Once considered a hospital anomaly, community-acquired infections with drug-resistant strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus now turn up regularly among children hospitalized in the intensive-care unit, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
A small new study suggests that some common beliefs about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases may not apply to human papillomavirus, also known as HPV.
Suspecting that a particular protein in tuberculosis was likely to be vital to the bacteria’s survival, Johns Hopkins scientists screened 175,000 small chemical compounds and identified a potent class of compounds that selectively slows down this protein’s activity and, in a test tube, blocks TB growth, demonstrating that the protein is indeed a vulnerable target.
Fewer than half of all substance abuse treatment facilities surveyed nationwide reported that they conduct on-site infectious disease screening, according to a new study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and other institutions has solved the structure of a key protein from the virus that caused last year’s “swine flu” influenza epidemic. The structure reveals that the virus shares many features with influenza viruses common in the early 20th century, helping to explain why, in general, older individuals have been less severely affected by the recent outbreak than younger ones.
A study, published in the April 1 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, found the incidence of CA-MRSA in the Chicago area was six-fold higher among HIV-infected patients than it was among HIV-negative patients.
March 24, 2010, will mark World TB Day. On this day around the world, the public health and scientific community will raise public awareness about tuberculosis and the challenges that remain in controlling it globally, such controlling drug resistant TB and as the urgent need to develop new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.
Arnold B. Rabson, MD, professor of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, has been appointed as the second director of the Child Health Institute of New Jersey (CHINJ). Dr. Rabson has served as the interim director for CHINJ since 2007 and was previously deputy director of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
An intensive program of surveillance, precautions, training and feedback in a large multihospital institution appears to be associated with reductions in rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) over a 15-year period, according to a report in the March 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found two novel ways of killing the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), a disease responsible for an estimated two million deaths each year.
Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a safe and inexpensive antibiotic in use since the 1970s for treating acne effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating.
Research led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital investigators identifies potential new targets for treatment of colitis and other inflammatory bowel diseases.
A multi-institutional five-year study will perform molecular genomics analyses of the disease-causing powers of Chlamydia on a scale never before attempted.
– Obesity may limit the body’s ability to develop immunity to influenza viruses, particularly secondary infections, by inhibiting the immune system’s ability to “remember” how it fought off previous similar bouts of illness, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A potent new inhibitor of HIV, derived from bananas, may open the door to new treatments to prevent sexual transmission of HIV, according to a study by University of Michigan scientists.
Immunizing children and adolescents with inactivated influenza vaccine resulted in reduced rates of influenza in their community compared to a similar community in which children did not receive the vaccine, suggesting that vaccinating children may help prevent transmission of the virus and offer protection for unimmunized community residents, according to a study in the March 10 issue of JAMA.
The potentially deadly yellow-fever-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito detects the specific chemical structure of a compound called octenol as one way to find a mammalian host for a blood meal.
A new study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators disproves reports that well-fed children are more vulnerable to the dengue virus.
Cornell researchers have found a protein that may lead to a new way to control mosquitoes that spread dengue fever, yellow fever and other diseases when they feed on humans: Prevent them from urinating as they feed on blood. (American Journal of Physiology, March 4, 2010)
Mosquitoes—not birds as suspected—may have a played a primary role in spreading West Nile virus westward across the United States, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is among the first to examine the role of mosquitoes in the dispersion of West Nile virus across the U.S. and is published in the March 2 edition of Molecular Ecology.
If the behavior of the seasonal form of the H1N1 influenza virus is any indication, scientists say that chances are good that most strains of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus will become resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug stockpiled for use against it.
A new study using mice suggests that a repeated stressful situation that triggers the animals’ natural “fight-or-flight” response may actually enhance their ability to fight disease when re-exposed to the same pathogen.
Researchers at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine have conducted a study on prion disease and found that transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) can be induced without an outside catalyst like a virus.
Doctor discusses why this is the peak time for the flu but it's no where in sight.
A novel compound is highly effective against the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including some drug-resistant strains, according to new research led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist.
Strategy proven for botulism; may lead to improved therapies for many toxins and some chronic diseases.
A new study finds that while nevirapine works well to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, a single dose of nevirapine in infected pregnant women can trigger resistance to some forms of the AIDS-drug cocktail known as combination antiretroviral treatment (ART). This nevirapine-induced resistance fades after about 12 months and no longer hinders ART, say UAB researchers working in Zambia.
WSU receives federal grant to target genetics of E. coli in cattle.
