Disease/Infection News

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Crisis of HIV/AIDS in Florida's black communities

Although there has been progress in recent years, blacks in south Florida are more than three times as likely to be HIV-positive than whites in the region, according to a report from the Florida Department of Health, the Miami Herald reports (Goldstein, Miami Herald, 9/7).

7 Sep 2006

China appears to have beaten the world to a bird flu vaccine

Scientists in China have developed a potential vaccine against the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus currently sweeping across Asia.

7 Sep 2006

Iran-U.S. collaboration on HIV/AIDS treatment

Despite the "political chasm" between Iran and the U.S., "some courageous doctors and scientists on both sides have been reaching out to collaborate on important projects," including HIV/AIDS treatment programs, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius writes in a Post opinion piece.

6 Sep 2006

MAC Cosmetics launches new Viva Glam campaign to raise money for HIV/AIDS

MAC Cosmetics on Wednesday will launch an advertising campaign in support of its Viva Glam lipstick and lip gloss line, which aims to raise money for the MAC AIDS Fund, USA Today reports.

6 Sep 2006

HIV/AIDS' disproportionate impact on U.S. blacks must be addressed, but epidemic should not be labeled as 'black disease'

The appraisal made by U.S. black leaders at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto last month that AIDS-related illnesses are "claiming a disproportionate number of black lives" in the U.S. is "undeniable," a Boston Globe editorial says.

6 Sep 2006

Supervised drug-injection facility in Vancouver, Canada, to remain open until December 2007

A supervised drug-injection facility in Vancouver, Canada, will remain open until December 2007 after it received a reprieve on Friday from Health Minister Tony Clement, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports (Fong, Globe and Mail, 9/2).

6 Sep 2006

Illinois Appellate Court reverses $2 miilion award to HIV-positive woman who sued fiance's parents for allegedly lying about son's HIV status

An Illinois appellate court on Friday reversed a $2 million award to an HIV-positive woman who sued the parents of her now-deceased fiance for allegedly lying about their son's HIV status, the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Patterson, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/4).

6 Sep 2006

GPS the latest tool in fight against avian influenza

Wearing light solar-powered GPS satellite transmitters, wild swans from Mongolia are winging their way across Eurasia, while land-bound scientists tracking the birds' journeys on computers say that these unique studies will shed light on how wild birds may be involved in the spread of avian influenza.

6 Sep 2006

H5 and N1 avian influenza found in Pennsylvania wild bird samples

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced that the presence of the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania.

5 Sep 2006

Extensive Drug Resistant TB now a major threat

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the emergence of virulent drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) and is calling for measures to be strengthened and implemented to prevent the global spread of the deadly TB strains.

5 Sep 2006

Iraqis allegedly infected with HIV in 1980s through contaminated blood products file civil lawsuit

Three groups in Iraq -- including about 35 Iraqis who allegedly contracted HIV through contaminated blood products in the 1980s -- have filed a civil lawsuit against the country's Ministry of Health and two companies that sold blood products, the New York Times reports.

5 Sep 2006

India primarily to promote condom use in HIV prevention programs

India primarily will promote condoms to prevent HIV transmission as part of the government's five-year, $2.5 billion HIV/AIDS initiative, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said recently, Bloomberg News reports.

5 Sep 2006

Namibia launches HIV/AIDS information booklet in Braille

Namibia on Tuesday launched an information booklet on HIV/AIDS in Braille in an effort to reach blind and visually impaired people, Namibia's New Era reports.

5 Sep 2006

Bird flu flys into Egypt again

Four new cases of bird flu have been detected in poultry in Egypt, after a two month infection free period.

5 Sep 2006

Indian woman infected with HIV forced to abort her own baby

According to officials in India, a pregnant HIV-positive woman was forced to abort her own foetus after doctors and nurses in the government hospital in Kolkata in eastern India, shunned her and told her they would not help her undergo an abortion.

5 Sep 2006

New rapid diagnostic tests for Neisseria meningitidis

Over a million people each year, most of them in the "meningitis belt" in Africa, contract bacterial meningitis, a potentially deadly infection of tissues that line the brain and spinal cord.

4 Sep 2006

Bird flu: a new sampling campaign is planned in Africa

Asia, Europe, Africa... The bird flu epidemic has not needed a passport to cross borders, but has almost certainly required a vector.

4 Sep 2006

Record morbidity in Africa from Borreliosis, or relapsing fever

Borreliosis, or relapsing fever, is a disease provoked by bacteria of the genus Borrelia. Two of these are encountered in tropical Africa: Borrelia crocidurae in the Sahara and Sahel, Borrelia duttoni in East Africa.

4 Sep 2006

1918 Spanish flu treatment may also be effective for current avian influenza patients

USU faculty have discovered that a treatment for the Spanish Influenza pandemic may also be effective for current Avian Influenza patients.

4 Sep 2006

STIs cause infertility, social stigma in sub-Saharan Africa

Sexually transmitted infections are the main cause of infertility in sub-Saharan Africa, where the condition often brings stigma and social consequences to women who do not have children, according to Helen Pilcher, author of a article published in the Aug. 31 issue of the journal Nature, PRI's "The World" -- a production of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston -- reports.

4 Sep 2006