TB & Outbreaks Week articles from April 2002

TB & Outbreaks Week archives from April 2002

European project leads to a new diagnostic test.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research teams involved in a European project have developed and tested in epidemic conditions a new diagnosis technique of infections by the Ebola virus. This has been achieved while a new hemorrhagic...

ABT-773 effective against macrolide-resistant streptococcus.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that a novel antimicrobial drug provides superior activity against drug-resistant streptococcus and staphylococcus...

Research sheds new light on potential bioterrorist agent.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By studying how to unlock the secrets of bubonic plague, Matthew Nilles is not only learning how infectious diseases kill but also helping to combat the threat of bioterrorism. Nilles is developing...

Minocycline-EDTA prevents catheter colonization.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States recommend a combination of minocycline and EDTA (M-EDTA) for preventing catheter-related nosocomial outbreaks. Dr. Issam...

Several drugs heighten risk of resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Many antibiotics can increase the risk of developing nosocomial Pseudomonas infections resistant to treatment with piperacillin-tazobactam, researchers in the...

Researchers track parasite contamination.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists with the U.S. Agricultural Research Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been awarded a grant to study sources of exposure to an insidious parasite. The...

Rio de Janeiro works to quell outbreak.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 50,000 volunteers, soldiers, firefighters and health workers took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 9, 2002, in an attempt to stamp out mosquitoes responsible for a growing dengue...

DOE approves New Mexico lab for research on deadly diseases.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Department of Energy said a proposed research facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in which scientists would work with live anthrax would have no significant impact on the environment....

Disease leveling off but many cities hit hard by high infection rates.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gonorrhea has leveled off in the United States but rates are still rising in many cities hit hardest by the infection, a finding health officials say is unacceptable. The national gonorrhea rate...

Paradigm, VDDI, enter collaboration in antibiotic development program.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Paradigm Genetics, Inc., (PDGM) and VDDI Pharmaceuticals announced a research and development collaboration for the development of antibiotics for the treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections....

Markers of Hantavirus infection identified.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States have identified several factors which are useful for distinguishing between true Hantavirus infection and conditions with...

CDC to test flu strain that shut down Grand Island Veterans home.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will test samples taken from Grand Island (Nebraska) Veterans Home residents after an outbreak of the flu there forced a quarantine. ...

Panel advises flu shots for babies.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A U.S. government advisory panel decided to encourage flu shots for children ages 6-23 months - a group not previously on the recommended list for the vaccine. The government currently recommends...

Kaiser closes Fontana neonatal ICU following staph outbreak.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana has closed its neonatal intensive care unit to new patients following the outbreak of a drug-resistant and potentially deadly staph infection. Since...

WHO: Financial and political commitment needed to eradicate Guinea worm disease.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Armed conflict and wavering commitment are threatening the eradication of one of the world's most devastating diseases. While the number of people infected by Guinea worm has dropped by 98% over the...

Indian parents stay away from immunization campaign.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Paramedics in an Indian state have gone door-to-door to give antipolio doses to children after parents stayed away from a United Nations immunization campaign, fearing side effects. Officials said...

School-based program effective in lowering teens' HIV risk.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A high school-based educational program led by teachers has longer-lasting effects in preventing risky sexual behavior than a program led by peers, according to a new study. The research also indicates...

Spermicide nonoxynol-9 does not protect women against gonorrhea, chlamydia.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nonoxynol-9 spermicide gel used with condoms did not protect women against sexually transmitted infection from the bacteria that cause gonorrhea and chlamydia, when compared with condoms alone,...

Institut Pasteur enters agreement to research treatments for hemorrhagic fever viruses.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Novirio Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., has announced that the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, has set up a program to evaluate Novirio's extensive library of compounds for antiviral activity against several...

Thermogenesis inks European distribution agreement for fibrin sealant system.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Thermogenesis Corp. (KOOL) today announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Dideco, S.p.A., in Mirandola, Italy to begin immediate commercialization of its CryoSeal Fibrin Sealant (FS)...

Eating breakfast may keep colds and flu at bay.
April 2, 2002... 2002 APR 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Overall knowledge about the psychology of the common cold has greatly increased in recent years and one of the main findings has been the link between stress and susceptibility to colds. Research...

Acquisition of infection most common in young children.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A U.S. study in the journal Lancet (March 2002) highlights how most newly acquired infections of the intestinal bacterium Helicobacter pylori probably occur in children younger than 10. The authors of...

