Disease/Infection News

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Washington, D.C., distributes 250,000 condoms

Washington, D.C., health officials on Friday distributed 250,000 city-branded condoms as part of the Department of Health's efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the Washington Post reports.

19 Feb 2007

British turkey giant guilty of sloppy practices

The company at the centre of a bird flu outbreak in Britain has come in for some harsh criticism after a catalogue of failings were revealed by an official report.

18 Feb 2007

Norwalk virus closes Canadian hospital

A hospital in Toronto, Canada has been closed to patients and visitors following an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.

18 Feb 2007

Fourth outbreak of bird flu threatens Moscow

According to Russian authorities a fourth outbreak of the H5N1 bird-flu virus has been discovered in suburban Moscow.

18 Feb 2007

The present and future for influenza vaccines

The near inevitability that influenza will explode into a pandemic in the coming few years has kept researchers searching for a way to prevent the worst effects of infection. The ultimate prize is a highly effective vaccine that could be produced and deployed rapidly.

18 Feb 2007

Mathematical model predicts cholera outbreaks

In research done over the past seven years, Pascual and colleagues have found evidence that a phenomenon known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a major source of climate variability from year to year, influences cycles of cholera in Bangladesh.

18 Feb 2007

Is too much being spent on HIV?

Billions of pounds are being spent on the fight against AIDS in developing countries. In this week's British Medical Journal, two experts go head to head over whether we are spending too much.

18 Feb 2007

Promising results on avian influenza vaccines

Experts meeting this week at the World Health Organization (WHO) on advances in pandemic influenza vaccine development reported encouraging progress.

18 Feb 2007

Bird flu - latest case in Egypt

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that an Egyptian woman has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

18 Feb 2007

Turkey tycoon denies responsibility for bird flu outbreak

Turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews, has apologised to customers in Britain for the outbreak of bird flu on one of his Suffolk farms.

18 Feb 2007

Serious proliferation of multiresistant Staphylococcus in intensive care units

Multiresistant bacteria are a severe problem that costs lives at hospitals the world over. A new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that the spread of disease between seriously ill patients in intensive care units is surprisingly rife.

15 Feb 2007

Response to "The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Papua New Guinea"

The report titled The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Papua New Guinea by Miranda Darling Tobias which was released on 8 February by The Centre for Independent Studies is conceptually and methodologically problematic in its analysis of the impact of the HIV epidemic in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

14 Feb 2007

Battle of blame continues in Britain over bird flu

As investigations into the cause of the outbreak of bird flu in Britain continue, British scientists say they have found that the strains of H5N1 bird flu in England and Hungary are "essentially identical".

14 Feb 2007

Seasonal flu vaccine offers some protection from H5N1

The yearly influenza vaccine that health officials urge people to get each fall might also offer certain individuals some cross protection against the H5N1 virus commonly known as bird flu, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

13 Feb 2007

PreventionWorks examined by Washington Post columnist

Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy on Wednesday examined PreventionWorks! -- a privately funded needle-exchange program in Washington, D.C., that aims to curb the spread of HIV among injection drug users in the city.

13 Feb 2007

World Bank to provide Thailand with $750,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The World Bank plans to provide Thailand with a $750,000, three-year grant aimed at providing HIV-positive people with increased access to antiretroviral drugs, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, program director for international health policy at the country's Ministry of Public Health, said recently.

13 Feb 2007

WFP resumes programs providing food to people with TB, HIV in Cambodia

The World Food Program has resumed its programs providing people living with HIV and tuberculosis in Cambodia with access to food after receiving aid from Spain and the U.S., the agency said on Thursday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

13 Feb 2007

House spending resolution contains provision that would cancel funding for program to expand HIV services to pregnant women, infants

The $463 billion spending resolution (HJ Res 20) for fiscal year 2007 passed last week by the House contains a provision that cancels funding for a program aimed at supporting state-level efforts to provide HIV prevention, early diagnosis, and counseling services to pregnant women and infants, CongressDaily reports.

13 Feb 2007

G7 nations plan to adopt vaccine purchase plan for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria

The Group of Seven industrialized nations on Friday plans to sign an agreement to provide $1.5 billion to develop vaccines for diseases -- including HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria -- that largely affect developing countries, the government of Italy announced on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

13 Feb 2007

Youth in Czech Republic not practicing safe sex

Increasing numbers of young people in the Czech Republic are not protecting themselves against HIV transmission, according to the Czech daily newspaper Mlada Fronta, the Prague Daily Monitor reports.

13 Feb 2007