TB & Outbreaks Week articles from December 2000

TB & Outbreaks Week archives from December 2000

Polymerase Chain Reaction a Fast and Sensitive Way to Diagnose Suspected Cases.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genitourinary tuberculosis more often than not must be suspected before a correct diagnosis can be made. Experiments comparing several diagnostic methods show that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a...

Laser Device Shows How Bacteria Spread Among Cells.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using a laser device that allows them to view microscopic movement, biomedical engineering researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, have produced startling new findings about how deadly...

Researchers See Slight Utility in Programs Designed to Limit Tick-Borne Illness.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A researcher in Boston, Massachusetts, recently presented findings that suggest educational intervention programs are somewhat effective in preventing Lyme disease in areas where it is endemic. ...

Poor Hospital Ventilation Linked to Workers Acquiring Tuberculosis.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health care personnel working in poorly ventilated general (not isolation) hospital rooms were at risk for seroconversion for tuberculosis, according to a study in the November 21, 2000, issue of the...

Isoniazid Prophylaxis Decreases Risk of Recurrent TB in HIV-1 Patients.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study conducted in Port au Prince, Haiti, indicates that tuberculosis recurs more frequently in patients infected with HIV-1 than those who are not. Researchers also determined that prophylactic...

Outbreak Declining in South Africa.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As of November 9, 2000, the Kwazulu-Natal Department of Health in South Africa has reported 4,583 cases and 33 deaths since the start of the outbreak in mid-August 2000. There was one new death...

Death Toll in Uganda's Outbreak Rises to 100.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The death toll from the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Uganda rose to 100 by November 9, 2000. Authorities had hoped to contain the disease in Gulu, but on November 2, experts confirmed that...

At Least 40 People Diagnosed with Legionnaires' Disease in Spain.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Investigators were scouring ventilation and water systems for the source of bacteria that has infected at least 40 people in Barcelona, Spain, with Legionnaires' disease, health officials said on...

Epidemic in Burundi Kills 818.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A severe malaria outbreak occurring in October and November had killed 818 people as of November 13, 2000, including at least 100 children, a medical official said. The epidemic broke out in the...

Mystery Disease Kills Seven in Brazil.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The mayor of a small city in Brazil is considering quarantining two neighborhoods where a mysterious illness is thought to have killed seven people and left 43 more seriously ill, local media reported...

Antibody Response to Vaccine Diminished by Roundworm Infection.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children infected with the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides fail to mount as effective an immune response to the oral cholera vaccine as children without ascariasis. Based on the results of a recent...

Petting Zoos "Notorious" for E. coli.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The potentially lethal bacterium, Escherichia coli, mostly associated with contaminated meat, can also be contracted through contact with animals at children's petting zoos, although few parents realize...

New Technique Pinpoints Key Gene in Infectious Fungus.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have identified a gene that allows the fungus that causes histoplasmosis to infect and persist in humans. They used a novel technique that may prove valuable in the search for drug...

Flu Vaccine Not Effective in Lung Transplant Patients.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Humoral immune response data indicate that the influenza vaccine is not effective in lung transplant patients. As flu season envelops the northern hemisphere, these patients will need to find other...

Antibiotic Embedded Bone Cement Prevents Infections at Implant Sites in Rabbits.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An antibiotic commonly used to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections can be mixed with bone cement and used to prevent infections at implant sites, according to new research to be published in the...

Infection in Mid and Late Stages of Pregnancy Characterized.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pregnant women are often advised to receive flu shots if they will be in their second or third trimesters of pregnancy when flu season arrives. A recent study from England describes serological and...

Combination Typhoid Fever/Hepatitis A Vaccine Shown Effective, Well Tolerated.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Good news for travellers to regions endemic for typhoid fever and hepatitis A: there may be one less shot in the arm in your future. Researchers with SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, Rixensart,...

Factors Contributing to High Cost of TB-Related Hospitalization Identified.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Depending on your reason for admittance, in-hospital care may help resolve your illness. And, in the U.S., it certainly will deplete your wallet. So it comes as no surprise that medical researchers...

Parents Support Immunization, Yet Misconceptions Persist.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new survey of 1,600 parents in the U.S., published in the November 2000 issue of the journal Pediatrics, revealed that the majority of parents understand the clear benefits of childhood immunization,...

Research Unravels Key Facts About How a Virus Exits Host Cell.
December 5, 2000... 2000 DEC 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine have identified a component of the little-understood machinery that allows retroviruses to exit or bud from the cell surface before re-infecting...

Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Strains Transmitted in Kenyan Refugee Camps.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, staff medical writer -- A surveillance study of tuberculosis among refugees in three camps in Kenya has found that drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are being transmitted...