Large M. paratuberculosis populations can survive pasteurization.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Milk extensively infected with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis may not be completely decontaminated by commercial milk treatments, researchers in Northern...

Caltech and Purdue scientists determine structure of virus.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at the California Institute of Technology and Purdue University have determined the fine-detail structure of the virus that causes dengue fever. This advance could lead to newer and more...

Lab results delivered in minutes, not days.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The era of waiting days for E. coli bacteria lab results soon will be at an end for food processors and health departments, thanks to a new type of biological sensor that works much like a...

Weekly treatment developed.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new form of influenza drug, which can be used as both a treatment and a preventative, has been developed by Biota and GlaxoSmithKline. It was presented at the international antiviral meeting in...

Yale researchers reveal how fresh water bacteria take hold in cells.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Yale researchers have revealed how a kind of bacterium that causes Legionnaire disease can navigate its own course within a human cell by injecting a protein that can steer host cell membranes. ...

Many deficiencies in investigations of contacts of patients with active TB.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Improvement is needed in the complex process of contact investigations to ensure that contacts of patients with active tuberculosis (TB) are identified and properly screened, according to an article in...

Hand Brand Distribution acquires control of veterinary biotech company.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hand Brand Distribution, Inc., (HDBI) announced today its acquisition of GeneThera, Inc., a veterinary biotechnology company that has developed technology for recombinant DNA vaccine production and...

BioPort working on new vaccine.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An estimated 20 companies, federal organizations and universities are working toward finding a new anthrax vaccine. So is BioPort Corp., the Lansing, Michigan, company that now is the sole U.S....

CDC lab worker infected.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A Texas laboratory worker testing specimens from last fall's anthrax attacks contracted the skin form of the disease, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. Officials...

Finch epidemic may shed light on ecology of infectious disease.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- During an unusually icy January in the Maryland suburbs, red finches started showing up with grotesquely swollen, crusty eyes. The eastern house finch is normally a scrappy, social species. But in...

Anthrax research project completes in-silico screening in 24 days.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Collaborators of the Anthrax Research Project, designed to screen 3.5 billion molecules against a known anthrax toxin protein, announced the turnover of the project's results to the United States...

Hantavirus protein interacts with proapoptotic cellular factor.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Coat proteins produced by hantaviruses may affect the activity of factors that regulate programmed cell death, researchers in Finland say. "Hantaviruses...

Guidelines needed to prevent spread of VRE in European hospitals.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- National and European guidelines to control the spread of vancomycin-resistant enterococci should be drawn up before these bacteria become endemic in European hospitals, argue researchers in the British...

Severe childhood pneumonia linked to specific strain of S. aureus.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Authors of a French study in the March 2, 2002, issue of the Lancet highlight the link between a specific strain of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and a severe form of pneumonia in children. ...

Outbreak in Caribbean blamed on low rate of immunization mutation of virus in vaccine.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An outbreak of polio in Haiti and the Dominican Republic has been traced to a weakened virus in a vaccine that mutated and spread disease among poorly immunized children. Even though Haiti and the...

News media portrayal of vaccine changed quickly following report of adverse event.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- News media coverage about vaccines can shift abruptly from positive to negative in response to scientific research and public health reports about adverse events, according to an article in the March...

Controversial condom ads make Kenyans uncomfortable.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In bars, shops, restaurants and homes across Kenya, racy TV ads attempting to encourage condom use are making adults fume and adolescents squirm. Letters to the editor in the newspapers of this...

Parents can help black teen girls talk about condom use.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Black adolescent females who can talk to their parents about sex are more likely to discuss condom use with their sexual partners, according to a new study. The study also showed that teenage...

Researchers develop first oral drug treatment.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An oral drug that halts the deadly action of smallpox and related orthopox viruses in lab tissue culture cells and in cowpox-infected mice has been developed by researchers at the Veterans Affairs San...

CDC detects first U.S. cases of parasite disease.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Three transplant patients contracted a dangerous parasitic disease from their new organs in the first such documented cases in the United States, the government said March 14, 2002. Two of the three...

U.S. center suspends study after five patients become resistant to drug.
April 9, 2002... 2002 APR 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has suspended a drug trial for patients who have both tuberculosis and advanced HIV after five patients developed resistance to the drug. ...

Lipid rafts needed for intercellular viral transport.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States have identified a key structure used by filoviruses - including the Ebola and Marburg viruses - for cellular transport. ...

