Disease/Infection News

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World TB Day coverage: Lesotho, Armenia, drug resistance, HIV coinfection

"To mark World [Tuberculosis] Day on Wednesday, Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] drew attention to Lesotho, which has the world's third-highest prevalence of HIV ... and the fourth-highest prevalence of tuberculosis," the Associated Press reports

26 Mar 2010

Early screening for diabetes and kidney disease can improve health outcomes

Millions of Americans may have chronic kidney disease (CKD) and not know it, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

26 Mar 2010

Positive results from Stage A pivotal study of 2009 A/H1N1 VLP pandemic influenza vaccine

Novavax, Inc. announced today positive results from the entire 1,000 subject Stage A of its two-stage pivotal study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of Novavax's unadjuvanted 2009 A/H1N1 virus-like particle pandemic influenza vaccine.

26 Mar 2010

New research may help advance treatment strategies for common liver disease

A research article published in the journal PloS Pathogens could lead to improvements in the production of vaccines for hepatitis A, the most widespread viral disease in the world.

26 Mar 2010

Novelos Therapeutics commences enrollment in Phase 2 trial of NOV-205 for chronic hepatitis C

Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis, today announced that it has enrolled the first patient in a U.S. Phase 2 trial evaluating NOV-205 as monotherapy in up to 40 chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 patients who previously failed treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin.

26 Mar 2010

Civil society groups urge G8 to follow through with AIDS funding commitments

"Civil society organisations from around the world on Wednesday made a coordinated appeal to the Canadian government to help pressure the Group of Eight (G8) into fulfilling its aid commitments in the fight against AIDS,"

26 Mar 2010

IMDx 2009 Influenza A H1N1 Real-Time RT-PCR Assay granted EUA from FDA

IMDx announced today that its IMDx 2009 Influenza A H1N1 Real-Time RT-PCR Assay has been granted Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

26 Mar 2010

Standard HCV therapy less effective in urban minority patients: Study

A recent study confirms that the standard hepatitis C therapy, pegylated interferon and ribavirin, is significantly less effective in urban minority patients treated in an ordinary clinical practice setting compared with results produced during clinical trials.

26 Mar 2010

Medicare Roundup: Changes from health reform, payments for HIV patients

USA Today: "Perhaps the biggest factor in whether your Medicare costs will rise or fall depends on your Medicare plan. There are two: a traditional Medicare plan run by the federal government and Medicare Advantage, which is run by private insurance companies. Medicare Advantage costs more than the traditional plan, but provides more generous benefits.

26 Mar 2010

Body lice and head lice have same origin

Body lice, which cause highly lethal epidemics (trench fever, typhus and relapsing fever Borrelia), originate from head lice. This has recently been shown by a team from the Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Unit (CNRS/IRD/Université de la Méditerranée), in collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Florida and Illinois (US).

26 Mar 2010

Renowned expert to present latest research on gut microbes at EICC

Trillions and trillions of bacteria live in the human gut. The thought of all these invisible inhabitants inside you might be yucky, but without them we would not be here at all. Which microbes reside in our gut? Are they harmful? Where do they come from? What do they actually do deep in our bowels? Do pre- or pro- biotics affect them?

25 Mar 2010

UCSF Study: HIV prevention services in clinical settings reduces risk behaviors

UCSF researchers have shown that delivering HIV prevention services to people living with HIV in clinical settings can sharply reduce their sexual risk behaviors.

25 Mar 2010

UNAIDS Executive Director calls for 'serious attention to TB' on World TB Day

In a statement marking World Tuberculosis Day, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe "warned Wednesday that double infections of HIV and TB could become the next new epidemic," the Associated Press reports. Sidibe said, "I'm calling for serious attention to TB, and serious attention to TB-HIV co-infection" (Corder, 3/24).

25 Mar 2010

Glaxosmithkline, Pfizer will supply 60M doses of reduced-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing countries over 10 years, GAVI says

The GAVI Alliance on Tuesday formally announced that drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer had signed off on a "10-year deal … to supply 60 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations," Reuters reports.

25 Mar 2010

Circumcision can protect from HIV transmission: Reports from Zimbabwe

Nearly 1.1 million people in Zimbabwe are HIV positive with 40% unaware of their status. 160,000 children are infected with counts rising by 17,000 yearly. Total HIV prevalence rate for Zimbabwe is 13.7%. There are 2,000 HIV related deaths in Zimbabwe every week. 25% of children in Zimbabwe are orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS related deaths according to UN agency reports.

25 Mar 2010

American Lung Association in California supports efforts for quality TB care

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a serious public health threat in the U.S. with nearly 13,000 TB cases reported during 2008.

25 Mar 2010

Religious leaders vow to fight HIV/AIDS stigma, discrimination

A two-day gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, of religious leaders to discuss the role people of faith can play in the fight against HIV/AIDS concluded Tuesday with a pledge to prevent discrimination against those living with the disease, the Associated Press reports

25 Mar 2010

Queensland rains and floods – boon or bane?

Warnings of floods and rains across Queensland have sparked fears related to Ross River fever among health authorities. Ross River fever is caused by a virus carried by a number of mosquito species. It is usually associated with joint pain and swelling that can last for weeks.

25 Mar 2010

Experimental vaccine can help delay IBD and colon cancer

An experimental vaccine against an abnormal protein found in some tumors has the potential to delay the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and in turn prevent progression to colon cancer, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

25 Mar 2010

Swine flu closely related to 1918 Spanish flu pandemic

In research on the swine flu virus it has been seen that the virus may seem new, but it has old relatives. An influenza virus which was pandemic in 1918 is seen to be very closely related, structurally speaking, to the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. This virus has the dubious distinction of having claimed between 40 million to 100 million lives in the flu wave of 1918.

25 Mar 2010