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TFAH applauds overall increase in disease prevention funding, expresses concern over CDC cuts

The Trust for America's Health (TFAH) applauds the President's budget for an overall increase in disease prevention funding, reflecting the new funds provided by the Prevention Fund from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but expresses extreme concerns over the cuts to funding for core programs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and for emergency preparedness.

15 Feb 2011

Green on satellite images warns of hantavirus outbreaks

The risk of deadly hantavirus outbreaks in people can be predicted months ahead of time by using satellite images to monitor surges in vegetation that boost mouse populations, a University of Utah study says. The method also might forecast outbreaks of other rodent-borne illnesses worldwide.

15 Feb 2011

Pneumococcal vaccine officially rolled out in Kenya

"Kenya on Monday became the first African country to introduce a routine vaccine against pneumococcal disease, which claims the lives of more than half a million children under five each year," Deutsche Presse Agentur/The Hindu reports. The GAVI Alliance, which is supporting the vaccine's roll out, "is aiming to introduce the vaccine to 19 developing countries - including Nicaragua, Guyana, Yemen and Sierra Leone - within a year and hopes to reach more than 40 nations by 2015, depending on funding."

15 Feb 2011

AFP/News24 reports on uptick in dengue outbreaks in Latin America

"An outbreak of dengue fever across much of Latin America has killed 31 people since the start of the year and is showing no sign of relenting," Agence France-Presse/News 24 reports in a piece that notes the recent increase in dengue cases in the region over the past few years. Since the start of the year, "nearly 46,600 confirmed or suspected cases have been detected in the region, according to an AFP tally based on official figures," the news service reports.

15 Feb 2011

NIH awards renewal grant to BMC's CARE unit to expand education of physicians-in-training

The Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit in the Section of General Internal Medicine at BMC was recently awarded a $1,886,087 renewal grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand its education of physicians-in-training to become sophisticated implementers of substance use screening, assessment and treatment research.

14 Feb 2011

Contaminated alcohol prep pad may have caused sudden death of two year old

A lawsuit filed in Federal court claims that a contaminated alcohol prep pad manufactured by Triad Group, Inc. caused the sudden death of a two year old boy. The lawsuit claims Bacillus cereus bacteria from a contaminated alcohol prep pad caused a deadly meningitis infection.

14 Feb 2011

Positive results from Glenmark's crofelemer Phase 2 study in acute watery diarrhea

Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pleased to announce the positive results of a successfully completed Phase 2 study of crofelemer for the treatment of hospitalized adult patients with mild to moderate acute watery diarrhea conducted by its partner Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd..

14 Feb 2011

First chromogenic culture medium to simultaneously detect Salmonella and Shigella

Hardy Diagnostics, an ISO certified biomedical firm, is pleased to announce the release of HardyCHROM™ SS, a highly selective chromogenic medium recommended for use as a primary screening medium for the isolation and differentiation of Salmonella and Shigella spp. from stool cultures. These two pathogens can be easily distinguished from non-pathogenic enteric bacteria based on colony color.

14 Feb 2011

Free, confidential home-kit testing for sexually transmitted infections effective with young people

Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins say new research clearly shows that screening teens and young adults for sexually transmitted infections may best be achieved by making free, confidential home-kit testing available over the Internet. From a public health standpoint, the project is a clear winner, the experts say.

14 Feb 2011

Janssen, Medivir collaborate to discover and develop drugs against dengue virus

Medivir AB, the emerging research-based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, announces today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. for the discovery and development of drugs for the prophylaxis and treatment of dengue virus infection.

14 Feb 2011

Advocates call for follow-through on decade-old pledge to remove tariffs on malaria treatments, prophylactics in Africa

"Malaria prevention advocates say many lives can be saved by removing taxes and tariffs from essential commodities used to fight the disease," VOA News reports. A decade ago, African leaders promised to remove tariffs on products used to fight malaria, but only six countries have actually done so, according to the Malaria Taxes and Tariffs Advocacy Project, which held a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

14 Feb 2011

Antimicrobial CPC non alcohol mouth-rinse decreases incidence of preterm birth

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, in San Francisco, researchers will present findings that show that use of non alcohol antibacterial mouth-rinse containing cetylpyridinium chloride decreases the incidence of preterm birth.

