Disease/Infection News

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South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

"Decades of war, neglect, and lack of development have left South Sudan with nine out of 10 of th[e] key neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] -- all but Chagas disease, which is endemic to South America," and health workers in the new nation are hoping that the recent formation of a large public-private partnership to combat the diseases "will finally help to have an impact on South Sudan's appalling health indicators," IRIN reports.

24 Feb 2012

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

The WHO "is calling on all Afghans to vaccinate their children after a recent measles outbreak that has been made worse by severe weather that hampers access to immediate treatment as well as low immunization coverage," the U.N. News Centre reports.

24 Feb 2012

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

When bacteria wage a turf war, some of the combatants have an extra weapon. Certain strains of the bacteria E. coli produce proteins that kill competing E. coli and other like microbes, and researchers from Newcastle University in England have recently discovered something surprising about one of these lethal proteins: even after the toxic folded portion of the protein is removed, the unfolded end is still deadly.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify promising strategy for HIV vaccine design

HIV has eluded vaccine-makers for thirty years, in part due to the virus' extreme ability to mutate. Physical scientists and clinical virologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Ragon Institute in Cambridge, Mass., have identified a promising strategy for vaccine design using a mathematical technique that has also been used in problems related to quantum physics, as well as in analyses of stock market price fluctuations and studies of enzyme sequences.

24 Feb 2012

Global Fund releases more than $7M to South Africa following request from AIDS organizations

"More than seven months overdue, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria grant will finally be released to key South African AIDS organizations that have been struggling to survive," PlusNews writes, adding, "Some were on the verge of shutting down."

24 Feb 2012

MRSA strain in food animals concerns experts

The strain of staph, known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA CC398, most often infects farm workers who come in contact with infected pigs, turkeys, or cows. Now the strain of bacteria has been found in about half of meat samples taken throughout the country. The researchers say that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock used for food is to blame for the infection's drug resistance.

23 Feb 2012

Burma needs AIDS funds

The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders has urged international donors to make more money available to treat HIV/AIDS in Burma.

23 Feb 2012

Sustainable funding needed to reduce Burma's HIV, TB treatment gap

"While international attention focuses on Burma, [also known as Myanmar,] a health crisis in the country looms large," Joe Billiveau, operations manager of Medecins Sans Frontieres' (MSF) operational center in Amsterdam, writes in this opinion piece in Bangkok's Nation.

23 Feb 2012

Scientific American examines Gates Foundation toilet-design initiative

"Advocates for universal access to and use of basic personal sanitation hope their efforts will get a big boost in August, when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation present several hygienic innovations developed through its Reinventing the Toilet Challenge," Scientific American reports in a feature article.

23 Feb 2012

USAID releases external evaluation of President's Malaria Initiative

USAID on Tuesday released the final report by an external evaluation team of the first five years (FY 2006-FY 2010) of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), which is a major component of the Global Health Initiative (GHI), according to a USAID press release.

23 Feb 2012

Maintaining differential diagnosis inclusive of infectious etiology may help save children's life

Neurologic tics and obsessive-compulsive behaviors caused by a bacterial infection in children were once thought to occur exclusively in PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Disease Associated with Streptococcus infections).

23 Feb 2012

South Korea stepping up fight against TB, CBS News reports

CBS News examines the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in South Korea, which "has the highest incidence rate of tuberculosis among the world's wealthiest countries, nations [that] belong to the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

23 Feb 2012

Studies provide global perspective on condom use problems and errors

Problems with the correct use of the male condom, such as not wearing a condom throughout sex or putting it on upside down, are common in the U.S. and have become a major concern of public health officials. New research shows that countries around the world are facing similar challenges.

23 Feb 2012

Scientists employ metagenomics to identify new possible antibiotics against MRSA

Scientists are reporting use of a new technology for sifting through the world's largest remaining pool of potential antibiotics to discover two new antibiotics that work against deadly resistant microbes, including the "super bugs" known as MRSA. Their report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

23 Feb 2012

Cholera epidemic spreads in DRC; Efforts to combat disease remain underfunded, U.N. reports

"A cholera epidemic has spread to nine out of 11 provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday," SAPA/News24 reports.

23 Feb 2012

Burma unable to expand HIV, TB treatment programs without more donor support, MSF report says

Approximately 85,000 HIV-positive people in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are in need of antiretroviral treatment (ART) and cannot access it "due to a lack of funding, despite renewed international engagement with the government amid a wave of political reform, according to a report released Wednesday" by the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Associated Press/CBS News reports.

23 Feb 2012

Novartis delivers 100 million child-friendly antimalarial treatments to 39 countries

One hundred million treatments of Coartem- Dispersible (artemether-lumefantrine), an antimalarial developed especially for children with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, have been delivered by Novartis to 39 malaria-endemic countries, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced today.

23 Feb 2012

Candida albicans can sense immune status of host cells and evade them

Glen Palmer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Parasitology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, was part of an international research team led by Luigina Romani, MD, at the University of Perugia, that discovered opportunistic fungi like Candida albicans can sense the immune status of host cells and adapt, evading immune system defenses.

23 Feb 2012

International Microbicides Conference to take place from April 15-18

The biennial International Microbicides Conference is the premier gathering for those working on new approaches to HIV prevention and this year's conference in Sydney, Australia will place a strong emphasis on the role of community in both research and implementation of scientific findings. The conference will take place from April 15-18 at the Sydney Exhibition and Conference Centre located on the Darling Harbour waterfront.

23 Feb 2012

First-ever comparative analysis of antimalarial medicines at every step of the parasite's life cycle

MMV and partners have completed the first-ever comparative analysis of all currently available and in-development antimalarials in terms of the steps they target in the parasite's lifecycle. This information provides the missing pieces of the puzzle needed to develop future medicines able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person.

23 Feb 2012

Disease/Infection News

South Sudan hoping NTD initiative will bring relief from high levels of disease, IRIN reports

WHO urging Afghans to vaccinate children for measles following outbreak in western region

Unfolded end of Colicin N protein can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes

Scientists identify promising strategy for HIV vaccine design

Global Fund releases more than $7M to South Africa following request from AIDS organizations

MRSA strain in food animals concerns experts

Burma needs AIDS funds

Sustainable funding needed to reduce Burma's HIV, TB treatment gap

Scientific American examines Gates Foundation toilet-design initiative

USAID releases external evaluation of President's Malaria Initiative

Maintaining differential diagnosis inclusive of infectious etiology may help save children's life

South Korea stepping up fight against TB, CBS News reports

Studies provide global perspective on condom use problems and errors

Scientists employ metagenomics to identify new possible antibiotics against MRSA

Cholera epidemic spreads in DRC; Efforts to combat disease remain underfunded, U.N. reports

Burma unable to expand HIV, TB treatment programs without more donor support, MSF report says

Novartis delivers 100 million child-friendly antimalarial treatments to 39 countries

Candida albicans can sense immune status of host cells and evade them

International Microbicides Conference to take place from April 15-18

First-ever comparative analysis of antimalarial medicines at every step of the parasite's life cycle

Exploring the nanoscale: How AFM is transforming cosmetic science

Innovating Texture and Culture in Plant-Based Foods

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

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