A new combination of investigational drugs successfully suppressed hepatitis C genotype 1 infection in a high percent of patients who had not responded to previous treatment in a study led by a University of Michigan hepatologist.
Researchers from the University of Utah have identified a process by which the most common types of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are able to trigger bladder cell shedding and disable immune responses.
An international team of microbiologists led by Indiana University researchers has identified a new bacterial growth process -- one that occurs at a single end or pole of the cell instead of uniform, dispersed growth along the long axis of the cell -- that could have implications in the development of new antibacterial strategies.
Garth Phibbs, MD, FACOG is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist specializing in gynecological oncology and has been practicing medicine for the past 39 years. He completed his fellowship at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Mich. and his residency at Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario. He received his Bachelor of Science and his Medical Doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, the American college of Obstetricians & Gynecologist and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, division of Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Phibbs currently heads a private practice located at ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
Intestinal worm infections may not be all bad, according to a new study by William Gause and colleagues at UMDNJ- New Jersey Medical School. In research on mice, published in Nature Medicine, immune reaction to the presence of intestinal worms was found to promote wound healing in the lungs.
Georgia Tech and CDC researchers have developed a new laboratory test that can rapidly identify the bacterium responsible for staph infections. The test uses mass spectrometry to quantify the number of Staphylococcus aureus organisms in a large number of samples in just a few hours.
An article released today in PLoS ONE entitled, Zoonotic Viruses Associated with Illegally Imported Wildlife Products, from a collaborative study led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), identified evidence of retroviruses and herpesviruses in illegally imported wildlife products confiscated at several U.S. international airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental-Houston and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International.
Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients compared to waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency departments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the January 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
New research shows that infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block a pathogen’s entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself.
For children with HIV infection, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the use of raltegravir, an antiretroviral drug that slows the spread of HIV infection, offers a new weapon to treat HIV infection in children.
Acting as a frontline offensive in the microscopic battlefield is Kansas State University's Biosecurity Research Institute, which is the springboard for Plum Island research to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF.
New NIH-funded research points investigators toward finding a genital herpes vaccine that works on both viruses that cause disease.
A UT Southwestern Medical Center study using a sophisticated “glass mouse” research model has found that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is more likely caused in patients by speedy drug metabolism rather than inconsistent doses, as is widely believed.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute demonstrated for the first time that the Anopheles mosquito’s innate immune system could be genetically engineered to block the transmission of the malaria-causing parasite to humans. In addition, they showed that the genetic modification had little impact on the mosquito’s fitness under laboratory conditions.
The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science.
In perhaps the most comprehensive survey of the inner workings of HIV, an international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has mapped every apparent physical interaction the virus makes with components of the human cells it infects—work that may reveal new ways to design future HIV/AIDS drugs.
Statins, traditionally known as cholesterol-lowering drugs, may reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza, according to a new study released online by The Journal of Infectious Diseases. It is the first published observational study to evaluate the relationship between statin use and mortality in hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection, according to Vanderbilt’s William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine.
Working with guinea pigs, tuberculosis experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have closely mimicked how active but untreated cases of the underlying lung infection lead to permanent eye damage and blindness in people.
Effective long-term treatment for patients living with HIV is complicated. Drug resistance is the leading cause of treatment failure and the development of new strains of the virus is common. Ryan Zurakowski, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, has developed a treatment method to reduce the risk of future failures in patients who have already experienced failure with their HIV treatment protocol.
Children with Kawasaki disease show a pattern of changing laboratory test results as the disease runs its course, according to a study in the December issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
“Human Immune System” mouse model closely mimics a person’s specific response and resolution of a tick-borne infection known as relapsing fever
University of Iowa researchers and colleagues have discovered how malaria manipulates the immune system to allow the parasite to persist in the bloodstream. By rescuing this immune system pathway, the research team was able to cure mice of bloodstream malaria infections.
The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is significantly increased in mothers postpartum, suggesting a potential new population to target for screening, according to a new UK-wide cohort study.
In populations with a low prevalence of tuberculosis (TB), the majority of positives with the three tests commercially available in the U.S for the diagnosis of TB are false positives, according to a new study.
Research, led by Timothy Sterling, M.D., professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has led to an important change in CDC recommendations in the regimen for prevention of the centuries-old scourge, tuberculosis (TB). Sterling’s work is published in the Dec. 8 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
A new University of Michigan Health System and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System study shows a no-payment rule may not be enough to encourage hospitals to combat hospital-acquired infections. Prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections lags behind practices to prevent other hospital-acquired infections, but there are actions patients can take to stay safe.
