An over-the-counter drug used to treat diarrhea combined with minocycline, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections, could one day change the lives of those living with cystic fibrosis.
New research on mice has shown that pulmonary administration of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) significantly reduces flu symptoms and prevents death after a lethal dose influenza virus. While GM-SCF therapy for humans as a flu prophylaxis or treatment may be years away, the study results were striking: All of the mice treated with GM-SCF survived after being infected with the influenza virus, whereas untreated mice all died from the same infection.
A discovery by Johns Hopkins scientists about how a single-celled fungus survives in low-oxygen settings may someday help humans whose immune systems are compromised by organ transplants or AIDS.
In a study appearing in the May issue of the journal American Naturalist, researchers show that just three ecological factors – rainfall, predator diversity, and island size and shape – can account for nearly all of the differences in infection rates among the eight Channel Islands off the California coast.
A new research study of the effect of a commonly used strategy to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospital intensive care units (ICU) shows that the strategy had no significant effect. That’s the surprising finding of a multisite study led by Mayo Clinic investigators.
During the symposium, “Pathobiology of Liver Injury and Fibrosis,” Dr. Samuel French Jr. explains the effects of several flavonoids on hepatitis C viral infection.
Biochemist Yingfu Li and his research team have developed a simple test that can swiftly and accurately identify specific pathogens using a system that will ‘hunt’ for bacteria, identifying their harmful presence before they have a chance to contaminate our food and water.
The discovery of two genes that encode copper- and sulfur-binding repressors in the hospital terror Staphylococcus aureus means two new potential avenues for controlling the increasingly drug-resistant bacterium, scientists say in the April 15, 2011 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Had a large stockpile of oral cholera vaccine been available and deployed to inoculate the majority of Haitians most at risk after the outbreak following last year’s earthquake, the illness and death from the cholera epidemic could have been reduced by about half, according to new research.
The meaning of the standard fecal coliform test used to monitor water quality has been called into question by a new study that identified sources of Escherichia coli bacteria that might not indicate an environmental hazard.
Fungal infections are a major health problem for people whose immune systems are compromised because of genetic deficiencies, AIDS, or cancer and associated medical treatments like chemotherapy. In those people a deficient immune response can permit fungi to take hold in the body and produce severe infection. In addition, exposure to environmental fungi can exacerbate asthmatic reactions. Dr. Amariliz Rivera and colleagues report new insights into the body's reaction to inhaled fungi.
Using sinus tissue removed during surgery at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have managed to grow a recently discovered species of human rhinovirus (HRV), the most frequent cause of the common cold, in culture.
Laboratories at University of New Mexico, Brown University, and House Ear Institute developed a new technique to observe herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) infections growing inside cells. Re-activation and growth of HSV1 infections contribute to cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have found that people with lung cancer were significantly more likely to have several high-risk forms of human papillomavirus (HPV) antibodies compared to those who did not have lung cancer. These results, which were presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6, indicate that HPV antibodies are substantially increased in people with lung cancer.
A section of the AIDS virus's protein envelope once considered an improbable target for a vaccine now appears to be one of the most promising, new research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists indicates.
Hospitals can reduce the risk of life-threatening bloodstream infections in children with peripherally inserted central venous catheters by assessing daily the patient’s progress and removing the device as early as possible, according to a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study published online March 31 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
A study of newly installed, hands-free faucets at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, all equipped with the latest electronic-eye sensors to automatically detect hands and dispense preset amounts of water, shows they were more likely to be contaminated with one of the most common and hazardous bacteria in hospitals compared to old-style fixtures with separate handles for hot and cold water.
A three-drug cocktail can eliminate the hepatitis C virus in patients far more effectively than the current two-drug regimen, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital. The results of the global study are in the March 31 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Saint Louis University investigator Bruce Bacon, M.D., reports findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The Clorox Company announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the registration of DISPATCH® Hospital Cleaner Disinfectant Towels with Bleach to kill Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) spores in five minutes, the fastest C. difficile contact time available. This is the first bleach-based wipe to receive EPA registration for C. difficile, a spore-forming bacterium found in the intestines that can cause a variety of symptoms, from diarrhea to more serious life-threatening intestinal disease.
Neglected infections of poverty are the latest threat plaguing the poorest people living in the Gulf Coast states and in Washington, D.C., according to Dr. Peter Hotez, Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University and President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, in an editorial published in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases on March 29th.
A pilot study shows clothes treated with long-lasting insect repellant appear to offer outdoor workers significant protection against tick bites. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, found 93 percent fewer tick attachments among a group of state water quality employees who wore Insect Shield Repellent Apparel, compared to workers in similar environments who used spray repellants or other tick bite prevention methods.
In critically ill children with pneumonia, delays of even a few hours to treatment with the correct antibiotic can mean more days in the hospital, reports a study in the April issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
When influenza pandemics arrive is severing social and business interactions with our neighbors really better than chancing getting sick?