Sputum Induction Produces Results, Saves Money in Brazilian Study.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients with tuberculosis frequently are unable to produce a sample good enough for testing by coughing deeply. In those instances, a more invasive procedure called bronchoscopy is attempted in order...

Tuberculosis and Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy Described in Case Study.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pulmonary tuberculosis in association with immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is rarely seen, but it does occur. An incidence of this illness in a young man was described recently by researchers...

Phenotype Testing Outpaces Genotype Testing for Pyrazinamide Susceptibility.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Phenotypic testing is the best way to determine tuberculosis isolate susceptibility to pyrazinamide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. In fact, that...

Tuberculosis Proficiency Testing in Italy Identifies Strengths and Weaknesses.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Overall, most regional laboratories in Italy are doing a good job when it comes to identifying tuberculosis drug-susceptibility, based on a study of proficiency testing conducted at 18 regional...

Strains Other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis Seen in Tennessee.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunocompromised patients are recognized as being particularly susceptible to strains of tuberculosis other than the more commonly known Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Researchers in Johnson City,...

Should DDT Be Banned in the Fight Against Mosquitoes?
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Malaria kills more than one million people every year, yet the United Nations Environment Program met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss phasing out DDT, which is still used by many countries to...

U.S. National Flu Surveillance Network Enters Season with Record Participation.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Flu Surveillance Network) (NFSN), the largest influenza disease surveillance network in the United States, enters the 2000/2001 influenza season with 6,151 participating physicians at...

New Research Thrust Needed for Africa's Second-Leading Epidemic.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The statistics are staggering: Epidemiologists estimate that more than 300 million people contract malaria each year worldwide. Of these, 90% of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. One in every 20...

Phase Ib Clinical Trial Initiated to Prevent Staphylococcus aureus Infection.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Micrologix Biotech Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, announced the initiation of a Phase Ib clinical trial for MBI 853NL, a drug candidate for preventing hospital-acquired infections caused by...

Outbreak Hits Guinea, Emergency Vaccine Effort Under Way.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At least 88 people have died from yellow fever in an unusual outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in central Guinea, reports the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network. The...

Over 130 Medicines in the Works for Infectious Disease, Diseases of Aging.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a new survey show that 84 pharmaceutical companies are currently developing 137 new medicines to prevent and treat infectious diseases, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and...

Novel Vaccine Protects Monkeys from Deadly Infection.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Few viruses are more feared than Ebola virus, the deadly microbe that periodically attacks African villages and kills up to 90% of those it infects. Although other viral diseases claim more lives each...

Global Spread of HIV/AIDS Epidemic Exceeds Earlier Predictions.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New figures released on November 28, 2000, by the United Nations show a dramatic spread of HIV/AIDS globally, with the number of people living with the virus at the end of 2000 by far exceeding the...

CDC: Flu Shot Shortages Easing.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The shortage of flu vaccine in the U.S. is expected to ease by mid-December, allowing people who have postponed getting a shot to be vaccinated. Nearly 70% of the expected 75 million vaccinations...

Six-Month Booster of Recombinant OspA Vaccine Suggested.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study findings suggest recipients of the recombinant OspA vaccine to prevent Lyme disease may need a booster at six months, rather than at one year. Reporting at the joint 64th annual scientific...

Subcontract Award Received for Vaccine Research and Development.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- EntreMed, Inc. (ENMD), Rockville, Maryland, announced that is has been selected as a subcontractor for a U.S. federal malaria vaccine initiative. The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and...

Global Partnerships for Health, Biotech Content Announced.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx.com(TM), Atlanta, Georgia, recently announced partnerships with several international firms, including EBSCO Online, Factiva, and the new iSyndicate Europe-Bertelsmann venture. "iSyndicate...

Hepatitis E Virus Transmission Reported in North Carolina Swine Workers.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A collaborative research project led by medical researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute has presented more evidence that hepatitis E virus (HEV) may be a zoonotic disease. Zoonotic diseases...

Hepatitis C Heightens Risk for Tuberculosis after Renal Transplantation.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatitis C virus presents an increased risk for tuberculosis acquisition in patients who have received kidney transplants, medical researchers in Madrid, Spain, reported at a recent conference hosted...

New Outbreak Raises Questions About Whether Vaccinations Can Stop.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The first outbreak of polio in the Western Hemisphere in nearly a decade is raising questions about whether vaccinations can ever be stopped, and the type of vaccine being used in most countries. "This...

Largest Outbreak in the U.S. in Five Years Moved from Work Environment to Community.
December 19, 2000... 2000 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A large rubella outbreak in 1999 among unvaccinated persons spread from the workplace to the community, with transmission facilitated by crowded working and living conditions, according to an article...

Commercial Tests Differ in Ability to Diagnose Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, staff medical writer -- Diagnostic tests differ in their ability to diagnose tuberculosis of the lungs, a new study indicates. The study, published in the American Journal...

