Disease/Infection News

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Internet and IT increase physician disease reporting

With emerging diseases like the West Nile Virus, and re-emerging diseases such as the pandemic flu and drug-resistant tuberculosis, it's increasingly important to promptly detect a potential infectious outbreak within a community.

15 Jan 2008

New multi-drug resistant microbe bad news for gay men

Sexually active gay men are many times more likely than others to acquire a new, highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the so-called MRSA bacteria widely know as the "superbug," a UCSF-led study shows.

15 Jan 2008

Columbus brought syphilis to Europe

Did Columbus and his men introduce the syphilis pathogen into Renaissance Europe after contracting it during their voyage to the New World?

15 Jan 2008

Mouse model shows potential efficacy of HIV prevention strategy

A new kind of laboratory mouse can be used to test the efficacy of much-needed methods to prevent transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to research by J. Victor Garcia and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

15 Jan 2008

Anti-retrovirals given daily before and after exposure to HIV prevent vaginal transmission AIDS virus

Prescription drugs now used to treat human immunodeficiency virus infection in adults may prevent the vaginal transmission of HIV, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

15 Jan 2008

MRSA spike among gay men: More effective prevention needed for MRSA, HIV and other STDs

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), today expressed concern over a recent study first reported publicly today in an 'Annals of Internal Medicine' article which found that sexually active gay men in San Francisco were 13 times as likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, than their heterosexual counterparts.

15 Jan 2008

Bird flu death toll in Indonesia reaches 95

The death toll in Indonesia from bird flu has risen to 95 following the death of a woman in West Java.

15 Jan 2008

New superbug puts gay men at risk

New research from the U.S. has found that a potentially deadly bacteria, a type of drug-resistant staph infection, is being transferred between gay men by way of sexual activity.

15 Jan 2008

Top expert says bird flu risk overestimated

According to a top animal health expert the H5N1 bird flu virus has now stabilised but the risk that it could mutate into a new dangerous form remains.

14 Jan 2008

Bird flu strikes again in Bangladesh and India

According to officials in Bangladesh bird flu has killed nearly 500 chickens at a poultry farm in the northeast of the country and as a result another 20,000 chickens have been culled.

14 Jan 2008

Seasonal flu levels trigger use of antiviral drugs

The Health Protection Agency has confirmed that the rate at which influenza viruses are now circulating in England has reached the point which triggers the use of antiviral drugs.

11 Jan 2008

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis - potential clues into the treatment and diagnosis

Studies published in the Jan. 10 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) are providing clues into the treatment and diagnosis of LAM, or lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a progressive and deadly lung disease that affects women in their childbearing years.

11 Jan 2008

The relationship between periodontal disease and systemic health

Physicians and dentists will have a unique opportunity to discuss the link between oral health and overall health at a program on January 18 at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS).

11 Jan 2008

Genomic screen identifies 273 human proteins required for HIV propagation

In some ways, HIV resembles a minimalist painter, using a few basic components to achieve dramatic effects.

11 Jan 2008

Confirmed H5N1 avian influenza in wild swans in Dorset

The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has today confirmed highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza among swans in the Chesil Beach area in Dorset .

11 Jan 2008

AHF to Schwarzenegger: Re-consider proposed budget cuts in AIDS services

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has urged California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to reconsider and reverse $11 million of proposed budget cuts in AIDS services that will reduce and threaten vital lifesaving care and services for Californians living with HIV/AIDS as he seeks to close a $14 billion deficit in the state budget.

11 Jan 2008

Brits get to grips with superbugs

The British government, as part of it's fight against 'superbugs' such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureu (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile, has promised every hospital the funds to recruit four specialist nurses to help curb the infections.

10 Jan 2008