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Non-communicable disease epidemic a global problem

Later this month the United Nations will convene a high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases. The world's global health news has been so dominated by infectious culprits - HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, influenza - that it's easy to forget just how big a toll conditions like diabetes, cancer and heart and lung disease take say experts.

9 Sep 2011

Pharmacologists study first drug-resistant strain of pneumonia to enter Texas

A team of researchers from the University of Houston (UH) and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) are working to develop improved screening methods to detect a potentially lethal, drug-resistant superbug that has made its way to Texas.

9 Sep 2011

U.N. member states must face health, economic impacts of NCDs

In this Huffington Post opinion piece outlining many facts and statistics surrounding non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide, Susan Blumenthal, public health editor of the Huffington Post and former assistant surgeon general, along with Katherine Warren and Lauren Macherelli, who previously worked at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, where Blumenthal is director of the health and medicine program, write, "The world is at a crossroads when it comes to the chronic disease epidemic and its enormous health and economic impacts."

9 Sep 2011

Rich countries watering down NCD commitments to appease multinational companies

Professor and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Australia, examines how "rich countries, ... particularly the U.S. and European Union but also Australia, Canada and New Zealand, ... are joining forces with tobacco, food, alcohol and pharmaceutical corporations to water down commitments that might flow from" this month's U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York.

9 Sep 2011

Zimmer supports GEANCO's orthopaedic mission to Nigeria

The GEANCO Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare delivery for the people of Nigeria, is organizing a medical mission for two surgeons and fifteen support team members to travel to the West African country to provide orthopaedic treatment to patients suffering from disabling joint diseases.

9 Sep 2011

Einstein led consortium to spearhead Central Africa International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS

In 2004, the global community acted in earnest to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. As a result, millions of Africans are now receiving the same advanced antiretroviral therapy (ART) that has long been available in the developed world. While research shows that AIDS death rates in Africa have stabilized, little is known about the actual deployment and circumstances of treatment.

9 Sep 2011

Global Fund facility offering subsidized malaria drugs 'could do more harm than good'

In this article in The American, a journal of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Roger Bate, the Legatum Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Richard Tren, director of Africa Fighting Malaria, write that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria "launched a $225 million facility that offers subsidized malaria drugs ...

9 Sep 2011

Cholera epidemics spread through West and Central Africa affecting tens of thousands, OCHA reports

"Cholera epidemics have hit tens of thousands of people and killed more than 1,400 others in seven West and Central African countries since the start of the year, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report on Tuesday," AlertNet reports.

9 Sep 2011

Study identifies genes never before linked to antibiotic resistance in enterococci

An analysis of the genome of a superbug has yielded crucial, novel information that could aid efforts to counteract the bacterium's resistance to an antibiotic of last resort.

9 Sep 2011

Fewer doses of Cervarix vaccine may be as efficacious as standard three-dose regimen

Fewer than three doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix may be just as effective as the standard three-dose regimen when it comes to preventive measures against cervical cancer, according to a new study published September 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

9 Sep 2011

Elusys receives federal contract to develop prophylactic treatment against anthrax

Elusys Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing biodefense countermeasures, announced today that it has been awarded the first U.S. Government contract to develop an anti-toxin for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) use via intramuscular injection.

9 Sep 2011

Ridding homes, offices of mold and dampness can help reduce respiratory infections

A new evidence review finds that ridding homes and offices of mold and dampness can help reduce respiratory infections and troubling symptoms for asthma sufferers across the globe; however, the best way to eliminate the mold remains unclear.

9 Sep 2011

Transitioning lead responsibilities from U.S. to South Africa in the countries' partnership against HIV/AIDS

In this Center for Strategic & International Studies "Smart Global Health" blog post, J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of CSIS and director of the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS, outlines "five key steps that the U.S. can take, in close partnership with South Africa, to reduce risks and raise the prospects of success" as the countries undergo a transition in lead responsibilities from the U.S. to South Africa in their partnership against HIV/AIDS in South Africa, a transition that Morrison writes is "highly fraught with risks."

9 Sep 2011

HJF selects three promising USU doctoral students to receive 2011-12 fellowships

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. has selected three promising Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) doctoral students to receive fellowships for the 2011-12 academic year.

9 Sep 2011

Positive results from Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine initial Phase 1 trial on malaria

Positive results from the initial Phase 1 clinical trial in 80 healthy volunteers and complementary pre-clinical studies of the Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine are published today in the online issue of Science.

9 Sep 2011

Human Rights Watch report says foreign aid indirectly supporting forced labor in Vietnam's drug rehabilitation centers

In a report released Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch "accused the United States government, the World Bank and other international donors of indirectly funding forced labor in Vietnam's drug rehabilitation centers," Inter Press Service reports.

9 Sep 2011

Nexera to submit amended claims for FDA 510(k) clearance of SpectraShield 9500 Surgical N95 Respirator

Nexera Medical, Inc., today announced plans to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended antimicrobial claims for its current 510(k) clearance for the SpectraShield 9500 Surgical N95 Respirator with embedded antimicrobial technology. The expanded antimicrobial claims will be supported by test data on the inactivation performance of certain strains of viruses.

8 Sep 2011

HRSA announces $5.1M in awards as part of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) today announced awards of $5.1 million to provide training and technical assistance (TA) as part of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which provides HIV-related services in the United States for those who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources for coping with HIV disease.

8 Sep 2011

TB vaccine candidate shows early potential in mice

Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Colorado State University report in the September 4 issue of Nature Medicine that "[a] potential vaccine against tuberculosis [TB] has been found to completely eliminate tuberculosis bacteria from infected tissues in some mice," according to a HHMI press release.

8 Sep 2011

Study: Almost one third of students in Uganda have been subject to sexual coercion

Almost one third of students at a university in Uganda say that they have been subject to sexual coercion, an experience which was often linked to risky sexual behaviour. This is shown in a study from Lund University in Sweden.

8 Sep 2011

Disease/Infection News

Non-communicable disease epidemic a global problem

Pharmacologists study first drug-resistant strain of pneumonia to enter Texas

U.N. member states must face health, economic impacts of NCDs

Rich countries watering down NCD commitments to appease multinational companies

Zimmer supports GEANCO's orthopaedic mission to Nigeria

Einstein led consortium to spearhead Central Africa International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS

Global Fund facility offering subsidized malaria drugs 'could do more harm than good'

Cholera epidemics spread through West and Central Africa affecting tens of thousands, OCHA reports

Study identifies genes never before linked to antibiotic resistance in enterococci

Fewer doses of Cervarix vaccine may be as efficacious as standard three-dose regimen

Elusys receives federal contract to develop prophylactic treatment against anthrax

Ridding homes, offices of mold and dampness can help reduce respiratory infections

Transitioning lead responsibilities from U.S. to South Africa in the countries' partnership against HIV/AIDS

HJF selects three promising USU doctoral students to receive 2011-12 fellowships

Positive results from Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccine initial Phase 1 trial on malaria

Human Rights Watch report says foreign aid indirectly supporting forced labor in Vietnam's drug rehabilitation centers

Nexera to submit amended claims for FDA 510(k) clearance of SpectraShield 9500 Surgical N95 Respirator

HRSA announces $5.1M in awards as part of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

TB vaccine candidate shows early potential in mice

Study: Almost one third of students in Uganda have been subject to sexual coercion

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