A new weapon to prevent HIV infection, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is based on the same drugs used to treat HIV-infected individuals. Thus,the big public health scare is that the dual use of these drugs will lead to skyrocketing levels of drug resistance. In fact, say UCLA researchers in a new study, that is not the case and indeed, the exact opposite is likely to happen.
New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill schools of medicine and pharmacy may help explain the failure of some recent clinical trials of prevention of HIV infection, compared to the success of others that used the same drugs.
An antimalarial agent developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans – by literally starving the parasites to death. The study, published in the November 11, 2011 issue of PLoS ONE, was led by senior author Vern Schramm, Ph.D., professor and Ruth Merns Chair in Biochemistry at Einstein.
Recent study implicates widely used topical antibiotics in the spread of MRSA.
Montefiore liver specialists urge population to be tested for this potentially deadly virus.
U.S. scientists published data presenting the genomic blueprints and outbreak dynamics of the human pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 in previously unprecedented detail.
A cheaper laboratory test that helps guide anti-retroviral drug treatment for people with HIV/AIDS may be just as effective as a more sophisticated test, a group of international researchers has found – a discovery that could be particularly important in rural Africa.
Indiana University biologists and two physicists at Brown University with IU connections have shown that certain bacteria wait until the last minute to synthesize the glue that allows them to attach permanently to surfaces.
A team of researchers from the University of Utah and the University of Massachusetts has identified the first gene associated with frequent herpes-related cold sores.
Holiday tip sheet from Ryerson University on staying flu-free this holiday season.
Handwashing with antibacterial soap produces statistically greater reductions in bacteria on the skin when compared to using non-antibacterial soap. Those are the findings of a review of two dozen relevant published studies – analyzing the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps – featured in the November 2011 edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Food Protection.
UVA Researchers are the first in the world to develop a new, faster method for monitoring dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Researchers discover role of H2S as defense mechanism against oxidative stress and antibiotics.
The influenza virus remains a worldwide threat to humans, causing an average of 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States alone. As health care professionals prepare for another flu season, a University of Missouri scientist is studying how two enzymes could be used to stop the virus in its tracks.
Bacteria responsible for middle ear infections, pink eye and sinusitis protect themselves from further immune attack by transporting molecules meant to destroy them away from their inner membrane target, according to a study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The study, published in the November issue of PLoS Pathogens, is the first to describe a transporter system that bacteria use to ensure their survival.
An experimental treatment for urinary tract infections has easily passed its first test in animals, alleviating weeks-long infections in mice in as little as six hours.
A study detected contrasting patterns of drug resistance in malaria-causing parasites taken from both humans and mosquitoes. Parasites found in human blood samples showed a high prevalence for pyrimethamine-resistance, which was consistent with the class of drugs widely used to treat malaria. However, parasites taken from mosquitoes themselves had very low prevalence of pyrimethamine-resistance and a high prevalence of cycloguanil-resistant mutants indicating resistance to a newer class of antimalaria drug not widely used in Zambia.
A hand and respiratory hygiene program including frequent use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer helps reduce illness caused by influenza A and missed school days in elementary school children, reports a study in the November issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Rates of HIV and syphilis are very high and rising among men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City, reports a study in the November issue of JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
A topically applied microbicide gel containing a potent anti-HIV drug has been found to significantly reduce infection when applied to rectal tissue that was subsequently exposed to HIV in the laboratory.
A study of the long-term consequences of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center shows repeated bouts of the disease can double a woman’s risk of infertility and quadruple her risk of chronic pelvic pain. Teenage girls with recurrent PID also face dire consequences, the researchers found, including a fivefold risk of chronic pelvic pain and alarming rates of infertility.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has received funding through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for research on controlling HIV infection, using a novel approach--a drug called a BET antagonist.
In a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthcare providers are being urged to administer a supplemental dose of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to age-eligible patients as they come in for visits.
A rise in periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) rates has the orthopedic community moving to develop it’s first-ever agreed upon definition and diagnostic criteria to help better treat patients. The proposed criteria, published in the November issue of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, was developed by a Musculoskeletal Infection Society working group led by Javad Parvizi, M.D., director of Research at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson. The group analyzed available research, much of which was conducted at Jefferson University Hospital, to develop the new definition and criteria.
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