March 24, 2011, marks 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 as preventing the spread of drug resistant TB and as the urgent need to develop new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.
On World TB Day, March 24th, a team of physician and researchers led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s Tuberculosis Research Unit will nationally launch “I am TB,” an international advocacy campaign aimed at reducing stigma among patients with TB and those at risk for the disease.
New research in the April issue of Anesthesiology shows for the first time a genetic marker in patients who have a greater likelihood of surviving sepsis.
Patients admitted to a hospital with major trauma and treated with the steroid hydrocortisone were less likely to be diagnosed with hospital-acquired pneumonia than patients who received placebo, according to a study in the March 23/30 issue of JAMA.
The University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago has installed a new, fully automated system that ensures caregivers have cleaned their hands when they enter a patient's room.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) represent a growing concern for both patients and healthcare providers across the nation. Creating and maintaining a hygienic environment is everyone’s responsibility and teamwork is an important part of the process. National infection prevention expert Ruth M. Carrico PhD, RN, CIC is available to discuss the responsibilities of patients and healthcare facilities to help prevent the spread of HAIs.
Researchers at Cornell University have uncovered a chemical ballet between mosquitoes during sex. The study found that more than 100 proteins in male sperm permanently alter a female’s tendencies to feed and mate – a possible key to controlling diseases such West Nile virus and dengue fever.
Oral vaccines could prevent 52 to 60 percent of cholera cases in the first two years after vaccination, according to a new review of vaccine studies.
Scientists have shown that an experimental vaccine against the human norovirus can generate a strong immune response in mice without appearing to cause the animals any harm.
Can probiotics prevent pneumonia in patients breathing with the help of ventilators? That’s just one question researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis hope to answer as part of innovative new studies to reduce infections in health-care settings.
Providing clues into why the severity of a common parasitic infection can vary greatly from person to person, a new Johns Hopkins study shows that each one of three strains of the cat-borne parasite Toxoplasma gondii sets off a unique reaction in the nerve cells it invades.
A study featured on the cover of the March 15 Journal of Immunology is providing insight into why the elderly are so vulnerable to pneumonia and other bacterial infections.
Whitehead Institute scientists have created a method that site-specifically modifies proteins to exert control over their properties when administered therapeutically. The technique should be useful to increase potency, slow metabolism, and improve thermal stability of therapeutically useful proteins.
Results of Study May Help Eradicate Dangerous Disease, Contribute to Solving Global Health Problem: A study conducted by Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland and University of Massachusetts Medical Center scientists and published in the Journal of Immunology identifies a new mutant vaccine antigen for Neisseria meningitidis (also called meningococcus) that has the potential to improve vaccine development against dangerous bacterial infections including meningitis.
Scientists in Israel and California have developed an instrument for rapidly analyzing molecular interactions that take place viruses and the cells they infect. By helping to identify interactions between proteins made by viruses like HIV and hepatitis and proteins made by the human cells these viruses infect, the device may help scientists develop new ways of disrupting these interactions and find new drugs for treating those infections.
Viruses can penetrate every part of the body, making them potentially good tools for gene therapy or drug delivery. But with our immune system primed to seek and destroy these foreign invaders, delivering therapies with viruses is currently inefficient and can pose a significant danger to patients.
Researchers at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon, Portugal and the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are making major strides toward understanding the life cycle of flaviviruses, which include some of the most virulent human pathogens: yellow fever virus, Dengue virus, and the West Nile Virus, among others.
A new study revealed that using treated mosquito nets could drastically reduce the transmission of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) to humans. The study, conducted by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Dibrugarh, North East Region (NE), Indian Council of Medical Research and released in the March issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, showed that the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITMNs) on humans and pigs reduced transmission of JE 72 percent in humans.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 8, 2011) -- In work that is pushing the "diffraction barrier" associated with microscopic imaging of living cells, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM demonstrated the power of a new super-resolution microscopy technique called Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), which can simultaneously image multiple molecules in living immune cells.
Institute for Genome Sciences led pioneering investigation in new field of microbial forensics.
Children without previous iron deficiencies or anemia who remained infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) had significantly lower levels of iron compared to children who had the infection eradicated, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Bacteria like salmonellae infect their host cells by needle-shaped extensions. A group of Viennese scientists employed recently developed methods of cryo-electron microscopy and have been able to clarify the structure of this infection apparatus on the near-atomic scale. The exact knowledge of the needles’ building plan may help to develop medication to prevent infection.
Researchers from NIST and Weill Cornell Mecial College have designed artificial 'protocells' that can lure, entrap and inactivate a class of deadly human viruses--think decoys with teeth.
An "implementation science" approach will play a critical role in the next phase of The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to an editorial in JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Immunological research at the University of Haifa, Israel, has made a new breakthrough, revealing a critical component in the "decision-making" process of white blood cells that play a role in healing from bacterial inflammation.
The Group B Streptococcus is still the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in newborns, concludes a seven-year French study in the March 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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