Meningitis News and Research

Latest Meningitis News and Research

Organ-recipients' deaths prompt call for suppliers of pet rodents to screen for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus

A case involving seven transplant recipients killed by a rodent-borne virus that they apparently acquired from donated and infected human organs has prompted a recommendation that regulatory authorities require suppliers of pet rodents to screen their colonies for the virus.

1 Jun 2006

Potential vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis developed

Development of a fundamentally new "candidate," or potential, vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis), a parasitic disease that kills about 60,000 people annually, is reported in the current issue of ACS Chemical Biology. Spread by the bite of infected female sand flies, visceral leishmaniasis infects about 500,000 people annually, with the majority of cases occurring in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil.

26 Apr 2006

Fast tracking the healing process for common ear infections

The research will aim to understand why some eardrums heal by themselves (and why some do not heal at all) by identifying which genes are responsible for the wound-healing process of an infected human ear drum.

18 Apr 2006

Concern over spread of Mumps in the U.S.

Health officials in the United States have voiced concern about an outbreak of mumps in the Midwest and say they believe some people may have become infected on airline flights.

16 Apr 2006

Europe slow to implement infant pneumococcal vaccine programmes

Up to 90 per cent of cases of invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) - which includes serious infections like meningitis - occur in otherwise healthy young children, according to a study published in the April issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

13 Apr 2006

Swine disease in China caused toxic shock syndrome

A large and deadly outbreak of Streptococcus suis disease, in Sichuan province in China last year alarmed health officials worldwide and now scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other Chinese institutions have published the first scientific details of the outbreak.

12 Apr 2006

Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus suis Serotype 2

Last year, there was major press coverage of an alarmingly large and deadly outbreak of Streptococcus suis disease in Sichuan province in China.

11 Apr 2006

Ceftriaxone may help fight dementia in HIV patients

An antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of serious infections may also help prevent dementia in HIV patients, according to a test-tube study of human brain cells by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist Jeffrey Rumbaugh, M.D., Ph.D.

7 Apr 2006

High prevalence of mumps in Iowa

The Department of Public Health in Iowa says 245 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of mumps have been reported there since mid-January.

3 Apr 2006

Health experts meet in Asia to discuss preventing deadly childhood diseases

The deadly diseases pneumonia and meningitis kill an estimated 1.8 million children under the age of 5 years across the globe every year. Of these, more than 700,000 occur in the countries in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions of the World Health Organization (WHO).

30 Mar 2006

New tools in the fight against pneumococci

New tools in the fight against pneumococci - the bugs targeted by vaccines recently announced by the Department of Health - are described by a team led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

13 Mar 2006

Link between childhood exposure to tobacco smoke and Streptococcus pneumoniae

Many of the medical risks associated with smoking, such as cancer, emphysema and heart attacks, are well-known to physicians and the general public.

13 Mar 2006

University of Michigan researchers target stubborn gram-negative bacteria

Ronald Woodard's team set out looking for a way to kill a stubborn type of bacteria and they succeeded - but not in the way he expected.

9 Mar 2006

Is persistent bacterial infection good for your health?

Bacteria are bad. Mothers and doctors, not to mention the cleaning product industry, repeatedly warn of their dangers. But a Stanford University School of Medicine microbiologist is raising the intriguing idea that persistent bacterial and viral infections have benefits.

27 Feb 2006

Snogging quadruples risk of meningitis in teenagers

Intimate kissing with multiple partners almost quadruples a teenager's risk of meningococcal disease, finds a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

19 Feb 2006

Scientists investigate sugar coating that surrounds bacteria

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a quick and simple way to investigate the sugar coating that surrounds bacteria and plays a role in infection and immunity.

16 Feb 2006

Lab-on-chip can detect bird flu in humans

European microchip maker STMicroelectronics is planning to market a disposable laboratory microchip that can confirm within about an hour a human case of bird flu.

18 Jan 2006

New treatment for brucellosis

Concepcion Lecaroz, a researcher from the University of Navarra, has developed a new therapy against brucellosis. This zoonosis - a disease or infection of animals which can be transmitted to humans under natural conditions - annually affects 500,000 people worldwide.

18 Jan 2006

Lives will be saved as early signs of meningitis now identified

Scientists in the UK say they have identified the early signs of meningitis and blood poisoning which should improve detection of the disease and save lives.

11 Jan 2006

Carbonic anhydrase and CO2 sensing during Cryptococcus neoformans growth, differentiation, and virulence

By using pathogenic fungi as model systems for understanding fungal diseases, two groups of researchers are reporting new work that offers insight into how carbon dioxide (CO2) governs the morphogenic changes that allow pathogenic fungi to survive in different environments and invade the human body

21 Nov 2005