Pneumonia News and Research

Latest Pneumonia News and Research

Antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection

Antibiotics are not justified to reduce the risk of complications after upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection, finds a study published on bmj.com.

19 Oct 2007

MRSA superbug a bigger killer than AIDS

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States says MRSA infections (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are more prevalent and invasive than previously thought.

18 Oct 2007

Ear infection superbug found to be resistant to all pediatric antibiotics

Researchers have discovered a strain of bacteria resistant to all approved drugs used to fight ear infections in children, according to an article to be published tomorrow in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

17 Oct 2007

Mortality rates 71 percent lower at top-rated hospitals

Patients have on average a 71 percent lower chance of dying at the nation's top-rated hospitals compared with the lowest-rated hospitals across 18 procedures and conditions analyzed in the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, issued today by HealthGrades, the healthcare ratings company.

16 Oct 2007

Sharp declines in hospital death rates in 2004

Sharp declines in the hospital death rates of patients from heart attack and five other leading conditions meant that an estimated 136,000 who would have died had they been hospitalized a decade earlier survived their stays in 2004, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

16 Oct 2007

Study unravels some of the mystery surrounding the devastating 1918 pandemic

Often called the most devastating epidemic in the recorded history of the world, the 1918 influenza virus pandemic was responsible for more than 40 million deaths across the globe.

10 Oct 2007

Human and avian influenza viruses target different cells in the lower respiratory tract of humans and other mammals

Researchers have identified which sites and cell types within the respiratory tract are targeted by human versus avian influenza viruses, providing valuable insights into the pathogenesis of these divergent diseases.

10 Oct 2007

Research highlights importance of adopting current adult pneumococcal vaccination guidelines

Among patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, those who had previously received the pneumococcal vaccine had a lower risk of death and admission to the intensive care unit than patients who were not vaccinated, according to a report in the Oct. 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

9 Oct 2007

Combination vaccine OK for toddlers

A University of Rochester study brings relief to new parents who, while navigating a jam-packed childhood vaccine schedule, can expect to soothe their newborn through as many as 15 "pokes" by his or her six-month checkup.

8 Oct 2007

Vaccine combo okay for infants

4 Oct 2007

Another bird flu victim in Indonesia takes the death toll to 86

Though experts are investigating how the man contracted the virus, it is unclear how he could have come into contact with sick poultry as keeping backyard poultry has been banned by the Jakarta government since February.

2 Oct 2007

Antibiotic Minocycline shows potential as stroke treatment

People treated with the drug minocycline within six to 24 hours after a stroke had significantly fewer disabilities, according to a study published in the October 2, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Oct 2007

Testing women for group B strep during pregnancy could save Britain GBP37 million a year

A research paper confirms what medical charity Group B Strep Support has been saying for years - that testing pregnant women for group B strep would save lives and save the government money.

1 Oct 2007

Acute lung injury patients one-third less likely to die in 'closed' model ICUs

Patients with acute lung injury (ALI) are nearly one-third less likely to die if they are treated at ICUs that require board-certified critical care physicians to oversee patient care, as compared to patients treated at ICUs that allow any attending physician to oversee admission and case management.

29 Sep 2007

U.S. hospitals report infections increasing in frequency and cost

A new review of inpatient data from US hospitals shows that the number of infections caused by a common bacterium increased by over 7 percent each year from 1998 to 2003.

26 Sep 2007

Care by a hospital-based general physician strongly associated with shorter length of hospital stay in patients

Patients at an academic medical center who are cared for by a hospital-based general physician may have a shorter length of hospital stay than those who are not, especially if the patients require close monitoring or complex discharge planning, according to a report in the September 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

25 Sep 2007

Social cheating in bacterial communication

Baseball had its steroids and Black Sox. Politics lived through Watergate. Wall Street has been riddled with insider trading scandals. And before we cast the first stone, who among us has never tried to get through an intersection on a yellow light?

25 Sep 2007

Cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in children reduced

The number of cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children has fallen since the introduction of a new vaccine a year ago. Enhanced surveillance by the UK's Health Protection Agency has shown that cases of IPD caused by the seven major types of the pneumococcus bacteria which the new pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) protects against have gone down by almost 50%.

20 Sep 2007

Discovery of cause of Job's syndrome

The rare immunodeficiency disorder known as Job's syndrome is caused by a specific genetic mutation that both overstimulates and understimulates the human immune system, leading to harmful bacterial and fungal infections and the physical features characteristic of the syndrome, according to two independent groups of scientists, one from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the other from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

20 Sep 2007