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Number of new HIV cases in Sweden increases 40%

The number of new HIV cases recorded during the first half of this year in Sweden has increased 40% compared with the same time period last year and is at a record high, Xinhuanet reports.

10 Jul 2007

Women's HIV/AIDS conference delegates develop action plan to foster women's, girls' leadership in fight against disease

Delegates on Saturday at the close of the first International Women's Summit on Women's Leadership and HIV and AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya, released a 10-point action plan that aims to foster leadership roles of women and girls in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Nation/AllAfrica.com reports.

10 Jul 2007

El Salvador needs to take increased HIV/AIDS control efforts

Although health officials in El Salvador have launched an HIV testing campaign in the country, some advocates say that the country needs to take increased efforts to control the growing number of HIV cases in the country, Inter Press Service reports.

10 Jul 2007

EPA warns about fecal coliform in flooded areas of Coffeyville

Two flood water samples taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the city limits of Coffeyville, Kan., showed numbers of fecal coliform (bacteria) more than 130 times the standard.

9 Jul 2007

Warning on Chikungunya virus

Fever, arthritis, and other symptoms occurring in people to who have recently traveled to islands in the Indian Ocean may signal infection with an imported virus called "chikungunya," reports a study in the May/June issue of the journal Medicine, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

9 Jul 2007

HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%

The new 2006 estimates released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country.

9 Jul 2007

Bird flu on a European tour

German officials have culled as many as 1,000 domestic birds following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu virus in a dead goose in the village of Wickersdorf in eastern Germany.

8 Jul 2007

Discovery of two effective antibodies for SARS

An international team of investigators has identified the first human antibodies that can neutralize different strains of the virus responsible for outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

4 Jul 2007

Bird flu in Germany

The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been detected in two birds tested in the eastern state of Thueringen after as many as 100 birds of various types were found dead.

4 Jul 2007

Scientists tackle deadly hospital superbugs

It infiltrates hospitals as microscopic spores. Its defences are so strong it can resist most antibiotics. And it kills three times as many people every year as MRSA. But scientists at The University of Nottingham are amassing an arsenal of weapons in preparation for counter offensive against the most deadly of hospital superbugs.

4 Jul 2007

TB jetsetter not as dangerous as first thought

It seems the jet setting air traveller with tuberculosis (TB) is not quite as dangerous as first thought. According to a federal health official, American lawyer Andrew Speaker has a less severe form of TB than previously diagnosed.

4 Jul 2007

Elimination of Chagas disease by 2010

A new effort to eliminate Chagas disease by 2010 will be launched tomorrow at a WHO meeting of disease experts and partners.

3 Jul 2007

Melaka virus needs a new name

Health officials in Malaysia who had christened a newly discovered bat virus the 'Melaka Virus' will have to come up with another name after a protest from some government ministers.

2 Jul 2007

Prevention and control of zoonoses

Over 180 international scientific experts will meet for the next three days near Lucca, Italy, to discuss state-of-the-art advances in infectious diseases transmitted from animals to man, known as zoonoses.

29 Jun 2007

War and forced displacement have reduced the transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Conflict, forced displacement, and wide-scale rape have not increased the prevalence of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, conclude the authors of an Article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

29 Jun 2007

Meningococcal vaccine now recommended for ages 11 to 18

Recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), that all young people aged 11 to 18 should get a shot that protects them from the most dangerous type of meningitis, has been applauded by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

28 Jun 2007

Australian scientists discover new reovirus

CSIRO scientists have played a key role in discovering that bats are the likely host of a new virus that can cause a serious but apparently non-fatal respiratory tract illness in humans.

28 Jun 2007

Summer's here so look out for Legionnaires disease

Summer's here and the living isn't always so easy especially if youre in the hospital. Patients who are vulnerable to infection run a greater risk of contracting Legionnaires disease, a severe form of pneumonia, during warm, humid weather, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

28 Jun 2007

Bird flu swanning around Germany

Health authorities in Germany say they have identified three more cases of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu in swans, bringing the total number of wild birds now infected to nine.

27 Jun 2007