Noni Plant May Yield New Compounds to Fight Tuberculosis.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Known to herbalists for its healing powers, the noni plant, native to Hawaii, has been found to kill the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. The finding could lead to new drugs to fight the...

Statistician Estimates Size of French Epidemic.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Around 100 bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE)-infected animals will have been slaughtered for human consumption in France during 2000, an Imperial College statistician has estimated. Dr. Christl...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Better for Identifying Tuberculous Lymphadenopathy.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research scientists report in the November-December 2000 edition of Abdominal Imaging that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a better diagnostic tool for assessing tuberculous lymphadenopathies in...

Mortality Rate Low for Tuberculosis Patients with Unilateral Lung Removal.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The advent of pus or fluid in the chests of patients with pulmonary diseases such as tuberculosis can only be treated with surgical lung removal in some circumstances. A study of 94 patients who...

Tuberculin Skin Testing is Not Reliable in End-Stage Patients.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In end-stage liver disease patients who are potential candidates for orthotopic liver transplants, tuberculin skin test screening is a common prescreening tool. New research, however, shows that...

Outcomes Good for Adults with Tuberculous Mediastinal Lymphadenopathy.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Drugs commonly used to treat patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis are also effective in treating adults with tuberculous mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Overall, the outcome is good following...

Tissue Adherence Patterns Explored.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Specific conditions must first be in place before Mycobacterium avium complex will adhere to tissues. Researchers in London at the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine recently...

Outbreak Hits Latin America.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Maria thought her son Cristian was over the worst. The five-year-old's fever was all but gone, his wiry black hair no longer dripped with sweat, and there was no trace of the crippling muscle pains...

Epidemic Fears Spread as Rainy Season Approaches.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A malaria epidemic that has already affected an estimated 276,000 people in the northern highland districts of Burundi could affect hundreds of thousands more with the imminent rainy season, the Roll...

Phase IIa Trial Begins for Antibiotic Rinse to Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IBPI), Mountain View, California, said that it has begun patient enrollment for a Phase IIa clinical trial of one of the company's classes of antibiotic compounds,...

Collaboration Aims to Develop TB Vaccine.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Galenica Pharmaceuticals, Frederick, Maryland, announced that it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the U.S. National Institute...

Researchers Cite Link Between Sub-Therapeutic Antibiotic Dosing in Livestock and Resistance in Humans, Call for Regulation.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, law professor and a graduate student in biochemistry call for regulation of the use of millions of tons of antibiotics in livestock, citing their contribution to...

Tamiflu Gets Approval in Japan.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Roche and Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) announced December 12, 2000, that Roche has received regulatory approval for Tamiflu(TM) (oseltamivir phosphate), the first neuraminidase inhibitor available in...

Foreign-Born People in the U.S. Have High Rate of Tuberculosis.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The tuberculosis case rate among foreign-born people in the United States was markedly higher than among those born in the U.S. during the years 1993 to 1998, report U.S. Centers for Disease Control...

Outbreaks Reported in Kentucky, Colorado.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Public health officials reported December 7, 2000, a hepatitis outbreak in which at least six people in Kentucky were infected. Among those infected with hepatitis A was a worker at a Taco Bell...

Anti-Fever Drugs May Prolong Flu.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the University of Maryland schools of medicine and pharmacy found that anti-fever drugs such as aspirin and acetaminophen may prolong influenza A infections. The study results were...

Antibody May Neutralize Protein Important to Parasite Invasion.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers may have found a way to interfere with the invasion of the malaria parasite into mosquitos. An important step in the life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite - the parasite that causes...

Blocking Enzyme Imprisons Parasites in Red Cells.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have found a way to prevent infectious malaria particles from bursting out of their protective sacs by blocking the activity of a protease, a protein-snipping enzyme. The research...

Malarone Recommended for Prevention and Treatment.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, recently changed its recommendation on malaria to include Glaxo Wellcome Inc.'s (GLX) Malarone (atovaquone and proguanil...

Clinical Trials Announced for Microbicidal Contraceptive Gel.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Empyrean Bioscience, Inc. (EMDG), Cleveland, Ohio, announced that the first in a series of Phase III clinical trials has begun in Brazil to determine the effectiveness of the GEDA Plus microbicidal...

Recombinant BCG Vaccines Confer More Potent Protective Immunity.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of California, Los Angeles, researchers have developed two recombinant bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They report in the Proceedings of the...

Technology Developed for Oral/Nasal Delivery of Anti-Infective Agents.
December 26, 2000... 2000 DEC 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bozeman, Montana, announced that it will develop "M Cell" vaccine technology from Montana State University (MSU) for the delivery of anti-infective agents via oral and...