How do you study-and try to cure in the laboratory-an infection that only humans can get? A team led by Salk Institute researchers does it by generating a mouse with an almost completely human liver. This "humanized" mouse is susceptible to human liver infections and responds to human drug treatments, providing a new way to test novel therapies for debilitating human liver diseases and other diseases with liver involvement such as malaria.
Genetic interactions between avian H5N1 influenza and human seasonal influenza viruses have the potential to create hybrid strains combining the virulence of bird flu with the pandemic ability of H1N1, according to a new study.
Research published in PNAS shows long-term response to strep throat on a genome-wide level, shedding light on how strep interacts with and circumvents the immune system.
A new paper in the February 17th edition of the journal Molecular Cell describes how exposure to low levels of antibiotics increases mutations in E. coli and Staphylococcus bacteria hundreds of times more than normal, making the creation of drug-resistant strains more likely.
A signaling protein that is key in orchestrating the body’s overall immune response has an important localized role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in the intestinal tract, according to a study by UC San Diego School of Medicine investigators, published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
Saint Louis University physician offers tips for differentiating and treating two common winter ailments.
In the wake of Johns Hopkins’ success in virtually eliminating intensive-care unit bloodstream infections via a simple five-step checklist, the safety scientist who developed and popularized the tool warns medical colleagues that they are no panacea.
Scientists at Vanderbilt and Yale universities have successfully transplanted most of the “nose” of the mosquito that spreads malaria into frog eggs and fruit flies and are employing these surrogates to combat the spread of the deadly and debilitating disease that afflicts 500 million people.
A campaign that makes seasonal flu vaccinations for hospital staff free, convenient, ubiquitous and hard to ignore succeeds fairly well in moving care providers closer to a state of “herd” immunity and protecting patients from possible infection transmitted by health care workers, according to results of a survey at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
A leading immunology research institute has validated the long-held and controversial hypothesis that antibodies – usually the “good guys” in the body’s fight against viruses – instead contribute to severe dengue virus-induced disease, the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology announced today. The finding has major implications for the development of a first-ever vaccine against dengue virus, a growing public health threat which annually infects 50 to 100 million people worldwide, causing a half million cases of the severest form.
The results of an innovative study to understand what factors may influence who contracts tuberculosis (TB)/HIV co-infection in San Diego show a significant shift in the ethnic makeup of the disease, with the majority of cases now coming from the Hispanic community.
A team of scientists, led by a virologist from the University of California, San Diego’s Center for AID Research (CFAR), has discovered the origin of strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among men who have sex with men. The study, which may be important in developing prevention strategies for HIV, will appear in Science Translational Medicine on February 10, 2010.
Degree candidates will work with a number of nationally know scientists and physicians performing leading-edge, bench-to-bedside medical research.
As a pivotal paper linking childhood vaccinations to autism is discredited, a new study finds no evidence that the measles vaccine—given alone or as part of a combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—increases the risk of autism in children. The study appears in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have signed a license agreement with Genentech, a wholly owned member of the Roche group, and Roche, that grants the companies exclusive rights to manufacture, develop and market human monoclonal antibodies to treat and protect against group 1 influenza viruses.
The first head-to-head comparison of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies produced from plants versus antibodies produced from mammalian cells has shown that plant-produced antibodies fight infection equally well. The less expensive approach shows potential for treating disease in developing nations.
1) Cigarette smokers may have heightened cancer awareness, making them more open to vaccination for cancer prevention; 2) Physical activity also associated with greater vaccine acceptance; 3) Users of complementary and alternative therapy are less accepting of vaccine.
The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals’ intensive care units , has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero — even three years after first adopting the standardized procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).
Making flu shots mandatory in 2008 dramatically increased the vaccination rate among St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare’s nearly 26,000 employees to more than 98 percent, according to a report now online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Vaccination against seasonal influenza is safe and produces a protective immune response in infants as young as 6 to 12 weeks, concludes a study in the February issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
A research team led by Mei Hong of Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory has determined where an antiviral drug binds to and blocks a channel necessary for the flu virus to spread. The researchers also discovered that the drug spins in the channel, meaning there could be room for developing drugs that do a better job blocking the channel and stopping the flu. The findings are published in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Nature.
Results from clinical trials conducted in Tanzania show that a new vaccine against tuberculosis, Mycobacterium vaccae (MV), is effective in preventing tuberculosis in people with HIV infection. Findings from the trials, which were conducted by investigators from Dartmouth Medical School in the United States, will be published in the next issue of AIDS, the leading journal in the field of HIV and AIDS research.
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