Feature Channels: Infectious Diseases

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Johns Hopkins and South African scientists have further compelling evidence that new, simpler and shorter treatments with antibiotic drugs could dramatically help prevent tens of millions of people worldwide already infected with the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis, and especially those co-infected with HIV, from developing full-blown TB. That population includes as many as 22 million in sub-Saharan Africa who are already HIV positive and at high risk of also picking up TB, which is endemic to the region, plus another 50,000 in the United States who are similarly HIV positive and at high risk of catching the lung infection.

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Infants of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infected mothers who were treated before and after birth with the protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir were more likely to experience adrenal dysfunction, including life-threatening adrenal insufficiency in premature infants, compared with a zidovudine-based regimen, according to a preliminary report in the July 6 issue of JAMA.

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Pneumonia is the leading cause of infant deaths worldwide, but pediatric researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have developed an effective, inexpensive way to help breathe life into children in developing countries.

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Molecular and cell biologists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered new information about how the Ebola virus works that could eventually lead to new drug treatments for the deadly virus.

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H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines do not put patients at risk for neurologic conditions, a large new study shows.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart suffered from many infectious illnesses from 1762 to 1791, the year of his death at 35 years of age. Most of these illnesses occurred between mid-October and May. Mozart died on December 5, two-to-three months into the 6-month vitamin D winter at that latitude.

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In the African nation where the first extensively drug-resistant case of tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was found a few years ago, the doors soon will open on a new TB research facility. University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Adrie Steyn, Ph.D., is the first scientist recruited to work at the facility.

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The rate of pneumonia in children caused by infection with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria has doubled over the past decade, according to a paper in the July issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A meta-analysis of bacteria-virus infections reveals a nested structure, with hard-to-infect bacteria infected by generalist viruses and easy-to-infect bacteria attacked by generalist & specialist viruses. These findings could provide insights into strategies for viral-based antimicrobial therapies.

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According to the CDC, about 20 percent of Americans with HIV don’t know it, greatly increasing their risk of transmitting the virus.

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Rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea infection among adult film performers in Los Angeles County are "unacceptably high," according to a paper in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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Infants born to mothers who received the influenza (flu) vaccine while pregnant are nearly 50 percent less likely to be hospitalized for the flu than infants born to mothers who did not receive the vaccine while pregnant, according to a new collaborative study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.

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Biologists worldwide subscribe to the healthy herds hypothesis, but could it be that predators can also make prey populations more susceptible to other predators or even parasites? Biologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered at least one animal whose defenses against a predator make it a good target for one opportunistic parasite.

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The drug Incivek, when given in combination with two other medications, can dramatically increase the chances of people chronically infected with untreated genotype 1 hepatitis C virus achieving a viral cure.

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The drug telaprevir (Incivek) provides a dramatic improvement in the treatment of the most common form of hepatitis C infection, says an international team of investigators led by Dr. Ira M. Jacobson of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

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New research shows that in some structured communities, organisms increase their chances of survival if they evolve some level of restraint that allows competitors to survive as well, a sort of “survival of the weakest.”

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A surprising finding in a study comparing hepatitis C virus (HCV) with hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections in chimpanzees by a team that includes scientists from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute sheds new light on the nature of the body’s immune response to these viruses.

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Many parents do not understand risk of water infections from pools and water parks or recognize the role showering plays in preventing infections.

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Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered how the body’s immune system launches its survival response to the notorious and deadly bacterium anthrax. The findings, reported online today and published in the June 22 issue of the journal Immunity, describe key emergency signals the body sends out when challenged by a life-threatening infection.

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For most parents, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) isn't a familiar term. But it's a common cause of serious respiratory infections with a major impact on the health of infants and young children worldwide, according to a special CDC Review Article in the June issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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A sugar-binding protein called galectin-9 traps an enzyme that influences how T-cells behave onto their surface, making them more susceptible to HIV infection.

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Scientists have identified six influenza A viruses that have particularly close genetic relationships to the H1N1 “swine” flu virus that swept through the United States beginning in the spring of 2009.

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Interdisciplinary team of scientists investigate and compare Acinetobacter baumannii genomic profile from body sites within hospital setting

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Researchers who used consumer marketing techniques to gauge acceptance of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among high-risk groups in Lima, found that study participants were generally supportive of the therapy but that out-of-pocket costs had the greatest impact on their willingness to use it.

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Technology helped ensure that patients treated for Hepatitis C in local communities did as well as patients treated at a university-based medical center.

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Educational fact sheets outline school protocols for cleaning, sanitizing, and targeted disinfecting.

