Global TB levels off, but super strains take hold
The global rate of tuberculosis infections has leveled off, public health officials said Thursday, offering a glimmer of hope for the first time since the disease's spread was declared a global emergency more than a decade ago.
Msnbc Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:54:59 GMT

Viral enzyme recruited in fight against ear infection
Parents might one day give their children a weekly treatment with a nasal spray of virus enzymes to prevent them from getting a severe middle ear infection, based on results of a study done in mice by investigators from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and The Rockefeller University in New York.
Eurekalert.org Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Pacific Rim researchers to collaborate on distributed bioinformatics analysis of avian flu
UC San Diego will lead a one-year project, with $350,000 in funding from the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), to use bioinformatics tools and cyber infrastructure to study avian flu.
Eurekalert.org Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Viral protein is an effective preventative against infection
Using lysins, a protein from viruses that infect bacteria, scientists have developed a novel way to prevent kids from developing middle ear infections.
Eurekalert.org Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

American Society for Microbiology to host 107th General Meeting in Toronto
For the first time in its 107-year history, the American Society for Microbiology will hold its annual meeting outside the United States. Featuring over 3,000 individual scientific presentations, and with an expected attendance of 12,000, the 107th ASM General Meeting will be held May 21-25, 2007, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Eurekalert.org Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation 27th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions
The 27th Annual Meeting and Scientific Session of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation will be held at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco, April 25-28, 2007.
Eurekalert.org Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Malaria-resistant mosquito developed
Researchers have developed a malaria-resistant mosquito, a step that might one day help block the spread of an illness that has claimed millions of lives around the world.
Msnbc Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:00:54 GMT

Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
"New Study Suggests Antiviral Protein May Inhibit Ebola and Marburg Virus"; "Probiotic Treatment Reduces Salmonella Infection in Pigs"; and "Protein Found in Chickens May Help Protect Against Food-Borne Pathogens" are story tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology.
Eurekalert.org Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

What led to the Nigerian boycott of the polio vaccination campaign?
Suspicion and mistrust of Western medicine led Muslim religious leaders in three northern states of Nigeria to call for the 2003 boycott of the national polio vaccine campaign, according to a historical analysis in PLoS Medicine. The boycott led to fresh outbreaks of polio in Nigeria.
Eurekalert.org Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Why is long-term therapy required to cure tuberculosis?
Understanding why other bacteria become resistant to antibiotics could hold the key to understanding why TB takes so long to cure, say researchers in a policy paper in PLoS Medicine.
Eurekalert.org Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Final struggle to rid guinea worm disease
A 20-year fight to eradicate guinea worm disease, or dracunculiasis, is in the last and most difficult stages. It could be the first parasitic disease wiped out worldwide - and only the second disease ever to be eliminated; the first was smallpox in 1979.
Msnbc Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:36:15 GMT

Hospital worker exposed hundreds to TB
Hundreds of patients including newborn babies may have been exposed to tuberculosis by an infected hospital employee, city health officials said Thursday. The employee, whose identity was not disclosed, was diagnosed with active TB on Jan. 30, said Andrew Tucker, a spokesman for the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Msnbc Fri, 16 Mar 2007 01:21:04 GMT

Trojan horse strategy defeats drug-resistant bacteria
A new antimicrobial approach can kill bacteria in laboratory experiments and eliminate life-threatening infections in mice by interfering with a key bacterial nutrient, according to research led by a University of Washington scientist. The "Trojan horse" method tricks the bacteria into taking up the metal gallium instead of iron, which is essential for bacteria to grow and thrive.
Eurekalert.org Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Failure to meet United Nations sanitation target could affect millions of the world's poorest
Worldwide, billions of people lack access to a reliable source of safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. To address the problem, the United Nations established the Target 10 initiative, which aims to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Now, halfway to the deadline, experts warn that the United Nations may not achieve the sanitation target.
Eurekalert.org Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Researchers use poliovirus to destroy neuroblastoma tumors in mice
The cause of one notorious childhood disease, poliovirus, could be used to treat the ongoing threat of another childhood disease, neuroblastoma. In the March 15 issue of Cancer Research, researchers from Stony Brook University report that an attenuated -- or nonvirulent -- form of poliovirus is effective in obliterating neuroblastoma tumors in mice, even when the mice had been previously vaccinated against the virus.
Eurekalert.org Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Prison's deadliest inmate, hep C, escaping
The most dangerous thing coming out of prison these days may be something most convicts don't even know they have: hepatitis C.
Msnbc Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:15:36 GMT

Education another weapon against hep C
Leslie Benson, executive director of a nonprofit hepatitis C prevention group Education for Healthy Choices brings her message - along with movies, plastic livers for demonstrations, prizes and handouts - to recovering drug addicts 10 times a month.
Msnbc Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:13:34 GMT

L.A. food workers may get hepatitis shots
Thousands of food service workers in eateries across Los Angeles might be vaccinated for hepatitis A because of a series of outbreaks of the disease.
Msnbc Wed, 7 Mar 2007 15:58:26 GMT

FDA warns about eating raw oysters
The Food and Drug Administration says consumers should avoid eating raw oysters harvested from San Antonio Bay in Texas because more than two dozen people in Maryland became ill last month.
Msnbc Sun, 4 Mar 2007 15:48:37 GMT

Paraguayan health official dies of dengue
One of Paraguay's top health officials died Friday of dengue fever, the latest casualty in an epidemic that has infected thousands of people.
Msnbc Fri, 2 Mar 2007 21:20:00 GMT

Dengue fever outbreak in Paraguay
Paraguay has declared a state of emergency following a wave of dengue fever cases as concerns over the mosquito-borne illness rise across Latin America.
Msnbc Fri, 2 Mar 2007 02:19:20 GMT

Experts reconsider goal of ending polio
At a WHO meeting this week, some leading experts asked a grim question: Is it time to abandon the goal of polio eradication and focus instead on containing the disease?
Msnbc Thu, 1 Mar 2007 23:16:41 GMT


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