day, but far less on programs like sex education for adolescents. The editors of the new book, Sex for Life, From Virginity to Viagra, How Sexuality Changes Throughout Our Lives, argue that not only do our public policies on sex education need to be reevaluated, our entire concept of human sexuality needs to be broadened.

13 Feb 2012