Emerging Infectious Diseases
Experts from the Oregon State University, the Oregon Health and Science University’s College of Pharmacy and the Oregon Health Authority say that communication breakdowns are among the leading potentials for infection outbreaks of drug-resistant bacteria.
Supported by a slew of organizations,... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently awarded a total of $11.5 million to a team of researchers from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, the University of Notre Dame and the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) to examine how the gene of the... Read More »
Animals such as tayra, new world monkeys, sloths, porcupines, and coatis may be incubators for a parasite that causes Chagas disease, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of California-Riverside (UCR).
Despite affecting approximately 8 million people... Read More »
A new public-private partnership between the federal government and Janssen Research & Development LLC seeks to jointly innovate new products in the constantly evolving battle against influenza.
The partnership will see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant... Read More »
Fourteen confirmed cases of chikungunya virus have recently been diagnosed in Italy, six of which appeared in Rome with another eight appearing in the coastal region of Anzio, according to a recently published report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The first case was identified on... Read More »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a study on the capabilities and challenges of medical device technologies in order to assess their abilities to rapidly diagnose infectious diseases.
As infectious diseases continue to pose a public health threat throughout the... Read More »
A new experimental vaccine immunized genetically-altered mice from the Leishmania parasite, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
With more than 30 different strains, Leishmania is classified at the world’s... Read More »
A new drug called AQ-13 was shown to be effective against non-severe cases of malaria, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Tulane University.
Results of the study may prove to be significant as worldwide disease researchers are increasingly finding that the parasite... Read More »
Artemisinin, a Chinese medicine used to treat malaria that often faces issues with an unstable supply, can be rapidly produced at an industrial rate by genetically engineering moss, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education the University... Read More »
As people rebuild from the damage caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, they should also be aware of the public health risks related to flooding, including diarrheal infections and mosquito-borne illnesses.
“What people don't often realize is that there's a significant health risk from... Read More »
Seeking to overturn boundaries to the development of vaccines against pathogen outbreaks, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) has announced a successful study of early immune response with serious implications.
DZIF scientists at the Heinrich Pette Institute and the University... Read More »
Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation announced this week that half a million people in areas affected by floods and landslides will receive cholera vaccinations starting this month.
The two rounds of vaccines will come from the global stockpile funded by Gavi, the Vaccine... Read More »
Nonhuman primates were recently protected against Lassa fever by using three types of monoclonal antibodies eight days after they became infected with the virus, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB).
While the virus is known... Read More »
The gradual increase of the earth’s surface temperature enhances the metabolism of mosquitoes and increases the risk of dengue fever outbreaks, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Liverpool, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and the National... Read More »
The Alabama Department of Public Health recently announced the launch of a serious infectious disease response network in order to help identify and respond to potential outbreaks as they occur.
According to Mary McIntyre, chief medical officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health, the... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted accelerated approval to benzidazole for the treatment of Chagas disease in children aged 2 to 12 years old.
While the drug is one of the few treatments approved for use in adults, benzidazole now becomes the only approved treatment... Read More »
The Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) recently underwent an inspection of its patient care, quality control, and other critical facets and was subsequently reaccredited by the College of American Pathologists.
The reaccreditation places the lab among 7,700 other accredited facilities... Read More »
A meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assembled experts in human and animal health last week to address early warning systems for animal-to-human (zoonotic) disease outbreaks.
“Early detection is the key,” Trevor Shoemaker, a CDC epidemiologist formerly based in Uganda,... Read More »
Four confirmed cases of chikungunya virus were recently been diagnosed in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France as of Aug. 23, 2017 with one probable and eight suspected cases, according to a recent announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to WHO,... Read More »
A recently developed mathematical model accurately forecasted that a large-scale cholera outbreak would peak in war-torn Yemen by early July 2017, triggering more than 750,000 cases.
The model was developed by researchers at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
While various amounts of... Read More »
Future measles vaccination strategies in high-fertility countries should focus on increasing childhood immunization rates, while immunization campaigns targeting adolescents and young adults should be required in low-fertility countries, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at... Read More »
Researchers are tracking down biothreats like tularemia but are facing a number of challenges including avoiding false positive tests, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Specifically, the laboratory is investigating the... Read More »
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recently published a reminder about safety practices for microbiology labs following a July 2017 outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium associated with clinical and teaching microbiology labs.
The outbreak infected 24 people infected in 16 states. The... Read More »
After a Zika virus epidemic in 2015 and an outbreak of yellow fever earlier this year, Brazil runs a serious risk of being affected by Oropouche fever, a tropical viral infection similar to dengue fever, according to a recent study by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in Brazil.... Read More »
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists reported a new step forward in understanding and developing tools against tick-borne viruses this week, with the development of a laboratory model to study flaviviruses.
Specifically, it was researchers at Rocky Mountain Laboratories--a part of the... Read More »
A gene variant that affects cholesterol levels could increase a person’s risk of contracting typhoid fever while a common cholesterol-lowering medication can protect zebrafish against the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, according to a recent study by researchers at Duke University.
Intrigue for... Read More »
A multi-institution team of researchers recently published a study examining the role of a tiny protein called a delta peptide in making the Ebola virus more contagious.
Researchers from Tulane University, Louisiana State University and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for... Read More »
Due to Saudi-led air strikes and blockades, the cholera outbreak in Yemen is disproportionately affecting rebel-controlled areas, a letter recently published by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) researchers in The Lancet Global Health said.
According to the analysis, eight out of 10... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it made available a panel of human plasma samples for regulatory evaluation of serological tests to detect recent Zika virus infection.
“By providing manufacturers of these tests with standardized patient samples to use in... Read More »
The Frederick National Laboratory recently announced it is producing an additional round of a Zika virus vaccine for use in ongoing studies to determine the most effective delivery methods and dosages.
According to David Lindsay, director of the laboratory’s Vaccine Clinical Materials Program... Read More »
A team of international researchers were recently awarded a three year, $5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to test a cancer drug called imatinib as a repurposed tuberculosis (TB) treatment.
Commercially sold under the name Gleevec, imatinib... Read More »
Researchers at Princeton University recently found a critical role for a new immune signaling pathway in controlling infection by the flavivirus Yellow Fever Virus (YFV).
"An improved understanding of the complex mechanisms regulating YFV-17D attenuation will provide insights into key... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded a grant worth $112,000 to researchers at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UH) to expand its studies of a proposed Ebola virus disease (EVD) vaccine candidate.
According to UH, the... Read More »
The number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has surpassed more than 500,000 during 2017, with approximately 2,000 patients succumbing to the virus’ lethal effects since the outbreak began, according to a recent release from the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Yemen’s health workers are... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the CII-ArboViroPlex rRT-PCR Test.
The test is the first multiplex assay that simultaneously tests for the presence of Zika virus, all serotypes of dengue virus, chikungunya virus and West Nile... Read More »
