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Bird flu strikes poultry in Tibet, man dies in Viet Nam

Chinese authorities have confirmed another bird flu outbreak in Tibet this year, the country's second in 2008.

20 Feb 2008

Deadly E. coli bug now threatening communities outside of hospitals

Scientists are warning of the increasing threat from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria.

19 Feb 2008

Winter in China brings another bird flu death

The man, Mr Li was from Jianghua County, Yongzhou City in central Hunan Province, he developed a fever and headache and was hospitalised on January 22nd, but despite treatment his symptoms worsened and he died at 5 p.m. on January 24th after all rescue attempts had failed.

18 Feb 2008

Mathematical approach to tackle dual-resistant hospital infections

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria.

17 Feb 2008

Bush's PEPFAR at risk, says AHF

As President Bush begins a five-country tour of Africa to visit and highlight programs funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the five year-old US global AIDS program which Congress created at his request, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has cautioned the President that his legacy as a leader in the global fight against HIV and AIDS is at risk due to proposed changes in the priorities of PEPFAR that essentially cut the heart out of this lifesaving AIDS care and treatment program. PEPFAR is currently up for reauthorization by Congress.

17 Feb 2008

Another Vietnamese falls victim to bird flu

Vietnamese authorities have confirmed that a man who has died in a Hanoi hospital was infected with the bird flu virus.

14 Feb 2008

Horse breeders call for national vaccine program against horse flu

Immediately following the announcement declaring that New South Wales is now free of equine influenza (EI), breeders have called for the implementation of an industry-wide vaccination program.

13 Feb 2008

Latest bird flu case in Indonesia raises concern

In the latest news on the bird flu front the World Health Organization (WHO) says the daughter of an Indonesian women from West Jakarta who tested positive for bird flu has also contracted the virus.

13 Feb 2008

NSW patients at greater risk of infection by super bugs

A study published late last year on the prevalence of the bug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA which showed that far more MRSA bugs were collected in NSW-ACT hospitals than in other states, has been supported by one of Sydney's most senior surgeons.

13 Feb 2008

Jungle Yellow Fever in south America

Yellow fever is a zoonosis of the tropical regions of South America and Africa, which occurs in two distinct epidemiologic cycles: jungle and urban.

13 Feb 2008

New bluetongue outbreak in the UK

A new case of bluetongue disease has appeared in the UK in the Greater London district of Watford.

11 Feb 2008

New cause identified for necrotic enteritis in chicken

Researchers from Monash University and CSIRO Livestock Industries have demonstrated for the first time that alpha-toxin protein, long thought to be required for necrotic enteritis to develop, is not the main cause of the chicken disease.

8 Feb 2008

Beneficial bacteria found in healthy women provide clues for slowing HIV transmission

Beneficial bacteria found in healthy women help to reduce the amount of vaginal HIV among HIV-infected women and might make it more difficult for the virus to spread, boosting the possibility that "good bacteria" might someday be tapped in the fight against HIV.

8 Feb 2008

Could a simple vitamin A and zinc supplement help protect young children from malaria?

A randomized double blind trial reported in the open access publication, Nutrition Journal, would suggest the answer is yes.

7 Feb 2008

New insights into Legionella pneumophila

A study published online in Genome Research (www.genome.org) describes new insights into Legionella pneumophila, the bacteria responsible for most cases of Legionnaires' disease.

7 Feb 2008

Australian researchers cracking the code of bird flu time bomb

Researchers at Griffith University Institute for Glycomics, Queensland led by Professor Mark von Itzstein have developed a technique to 'crack-the-code' of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.

5 Feb 2008

U.S. efforts to eliminate tuberculosis fall short

The U.S. is likely to fall far short of its benchmark goals toward eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem, according to data from a nationwide survey.

5 Feb 2008

Risk factors for severe RSV infection in immunocompromised children

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators and collaborators have shown how to predict if a child who is infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) while being treated for cancer or another catastrophic disease is at high risk for developing severe infection. The finding will help clinicians improve guidelines for managing these infected children.

4 Feb 2008

Breastfeeding now safer for infants of HIV-infected mothers

An antiretroviral drug already in widespread use in the developing world to prevent the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their newborns during childbirth has also been found to substantially cut the risk of subsequent HIV transmission during breast-feeding.

4 Feb 2008

Researchers examine immune cells where HIV can lie dormant, possible treatments

Researchers have determined how HIV is able to lie dormant in certain immune system cells and prevent the cells from self-destructing, according to a study published Thursday online in the journal Retrovirology, the AP/Google.com reports.

4 Feb 2008