Breaking news on infectious diseases, bacteria, viruses
Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis - Update published
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PST
The World Health Organization (WHO) has ongoing programs to improve and monitor tuberculosis (TB). The WHO's 2011 report on global TB control provides the most comprehensive information ever collected on the problems and issues of disease, as well as deaths caused by TB and multidrug-resistant TB (i.e. disease marked by in vitro resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin)...
Areas Of Highest Human Risk For Lyme Disease In Eastern United States Detailed On New Map published
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
A new map pinpoints well-defined areas of the Eastern United States where humans have the highest risk of contracting Lyme disease, one of the most rapidly emerging infectious diseases in North America, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
The Leading Cause Of Infection Outbreaks In US Hospitals Is Norovirus published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST
Norovirus, a pathogen that often causes food poisoning and gastroenteritis, was responsible for 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S...
Childhood Infections Linked To High Risk Of Ischemic Stroke published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST
Common infections in children pose a high risk of ischemic stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. In a review of 2.5 million children, the researchers identified 126 childhood ischemic stroke cases and then randomly selected 378 age-matched controls from the remaining children without stroke...
Shedding New Light On The Way Superbugs Such As MRSA Are Able To Become Resistant To Treatment With Antibiotics published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
Scientists have shed new light on the way superbugs such as MRSA are able to become resistant to treatment with antibiotics. Researchers have mapped the complex molecular structure of an enzyme found in many bacteria. These molecules - known as restriction enzymes - control the speed at which bacteria can acquire resistance to drugs and eventually become superbugs...
Pneumonia Survival May Improve With Stimulation Of Brain Hormone Action published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
An international research team may have found a way to block a second wave of death that can result from pneumonia treatment. Antibiotics are effective at killing pneumococcus - the cause of about 50 percent of pneumonias - but as it dies the bacterium releases potentially lethal toxins...
Manuka Honey Could Be The Answer For Treating And Preventing Wound Infections published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
Manuka honey could help clear chronic wound infections and even prevent them from developing in the first place, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The findings provide further evidence for the clinical use of manuka honey to treat bacterial infections in the face of growing antibiotic resistance...
New Study May End 2 Decades Of Suspicion: Does Borna Disease Virus Cause Mental Illness? published
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
Over the past 30 years, numerous studies have linked Borna disease virus (BDV) with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder and dementia. Genetic fragments and antibodies to this RNA virus, which causes behavior disorders in a range of mammals and birds, have been found to be prevalent in psychiatric patients, but study results have been inconsistent...
Some Allergic Inflammation May Be Due To Exposure To Common Environmental Bacteria published
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST
Could some cases of asthma actually be caused by an allergic reaction to a common environmental bacteria? New research findings published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that this idea may not be as far-fetched as it seems. In a research report appearing in the February 2012 print issue, researchers show a link between common environmental bacteria and airway inflammation...
Lungs Infected With Plague Bacteria Also Become Playgrounds For Other Microbes published
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
Among medical mysteries baffling many infectious disease experts is exactly how the deadly pneumonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, goes undetected in the first few day of lung infection, often until it's too late for medical treatment. New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has opened a door to the answer. Researchers led by William E...
10 Neglected Tropical Diseases - Target For End Of Decade published
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
The aim is to eliminate or at least control 10 neglected tropical diseases by 2020 - it is a public and private partnership, including 13 drug companies, the UK, US and United Arab Emirate Governments, the World Bank, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and some other worldwide organizations...
How Cholera Bacterium Gains A Foothold In The Gut published
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally significant intestinal disease which kills more than 100,000 people every year...
Major Challenge Of Drug Delivery Addressed By Researchers' Innovation published
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A new physical form of proteins developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin could drastically improve treatments for cancer and other diseases, as well as overcome some of the largest challenges in therapeutics: delivering drugs to patients safely, easily and more effectively...
New Information In The Fight Against Flu published
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Influenza virus can rapidly evolve from one form to another, complicating the effectiveness of vaccines and anti-viral drugs used to treat it...
H5N1 Causes Controversy Concerning Balance Between Scientific Discovery And Public Safety published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
After scientists have engineered a new strain of H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, which is readily transmitted between humans, the Annals of Internal Medicine , the principal journal of the American College of Physicians, has published two perspectives online in advance, in which concerns are raised as to whether or not this research should be continued, and how the data shoul...
Stealthy Leprosy Pathogen Evades Critical Vitamin D-Dependent Immune Response published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
A team of UCLA scientists has found that the pathogen that causes leprosy has a remarkable ability to avoid the human immune system by inhibiting the antimicrobial responses important to our defenses...
How Bacteria Behind Serious Childhood Disease Evolve To Evade Vaccines published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
Genetics has provided surprising insights into why vaccines used in both the UK and US to combat serious childhood infections can eventually fail. The study, published in Nature Genetics, which investigates how bacteria change their disguise to evade the vaccines, has implications for how future vaccines can be made more effective...
How New Viruses Evolve, And In Some Cases, Become Deadly published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have demonstrated how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The findings appear in the journal Science. The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish...
7% Of Americans Have Oral HPV published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
A study published online in JAMA on Thursday suggests 7% of men and women in the US carry the Human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes a distinct form of cancer that affects the part of the throat that sits at the back of the mouth...
Viruses That Con Bacteria With Helping Hand published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:00:00 PST
Scientists studying ocean microorganisms have encountered something they have never seen before. A marine virus that cons certain photosynthetic bacteria into letting it come inside because it appears to offer a "helping hand" by bringing resources very like their own to help them acquire phosphorus, a nutrient they are desperately short of...
Engineered Bacteria Effectively Target Tumors, Enabling Tumor Imaging Potential In Mice published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST
Tumor-targeted bioluminescent bacteria have been shown for the first time to provide accurate 3D images of tumors in mice, further advancing the potential for targeted cancer drug delivery, according to a study published in the Jan. 25 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE...
Better Treatment And Fewer Costs With New Detection Method For UTI-Causing Bacteria published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A new method for identifying bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) will lead to much faster, more effective treatment as well as a reduction in costs. The procedure, described in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, could eventually be used for the identification of micro-organisms in other bodily fluids, including blood and spinal fluid...
Study Of Pet Dogs Shows Lyme Disease Risk In UK Bigger Than Previously Thought published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:00 PST
The risk of a person living in the UK becoming infected with Lyme disease is much greater than previously thought, according to a study from Bristol University that surveyed pet dogs to find out how many of them harboured the ticks that transmit the disease...
No Whooping Cough Deaths In California In 2011 published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
There were no reported cases of whooping cough deaths in the State of California in 2011, says the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) - the first time this has occurred in two decades. Californian health officials say this is due to three factors: 1. Higher vaccination rates. 2. Greater awareness of the disease, and 3. Faster diagnoses of sick patients. 48...
Surgical Outcomes Significantly Improved And Cost Reduces By Regional Surgical Quality Collaborative published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A new study published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons finds hospitals participating in a regional collaborative of the American College of Surgeon's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®), achieved substantial improvements in surgical outcomes, such as reducing the rates of acute renal failure and surgical site infections...
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