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Travel, hunting, and venison consumption linked to prion diseases

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have examined the potential for human exposure to prion diseases, looking at hunting, venison consumption, and travel to areas in which prion diseases have been reported in animals.

23 May 2011

H. pylori infection could play a role in Parkinson's disease development

The stomach bacteria responsible for ulcers could also play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease according to research presented today at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

23 May 2011

Swimmer’s ear costs millions in healthcare each year: CDC report

Swimmer’s ear (otitis externa) is a common infection that accounts for almost $500 million in U.S. health-care costs each year, according to a new government report. The report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the agency's May 20 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, says this condition results in 2.4 million doctor visits annually in the United States, each visit costing an average of $200.

22 May 2011

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher selected Fellow of the Royal Society

Internationally recognised malaria researcher Professor Alan Cowman from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the UK's peak academy promoting excellence in science.

21 May 2011

Global Fund disbursed record $3B in 2010, faces more than $1B shortfall for 2011-13, report says

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday in Paris released a report noting that while it disbursed a record $3 billion in 2010, the $1.3 billion shortfall if faces for 2011-2013, "threaten[s] goals to roll back diseases that together claim more than four million lives a year," Agence France-Presse reports.

21 May 2011

First nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose early stages of Q fever infections receives FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared the first nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose the early stages of Q fever infections in military personnel serving overseas.

21 May 2011

Kenyan HIV/AIDS advocates ask government to boost health funding

IRIN/PlusNews reports that hundreds of Kenyan HIV/AIDS advocates took to the streets of Nairobi on Wednesday "to demand that the government meet its commitment to increase annual health and HIV funding."

21 May 2011

Edurant receives FDA approval for treatment of HIV-1 infection

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Edurant (rilpivirine) in combination with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who have never taken HIV therapy (treatment-naive).

21 May 2011

WHO member states adopt resolutions on financing, reform and flu pandemic at World Health Assembly

A committee of WHO member governments this week at the World Health Assembly in Geneva "adopted a resolution on the future financing of the organisation and a broad set of reforms, as well as a resolution on the WHO's management of [the H1N1] influenza pandemic showing no evidence of wrongdoing," Intellectual Property Watch reports.

21 May 2011

OPINION: Global health community must recognize merits of HIV treatment as prevention

"Many interesting research questions now lie ahead. But most urgent will be the assessment of the practical impact of these findings and their public health importance in generalised epidemics," according to a Lancet editorial about last week's release of study results showing early HIV treatment dramatically reduces transmission risk.

21 May 2011

Gen-Probe seeks FDA regulatory clearance for PANTHER fully automated and integrated molecular testing system

Gen-Probe Incorporated announced today that the Company has filed a 510(k) application with the US Food and Drug Administration for its PANTHER system, a fully automated and integrated molecular testing system designed with the flexibility to handle a wide range of testing needs.

20 May 2011

Merck's VICTRELIS receives European CHMP positive opinion for treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

Merck, today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion under accelerated assessment recommending approval of the investigational medicine VICTRELIS (boceprevir) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, in adult patients with compensated liver disease who are previously untreated or who have failed previous therapy.

20 May 2011

Indian wild plants offer hope against resistant infections

Cancer treatments often have the side effect of impairing the patient's immune system. This can result in life-threatening secondary infections from bacteria and fungi, especially since bacteria, like Staphylococcus aureus, are becoming multi-drug resistant.

20 May 2011

Monitoring adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols can help stop outbreaks of C. diff bacteria

Just like intelligence agents watching for the real terrorists threatening to attack, monitoring healthcare worker adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols via hand-washing squads in hospitals can go a long way to stop outbreaks of the opportunistic C. diff bacteria, says Irena Kenneley, an infection prevention and control expert and assistant professor of nursing from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

20 May 2011

Dominican Republic health officials raise alerts about possible cholera outbreaks

Health authorities have raised alerts in 17 "mainly poor" neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo after 16 people were hospitalized with suspected cholera, BBC News reports.

20 May 2011

'No magic pill' for HIV prevention

AIDS Healthcare Foundation today released the results of a groundbreaking online survey designed to gain better understanding of community perceptions regarding the possible use of an HIV prevention pill.

20 May 2011

Medivir reports positive results from ASPIRE TMC435 phase 2b study for genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

Medivir AB, the emerging research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, today announced results from the ASPIRE phase 2b study that evaluates the addition of once daily TMC435 to pegylated interferon and ribavirin in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C whose prior treatment with pegylated-interferon (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV) was unsuccessful either because they relapsed, had a partial response or had a null response.

20 May 2011

New York Times examines DDT use in Uganda

"In the Apac region of Uganda, the United States focused on two conflicting agendas: developing organic farming and eradicating malaria, ultimately affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of farmers.

20 May 2011

AIDS mortality in China drops by nearly two thirds since 2002 when country began free treatment program

China's HIV/AIDS-related mortality has dropped from 39.3 per 100 person-years in 2002 to 14.2 in 2009, or 64 percent, since the nation began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2002, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published online Wednesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, the New York Times reports (McNeil, 5/18).

20 May 2011

ViroPharma commences VP 20621 Phase 2 study for prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced initiation of a Phase 2 dose-ranging clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of VP 20621 for prevention of recurrence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in adults previously treated for CDI.

20 May 2011

Disease/Infection News

Travel, hunting, and venison consumption linked to prion diseases

H. pylori infection could play a role in Parkinson's disease development

Swimmer’s ear costs millions in healthcare each year: CDC report

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher selected Fellow of the Royal Society

Global Fund disbursed record $3B in 2010, faces more than $1B shortfall for 2011-13, report says

First nucleic acid amplification test to diagnose early stages of Q fever infections receives FDA approval

Kenyan HIV/AIDS advocates ask government to boost health funding

Edurant receives FDA approval for treatment of HIV-1 infection

WHO member states adopt resolutions on financing, reform and flu pandemic at World Health Assembly

OPINION: Global health community must recognize merits of HIV treatment as prevention

Gen-Probe seeks FDA regulatory clearance for PANTHER fully automated and integrated molecular testing system

Merck's VICTRELIS receives European CHMP positive opinion for treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

Indian wild plants offer hope against resistant infections

Monitoring adherence to mandatory hand-washing protocols can help stop outbreaks of C. diff bacteria

Dominican Republic health officials raise alerts about possible cholera outbreaks

'No magic pill' for HIV prevention

Medivir reports positive results from ASPIRE TMC435 phase 2b study for genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C

New York Times examines DDT use in Uganda

AIDS mortality in China drops by nearly two thirds since 2002 when country began free treatment program

ViroPharma commences VP 20621 Phase 2 study for prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection

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