Disease/Infection News

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At the 30 year mark, AIDS epidemic still poses challenges

Thirty years after America started battling HIV/AIDS, deaths linked to the virus have plummeted. New HIV cases are down by three-quarters. Life expectancy has more than tripled. Many HIV-positive people lead active lives, often on a single pill a day. But there's a darker side: More than 1.2 million Americans still are living with HIV/AIDS, and 40,000 new infections and 16,000 deaths are expected this year.

1 Jun 2011

Hospitals facing pressure to hold down costs and cut infections; drug shortages reported

For the first time in its history, Medicare will soon track spending on millions of individual beneficiaries, reward hospitals that hold down costs and penalize those whose patients prove most expensive. The administration plans to establish "Medicare spending per beneficiary" as a new measure of hospital performance, just like the mortality rate for heart attack patients and the infection rate for surgery patients.

1 Jun 2011

New online tool can help detect and monitor dengue outbreaks

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Google.org have found web-based search data to be a viable source of information for early detection and monitoring of outbreaks of dengue, an emerging mosquito-borne virus found in tropical areas of the world.

1 Jun 2011

New York Times examines 30 years of AIDS

The New York Times looks at the evolution of the battle against AIDS since the first federal announcement of the disease 30 years ago this week. "The epidemic has brought a new focus on the power of epidemiology to identify a disease's transmission patterns long before discovery of its cause.

1 Jun 2011

FDA approves APP Pharmaceuticals' Piperacillin and Tazobactam for Injection

APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresenius Kabi Pharmaceuticals Holding, Inc., announced today that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market Piperacillin and Tazobactam for Injection, the number one prescribed intravenous antibiotic in the U.S. APP will launch the product immediately.

1 Jun 2011

Cell phones of hospital patients, visitors likely to contain potentially dangerous bacteria

Cell phones used by patients and their visitors were twice as likely to contain potentially dangerous bacteria as those of healthcare workers, according to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

1 Jun 2011

Emory University launches AIDSVu interactive online map for public

On Wednesday, June 1, the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University will launch AIDSVu, an interactive online map that, 30 years into the epidemic, provides for the most detailed publicly available view of the impact of HIV across the United States by state and county.

1 Jun 2011

Scientists find increases in rain and temperature could signal deadly cholera outbreaks months before they strike

With recent deadly cholera outbreaks in Haiti and Cameroon providing the latest indication of a menacingly resurgent disease, scientists have discovered rain and temperature fluctuations in at-risk areas could predict epidemics months in advance, according to a new study published today in the June 2011 issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

1 Jun 2011

AIDS epidemic turns 30

It is 30 years since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. It was fatal then but has now become a treatable, if still incurable, chronic illness. AIDS therapy now has tools that prolong the lives of people infected with the virus and prevent others from acquiring it. They range from antiretroviral therapy (ART), to circumcision and campaigns to reduce promiscuity. On the horizon are gels and pills that protect against infection during intercourse. Even the outlook for an AIDS vaccine is no longer as bleak as it used to be.

31 May 2011

Moisturisers, hair dyes cause serious adverse effects

Permanent hair dye gives the most serious adverse effects, yet there are also many reactions to facial and body moisturisers. This comes from the first report from the National Register of Adverse Effects from Cosmetic Products published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

31 May 2011

Antimicrobials in plastics

The demand of antimicrobials in the plastic business is growing. SANITIZED AG is following a strategy of direct commercialisation of its products in the Plastic Market. Its clients profit from a short time to market and professional consulting over the whole project process.

31 May 2011

Scientists develop carbohydrate-based vaccine against C. difficile infection

There is now a promising vaccine candidate for combating the pathogen which causes one of the most common and dangerous hospital infections. An international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam has developed a vaccine based on a carbohydrate against the Clostridium difficile bacterium, which is known to cause serious gastrointestinal diseases mainly in hospitals.

31 May 2011

Scientists study key malaria protein structure to demonstrate how cells grow and move

Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have overturned conventional wisdom on how cell movement across all species is controlled, solving the structure of a protein that cuts power to the cell 'motor'. The protein could be a potential drug target for future malaria and anti-cancer treatments.

31 May 2011

CMAJ report outlines challenges, approaches to manage and identify NDM-1 antibiotic resistant enzyme

An enzyme associated with extensive antibiotic resistance called New Delhi metallo---lactamase-1 (NDM-1), endemic in India and Pakistan and spreading worldwide, has been found in two people in the Toronto area, one of whom acquired it in Canada, states a case report in CMAJ.

31 May 2011

Some Veterans' health jeopardized due to poor infection control

Herman Williams came home safely after fighting in the jungles of Vietnam as a Marine. He was shocked to learn four decades later that his military service had again placed him in jeopardy — this time, because he got a tooth pulled. Williams is among 13,000 U.S. veterans who have been warned in the last two years that their blood should be tested for potentially fatal infections after possible exposures by improper hygiene practices at five VA hospitals in Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee.

31 May 2011

Complementary technologies for rapid EHEC identification and detection

With the recent outbreak in Europe of Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), Roche Applied Science and TIB Molbiol are providing scientists with complementary technologies that can be used for the rapid identification and detection of EHEC.

30 May 2011

Optimer receives FDA approval for Dificid tablets to treat C. difficile-associated diarrhea

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Dificid tablets for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea.

30 May 2011

Flu vaccines at the ready this season

Manufacturers of flu vaccines are nearly ready with the new supply of vaccinations for this upcoming flu season in the northern hemisphere. Two weeks ago, five vaccine manufacturers announced plans to make between 166 million and 173 million doses for the coming season. That's at least 6 million more than the maximum ever produced. However they add that many might not actually need the shots.

29 May 2011

The Economist examines lack of attention to Plasmodium vivax malaria parasite

The Economist profiles Plasmodium vivax, a type of malaria that affects between 80 million to 390 million people worldwide annually with a cost to sufferers between $1.4 billion and $4 billion each year.

27 May 2011

U.N., U.S. re-evaluate HIV/AIDS treatment targets

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, scheduled for June 8-10 in New York, "public-health leaders face a paradox: New evidence suggests the epidemic can finally be controlled, but that would demand increased spending at a time of severe global budget restraints," the Wall Street Journal reports.

27 May 2011