Researchers have discovered a promising alternative to common antibiotics used to fight the bacteria that causes strep throat. In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists discussed how their discovery could fight the infection with a reduced risk of antibiotic resistance.
Disease-causing bacteria’s efforts to resist antibiotics may get help from their distant bacterial relatives that live in the soil, new research at Washington University School of Medicine suggests.
University at Buffalo researchers are expressing concern about a new, under-recognized, much more potent variant of a common bacterium that has surfaced in the U.S.
Water-associated infectious disease outbreaks are more likely to occur in areas where a region's population density is growing, according to a new global analysis.
Treatment with the antibiotic amoxicillin for patients with acute uncomplicated rhinosinusitis (inflammation of the nasal cavity and sinuses) did not result in a significant difference in symptoms compared to patients who received placebo, according to a study in the February 15 issue of JAMA.
A novel discovery by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues reveals a mechanism by which the immune system tries to halt the spread of HIV. Harnessing this mechanism may open up new paths for therapeutic research aimed at slowing the virus’ progression to AIDS. The study appears online ahead of print today in Nature Immunology.
Short-term use of the antibiotic cefpodoxime for the treatment of women with uncomplicated cystitis (bladder infection) did not meet criteria for noninferiority for achieving clinical cure compared with ciprofloxacin, a drug in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics for which there have been concerns about overuse and a resulting increase in resistance rates, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.
University of Utah biologists found new evidence why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs – even though some of those genes make us sick.
Using high-quality data about the incidence of influenza infections in Alberta during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the researchers show that when schools closed for the summer, the transmission of infection from person to person was sharply reduced.
Researchers found that by actively identifying undiagnosed malaria and then treating those with the disease resulted in significantly lower prevalence of malaria cases compared to a control group.
A new analysis published this week in the open-access journal PLoS ONE (Feb. 3, 2012) focused on a combined public health campaign in Western Province, Kenya led by the Swiss-based company Vestergaard Frandsen, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The analysis looked at the cost effectiveness of simultaneously confronting the problems of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and diarrhea caused by waterborne pathogens.
Newly divorced middle aged women are more vulnerable to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to Christopher Coleman, PhD, MPH, RN, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, because they tend to let their guard down with new sexual partners and avoid using protection since they are unafraid of getting pregnant.
February is peak season for flu, colds nd other viruses. Tips from Jorge Parada, MD, director, infectious disease at Loyola University Health System on how to give viruses "the kiss-off" during the season of romance.
Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a cell-permeable peptide that inhibits a hepatitis C virus protein and blocks viral replication, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.
Researchers led by William E. Goldman, PhD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine show that the plague bacteria transform the lungs from a nasty place for microbes into a playground for them to flourish.
Clorox Professional Products Company, a division of The Clorox Company announced today the introduction of Clorox Healthcare™ Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner Disinfectant Wipes and Spray, a new line of ready-to-use, one-step cleaner disinfectants engineered with a patented activated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) formula. These activated hydrogen peroxide products are registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to kill 32 bacteria and viruses in 30-seconds to one minute, the fastest non-bleach contact time available.
UCLA researchers discovered that the leprosy pathogen Mycobacterium leprae was able to evade immune activity that is dependent on vitamin D, a natural hormone that plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections. A better understanding of how these pathogens can escape the immune system may be helpful in designing more effective therapies.
Using a combination of evolutionary biology and virology, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have traced the birth of the ability of some HIV-related viruses to defeat a newly discovered cellular-defense system in primates.
The overall prevalence of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is approximately 7 percent among men and women ages 14 to 69 years in the United States, while the prevalence among men is higher than among women, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium.
Oral HPV infection is more common among men than women, explaining why men are more prone than women to develop an HPV related head and neck cancer, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM.
A molecule embedded in the membrane of human liver cells that aids in cholesterol absorption also allows the entry of hepatitis C virus, the first step in hepatitis C infection, according to research at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
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.
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