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Diarrheal disease, a common gastrointestinal problem with potentially fatal implications in the developing world is the focus of World Digestive Health Day on May 29. Infections that cause diarrhea are serious public health challenges, both in the United States and globally. The American College of Gastroenterology has identified a number of resources for those seeking information on the global issue of diarrheal disease, as well as tips and strategies for those here in the United States to manage acute diarrhea.

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Seattle BioMed’s Aderem shares Insight into rational vaccine development using new approaches.

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Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have examined the potential for human exposure to prion diseases, looking at hunting, venison consumption, and travel to areas in which prion diseases have been reported in animals. Three prion diseases in particular – bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or “Mad Cow Disease”), variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), and chronic wasting disease (CWD) – were specified in the investigation. The results of this investigation are published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

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Researchers found that artificial infection with different Wolbachia bacteria strains can significantly reduce levels of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, in the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. The investigators also determined that one of the Wolbachia strains rapidly killed the mosquito after it fed on blood. According to the researchers, Wolbachia could potentially be used as part of a strategy to control malaria if stable infections can be established in Anopheles.

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A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine further validates the use of humanized BLT mice in the fight to block HIV transmission.

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Face masks worn by patients infected with tuberculosis (TB) may be able to significantly cut transmission rates to non-infected patients, according to a new study by researchers from the U.S. and South Africa. The study was conducted in a specialized airborne infections research facility in South Africa, which was designed to allow study of methods to control the spread of TB. Transmission rates were measured using healthy guinea pigs exposed to infected patients.

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A Kansas State University biologist is using a nearly $1.5 million NIH grant to study the role of the serpin-2 molecule in mosquito immunity. Findings could stop the transmission of malaria and other mosquito-spread diseases by making mosquitoes susceptible to the very diseases they transmit.

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ATS 2011, DENVER – The antibiotic linezolid may be more effective than vancomycin in treating ventilated patients who develop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia as a result of their ventilation, according to a study conducted globally by American and French researchers.

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The first-known study comparing costs of routine Aedes aegypti mosquito control programs (RACP) and insecticide-treated curtains (ITC) reveals that the cost of RACP is substantially lower than that of ITC implementation for dengue control and prevention.

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Just how many germs are you spreading with a handshake?

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Loyola University Medical Center infectious disease expert say both are on the rise in area; more study needed.

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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified a bacterium in field-caught mosquitoes that, when present, stops the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans. According to the study, the Enterobacter bacterium is part of the naturally occurring microbial flora of the mosquito’s gut and kills the parasite by producing reactive oxygen species (or free radical molecules).

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Journal of Parasitology – Figuring out how we contracted an illness can help us determine what steps to take next. In the case of infectious disease, epidemiological studies can offer insight into treatment and prevention. Toxoplasmosis, a common parasitic infection, has provided scientists with a particular challenge because several routes of infection are possible and current tests are unable to differentiate between them.

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Sepsis is a major killer in hospital intensive care units. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found that manipulating a genetic factor that can launch or throttle the body’s defenses can improve survival rates during bacterial infection.

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World-leading HIV expert and study leader, Myron Cohen, M.D., available to speak on landmark findings.

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Disease-causing bacteria can survive for days on wind instruments and may thus contribute to sickness in people who play wind instruments, especially students who share instruments, report researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine.

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HIV/AIDS vaccine experts from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and vaccine trial participants are available for interviews about the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s announcement of the nation’s first identified HIV infections.

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Boston University researchers discover that a simple compound — sugar – dramatically boosts the effectiveness of first-line antibiotics. Their findings appear in the May 12 issue of Nature.

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Belgian physicians report they have cured a young patient with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) using a novel two-drug combination developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The report, published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, marks the first known clinical use of this treatment for XDR-TB, the most deadly form of the disease.

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Researcher from UMDNJ-NJMS and the University of Manchester have used a new test that employs molecular beacon technology to better diagnose Aspergillus infections and resistance to drugs used to treat patients with aspergillosis.

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Discovery of a new class of insect repellant raises the possibility of formulations that are thousands of times more effective than current repellants.

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For infants and young children with urinary tract infection (UTI) seen in the ER, a simple ultrasound examination may avoid the need for more complex x-ray tests, reports a study in the May issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

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While children of all ethnicities can contract Kawasaki disease, a study led by researchers at the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego finds that Filipino children with KD are at a higher risk for inflammation of the blood vessels of the heart than those of other Asian and non-Asian backgrounds.

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Short courses of antibiotics appear just as effective as longer ones - and a great deal safer - in treating respiratory infections that might cause pneumonia in children on temporary breathing devices, according to a Johns Hopkins Children's Center study published online May 3 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.