14 Feb 2011

Gene-transfer system may control mosquito-borne diseases without pesticides

Scientists have modeled a system that may be used to control mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, without the use of pesticides. In the proposed system, mosquitoes are engineered to carry two genes. The first gene causes males to transmit a toxin to females through their semen. The second gene, when expressed in females, makes them immune to this toxin.

14 Feb 2011

New York Times examines factors contributing to presence of 'exotic' infectious diseases in New York City

"When New York City's health department revealed last weekend that three people had contracted cholera, it was a reminder that the city is not just a world capital of arts, business and the like - but also of exotic diseases," the New York Times writes in an article that explores how diseases from around the world often make their way to the city through its diverse population of travelers.

14 Feb 2011

HIV infection in mothers reduces disease resistance in babies: Study

New research suggests that babies whose mothers have HIV, but are not HIV-infected themselves, are born with lower levels of specific proteins in their blood called antibodies, which fight infection, compared with babies not exposed to HIV.

13 Feb 2011

HIV trials and tribulations

A report published online February 8 in PLoS Medicine shows that mass behaviour changes could be credited with helping to remarkably reduce the number of people infected with HIV in Zimbabwe in recent years. These changes include declines in extramarital, commercial, and casual sexual relations, as well as a decline in multiple partners. These have been triggered by increased awareness of AIDS deaths and fear of infection and to some extent by the country’s economic deterioration.

13 Feb 2011

More people sick with salmonella from custard pastries

According to South Australia Health authorities, 13 more people have fallen ill with salmonella that spread via three types of custard-filled pastries made in Adelaide. This brings the total number of ill people to 74 with 29 admitted to hospital with salmonella typhimurium phage type 9 infection. The custard-filled products from Vili’s and St George Cakes and Gelati were recalled after being associated with the salmonella outbreak.

13 Feb 2011

Silver treated IV connectors may cause potentially deadly infections

Nationally-acclaimed researcher and award-winning author Dr. Cynthia C. Chernecky warned in a speech at the 11th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research that silver treated IV connectors could actually cause potentially deadly infections they were supposed to prevent.

11 Feb 2011

AHRQ: $25.3 billion spent for kidney disease treatment every year

Overall, an average of 3.7 million adults in the United States were treated for kidney disease each year between 2003 and 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Kidney disease can lead to renal failure and may be caused by diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

11 Feb 2011

Protective immunity against HIV can be achieved without presence of virus neutralizing antibodies in the blood

New research shows that protective immunity against HIV can be achieved without the presence of virus neutralizing antibodies in the blood. The study, published by Cell Press in the February issue of the journal Immunity, demonstrates that a vaccine which stimulates production of specific anti-HIV antibodies in the vaginal tissue was sufficient to protect monkeys from exposure to live virus.

11 Feb 2011

Disease/Infection News

TFAH applauds overall increase in disease prevention funding, expresses concern over CDC cuts

Green on satellite images warns of hantavirus outbreaks

Pneumococcal vaccine officially rolled out in Kenya

AFP/News24 reports on uptick in dengue outbreaks in Latin America

NIH awards renewal grant to BMC's CARE unit to expand education of physicians-in-training

Contaminated alcohol prep pad may have caused sudden death of two year old

Positive results from Glenmark's crofelemer Phase 2 study in acute watery diarrhea

First chromogenic culture medium to simultaneously detect Salmonella and Shigella

Free, confidential home-kit testing for sexually transmitted infections effective with young people

Janssen, Medivir collaborate to discover and develop drugs against dengue virus

Advocates call for follow-through on decade-old pledge to remove tariffs on malaria treatments, prophylactics in Africa

Antimicrobial CPC non alcohol mouth-rinse decreases incidence of preterm birth

Gene-transfer system may control mosquito-borne diseases without pesticides

New York Times examines factors contributing to presence of 'exotic' infectious diseases in New York City

HIV infection in mothers reduces disease resistance in babies: Study

HIV trials and tribulations

More people sick with salmonella from custard pastries

Silver treated IV connectors may cause potentially deadly infections

AHRQ: $25.3 billion spent for kidney disease treatment every year

Protective immunity against HIV can be achieved without presence of virus neutralizing antibodies in the blood

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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