Disease/Infection News

RSS

Ho Chi Minh City to convert detoxification center into hospital that will provide no-cost HIV/AIDS care

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, beginning Sept. 1 will convert a detoxification center administered by the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Department into a hospital that provides HIV/AIDS treatment and care at no cost, the Vietnam News Brief Service reports.

4 Sep 2006

South Africa to distribute 3 million female condoms

South Africa's Department of Health last Thursday announced that it has allocated about $5 million this year to help achieve the goal of distributing three million female condoms in 2006, the SAPA/iafrica.com reports.

4 Sep 2006

Kaiser highlights recently published Journal of Infectious Diseases studies

Summaries of studies recently published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

4 Sep 2006

TB strain with extreme resistance to drugs creates nightmare scenario

The appearance of a deadly new strain of tuberculosis (TB) has so concerned the World Health Organisation (WHO) that an emergency meeting of health experts has been convened in Johannesburg to discuss the issue.

4 Sep 2006

Ducks in Pennsylvania found with a strain of bird flu

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found bird flu in wild ducks in Crawford County in northwestern Pennsylvania as part of a routine sampling procedure, but the strain is apparently not the deadly H5N1 strain currently sweeping across Asia.

4 Sep 2006

More fat people than starving in the world

At an International Congress on Obesity, in Sydney, Australia, chairman Professor Paul Zimmet has said that obesity is no longer a problem limited to America and other developed countries but has reached the scale of a global epidemic.

4 Sep 2006

Vaccine for severe malaria

The most severe form of malaria hits pregnant women and children the hardest.

1 Sep 2006

The new landscape of neglected disease drug development

A recent report shows that drug development for killer diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, Chagas and Sleeping Sickness has increased in recent years.

1 Sep 2006

U.S. Sen. Obama to call for more funding for microbicides, HIV/AIDS education, nutrition programs

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) during his visit to Kenya and South Africa as part of a two-week visit to Africa said he wants to increase the proportion of HIV/AIDS funding for nutrition for HIV-positive people, as well as increase support for HIV/AIDS education and outreach campaigns and the development of microbicides.

1 Sep 2006

South Africa's HIV/AIDS treatment program

The progress of South Africa's HIV/AIDS treatment program "so far is really a lesson in the power of balanced government and citizens' groups," columnist Tina Rosenberg writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

1 Sep 2006

U.N. High Commissioner calls on Thai Government to address spread of HIV in refugee camps along Thai-Myanmar border

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterrez on Wednesday during a four-day trip to Thailand called on Thailand's government to address the spread of HIV within refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, according to Thailand's deputy government spokesperson Chalermchai Mahakitsiri, AFP/Today Online reports.

1 Sep 2006

New Zealand offers permanent residency to HIV-positive Zimbabwean immigrants

HIV-positive Zimbabwean immigrants to New Zealand will be offered permanent residency under a special policy provision, New Zealand Health Minister Pete Hodgson announced Wednesday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

1 Sep 2006

Lancet calls for transparency in selection of new Executive Director for Global Fund

The secrecy surrounding the selection process for the next Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria could irrevocably damage the organisation's ability to improve global health, states an Editorial in this week's issue of The Lancet.

31 Aug 2006

MRSA - surveillance, rapid screening and hospital hygiene

The origins and future perspectives about meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are outlined in a Review in this week's issue of The Lancet.

31 Aug 2006

Excluding deer could be a counterproductive strategy for controlling tick-borne infections

Excluding deer could be a counterproductive strategy for controlling tick-borne infections, because the absence of deer from small areas may lead to an increase in ticks, rapidly turning the area into a potential disease hotspot, according to a team of U.S. and Italian researchers.

30 Aug 2006

HIV/AIDS fosters collaboration between traditional healers, western medicine in Zambia

The spread of HIV in Zambia is fostering collaboration between traditional healers and practitioners of Western medicine, IRIN News reports.

30 Aug 2006

Temple in Thailand providing HIV/AIDS services set to close

A temple in Thailand that provides medical care and shelter for HIV-positive people within three months is scheduled to close because of a lack of public resources, according to Chalermphol Pholmuk, secretary-general of the Dharmarak Foundation, the Bangkok Post reports.

30 Aug 2006

Nine million free condoms given away in New York

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene over the past six months has distributed more than nine million condoms at no cost via a Web site as part of an initiative to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the New York Post reports.

30 Aug 2006