Disease/Infection News

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Shorter, effective treatment for latent TB infection

Research, led by Timothy Sterling, M.D., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has led to an important change in CDC recommendations in the regimen for prevention of the centuries-old scourge, tuberculosis (TB).

9 Dec 2011

Prevention practices for catheter-associated urinary tract infections lacking in most hospitals

Hospitals are working harder than ever to prevent hospital-acquired infections, but a nationwide survey shows few are aggressively combating the most common one - catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

9 Dec 2011

New international consortium aims to prepare researchers for next pandemic

"A group of health organizations [on Wednesday] launched a new international consortium to better prepare the clinical research community to respond to the next pandemic or other emerging health threat," CIDRAP News reports (Schnirring, 12/7).

9 Dec 2011

'Disinfectants' may reduce risk of E. coli outbreaks

Some E. coli bacteria are harmless and some are dangerous from the outset. Then some become dangerous when they are subjected to viral infection. Researchers are working to find tools that will reduce the risk of this happening.

9 Dec 2011

New methods speed up process of identifying harmful E. coli bacteria

New methods speed up the process of identifying the subgroup of E. coli bacteria responsible for an outbreak of illness. Swift identification may spare lives.

9 Dec 2011

Experimental sublingual vaccine shows promise against influenza infection

Scientists from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) have discovered that an antigen common to most influenza viruses, and commonly referred to as matrix protein 2 (M2), when administered under the tongue could protect mice against experimental infection caused by various influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic avian H5 virus and the pandemic H1 ("swine flu") virus.

9 Dec 2011

Paper calls for strong steps to control global crisis of antibiotic-resistant infections

Shahriar Mobashery, a University of Notre Dame researcher, is one of the coauthors of a new paper by a group of the world's leading scientists in academia and industry that calls for strong steps to be taken to control the global crisis of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The group issued a priority list of steps that need to be taken on a global scale to resolve the crisis.

9 Dec 2011

CSIS publishes reports on immunization and global health

The Center for Strategic & International Studies on Wednesday released two reports on immunizations and global health. "The Future of Global Immunization: Will the Promise Be Fulfilled?," by Stephen Cochi of the CDC, "outlines 10 important issues facing the global vaccine and immunization agenda."

9 Dec 2011

Goal of AIDS-free generation achievable through 'AIDS transition'

In this Foreign Affairs opinion piece, Mead Over, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, says the goal of an "AIDS-free generation" is attainable, "[b]ut not if treatment continues to take precedence over prevention."

9 Dec 2011

Enrollment complete in Boehringer Ingelheim's BI 201335 Phase III trial for HCV

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced that the final patient has been randomised to treatment in the large-scale Phase III clinical trial programme for BI 201335, its investigational, oral protease inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus.

9 Dec 2011

Gilead Sciences to donate $8M in visceral leishmaniasis drug to WHO

Gilead Sciences, Inc. "will donate 445,000 vials of AmBisome over five years to help the World Health Organization (WHO) treat more than 50,000 patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar," a Gilead press release states, adding, "If sold at Gilead's no-profit access price, today's donation would cost more than $8 million."

9 Dec 2011

MSU researcher uses MRI to unlock how cerebral malaria damages brain

Building on a quarter century of work in Malawi, a Michigan State University researcher is traveling to neighboring Zambia to perform MRI scans on children newly diagnosed with cerebral malaria in hopes of unlocking how it damages the brain.

9 Dec 2011

Innovative taxes can be used to fill AIDS funding gap, UNAIDS head says

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that donors looking to fund the fight against AIDS "could raise funds through taxes," according to the news agency.

9 Dec 2011

Genetically identical Salmonella appear in 2 types, each with an infective advantage

An unusual regulatory mechanism that controls the swimmer/non-swimmer option in genetically identical Salmonella also impacts the bacteria's ability to cause infection.

9 Dec 2011

Nighttime-lights imagery can pinpoint disease hotspots

Normally used to spot where people live, satellite images of nighttime lights can help keep tabs on the diseases festering among them, too, according to new research.

9 Dec 2011

Global health R&D funding from wealthy nations fell 6% in 2010, annual G-FINDER report finds

"A group that tracks funding for neglected diseases released its fourth annual report Wednesday, showing for the first time since 2007 a decrease in government and public spending in global health research and development," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

8 Dec 2011

House hearing on malaria progress, challenges

This post in the "Malaria Policy Center" blog describes a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, titled "Fighting Malaria: Progress and Challenges," that was held on Monday.

8 Dec 2011

AIDS.gov blog posts mHealth Summit update

This post by AIDS.gov Director Miguel Gomez in the AIDS.gov blog provides an update on the second day of the mHealth Summit taking place in Washington, D.C.

8 Dec 2011

Global plan of action needed to end AIDS

After "President Obama threw the full weight of the U.S. government behind a vision" to end the AIDS epidemic in a World AIDS Day speech, "[n]ow the question is: How will we achieve this goal? What are the priority actions to take today, tomorrow, and years from now?" Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

8 Dec 2011

Myanmar appeals for assistance in HIV/AIDS fight, develops 5-year national HIV/AIDS

"Myanmar appealed on Tuesday to the international community to increase assistance in combating HIV/ AIDS, as AIDS response in the country has entered a critical stage," Xinhua reports, adding, "The appeal was made by participants attending" a round-table discussion on reaching zero AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in the country.

8 Dec 2011