Infectious disease can be any disease caused by invasion by a pathogen which subsequently grows and multiplies in the body. Infectious diseases are the result of damaging microorganisms obtaining access to the body, and not being repelled or destroyed by the immune system.
Tamiflu Resistance Confirmed in H7N9 Flu Cases — Drug resistance in new China bird flu raises concern – Resistance easily develops when patients take antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir (tamiflu) for treating h7n9 influenza infections. Researcher’s analysis, which includes 14 patients who were hospitalized in Shanghai within 2 days of starting therapy with Tamiflu, appears in The Lancet.
Toddler ‘functionally cured’ of HIV infection, NIH-supported investigators report — Discovery provides clues for potentially eliminating HIV infection in other children – This is the first well-documented case of an HIV-infected child who appears to have been functionally cured of HIV infection. A two-year-old child born with HIV infection and treated with antiretroviral drugs beginning in the first days of life no longer has detectable levels of virus using conventional testing despite not taking HIV medication for 10 months.
US FDA approves new seasonal influenza vaccine made using novel technology – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved Flublok, the first trivalent influenza vaccine made using an insect virus (baculovirus) expression system and recombinant DNA technology. Flublok is approved for the prevention of seasonal influenza in people 18 through 49 years of age.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may benefit HIV infected women – Women with HIV may benefit from a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), despite having already been exposed to HPV, a study finds. Although many may have been exposed to less serious forms of HPV, more than 45 percent of sexually active young women who have acquired HIV appear never to have been exposed to the most common high-risk forms of HPV.
Scientists to study the role genes play in treating TB – The University of Liverpool has been awarded funding to determine whether differences in our genes determine how patients respond to drugs used to treat Tuberculosis (TB) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Using cell phone data to curb the spread of malaria — Study in Kenya finds measuring movement of people could lead to more effective ways to control spread of disease – New research that combines cell phone data from 15 million people in Kenya with detailed information on the regional incidence of malaria has revealed, on the largest scale so far, how human travel patterns contribute to the disease’s spread. The findings indicate that malaria, in large part, emanates from Kenya’s Lake Victoria region and spreads east, chiefly toward the capital, Nairobi.
Design help for drug cocktails – Harvard researchers create a mathematical model that helps to design efficient multi-drug therapies – Pooling data from thousands of tests of the antiviral activity of more than 20 commonly used anti-HIV drugs, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities have developed what they say is the first accurate computer simulation to explain drug effects.
Changing epidemiology of rare disease links sinus irrigation with contaminated tap water, 2 deaths — Cases highlight importance of using appropriately treated water for nasal irrigation – When water containing the Naegleria fowleri ameba, a single-celled organism, enters the nose, the organisms may migrate to the brain, causing primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a very rare?but usually fatal?disease.
Severe reactions to food more common than thought in young children — Study identifies causes for high rates of allergic reactions in children with food allergies – Young children with allergies to milk and egg experience reactions to these and other foods more often than researchers had expected. A new study found that severe and potentially life-threatening reactions in a significant number of these children occur and that some caregivers are hesitant to give such children epinephrine, a medication that reverses the symptoms of such reactions and can save lives.
Avian flu viruses which are transmissible between humans could evolve in nature — Research provides insight into feasibility of virus becoming airborne transmissible – It might be possible for human-to-human airborne transmissible avian H5N1 influenza viruses to evolve in nature, new research has found. The findings, from research led by Professor Derek Smith and Dr Colin Russell at the University of Cambridge, were published today, 22 June in the journal Science.
