Latest and Breaking Infectious Diseases News

New test shows potential for detecting active cases of Lyme disease
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(George Mason University) George Mason University researchers can find out if a tick bite means Lyme disease well before the bite victim begins to show symptoms.

Exercise does not improve lipoprotein levels in obese patients with fatty liver disease
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Wiley-Blackwell) New research found that moderate exercise does not improve lipoprotein concentrations in obese patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease. Results published in the June issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, report that moderate physical activity produces only a small decrease in triglyceride and alanine transaminase levels.

Army study: DNA vaccine and duck eggs protect against hantavirus disease
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) Army scientists and industry collaborators have successfully protected laboratory animals from lethal hantavirus disease using a novel approach that combines DNA vaccines and duck eggs. The work appears in a recent edition of the online scientific journal PLoS ONE, published by the Public Library of Science.

P. aeruginosa bacteria associated with increased hospitalizations in COPD patients
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Thoracic Society) Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who become infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aerguinosa are more likely to have worse clinical outcomes and experience more hospitalizations during the course of their disease than COPD patients who are not infected, according to researchers from Buffalo, N.Y.

Treating pain with transplants
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Cell Press) A new study finds that transplanting embryonic cells into adult mouse spinal cord can alleviate persistent pain. The research, published by Cell Press in the May 24 issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that reduced pain results from successful integration of the embryonic cells into the host spinal cord. The findings open avenues for clinical strategies aimed not just at treating the symptoms of chronic debilitating pain, but correcting the underlying disease pathology.

New process would make anti-malarial drug less costly
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Chemical Society) Scientists are reporting development of a new, higher-yield, two-step, less costly process that may ease supply problems and zigzagging prices for the raw material essential for making the mainstay drug for malaria. That disease sickens 300-500 million people annually and kills more than one million. The report on the process, which uses readily available substances and could be easily implemented by drug companies, appears in ACS' journal Organic Process Research & Development.

Mortality rates decrease, chronic disease rates increase among HIV+ ICU patients
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Thoracic Society) The expanded use of antiretrovirals, potent drugs used to treat retroviral infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has been linked to significant decreases in hospital mortality rates among severely ill HIV-positive(HIV+) patients nationwide, primarily due to a decrease in opportunistic infections, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.

Anti-inflammatory drugs may improve survival from severe malaria
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) A novel anti-inflammatory drug could help to improve survival in the most severe cases of malaria by preventing the immune system from causing irrevocable brain and tissue damage.Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have shown that a new class of anti-inflammatory agents, called IDR (innate defense regulator) peptides, could help to increase survival from severe clinical malaria when used in combination with antimalarial drugs.

Early-life risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphoma
22 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Journal of the National Cancer Institute) Factors influencing early life non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) incidence include family characteristics, high fetal growth, older maternal age, low birth order, and male gender, according to a study published May 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

New TB test promises to be cheap and fast
22 May 2012, 4:00 am
(University of California - Davis) Biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed a microfluidic chip to test for latent tuberculosis. They hope the test will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than current testing for the disease.