Disease/Infection News

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Dengue seen as potential threat to US public health

A disease most Americans have never heard of could soon become more prevalent if dengue, a flu-like illness that can turn deadly, continues to expand into temperate climates and increase in severity, according to a new commentary by Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and David M. Morens, M.D., Fauci's senior scientific advisor.

9 Jan 2008

Emerging diseases and environmental change

The EDEN Project, which was launched in 2004 on the initiative of CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), IRD ((Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement) and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, to run for five years, associates 49 partners in 24 countries, most of them European.

9 Jan 2008

First medical textbook published that deals with management of HIV/AIDS globally

The Academic Alliance Foundation announces the publishing of Global HIV/AIDS Medicine, the first medical textbook aimed at a comprehensive approach to the management of HIV/AIDS as a global problem.

9 Jan 2008

Potential alternative to the existing smallpox vaccine

University of California, Irvine infectious disease researchers have shown the effectiveness of a potential alternative to the existing smallpox vaccine that can replace the current biodefense stockpile for this lethal virus.

8 Jan 2008

New international health regulations now in force

New International Health Regulations (IHR)-designed to halt the international spread of dangerous diseases and other threats-are now in force, with the chief aim of reducing the time it takes to identify an illness or other public health threat-including chemical and radiological hazards-that could have an international impact, in order to mobilize a more timely and effective response.

7 Jan 2008

New sugary insights into H5N1 avian flu virus

Scientists have identified a key factor that determines the ability of influenza viruses to infect cells of the human upper respiratory tract - a necessary step for sustaining spread between people.

7 Jan 2008

MIT researchers discover key to bird flu in humans

MIT researchers have uncovered a critical difference between flu viruses that infect birds and humans, a discovery that could help scientists monitor the evolution of avian flu strains and aid in the development of vaccines against a deadly flu pandemic.

7 Jan 2008

Bird flu found in children's kindy

Officials in Israel say the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in dead chickens at an animal corner in a kindergarten in Binyamina.

6 Jan 2008

Vietnam's first bird flu outbreak in 2008 kills 350 ducks

In the first outbreak in poultry in Vietnam this year government officials say the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 350 white-winged ducks in the north of the country.

6 Jan 2008

Multiple species of bacteria may cause infectious eye disease trachoma

In a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine, researchers have found that more than one species of bacteria may be causing the infectious eye disease trachoma.

4 Jan 2008

New clues for an effective AIDS vaccine

Two simple changes in its outer envelope protein could render the AIDS virus vulnerable to attack by the immune system, according to research from Kenya and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published in PLoS Medicine.

4 Jan 2008

Urinary tract infections from the catheter - most common hospital-acquired infection

One in four Americans in the hospital right now has a urinary catheter. One percent of them will get a urinary tract infection from that catheter.

4 Jan 2008

Cases of meningitis caused by herpes simplex virus set to rise

Viral meningitis is common, but many cases go unreported, say researchers in this week's BMJ.

4 Jan 2008

Deadly vCJD makes a comeback in Britain

A new report has reignited fears over another possible outbreak of the deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in Britain.

3 Jan 2008

FDA clears first rapid blood test for MRSA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.

3 Jan 2008

Black AIDS Institute releases report on Presidential candidates' HIV/AIDS records

We Demand Accountability: The 2008 Presidential Elections and the Black AIDS Epidemic. The booklet is the latest in a series of reports and news articles, published as a part of the National Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) campaign that will help Black America hold elected officials accountable for ending the Black AIDS epidemic.

3 Jan 2008

BD Diagnostics announces FDA clearance of test to identify superbug

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), has announced that it received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the BD GeneOhm StaphSR assay.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 3 Jan 2008

Preventing transfusion-transmitted infections through improved blood screening methods

The blood transfusion community should consider pathogen inactivation methods as an alternative way to assure the safety and availability of the nation's blood supply, a pathologist wrote in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP).

2 Jan 2008

Four die of bird flu in Egypt in less than a week

The deaths of two women in Egypt from bird flu on Monday has now brought the death toll in the Arab country from the deadly virus to four in less than a week.

2 Jan 2008

U.S. health officials search for air travellers exposed to drug-resistant TB

Health officials in the United States are again trying to track down dozens of airline passengers who may have been inadvertently exposed to tuberculosis (TB).

2 Jan 2008