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New study focuses on Anopheles gambiae to prevent spread of malaria

A female mosquito cannot tell if the male that she has mated with is fertile or 'spermless' and unable to fertilise her eggs, according to a new study from scientists at Imperial College London.

9 Aug 2011

Novel link between two receptors mediates fungal recognition in macrophages

Whitehead Institute researchers have uncovered a novel association between two fungal recognition receptors on the surface of certain immune cells, called macrophages.

9 Aug 2011

Lentiviral vector can kill HIV-infected cells

In what represents an important step toward curing HIV, a USC scientist has created a virus that hunts down HIV-infected cells.

9 Aug 2011

Genetically altered spermless ‘mozzies’ to combat malaria

In a fresh new attempt to combat malaria, researchers have developed another way to reduce the numbers of the malaria-spreading blood-suckers: introduce genetically altered spermless males into the population.

8 Aug 2011

NIH awards Jefferson $4.8M grant to study vaccine to clear rabies virus from central nervous system

Thomas Jefferson University received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) $4.8 million grant to test a new rabies vaccine with the potential to cure the virus infection, even after it has made its way into a person's central nervous system (CNS). Today, if an unvaccinated person is infected with rabies and it spreads to the brain, there is little chance for survival.

8 Aug 2011

Leprosy spreading in India, WHO official warns

"Six years after leprosy was declared officially eliminated in India, officials and doctors are warning that the disfiguring disease is spreading in poverty-stricken pockets of the country," Agence France-Presse reports.

8 Aug 2011

Economic slowdown should not hamper global fund donations

With the new knowledge that providing antiretroviral treatment to people living with HIV would "contribut[e] to a sharp slowdown in the spread of the virus," "scaling up treatment now may prove to be the least expensive option if we want to bring this deadly pandemic, which still infects 1.8 million people every year, under control," Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

6 Aug 2011

Researchers discover lack of oxygen in the lungs after mold invasion

Researchers led by Montana State University have found a surprising condition that occurs in the lungs after an invasion of a common mold that can cause deadly infections in humans.

6 Aug 2011

Lancet reports on Global Fund donors that have held back contributions

Several donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "continue to hold back their contributions for this year … adding up to more than $500 million that the Global Fund had been counting on for this year out of a total budget of about $3 billion," the Lancet reports.

6 Aug 2011

New analytical method can develop specific drugs against parasites, bacteria

A team led by Professor Malcolm McConville from the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne developed a new analytical method which can be used for many infectious parasites and bacteria.

6 Aug 2011

U.S. should demand human rights-based approach to HIV prevention programs in Uganda

"Uganda has sometimes been considered a success story in fighting HIV and has been a darling of international donors," including the U.S., which has poured over $1 billion into the country for AIDS programs.

6 Aug 2011

AHRQ: Arizona and Maryland see great drop in hospital deaths from pneumonia

Deaths of Americans age 18 and over hospitalized for pneumonia plummeted by 45 percent between 2000 and 2007 regardless of who paid for their care, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

6 Aug 2011

Scientists identify small molecule inhibitors of cellular uptake

Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence led by biochemist Volker Haucke in collaboration with colleagues from Australia and the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin have developed small molecules that inhibit the internalization of important signaling molecules but also of pathogenic organisms such as the immunodeficiency virus and bacteria into cells.

5 Aug 2011

Triple threat of catching three varieties of flu in one season

Each year, 200,000 Americans are hospitalized due to flu-related complications. That number can rise or fall - often dramatically - based on the effectiveness of the selected flu vaccine, said Dr. Jorge Parada, director of infection prevention and control at Loyola University Health System.

5 Aug 2011

More than 120 hospitals have high death rates for heart failure or pneumonia: USA TODAY

A USA TODAY analysis of more than 4,600 U.S. hospitals has found that 120 of those most highly rated by patients have higher than average death rates for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia. More than a dozen of these hospitals have high death rates for at least two of those conditions.

5 Aug 2011

New HIV numbers stable at 50,000 per year, down from 130,000 in the mid-1980s

According to government figures released Wednesday, the number of Americans newly infected with the AIDS virus each year has been holding steady at about 50,000. But a U.S. health official said just keeping the number stable was unacceptable, noting a dramatic increase in new HIV cases among young gay and bisexual black men.

5 Aug 2011

Hand hygiene knowledge reduces risk of infection in elementary schools, HCW

Increased hand hygiene knowledge positively correlates with a decreased risk of transmitting infection among both healthcare workers (HCW) and elementary school children, according to two studies published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

5 Aug 2011

Akonni to develop closed amplicon RT-PCR microarray for virus detection in CSF

Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company that develops novel nucleic acid extraction and microarray-based testing systems designed to rapidly and economically analyze biological samples, today announced receipt of a $300K grant from the National Institutes of Health.

5 Aug 2011

News media registration now open for ASM annual infectious diseases meeting

News media registration for the annual infectious diseases meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) is now open.

5 Aug 2011

Lantibiotic could prevent harmful bacteria in foods

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered and received a patent for a naturally occurring lantibiotic - a peptide produced by a harmless bacteria - that could be added to food to kill harmful bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and listeria.

5 Aug 2011