Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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CSU Professor Ian Orme recently conducted a study that provides new clues to what went wrong with a landmark TB vaccine trial in South Africa.

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New Research in Cell Host & Microbe Indicates Commonly Prescribed Antibiotic Could Potentially Worsen Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus

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If you want to keep away blood-sucking insects, DEET products are your best bet according to a recent study from New Mexico State University. Researchers also discovered a certain perfume performed better at protecting against mosquitoes than some commercial insect repellents.

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New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

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What if a single vaccine could protect people from infection by many different viruses? That concept is a step closer to reality. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine​ in St. Louis have identified “broadly neutralizing” antibodies that protect against infection by multiple, distantly related alphaviruses – including Chikungunya virus – that cause fever and debilitating joint pain. The discovery, in mice, lays the groundwork for a single vaccine or antibody-based treatment against many different alphaviruses.

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/PRNewswire/ -- Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) are devastating for patients and pose a significant financial risk for hospitals. Surgical Site Infections resulting from total knee or hip procedures cause excruciating pain and suffering, have a three percent mortality rate and are associated with an additional $21,000 in additional care costs per infection. As hospitals worldwide struggle to prevent infections, Alabama-based Trinity Medical Center experienced a 100 percent decrease in Surgical Site Infection rates in its orthopedic Operating Rooms (ORs) after implementing a total joint infection control bundle that includes Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots™ to disinfect its ORs and patient rooms.

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In a new look at the groundbreaking iPrEx trial for people at high risk of HIV infection, UCSF researchers have identified strong evidence of efficacy for transgender women when PrEP, a two-drug antiretroviral used to prevent HIV, is used consistently.

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Infectious disease researchers at the University of Georgia have identified a signaling protein critical for host defense against influenza infection. The findings shed light on how a single component of the body’s defense system promotes effective immunity against viral infections—particularly respiratory viruses—that affect mucosal sites.

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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say a new candidate vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) made with a weakened version of the virus shows great promise at fighting the disease, the leading cause of hospitalization for children under the age of one in the U.S.

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Discovery greatly expands the known distribution of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which has decimated bat populations in North America

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A new study led by Colorado State University finds that the West Nile virus is killing birds — more so than previously thought — in the short- and long-term.

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Led by Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Tim Cross and his team at the Florida State University-based National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, scientists delved into the complexities of exactly how the flu virus works and why it’s so effective at making people so sick. With a better understanding of how it works, researchers will now be able to turn their attention to creating more effective prescription drugs to fight the flu.

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A new study by Kevin J. Emerson, PhD, assistant professor of biology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and his international group of collaborators assessed the extent to which geographical barriers affected genetic variation among Anopheles darlingi populations. Such barriers may greatly influence the approaches used by scientists and physicians to control the spread of malaria throughout Brazil.

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A new therapeutic vaccine, GTL001, developed by Genticel to clear HPV strains 16 and 18 – the types most likely to cause cancer – is being evaluated for safety in a Phase I clinical trial at the University of Louisville, along with Philadelphia and Columbus, Oh.

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After peaking in 2007, AIDS mortality in South Africa has decreased with the widespread introduction of effective antiretroviral therapy, according to updated estimates published in AIDS, official journal of the International AIDS Society. AIDS is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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Saint Louis University’s Vaccine Center is one of two sites in the nation selected by the NIH to conduct "omics" research on infectious diseases.

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The American Thoracic Society applauds the World Health Organization (WHO) on today’s release of its Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, which finds that the number of TB deaths is now virtually equal to the number of HIV/AIDS deaths globally. The data shows that TB threatens to undo the tremendous progress made by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund Against AIDS, TB and Malaria. The ATS joins the WHO in calling for increased funding to halt the global TB pandemic.

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The Clorox Cold & Flu Pulse analyzes millions of conversations in real time and reports how cold and flu is trending online, including what topics are being discussed, top cities where it’s trending, and tips related to the current virality of the cold and flu.

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University of Adelaide researchers have uncovered the role played by a family of genes, which can suppress hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection within the liver.

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MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s Ebola Response Team has been honored with the 2015 Patient Safety Award from the District of Columbia Hospital Association (DCHA). The award recognizes the team’s outstanding efforts in its Ebola-related plans and training to care for potential or confirmed patients with the Ebola virus.

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A computer model developed by Johns Hopkins health care delivery specialists predicts that strengthening a handful of efforts to keep people with HIV in lifetime care, along with more rigorous testing, would potentially avert a projected 752,000 new HIV infections and 276,000 AIDS deaths in the United States alone over the next 20 years.

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“Decision aids” in the form of informational brochures help get patients talking about their anesthesia and pain relief options, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2015 annual meeting. Shared decision making is critical to a more patient-centered process, as well as helping patients take an active role in their medical decisions.

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New research shows that an ancient protein that protects bacteria from bursting also helps pollen survive the dangerous transition from desiccated to hydrated once it lands on the female flower. But in pollen’s case, the protein has evolved to provide just the right amount of internal pressure: enough to power cell growth but not so much that the pollen bursts and dies.

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According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 11 cases have been reported in the United States since April 1st, 2015.

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A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses. And the process used to create it may help scientists harness the “sugar code” that our cells use to communicate.

