Disease/Infection News

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Could HIV-infected organs save 'lives?

Johns Hopkins researchers argue for reversing ban on transplanting infected organs and making them available to HIV-infected patients

30 Mar 2011

Pharmasset commences PSI-7977 Phase 2b study against HCV

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today that screening has begun in a Phase 2b study of PSI-7977, a nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.

30 Mar 2011

Los Alamos National Lab, Biomagnetics to develop and commercialize IOBS system

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria detection, and other innovative technologies, today announced further details in next steps to be taken toward full commercialization of the Company's flagship Integrated Optical Biosensor diagnostic system.

30 Mar 2011

WHO Director-General responds to draft report on agency's handling of H1N1 pandemic

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan on Monday responded to the first results of a probe into the agency's response to the H1N1 pandemic, Agence France-Presse reports.

30 Mar 2011

Insect Shield Repellent Apparel can protect against tick bites

A pilot study shows clothes treated with long-lasting insect repellant appear to offer outdoor workers significant protection against tick bites.

30 Mar 2011

Positive preliminary results from Presidio's PPI-461 Phase 1b trial against HCV

Presidio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today positive preliminary results from a Phase 1b clinical trial of PPI-461, a novel HCV NS5A inhibitor for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C.

30 Mar 2011

Mary Ann Liebert to launch new 'Shingles and PHN' open access journal

Shingles and PHN, a new, bimonthly open access peer-reviewed journal, will be launched in fall 2011 by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

30 Mar 2011

LSTM launches collaborative project to develop, evaluate new tools for malaria control

LSTM has launched a collaborative project to develop and evaluate new tools to control the spread of malaria in Africa. AvecNet is a five year, -12 million project involving sixteen partners in Africa and Europe, funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework programme.

30 Mar 2011

Welsh CJD alert after two years of exposure

Thirty-eight people have been told they may have been put at risk of contracting the fatal brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) following surgery. All the patients were operated on between 2007 and 2009 at either Swansea's Morriston or Singleton hospital, Neath Port Talbot or Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.

29 Mar 2011

Scientist develops new model to understand peoples' behaviors during flu outbreaks

When influenza pandemics arrive, the specter of disease spread through person-to-person contact can mean that schools close, hand sanitizer sales rise, and travellers stay home. But is severing social and business interactions with our neighbors really better than taking a chance on getting sick?

29 Mar 2011

Reports of H1N1 outbreaks in Venezuela, Mexico prompt quick preventive action by health authorities

Health officials in Venezuela announced on Friday the number of confirmed H1N1 cases in the country has grown to more than 200, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

29 Mar 2011

SRI International, CDD receive NIAID grant to develop TB information repository

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, and Collaborative Drug Discovery, provider of a web-based drug discovery software platform, announced that they have been awarded a grant to support the first year of a software development project focused on tuberculosis drug discovery efforts.

29 Mar 2011

FDA clears new BD ProbeTec Qx Amplified DNA Assays to detect HSV 1 and 2

Clinicians now have a new tool to help diagnose symptomatic patients with Herpes Simplex Viruses -- one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the world.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 29 Mar 2011

Chembio develops DPP assay for rapid detection of HIV and HEP B/C

A kidney recipient in a New York City hospital recently contracted HIV from the transplanted organ, which came from a living donor, according to the New York State Department of Health. Although an initial screening had been performed on the donor, he or she apparently had unsafe sex after the test but before donating the kidney.

28 Mar 2011

Financial Times examines rise in public, private sector global partnerships for aid delivery

"New models of financing and delivering development programmes are bringing far-reaching changes to the international public sector," with " traditional government-to-government transactions … giving way to complex networks of partners - some of them from the private sector - to provide everything from antiretroviral drugs and girls' education to emergency food supplies," the Financial Times reports in a piece that explores why such changes are taking place and their implications for future funding.

28 Mar 2011

Gates discusses foundation's global health priorities in India during visit to country

During a visit to the Indian state of Bihar, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Thursday discussed his foundation's work in India and global health priorities, ANI/Sify News reports.

28 Mar 2011

GCRI, Max Planck Florida Institute to host discussion on TB at German House New York

The German Center for Research and Innovation, in cooperation with the Max Planck Florida Institute, will host a discussion on the treatments and challenges of tuberculosis on Thursday, March 31, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The event will take place at the German House New York.

28 Mar 2011

U.S. TB cases reach all-time low, but eradication target missed, CDC says

"The number of tuberculosis cases in the United States reached an all-time low last year, with only 11,181 cases reported to public health authorities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog reports.

28 Mar 2011

Scientists receive AACR Team Science Award for HPV research

The Fifth Annual AACR Team Science Award will be given to a team of internationally renowned molecular biologists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians and clinicians from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington who have worked together on human papillomavirus for more than 20 years.

28 Mar 2011

Mexico on swine flu alert again

After four new deaths from swine flu (H1N1), authorities in Mexico's Chihuahua state along the U.S. border announced preventive health measures Sunday to staunch a return of an H1N1 epidemic.

27 Mar 2011