Disease/Infection News

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Discovery of mechanism in malaria parasite that helps it adapt to infected individuals

Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the most severe forms of human malaria.

6 Aug 2007

Abstinence only sex programmes - a waste of government money?

The latest research confirms and supports earlier work which has stated that programmes which exclusively advocate abstinence from sex in order to stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, are ineffective.

6 Aug 2007

Foot and mouth disease flying on the wind?

Although tests carried out by biosafety experts in Britain have revealed the strain of foot and mouth disease found in cattle is the same as that used in vaccine production at a nearby animal health research facility, no apparent breach of biosecurity measures has been found.

6 Aug 2007

Bird flu put 51 in quarantine in Manipur

India's health ministry says 51 people in Manipur have been quarantined following an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of influenza in chickens last month in the northeastern Indian state.

6 Aug 2007

Unlocking proteins from their cellular shell

Applying physical stress to cells, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that everyday forces can alter the structure of proteins tucked within cells, unfold them and expose new targets in the fight against disease.

3 Aug 2007

Medical residents unclear about TB guidelines

US medical residents are not proficient at diagnosing and managing tuberculosis (TB), according to a report published in the online open access journal, BMC Infectious Diseases.

3 Aug 2007

Medical residents score poorly in diagnosing and managing tuberculosis

When quizzed about their knowledge in diagnosing tuberculosis and deciding on the best treatment, medical residents in Baltimore and Philadelphia get almost half the answers wrong, according to a survey by TB disease experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere.

3 Aug 2007

Abstinence from sex fails to cut risk of HIV infection in high income countries

Programmes that exclusively encourage abstinence from sex do not seem to affect the risk of HIV infection in high income countries, finds a review of the evidence in this week's BMJ.

3 Aug 2007

First confirmed human case of West Nile virus in Pennsylvania

State Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson has reported this year's first confirmed human case of West Nile virus in Pennsylvania. The individual, a 56-year-old Clearfield County man, is recovering and has been discharged from the hospital.

3 Aug 2007

Prototype vaccine against tuberculosis

Using a novel approach, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a prototype vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) that works better in animal models than the only TB vaccine now available.

2 Aug 2007

Vaccines for tuberculosis

The microorganism that causes tuberculosis, M. Tuberculosis, infects more than a one third of the world's population.

2 Aug 2007

Sex trafficking fueling India's HIV/AIDS epidemic

A new study on the prevalence of HIV in India has found that almost 40 percent of Nepalese women and girls who were rescued after being forced into prostitution in India are HIV positive.

1 Aug 2007

Bill Gates digs deep in his pocket for AIDS

The University of Maryland has been awarded a grant worth $15 Million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine.

1 Aug 2007

TB back in the news again in the U.S.

After years of hearing very little news on tuberculosis (TB), these days it seems to appear in the news on an almost weekly basis.

1 Aug 2007

HIV prevalence and predictors of infection in sex-trafficked Nepalese girls and women

A study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers of girls and women who were sex-trafficked from Nepal to India and then repatriated has found that 38 percent were HIV positive.

1 Aug 2007

New report on HIV/AIDS globally

Thirty-nine million people have been infected by the HIV virus, and seventeen million have died as a result, mostly in the developing world.

1 Aug 2007

New TB vaccine could save over a million lives

Initial trials of a new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine mean the drug will now progress to phase II trials.

31 Jul 2007

Taiwanese TB globe trotters back home

In another case of globe trotting tuberculosis (TB) air travelers, a couple from Taiwan are now back home.

31 Jul 2007

Poliomyelitis in Angola and the Congo

On 25 July 2007, four new cases of polio were confirmed in Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing the total number of cases in the country this year to 27.

30 Jul 2007