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MRSA in the community: A new threat to children's health?

Although hospital superbugs like MRSA - methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus - are now a widespread and recognised problem, new MRSA strains that have emerged and are spreading amongst the wider public in the USA may pose a bigger threat, according to Exeter researchers speaking (Wednesday 28 November 2007) at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference 2007 at the University of Cardiff, UK, which runs from 28-30 November 2007.

27 Nov 2007

Link between tooth infection and hair loss

There is a close relationship between infection outbreaks on teeth and the presence of alopecia areata or localized alopecia, a type of hair loss which has an unknown origin.

27 Nov 2007

Superbug strains have spread to nursing homes and into the community

Hospital superbugs that can break down antibiotics are so widespread throughout Europe that doctors increasingly have to use the few remaining drugs that they reserve for emergencies.

27 Nov 2007

Fast way of spotting multidrug resistant bacteria could help stop outbreaks in hospitals

A type of bacterium widely found on our skin and in the environment has now become a major threat in hospitals where it can cause serious infections, such as pneumonia in severely ill patients.

27 Nov 2007

Health officials should consider mass vaccination in their efforts to control endemic cholera

A vaccine used to protect travelers from cholera, an infection characterized by diarrhea and severe dehydration, could also be used effectively among those living in cholera-prone (endemic) areas, according to a research study by Ira Longini and colleagues published in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

Cholera can be controlled with oral vaccines

Endemic cholera, a potentially fatal diarrheal disease found in the world's most impoverished countries, could be effectively controlled by orally vaccinating half of the affected populations once every two years for only pennies per dose, according to new findings by an international team of researchers led by Ira M. Longini Jr., Ph.D., a biostatistician in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Longini and colleagues will report their findings online Nov. 27 in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

Dirty ambulances may be a culprit in spread of superbugs

The debate in the UK over the spread of so-called superbugs such as MRSA has taken a nasty turn with the national union for ambulance staff saying dirty ambulances are the culprits.

27 Nov 2007

Bird flu in South Korea prompts culling of 17,000 ducks

A bird flu scare in South Korea has prompted Japan to ban all imports of poultry from there.

27 Nov 2007

Surge in HIV/AIDS prompts demand for all Beijing hotels to provide condoms

As a result of a surge in new HIV/AIDS cases in the first 10 months of this year, health authorities in China's capital Beijing have ordered all hotels in the city to provide condoms in every room.

27 Nov 2007

Bill finds another $200m to beat polio

The fight against polio has had an enormous boost by way of a grant of $200m from Bill Gates and Rotary.

27 Nov 2007

HIV/AIDS in Serbia - stigma, loneliness and ostracism

Many people with HIV/AIDS in Serbia and Montenegro experience stigma, loneliness and ostracism, and can find it difficult to secure work and support themselves, according to new research findings.

27 Nov 2007

Do rural and non-rural single, young adults differ in their risk and protective HIV/STD behaviors?

Single young adults living in rural areas are no more inclined to engage in safe sex behaviors than their non-rural peers, according to a new analysis by Indiana University sexual health experts of a nationally representative survey.

27 Nov 2007

Less drugs may be best for treating malaria

The current dosage of drugs used in treating malaria may be helping the parasites become resistant to the drugs faster, without improving the long-term outcome in patients.

27 Nov 2007

Dirty ambulances could help the spread of MRSA

Dirty ambulances could help the spread of MRSA and other superbugs, UNISON warned.

27 Nov 2007

Washington D.C. a hotbed for AIDS

According to a recently released report Washington, D.C. has the highest rate of AIDS in the United States.

27 Nov 2007

Indonesia refuses again to share bird flu samples

The nation's health minister Siti Fadilah Supari says before any bird flu specimens are sent to the WHO, Indonesia needs assurances that poorer nations will have affordable access to any pandemic vaccines developed from the virus and they are not only available to the rich

26 Nov 2007