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Spotlight on the NDM-1 “superbug” highlights the long-standing but increasingly alarming situation of antibiotic resistance globally

At the world’s largest conference on infectious diseases – the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) which opens today – a special Symposium on NMD-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) will focus on the implications of the increasing detection of this gene, which makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all known antibiotics. This is part of an alarming trend of antibiotic resistance that threatens to turn back the clock on years of progress following the discovery of antimicrobials, which revolutionised human health globally.

6 May 2011

'Confluence of circumstances' resulted in Haitian cholera outbreak, U.N.-appointed panel says

Haiti's cholera outbreak, which started last October, "was caused by a South Asian strain that contaminated a river where tens of thousands of people wash, bath, drink and play," a report from an independent U.N.-appointed panel said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.

6 May 2011

H. pylori DNA may help treat severe colitis

DNA from Helicobacter pylori, a common stomach bacteria, minimizes the effects of colitis in mice, according to a new study by University of Michigan Medical School scientists.

6 May 2011

Springer author earns ESCMID recognition for work in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases

Dr. Rino Rappuoli has been chosen to receive the 2011 ESCMID Award for Excellence on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

6 May 2011

TB medication variations in private markets could harm treatment efforts, study says

A wide variation in the dosages and forms of medicines prescribed by private physicians to patients with tuberculosis in developing countries could lead to the development of more drug-resistant strains of the bacterial infection, according to a study published online Wednesday in PLoS One, the Financial Times reports.

6 May 2011

Opinions: U.S. support for maternal, child health; infection control at borders; the AMFm model; International Affairs budget; organizations supporting women

When Mother's Day is recognized on Sunday, "let's honor motherhood itself by giving all moms the gift they want most - the chance to deliver and raise healthy children," former Sens. Bill Frist and Jon Corzine, who serve as co-chairs of the Save the Children's Newborn and Child Survival Campaign, write in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

6 May 2011

Ben-Gurion U. researcher receives Gates Foundation grant to develop fast, low-cost malaria device

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher Alberto Bilenca, Ph.D., has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the a fast, low-cost device to accuracy diagnose malaria without the need for blood collection in field settings.

6 May 2011

Neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization associated with protection against SIV infection

Using a monkey model of AIDS, scientists have identified a vaccine-generated immune-system response that correlates with protection against infection by the monkey version of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The researchers found that neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization were associated with protection against SIV infection.

6 May 2011

Study examines community-based HIV testing programs in Africa, Southeast Asia

If you want to improve HIV testing rates in remote rural areas, get the community involved, says UCLA's Thomas Coates, who has directed a new study examining HIV testing programs in communities in Africa and Southeast Asia.

6 May 2011

Researchers solve mysteries of chikungunya's emergence in Asia

What causes a virus to suddenly begin infecting large numbers of people? Scientists have long known that the process they call "viral emergence" involves a wide variety of factors. Some are changes in the environment, either generated by natural causes or human activity. Others are internal, arising from accidental changes - mutations -in the virus' genetic code.

6 May 2011

Furiex Pharmaceuticals to present two JNJ-Q2 antibiotic abstracts at ECCMID/ ICC congress

Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that two abstracts featuring its antibiotic candidate JNJ-Q2 will be presented at the 2011 joint meeting of the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and the International Congress of Chemotherapy.

6 May 2011

Short courses of antibiotics safer for children with respiratory infections on ventilators

Short courses of antibiotics appear just as effective as longer ones - and a great deal safer - in treating respiratory infections that might cause pneumonia in children on temporary breathing devices, according to a Johns Hopkins Children's Center study published online May 3 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

6 May 2011

Quest Diagnostics' Simplexa C. difficile test is now available in Europe

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, today announced the availability in Europe of the Simplexa C. difficile Universal Direct test on the 3M Integrated Cycler.

From Quest Diagnostics 6 May 2011

Hendra virus alert among horse owners

Hendra virus is a bat-borne virus that has killed four of the seven humans who have been infected and caused the deaths more than 40 horses since it was discovered in 1994. Humans contract the disease from horses but there has been neither human-to-human transmission of the disease nor direct transmission from bats to humans report experts. The majority of outbreaks have occurred during June and October, however last year a horse in Tewantin contracted the virus in May.

5 May 2011

Researchers identify key mucus component in human gut that can kill parasitic worms

Scientists have discovered why some people may be protected from harmful parasitic worms naturally while others cannot in what could lead to new therapies for up to one billion people worldwide.

5 May 2011

New test can diagnose deadly human fungal infections

Deadly human fungal infections caused by certain strains of Aspergillus fungi appear to be developing resistance to current drug treatments at an alarming rate, say scientists.

5 May 2011

NBA Cares, SAHM and Tulsa Shock guard partner for teen vaccine awareness campaign

Tulsa Shock guard Andrea Riley and Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier teamed up with NBA Cares and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine today to bring Vaccines for Teens to the Tulsa community.

5 May 2011

UCF to develop safe, inexpensive and effective polio vaccine

An innovative way of making vaccines at the University of Central Florida has attracted the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its potential to make vaccines lessexpensive, more effective and needle free.

5 May 2011

Desmond Tutu calls on youth to lead next generation in HIV/AIDS fight

Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Tuesday at a meeting on Robben Island, South Africa, that "was meant to be a symbolic passing of the torch from an older generation of activists to younger people," called on youth to lead the next generation in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Agence France-Presse reports.

5 May 2011

Study: XMRV retrovirus is not present in chronic fatigue syndrome patients

New findings from University of Utah School of Medicine researchers show that the retrovirus called XMRV is not present in the blood of patients who have chronic fatigue syndrome.

5 May 2011

Disease/Infection News

Spotlight on the NDM-1 “superbug” highlights the long-standing but increasingly alarming situation of antibiotic resistance globally

'Confluence of circumstances' resulted in Haitian cholera outbreak, U.N.-appointed panel says

H. pylori DNA may help treat severe colitis

Springer author earns ESCMID recognition for work in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases

TB medication variations in private markets could harm treatment efforts, study says

Opinions: U.S. support for maternal, child health; infection control at borders; the AMFm model; International Affairs budget; organizations supporting women

Ben-Gurion U. researcher receives Gates Foundation grant to develop fast, low-cost malaria device

Neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization associated with protection against SIV infection

Study examines community-based HIV testing programs in Africa, Southeast Asia

Researchers solve mysteries of chikungunya's emergence in Asia

Furiex Pharmaceuticals to present two JNJ-Q2 antibiotic abstracts at ECCMID/ ICC congress

Short courses of antibiotics safer for children with respiratory infections on ventilators

Quest Diagnostics' Simplexa C. difficile test is now available in Europe

Hendra virus alert among horse owners

Researchers identify key mucus component in human gut that can kill parasitic worms

New test can diagnose deadly human fungal infections

NBA Cares, SAHM and Tulsa Shock guard partner for teen vaccine awareness campaign

UCF to develop safe, inexpensive and effective polio vaccine

Desmond Tutu calls on youth to lead next generation in HIV/AIDS fight

Study: XMRV retrovirus is not present in chronic fatigue syndrome patients

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