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BGI releases third version of assembled E. coli O104 genome

Scientists worldwide have been working on the publicly available genomic sequences of the deadly E. coli O104 strain, which is causing the current health crisis in Germany and now spreading throughout Europe. To continue to speed the ongoing international efforts of researchers to assess and halt this growing epidemic, BGI and their collaborators at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf have now released their third version of the assembled genome, which includes new data from this E. coli O104.

8 Jun 2011

NGOs support harm reduction declaration

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, more than 200 international non-governmental organizations have pledged their support for the Beirut Declaration on HIV and Injecting Drug Use.

8 Jun 2011

HP partners with nonprofit to help detect malaria outbreaks, improve health monitoring in Botswana

Hewlett-Packard on Monday announced it will provide "smartphones and cloud computing technology to nonprofit group Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING)" to help improve health monitoring and malaria detection in Botswana, Venture Beat reports.

8 Jun 2011

'Designer' probiotic bacterium neutralises E. coli toxin

A potential life-saving treatment for severe E. coli food poisoning outbreaks - developed more than a decade ago - hasn't gone forward into clinical trials because of lack of commercial interest.

8 Jun 2011

AHF criticizes HHS Secretary announcement on 'expanded' AIDS funds

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today criticized an announcement by Health and Human services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday regarding so-called "expanded" funding for cash-strapped state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs).

8 Jun 2011

International coalition launches common platform to end AIDS epidemic

An international coalition of scientists and activists today launched a common platform for ending the AIDS epidemic. Thirty years into the epidemic, as world leaders come together at the United Nations to recommit to a global AIDS response, the broad-based international coalition issued a statement calling for world leaders to support a rational, evidence-based approach to responding to AIDS.

8 Jun 2011

Hepatitis C patients with chronic liver disease may benefit from drinking coffee during treatment

Advanced hepatitis C patients with chronic liver disease may benefit from drinking coffee during treatment, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

8 Jun 2011

The NY Times: A community hospital closes

A railroad bridge separates Huron Hospital, one of the last remaining institutions in the impoverished neighborhood of East Cleveland, from the city's downtown and its two major hospitals.

8 Jun 2011

FDA accepts Topaz's ivermectin NDA for treatment for head lice infestations

Topaz Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for filing the New Drug Application (NDA) for the use of ivermectin topical cream as a treatment for head lice infestations in children and adults.

7 Jun 2011

Guardian Air REME+ system helps reduce germs, allergens and airborne toxins

Hospitals, nursery schools, and other high-traffic indoor spaces have been acting as quiet proving grounds for an advanced new form of air purification. These are normally the kinds of places where germs, allergens and airborne toxins flourish. That's soon going to be a thing of the past.

7 Jun 2011

NanoViricides' anti-influenza drug development studies to be presented at TechConnect World 2011

NanoViricides, Inc. announced today that it has been invited to present its anti-influenza drug development studies at the TechConnect World 2011 Conferences and Expo.

7 Jun 2011

MMV honors UT Southwestern with Project of the Year for new anti-malarial drug discovery

The discovery of a potential new anti-malarial drug by a UT Southwestern Medical Center-led research team has been awarded Project of the Year by Medicines for Malaria Venture.

7 Jun 2011

Unique clinical trial addresses important questions about treating AIDS-related cancers

As the world marks the 30-year anniversary of the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, now comes the realization of a new challenge for people with the incurable disease. For reasons not yet clear, people with HIV face a higher rate of cancers not usually associated with HIV. This increasing rate of "non-AIDS defining cancers" includes lung, head and neck, liver, kidney, and anal cancers, among others.

7 Jun 2011

Pennsylvania reports first detection of West Nile encephalitis in Greene County

Pennsylvania has reported its earliest detection of a West Nile virus-carrying mosquito since testing began in 2000, the Department of Environmental Protection said today. The first detection of 2011 was a mosquito collection in Morgan Township, Greene County, on May 17.

7 Jun 2011

Sprouts suspected as possible source of German E. coli outbreak

German officials on Sunday said an E. coli strain that has sickened more than 2,000 people and killed 22 may have originated in a batch of sprouts produced at an organic farm in the north of the country, the New York Times reports.

7 Jun 2011

Crucell, GSK and PATH MVI partner to develop second-generation vaccine against malaria

The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) announced today that it has entered into a collaboration with Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell N.V. and GlaxoSmithKline.

7 Jun 2011

Former Malian health minister indicted in case about misuse of global fund donations

Oumar Ibrahim Toure, a former Malian health minister, "has been indicted for his role over the misuse of donor funds to fight malaria and tuberculosis in the poor West African nation, Mali's supreme court said in a statement" on Thursday, Reuters reports.

7 Jun 2011

HIV positive man puts three women at risk

An HIV-positive man, John Choul Chan, 42, of Findon, South Australia, admitted to endangering the lives of three women through unprotected sex.

7 Jun 2011

ITI receives FDA clearance for new Q fever assay kit

This week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the first nucleic acid amplification In vitro diagnostic (IVD) test that detects Coxiella burnetii, the bacteria that causes Q fever.

7 Jun 2011

Focus on getting more people on antiretroviral therapy as AIDS turns 30

Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the first published report of the disease that came to be known as AIDS, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though the "promise" of a vaccine "has not materialized," "[s]ome progress has been made on other fronts," the newspaper writes.

7 Jun 2011