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New antibiotics to fight MRSA

A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.

28 Jul 2008

Cocktail of drugs extends life of HIV patients

According to Canadian researchers a cocktail which is a combination of HIV drugs can give AIDS patients an average of 13 years additional life.

28 Jul 2008

Genome sequencing study reveals new genetic typhoid fever signatures

For the first time, next-generation DNA sequencing technologies have been turned on typhoid fever - a disease that kills 600,000 people each year. The results will help to improve diagnosis, tracking of disease spread and could help to design new strategies for vaccination.

27 Jul 2008

Researchers disprove long-standing belief about HIV treatment

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have disproved a long-standing clinical belief that the hepatitis C virus slows or stunts the immune system's ability to restore itself after HIV patients are treated with a combination of drugs known as the 'cocktail.'

27 Jul 2008

Congress approves global AIDS bill which will save millions of lives

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) lauded the U.S. House of Representatives for passing legislation (today's House vote to concur on the Senate amended House PEPFAR bill: 303 to 115) re-authorizing PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program.

24 Jul 2008

A dangerous precedent in HIV

Infection with HIV could quadruple in certain populations if people with HIV follow potentially misleading advice contained in a statement from the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS, University of New South Wales (UNSW) research warns.

24 Jul 2008

Life expectancy of HIV patients increases

HIV-infected patients in high income countries are living some 13 years longer thanks to improvements in combination antiretroval therapy (cART), according to new research by the University of Bristol published in a HIV Special Issue of The Lancet today.

24 Jul 2008

CDC to release revised HIV/AIDS estimates in August JAMA

CDC on Tuesday announced that it will release new estimates of annual HIV incidence in the U.S. in the Aug. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Reuters reports.

24 Jul 2008

Sexual taboos hampering HIV/AIDS efforts in Pakistan

Taboos about sex in Pakistan make it difficult to address HIV/AIDS and are hindering efforts to curb the spread of the disease, according to a study published recently in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the New York Times reports.

24 Jul 2008

Australia, Fiji establish coalition to address impact of HIV/AIDS on business

The Fiji Australia Business Council and UNAIDS on Monday agreed to a partnership under which they will develop a business coalition in Fiji to strengthen the private sector's response to HIV/AIDS, the Fiji Times reports (Fiji Times, 7/22).

24 Jul 2008

Washington Post examines HIV/AIDS among Hispanics in U.S.

HIV/AIDS among the Hispanic community in the U.S. is reaching what some public health experts are calling a "simmering public health crisis," the Washington Post reports.

24 Jul 2008

U.S. tightens visas with vaccine requirements

New vaccine requirements will affect anyone who is applying for an immigrant visa for entry into the U.S. and anyone seeking adjustment of status for permanent residence.

23 Jul 2008

Scientists find structure of critical Ebola virus protein

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the structure of a critical protein from the Ebola Virus that allows viral entry in human cells.

23 Jul 2008

Short-film features Oklahoma prison program that teaches women how to prevent HIV

The Tulsa World on Sunday examined a short documentary film about incarcerated women in Oklahoma and a peer education program that teaches them about HIV prevention and other social issues.

23 Jul 2008

Human Rights Watch urges Iran to release or charge two HIV/AIDS advocates

Human Rights Watch on Monday said that Iranian authorities have not disclosed why two physicians known for their work on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment were detained last month or where they are being held, BBC News reports.

23 Jul 2008

Column discusses HIV/AIDS risks for black women

If the popular television series "Sex and the City" "chronicl[ed] the sexually liberated adventures of four black women" instead of white women, "one of the lead characters could credibly have tested positive for" HIV, Johnathon Briggs, director of communications at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, writes in a Chicago Tribune opinion piece.

23 Jul 2008

Antiretroviral treatment programs should take poverty, hunger into account, report says

Programs that provide access to no-cost antiretroviral drugs have had a significant impact on people living with HIV/AIDS, but they also should take into account the effects of poverty and hunger, according to a report recently released by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, PlusNews reports.

23 Jul 2008

Singapore Ministry of Health calls on more physicians to offer anonymous rapid HIV tests

Singapore's Ministry of Health recently called on more private general practitioners in the country to provide anonymous rapid HIV tests, which currently are available only at two clinics, the Straits Times reports.

23 Jul 2008

Disease prevention programs cannot reduce costs in long term, columnist writes

The "formulation" that disease prevention programs can reduce health care costs in the long term "is a pleasant fantasy," syndicated columnist Froma Harrop writes in the Providence Journal.

23 Jul 2008

CDC says screen immigrants for TB before they enter the U.S.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. say immigrants coming into the country from Africa and Southeast Asia should be tested and treated for tuberculosis (TB) before they arrive in order to prevent the importation of the disease.

23 Jul 2008