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India sees increase in malaria deaths despite global decline reported by WHO

While the number of malaria deaths has fallen by one-fifth over the past decade globally, according to a report released by Roll Back Malaria on Monday, "India is still recording high numbers of deaths, which some experts say are underestimated," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Sep 2011

HHS' BARDA contract advances development of novel anthrax vaccine, antitoxin

The advanced development of a novel next-generation anthrax vaccine and a new type of anthrax antitoxin have received support through new contracts funded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

16 Sep 2011

Researchers develop polymers that fluoresce in the presence of bacteria

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have developed polymers that fluoresce in the presence of bacteria, paving the way for the rapid detection and assessment of wound infection using ultra-violet light.

16 Sep 2011

PEPFAR shows how working across 'political spectrum' can prove successful

"Thirty years since the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in the United States, the world finds itself at a tipping point in the fight against this deadly disease," U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby and George W. Bush Inaugural Global Health Fellow Ambassador Mark Dybul, who served as global AIDS coordinator from 2006 to 2009, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

16 Sep 2011

Report urges integrated aid approach to tackle poverty, disease

Action Against Hunger, Action for Global Health, End Water Poverty, PATH, Tearfund and WaterAid on Wednesday released a report that "provides clear and compelling evidence that a new combined approach to tackling poverty and disease that brings together work on water and sanitation, health, education and nutrition achieves better results for the world's poorest," according to a joint press release.

16 Sep 2011

PEPFAR announces $45M, four-year initiative to study combination HIV prevention

PEPFAR on Wednesday "announced awards for a new initiative totaling $45 million over four years to examine the effectiveness of combination approaches to HIV prevention. These evaluations of combination prevention will be the largest and most robust to date. Data gathered will help partner countries to strengthen their efforts to prevent new infections and save lives," according to a State Department press release.

16 Sep 2011

New report finds improvements in hospital performance

Meanwhile, Reuters reports on the quality of weekend care at stroke centers and nursing homes are trying to reduce their use of powerful antipsychotic drugs for patients with dementia.

16 Sep 2011

New paper describes unique process that is central to induction of MSRA antibiotic resistance

A new paper by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers that included Shahriar Mobashery, Jeffrey Peng, Brian Baker and their researchers Oleg Borbulevych, Malika Kumararasiri, Brian Wilson, Leticia Llarrull, Mijoon Lee, Dusan Hesek and Qicun Shi describes a unique process that is central to induction of antibiotic resistance in the problematic bacterium methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

16 Sep 2011

U.S. HIV/AIDS policy and funding should be guided by science, policy statement recommends

The IDSA Center for Global Health Policy and the HIV Medicine Association recently released a policy statement responding to the results of the HPTN 052 study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, which found that people with HIV who received immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) were more than 96 percent less likely to sexually transmit the infection to their uninfected partners.

16 Sep 2011

Teva to invest in CDI for development of novel antiviral drugs

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that it has signed a collaboration option to license and share purchase agreements to invest in Cocrystal Discovery Inc. (CDI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of serious and chronic viral diseases.

16 Sep 2011

$Bachmann, Perry embroiled in HPV fracas$

Bachmann, Perry embroiled in HPV fracas

Since Monday night's GOP primary debate, the two presidential hopefuls continue to be the targets of discussion and coverage regarding both the style and substance of the HPV vaccine issue.

16 Sep 2011

Shorter treatment with telaprevir-based combination regimen may benefit hepatitis C patients

Treatment with a telaprevir-based combination regimen for hepatitis C - heretofore a chronic, destructive and difficult to manage disease - effectively can be shortened to six months in about two-thirds of patients, finds a new study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

16 Sep 2011

Experimental malaria vaccine shows positive results among children in small Burkina Faso study

"An experimental malaria vaccine tested on children in Burkina Faso has shown 'a high level of efficacy' in protecting against the disease, a study published in" Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine said, according to Agence France-Presse.

16 Sep 2011

Burundi becomes 10th African country to protect children from pneumonia through immunisation

The Republic of Burundi will next week accelerate its fight against pneumonia, the world’s biggest killer of children under five, when it becomes the tenth African country to introduce new pneumococcal vaccines.

16 Sep 2011

Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification test for human African trypanosomiasis

The Geneva-based not-for-profit foundation FIND and Japanese diagnostics company Eiken announced today that a next-generation molecular test designed specifically for sleeping sickness - a deadly parasitic disease also known as human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) - is ready to enter accelerated field trials in sites across the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

16 Sep 2011

Longer looks: Fighting antibiotic resistance; a health care arms race video; the HVP debate

We won't stop the rising tide of infections until we develop a new business model to fight them. We are not quite on the brink of some dystopian Victorian future. But every year, the prognosis for infectious-disease patients gets a bit grimmer. … And more-powerful drugs tend to cost more than the old drugs. … Even in the rich world, death from infection still looms; MRSA alone kills thousands every year. And firms are not developing antibiotics as fast as they used to.

16 Sep 2011

Probiotics appear to protect against upper respiratory tract infections

Taking probiotics seems to provide both children and adults with a mild degree of protection against many upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) including the common cold, according to a new systematic review. People who consume probiotics are also less likely to end up taking antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection, the review found.

16 Sep 2011

Azithromycin gel may treat borreliosis in humans

Blood-sucking ticks are not just a nuisance, they can also transmit dangerous diseases. One of them is Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria of the genus Borrelia, and requires a course of treatment with antibiotics lasting several weeks. LMU researchers have come up with a quicker alternative.

16 Sep 2011

Plans to tackle drug resistant tuberculosis

A plan has been drawn up to tackle the increasing numbers of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases in 53 European countries. Calling the situation alarming, the World Health Organization reports that Eastern Europe has the highest level of infection, while in Western Europe, London has the highest TB rate of any capital city. Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan are among the countries with the highest burden of illness. There are an estimated there 81,000 cases of drug-resistant TB a year in Europe. And this is an underestimation say experts.

15 Sep 2011

Listeriosis outbreak sparks unofficial cantaloupe recall

At present the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine the source of contaminated cantaloupe blamed for the nationwide Listeriosis outbreak. Several Colorado grocery stores have removed cantaloupe from shelves, though there has been no official recall.

15 Sep 2011