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Analyses of landmark RV144 HIV vaccine study volunteers revealed that those who developed a unique set of vaccine-induced antibodies in combination with a high level of CD4 T-cell responses to the outer portion of the HIV virus, called its envelope gene, correlated with reduced HIV infection.

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Staphylococcus aureus is a formidable human pathogen. One of the bacterium’s most impressive weapons is α-toxin, which provokes the destruction of human cells. An international project allowed to identify the components of our cells that modulate the virulence of this toxin, in particular the PLEKHA7 protein.

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Researchers at the University of Texas, the University of Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered structural similarities among bacteria of various types that create the possibility of using similar approaches to fight the infections they cause.

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Children are becoming infected with the highly fatal antibiotic resistant bacteria CRE at a much higher rate than the recent past, according to a data analysis by researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The study was published in the Centers for Disease Control’s publication Emerging Infectious Diseases on Oct. 14.

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Researchers at Duke Medicine have discovered that rhesus monkeys can, in fact, transmit Cytomegalovirus (CMV) across the placenta to their unborn offspring. This finding, reported online October 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, establishes the first primate model that researchers can use to study mother-to-fetus CMV infections and spur development of potential vaccine approaches.

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Drug-resistant bacteria have dominated news headlines and the attention of public health experts, but a study by experts at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the Duke Clinical Research Institute shows that nonresistant bacterial infections occur far more often and can take just as great a toll on newborns as their drug-resistant cousins.

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The WHO report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides the first results of a long-term study on male Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone.

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A joint study by UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Health & Hospital System investigators found that a multicomponent outreach program increased completion of the three-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination series that reduces the risk of cervical cancer caused by the virus.

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To help stop the spread of antibiotic resistance, UC San Francisco scientists are urging hospitals around the country to stop buying meat from animals that were given antibiotics for growth promotion.

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Animal science researchers at Iowa State University have identified a pair of genetic mutations that cause immune deficiencies in pigs that make them uniquely good models for testing potential medical therapies for people. The work advances previous ISU research on pigs with severe combined immunodeficiency.

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The most severe strep infections are often the work of one strain known as M1T1, named for the type of tentacle-like M protein projecting from the bacterium’s surface. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered a new way M1 contributes to strep virulence — the protein’s ability to hold off antimicrobial peptides. The study is published October 14 by Cell Host & Microbe.

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Scientists at the Tulane National Primate Research Center are leading efforts to find a new vaccine for tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

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A study led by Indiana University biologist Patricia Foster and colleagues has found that forces in the external environment and oxidation are the greatest threats to an organism’s ability to repair damage to its own DNA.

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Paul J. Thuluvath, M.D., Chief, Division of Gastroenterology at Mercy Medical Center, has authored the new health book, Hepatitis C: A Complete Guide for Patients and Families, which became available to the public earlier this month.

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University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) researchers have patented a low-cost printer that helps HIV patients living in low-resource settings track the health of their cells.

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Drug-resistant E. coli infections are on the rise in community hospitals, where more than half of U.S. patients receive their health care, according to a new study from Duke Medicine.

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In a study involving 2,400 men who have sex with men who were also enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, researchers report that men with HIV who were treated effectively with HIV therapy — defined as no detectable HIV virus in the blood — were the least likely (80 percent less likely) to get infected with HBV over a median follow-up of approximately 9.5 years

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Get your flu shot in October for best shot at protection and here's why, says Jorge Parada, MD, infectious disease, Loyola University Health System. Parada explains how the flu serum is formulated and why 2014 was a bad year for the flu.

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Researchers found that flu immunizations with four times the strength of standard flu shots significantly reduced the risk of being hospitalized during the influenza season. The group that received the high dose vaccine had a 19.7 percent hospital admission rate versus 20.9 percent in admission for those who received the standard dose vaccine. The findings were presented as a late breaking research presentation on Oct. 10 at the Infectious Diseases Society of America meeting in San Diego.

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New research from Penn Medicine infection control specialists found that ultraviolet (UV) robots helped reduce the rates transmission of the common bacterial infection known as Clostridium difficile among cancer inpatients – mostly blood cancer patients, a group more vulnerable to hospital-acquired infections – by 25 percent. The interventions also saved about $150,000 in annual direct medical costs.

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Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have developed a novel mathematical method inspired by Darwinian evolution to use current antibiotics to eliminate or reduce the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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The naturally occurring bacteria on a frog’s skin could be the most important tool for helping the animal fight off a deadly skin disease, according to an experiment conducted by Virginia Tech researchers.

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In a hospital, what you can’t see could hurt you. Healthcare facilities continue to battle drug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that loiter on surfaces even after patient rooms have been cleaned and can cause new, sometimes-deadly infections. But a new study from Duke Medicine has found that using a combination of chemicals and UV light to clean patient rooms cut transmission of four major superbugs by a cumulative 30 percent among a specific group of patients -- those who stay overnight in a room where someone with a known positive culture or infection of a drug-resistant organism had previously been treated.

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Research from Indiana University has found that sexual activity triggers physiological changes in the body that increase a woman's chances of getting pregnant, even outside the window of ovulation.

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