Latest Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses News From Medical News Today.

Total news: 493
Last news: May 2, 2008 10:00:00

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday that the rise in measles cases so far this year is mostly imported, due to infected people coming into the US from other countries. For the seven years up to 2007, an average of 62 cases of measles a year have been reported to the CDC. But this year, up to 25th April, a total of 64 cases, 54 of which are imported from countries outside the US, have been reported. - [Read more]

C. diff-associated disease (CDAD), otherwise known as severe intestinal disease brought on by the Clostridium difficile (C. diff) pathogen, has been the subject of heightened concern in the medical community. A new report released this month by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality revealed a 200 percent increase in potentially fatal diarrheal infections in U.S. hospitals between 2000 and 2005. - [Read more]

This study determined the efficiency of a gastric juice PCR test for the detection of H. pylori infection in patients receiving PPI therapy and compared it with histology and gastric biopsy PCR.This study, led by Dr Javed Yakoob, is described in a research article to be published in the March 14, 2008, issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology. - [Read more]

By pinpointing the window of opportunity when the human immune response to a particular pathogen peaks, scientists in the US have developed a much faster way to isolate the highly specific antibodies needed to make flu vaccines. The discovery may also lead to new and faster ways to produce vaccines and therapies to fight many other diseases. - [Read more]

Inhibitex, Inc. (Nasdaq: INHX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases, announced that its Investigational New Drug application (IND) for FV-100, its oral nucleoside analogue in development for the treatment of herpes zoster (shingles), has been accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). - [Read more]

Innocoll, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, announced that the last of three planned phase 2 clinical trials sponsored by its wholly owned subsidiary, Innocoll Technologies Ltd, to investigate CollaRx(R) GENTAMICIN TOPICAL for the treatment and prevention of infected diabetic foot ulcers, has commenced dosing. - [Read more]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Advair Diskus(R) 250/50 (fluticasone propionate 250 mcg and salmeterol 50 mcg inhalation powder) for the reduction of exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who have a history of exacerbations. With this approval, Advair becomes the only treatment FDA has approved to reduce COPD exacerbations. - [Read more]

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered how some bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment by turning on resistance mechanisms when exposed to the drugs. The findings, published in the April 24 issue of the journal Molecular Cell, could lead to more effective antibiotics to treat a variety of infections. - [Read more]

Botulinum neurotoxin -- responsible for the deadly food poisoning disease botulism and for the beneficial effects of smoothing out facial wrinkles - can also be used as a dreaded biological weapon. When ingested or inhaled, less than a billionth of an ounce can cause muscle paralysis and eventual death. - [Read more]

A new, free white paper titled "Effectively Culturing Anaerobic Bacteria" is now available from Spiral Biotech, Inc. at: http://www.aicompanies.com/anoxomat. The white paper details new techniques for isolating and identifying anaerobic bacteria in organisms. - [Read more]

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have outlined a new path for potential therapies to combat inflammation associated with sinusitis and asthma based on a new understanding of the bodys earliest immune response in the nose and sinus cavities. - [Read more]

Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, announced a new benchmarking tool from MedMined(TM) services that allows hospitals to compare risk adjusted infection rates in each unit of a hospital to peer units in similar hospitals to help identify best practices and areas for improvement. - [Read more]

Adults with the common rhinosinusitis infection should not beprescribed antibiotics, even if the symptoms are reported as lastinglonger than 7-10 days, according to an Article released on March 14,2008 in The Lancet. The third most common reason for a patient to consult a doctor is anupper respiratory tract infection. Rhinosinusitis, or infection of thenose and sinuses, is identified in its acute form in approximately onethird of these cases. - [Read more]

New funding and provisions included in a bill (HR 5501) to reauthorize the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief would significantly benefit efforts to fight malaria worldwide, experts said last week at a forum in Washington, D.C. - [Read more]

The lethal intestinal virus that has killed 20 children and infected over 1,500 others in the east China province of Anhui has been identified as enterovirus 71, or EV71, that causes hand, foot and mouth disease. - [Read more]

The IFPMA Influenza Vaccine Supply international task force (IFPMA IVS) will grant EUR 200,000 to the Pathogen Evolution Group1 at the University of Cambridge in the UK, to support computerized mapping of the H1N1 and B influenza viruses. The group, recently described as "mapmaker for the world of influenza"2, has already mapped the H3N2 influenza virus. - [Read more]

Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALP) announced that the Texas A&M Health Science Center Research Foundation (HSCRF) is using the IVIS Spectrum imaging system to speed the development of more effective therapeutic treatments for tuberculosis. Research efforts and the purchase of the IVIS system are funded through a grant to the Texas A&M Health Science Center from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. - [Read more]

Thereis a simplified method of administering rabies vaccines that iseconomical and just as effective at stimulating anti-rabies antibodiesas the more expensive, standard vaccine regimen, according to anarticle published on April 23, 2008 in the open access journal PLoSNeglected Tropical Diseases. Deathsfrom rabies in humans are all the result of failure to administeradequate prophylaxis. - [Read more]

New findings show a link between micronutrient supplementation and reduced risk of recurrence during tuberculosis chemotherapy, according to a study published in the June 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. - [Read more]

According to Dr. Charles Gerba, famed microbiologist with the University of Arizona, in some cases "it may be better not to clean a surface than to clean it with soiled cleaning tools… [because] it can spread microorganisms around without your realizing it." Gerba says that as some cleaning tools, such as sponges, mops, and microfiber cloths, are used, "they actually become micropile compost heaps. In many cases, [the cleaning worker] is just laying down a thin layer of E. - [Read more]