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LE strips can rapidly diagnose periprosthetic joint infection

Rothman Institute at Jefferson joint researchers continue to seek better ways to diagnose and subsequently treat periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in patients following total joint arthroplasty. Their latest research shows leukocyte esterase reagent (LE) strips, common in diagnosing urinary tract infections, can also have a role in rapid diagnosis of PJI.

7 Feb 2012

Closing the 'cancer divide' between developing and developed countries

Noting "there is a huge 'cancer divide' between rich and poor," with more than half of new cancer cases and almost two-thirds of all cancer deaths occurring in developing countries, this year's World Cancer Day theme, "Together It Is Possible," "calls on all individuals, organizations and governments to do their part to reduce premature deaths from cancers by 25 percent by 2025," Felicia Knaul, secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, and Jonathan Quick, president of Management Sciences for Health, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

7 Feb 2012

WHO disputes study's claims that global malaria deaths are double current estimates

The WHO has disputed a study published last week in the Lancet "that claims nearly twice as many people are dying of malaria than current estimates," VOA News reports.

7 Feb 2012

Supporting scientific evidence under PEPFAR to end AIDS

On Wednesday, several HIV experts spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing "supporting the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program's reliance on scientific evidence to drive its work to end AIDS," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

7 Feb 2012

Dispute over malaria figures highlights lack of certainty in data in age of 'information overload'

In this post in TIME World's "Global Spin" blog, TIME's Africa bureau chief Alex Perry examines questions surrounding an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) study published in the Lancet on Friday that suggests "malaria kills almost twice as many people a year as previously believed."

7 Feb 2012

Economic transformation in Latin America an opportunity to improve NTD strategies, DNDi regional director says

"The rise of emerging economies in Latin America is an opportunity to improve strategies for fighting neglected illnesses and increase the region's contribution to the global struggle against them, says" Eric Stobbaerts, the Latin America director of the independent Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Inter Press Service reports.

7 Feb 2012

Closing elementary and secondary schools can help slow pH1N1 transmission

Closing elementary and secondary schools can help slow the spread of infectious disease and should be considered as a control measure during pandemic outbreaks, according to a McMaster University led study.

7 Feb 2012

Whole-genome sequencing helps trace the path of European E. coli outbreak

Using whole-genome sequencing, a team led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Broad Institute has traced the path of the E. coli outbreak that sickened thousands and killed over 50 people in Germany in summer 2011 and also caused a smaller outbreak in France.

7 Feb 2012

Positive data from Chimerix CMX001 Phase 2 study on CMV disease

Chimerix, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel antiviral therapeutics, today announced positive results from CMX001 Study 201, a Phase 2 study evaluating CMX001 for the prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT) recipients.

6 Feb 2012

Asian bird flu update for Ferbruary 2012

Health workers in Nepal are to cull thousands of chickens following the discovery of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the southeastern part of the Himalayan country.

6 Feb 2012

Panel discussion shows heated controversy over H5N1 research

"The controversy over research about potentially dangerous H5N1 viruses heated up [Thursday night] in a New York City debate that featured some of the leading voices exchanging blunt comments on the alleged risks and benefits of publishing or withholding the full details of the studies," CIDRAP News reports.

6 Feb 2012

GSK voluntarily pauses enrollment in GSK2251052 clinical trials for cUTI

Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced today that its partner GlaxoSmithKline has voluntarily paused enrollment in its current clinical trials of GSK2251052 due to a recently identified microbiological finding in a small number of patients in the Phase 2b trial of GSK '052 for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI).

6 Feb 2012

BioLineRx, Genoscience and RFS Pharma enter agreement for BL-8030 Hepatitis C treatment

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced today it has signed a worldwide, exclusive license agreement with Genoscience and RFS Pharma to develop and commercialize BL-8030, an orally available treatment for Hepatitis C.

6 Feb 2012

Business Group urges flu shot requirements for hospital workers

The National Business Group On Health is advocating this position as a way to reduce flu risk for health care workers and patients.

6 Feb 2012

CD74 molecule plays a guiding role in immune responses against diseases

University of British Columbia researchers have discovered the molecular pathway that enables receptors inside immune cells to find, and flag, fragments of pathogens trying to invade a host.

6 Feb 2012

Analysis looks at cost effectiveness of simultaneously confronting several diseases

The great paradox of global health efforts is that regions of the world most plagued by poverty, poor infrastructure and rampant disease are often the most difficult to support. Now, scientists have demonstrated that confronting several diseases at once can make the most of thinly-stretched donor dollars and national health care budgets, to help to save lives.

4 Feb 2012

Global malaria deaths twice as high as previously estimated, IHME study suggests

"Malaria is killing more people worldwide than previously thought, but the number of deaths has fallen rapidly as efforts to combat the disease have ramped up, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington" published in the Lancet on Thursday, an IHME press release reports.

4 Feb 2012

WHO finds very high levels of drug-resistant TB in Russia, Moldova

"[T]he highest levels ever of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been found in Russia and Moldova," the WHO reports in research published in the February edition of the WHO Bulletin, but "the agency didn't have data from most of Africa and India, where tuberculosis rates are much higher," the Associated Press/USA Today's "Your Life" reports.

4 Feb 2012

African scientists' search for female-controlled microbicide gel to prevent HIV continues

AllAfrica.com examines efforts by African researchers to develop a female-controlled HIV prevention method, writing, "Scientists searching for a gel or vaccine that can prevent HIV infection ride a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment." The article profiles efforts by researchers from the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) to find a microbicide gel to protect women from HIV infection.

4 Feb 2012

DRC facing decline in donor funding, HIV treatment shortage

"The lives of thousands of HIV-positive people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are at risk as the country faces declining donor funding and a severe shortage of HIV treatment, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)," PlusNews reports.

4 Feb 2012