Alphavirus vectors show promise for Ebola, Lassa virus vaccines.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Alphavirus vectors may be useful for developing vaccines against Lassa and Ebola virus infections, researchers in the United States report. "Lassa and...

Researchers identify mechanisms by which drug combinations kill fungal infections.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Molecular biologists in the mycology research unit at Duke University Medical Center have traced cellular pathways that are targeted to enhance the action of drugs used to treat fungal infections in...

RFI-641 effective against respiratory syncytial virus.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that a novel compound shows promise for the treatment of illnesses caused by respiratory syncytial virus. "Human...

Dartmouth researchers expose weakness of common parasite.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dartmouth Medical School geneticists in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology have discovered how to weaken a common human parasite to prevent disease in an animal model after infection by the...

Antithrombin reduces inflammatory cytokine output.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Japan have shed new light on the mechanisms by which antithrombin ameliorates the effects of blood poisoning. "Antithrombin (AT) prevents...

Tyson Foods ends use of antibiotic in broiler chickens.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Responding to health concerns raised by the government, Tyson Foods said it is ending use of a certain antibiotic in its broiler chickens. The federal government wants to ban Baytril use in poultry...

20 cents-a-dose vaccine safe and immunogenic.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Trials of a cholera vaccine manufactured in Vietnam at a cost of about only US$0.20 a dose have produced encouraging results, especially for children, an international team of researchers reports in...

Glycoprotein genotype not linked to liver transplant outcome.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Variations in a cytomegalovirus coat protein do not have a significant impact on the outcome of liver transplants, researchers in Canada argue. "Based on...

WHO says outbreak in central Africa under control.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An outbreak of Ebola that killed 34 people in Gabon and Republic of Congo is under control, the World Health Organization has announced. "We are satisfied the epidemic has calmed," said David...

Global warming not responsible for malaria increase in East African Highlands.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recent increases in malaria in the East African Highlands cannot be attributed to global warming, researchers at the department of zoology at Oxford University, England, have shown. It has long...

U.S. Army to test company's antibiotics as potential anti-bioterrorism drugs.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antex Biologics Inc. (ANX) reported that the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases has agreed to test certain of the company's antibiotic compounds as potential drugs to be used...

Varicella virus vaccine effective over long term.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The varicella-zoster virus (VZV) vaccine provides long-term protection from severe chickenpox, researchers in the United States report. "The varicella...

CDC calls flu season a mild one, says plenty of vaccine still available.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. flu season is nearing its peak, with a rising number of cases in the past several weeks, the government said. About 14% of the specimens sent to a nationwide network of labs tested...

Computerized hospital records could find new use combating biological attacks.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cerner Corp. has picked its hometown to pilot a new program for turning its hospital laboratory management system into a radar to spot bioterrorism attacks and disease outbreaks. The Kansas City,...

Modus operandi: How satellites track a mass killer.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A global mass killer could be tamed with the aid of satellite technology. Scientists are using data from Meteosat to help model and predict outbreaks of malaria. "Satellite sensor data hold out hope...

Measles no longer endemic disease in U.S.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In 2000 a total of 86 confirmed measles cases were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by state and local health departments, according to the Morbidity and Mortality...

AMA launches free online terrorism education for physicians.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Medical Association is now offering a free online Internet program to educate practicing physicians and front-line medical professionals about responding to terrorist attacks. This...

U.S. Army scientists achieve research breakthrough.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Army scientists from Fort Detrick, Maryland, have made a breakthrough in smallpox research that could lead to developing better vaccines against bioterrorist attacks, according to a report in the...

Low-intensity conditioning may hasten cytomegalovirus infections.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Less-intensive conditioning regimens for allogeneic stem cell transplants may hasten the onset of posttransplant cytomegalovirus infections (CMV), researchers...

Morbidity among foreign-born populations in United States rises.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In June 2001, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 7% decline in the number of new TB cases reported from 1999 to 2000, indicating continued progress in reducing TB in the...

Oral M. microti superior to BCG vaccine.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Tuberculosis vaccines based on Mycobacterium microti are superior to standard vaccines, researchers in the United States argue. "Mycobacterium microti is...

Cases in the U.S. are on the rise again.
April 16, 2002... 2002 APR 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Whooping cough, which dropped steadily in the United States for much of the 20th century, has made a comeback in the past 20 years, the government reported. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control...