Disease/Infection News

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HIV/AIDS prevalence updates for India and China

According to health officials the number of new HIV/AIDS cases in China is soaring. The rates are especially high among college students and older men. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued figures showing 48,000 new cases in China in 2011, the official Xinhua news agency said.

30 Nov 2011

With HIV and unaware of it: CDC report

Over the years diagnosis with HIV/AIDS has ceased to become a death sentence. However a new Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) report says only one in four Americans with AIDS has the virus under control with adequate medication. Figures also show that about 16,000 people die from the disease annually, and the number of new infections each year in the U.S. has held steady at about 50,000 in recent years.

30 Nov 2011

Political will, strong leadership from U.S. needed to end AIDS epidemic

"This Thursday's commemoration of World AIDS Day marks a potential turning point in the fight against a global epidemic that has yet to be arrested," a Detroit Free Press editorial states.

30 Nov 2011

Global leaders plan next steps at Harvard on World AIDS Day

Thirty years, 30 million deaths and 60 million infections after HIV appeared, medical researchers now have the tools to halt the deadly epidemic. "We have the weapons to win the war against AIDS," says Richard Marlink, M.D., Executive Director of the AIDS Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. "It is time to take what we have learned to turn the epidemic around and end AIDS."

30 Nov 2011

MSF addresses Cameroon cholera epidemic

This post on Medecins Sans Frontiere's (MSF) website describes the humanitarian organization's activities in Cameroon to address a 14-month-long cholera epidemic.

30 Nov 2011

AIDS 2012 conference to be held in Washington

Registration, abstract and programme activity submissions for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), to be held from 22 to 27 July 2012 in Washington, D.C., open December 1 online at www.aids2012.org.

30 Nov 2011

Overview of epidemiological situation with regard to MRSA in Germany

In German hospitals, each year 132 000 patients contract infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). For more than a decade, different countries have reported an increasing incidence of MRSA infections in the general population.

30 Nov 2011

Study examines alternative immunization schedule occurrence rates in Washington State

Seventy-seven percent of Washington state pediatricians report that they are sometimes or frequently asked to provide alternative childhood vaccine schedules for their patients, according to a new study from Seattle Children's Research Institute. Researchers also found that 61 percent of Washington state pediatricians are comfortable using an alternative schedule when asked by a parent.

30 Nov 2011

Global Fund postpones Round 11 grants, approves new strategy and organization plan

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to postpone Round 11 grant approval during a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, that concluded on November 22. According to a press release from the Global Fund, the decision to postpone Round 11 was due to "a revised resource forecast presented to the Board which showed that substantial budget challenges in some donor countries, compounded by low interest rates, have significantly affected the resources available for new grant funding."

30 Nov 2011

DNA gyrase B could rapidly eliminate TB, shorten treatment time

In research at SRI International, scientists evaluating new drug targets against tuberculosis (TB) recently validated the preclinical effectiveness of a target that could rapidly eliminate infections and potentially shorten treatment time. The new drug target is a protein called DNA gyrase B, found in bacteria that cause TB infections.

30 Nov 2011

Experts available to discuss on HIV/AIDS prevention at Penn Nursing

Experts in HIV/AIDS prevention at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing are available to talk with media for stories on World AIDS Day, which is on December 1.

30 Nov 2011

Medizone receives Canadian patent for AsepticSure hospital disinfection product

Medizone International, Inc. reports that the Canadian Patent Office has granted Canadian Patent No 2735739 for processes and systems relating to the platform technology of its revolutionary AsepticSure hospital disinfection product.

30 Nov 2011

Cases of two AIDS patients renew hope of AIDS cure for many scientists, New York Times reports

The New York Times profiles two AIDS patients whose cases "suggest to many scientists that curing AIDS may be achievable," according to the newspaper. "One man, the so-called Berlin patient, apparently has cleared his HIV infection, albeit by arduous bone marrow transplants," and the other, "a 50-year-old man in Trenton, N.J., underwent a far less difficult gene therapy procedure. While he was not cured, his body was able to briefly control the virus after he stopped taking the usual antiviral drugs, something that is highly unusual," the newspaper writes.

29 Nov 2011

Shots reduce risk of chicken pox

Infants below the age of one may be too young to get the chicken pox vaccine but far fewer of them got the itchy rash after the U.S. started routinely vaccinating older children in 1995, according to a new study.

29 Nov 2011

New trends in HIV/AIDS prevalence

According to a latest report released this Monday, Toronto has more HIV and AIDS cases than ever before, with an estimated one in 120 adults in the city now HIV-positive. In all of Ontario, the number of people living with HIV-AIDS grew by 31 per cent between 2003 and 2008 and that number continues to expand.

29 Nov 2011

Enrollment complete in Alnylam's ALN-RSV01 Phase IIb study for RSV infection

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has completed patient enrollment in its Phase IIb study with ALN-RSV01, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection.

29 Nov 2011

Washington must lead search for additional financing, more cost-effective strategies in fight against AIDS

This New York Times editorial responds to the latest UNAIDS report (.pdf), which it says "reveals substantial success by some measures and stagnation by others," writing, "The challenge, in tough times, that must be met is to find enough resources to capitalize on scientific breakthroughs and keep the campaign moving forward."

29 Nov 2011

Testing of vaginal gel for HIV prevention halted after interim results showed no difference from placebo

Researchers involved with a multi-armed clinical trial designed to evaluate different antiretroviral (ARV) interventions for HIV prevention on Friday announced the arm testing a vaginal gel had been stopped because it was not working, the New York Times reports.

29 Nov 2011

Despite limitations of global fund programs, dangers of cutting funding are worse

In this Financial Times opinion piece, journalist Andrew Jack examines how, "[a]fter a period of fast expansion, and strong progress in tackling AIDS, [tuberculosis (TB)] and malaria alike," the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "has become a target in the era of austerity.

29 Nov 2011

Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala make progress against river blindness

Global health consultant Alanna Shaikh writes in this post on the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog about the elimination of river blindness, or onchoceriasis, from Colombia and progress made against the disease in Mexico and Guatemala.

29 Nov 2011