TB & Outbreaks Week articles from December 2001

TB & Outbreaks Week archives from December 2001

Molecular Analysis Can Help Predict Drug Resistance.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Europe and Mauritania say that cheap and easy molecular analysis of pathogenic organisms can be used to predict incipient drug resistance. ...

Non-Touch Fittings Can Increase Risk.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Austria warn that non-touch fittings for bathroom fixtures can contribute to nosocomial outbreaks of several bacterial infections. ...

Americans Aren't Panicking But Have Weak Trust In Officials.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The first in a series of surveys by the Harvard School of Public Health/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Survey Project on Americans' Response to Biological Terrorism finds that most Americans think they...

Hepatitis E Recovered From Rats In Los Angeles.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have recovered a virus similar to the hepatitis E virus (HEV) from rats in Los Angeles, California, a finding that may explain high levels of HEV...

Pulmonary Tuberculosis Can Delay Diagnosis.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Pulmonary tuberculosis can prevent physicians and health care workers from making a timely diagnosis of lung cancer, researchers in South Korea have found. ...

Levels Of Antibodies At Liver Stage May Predict Resistance To Disease.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- High levels of antibodies against the liver stage of the malaria parasite appear to predict resistance to the disease say researchers from Brown University and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute....

Surgical Outcomes Similar, Regardless Of Diagnostic Accuracy.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Patients who undergo surgical treatment for misdiagnosed tuberculosis have similar - and in some cases, superior - outcomes compared with surgical patients...

Toxin Gene In Chlamydia Linked To Chronic Illnesses.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After more than 50 years of searching, scientists have discovered a key gene that enables certain bacteria to cause blindness and debilitating genital tract infections. Using the recently completed...

Bayer Commits To Supply 200 Million Cipro Tablets Over Next Three Months.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bayer Corp. has committed to increase manufacturing to supply 200 million Cipro tablets over the next three months, 15 million tablets a week. Cipro (ciprofloxacin) is an effective antibiotic for 14...

Cel-Sci Signs Agreement With Biomedex To Develop Faster Diagnostic Test.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cel-Sci Corp. has signed a joint development agreement with Biomedex to develop and manufacture rapid anthrax human screening diagnostic tests. The deal brings together Cel-Sci, which has extensive...

Early Recognition And Prompt Treatment Critical In Inhaled Anthrax.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Detailed examination of four recent cases of patients in the Washington, DC, area with inhalational anthrax, two of which ended in death, indicate that early diagnosis of a person with nonspecific...

GlaxoSmithKline Presents Proposals For Bioterrorism Response Effort.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is working with the U.S. government to receive expeditious review for two of its antibiotics - Amoxil (amoxicillin) and Augmentin (amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium) - to be used...

Johnson & Johnson Seeks Anthrax Indication For Levaquin.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permission to add anthrax as an approved indication for its broad-spectrum anti-infective Levaquin. The company said it is...

All-Purpose Drugs Tested for Germ, Radiation, Chemical Agents.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American smart bombs zero in on programmed targets in Afghanistan. Bioterrorism protection at home may demand drugs that do just the opposite - kill just about any germ target in sight. Some...

CDC Testing Blood Of New Jersey Physician.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is testing the blood of a New Jersey physician who believes he might have contracted skin anthrax in the first week of September 2001. The...

Inspectors Find Security Lapses At CDC Lab In Colorado.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Inspectors have uncovered security lapses at a federal laboratory where scientists are studying deadly bacteria. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Old Smallpox Vaccines May Still Help.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- With the anthrax scare stirring fears of a far deadlier smallpox attack, health officials are trying to reassure the public that people vaccinated decades ago are probably still protected. The...

Terror War Diverts Resources Needed For Other Disease Battles.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For months, epidemiologist Nancy Rosenstein worked doggedly on a new meningitis vaccine, thrilled by a foundation grant that might help drive the deadly scourge from Africa. But now Rosenstein, an...

Missing Immune Gene Associated With vCJD Incidence.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- People who lack a gene involved in immune responses may be three times more likely to suffer new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), according an article in Nature. The result, if borne out...

Meridian Announces Distribution Agreements With Thermo Electron.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, (VIVO) has signed two agreements for the distribution of important infectious disease tests with Thermo Electron Corp. (TMO). Under the terms of the...

Mother's Herpes Virus Infection Linked To Schizophrenia In Children.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and six other research centers have found that mothers who have had a herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection at the time of birth are more likely to...

China Confronts Growing AIDS Problem At First National Conference.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fear of discrimination prevents farmer Zhang Jianqi from telling his new neighbors in Beijing that his 8-year-old daughter has AIDS. Despair at finding treatment drove the two from their home...

Essential Therapeutics Reports Third Quarter Results.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Essential Therapeutics, Inc., (ETRX, formerly Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) has announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2001. The financial results represent the...

Vitex Reports Third Quarter 2001 Results.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- V.I. Technologies, Inc., (VITX), a biotechnology company that develops products that inactivate and remove pathogens in blood, has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September...

EPA Closes Public Comment Period For Lindane.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) and Los Angeles County Sanitation District's (LACSD) efforts to eliminate lindane's availability got a boost from an impressive list of other organizations...

Amarillo Biosciences Gets Grant To Develop H. pylori Vaccine.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Amarillo Biosciences, Inc., (AMAR) has received a small business innovative research (SBIR) grant of $96,248 from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a vaccine to combat Helicobacter...

Vaccine Progresses to Phase II Human Trails.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antex Biologics, Inc. (ANX) has completed laboratory analyses of its Phase 1B clinical trial of Helivax, the Company's oral vaccine intended to prevent and treat gastrointestinal infections and disease...

Researchers Identify Gene In Burkina Faso Population That Prevents Disease.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- One in 10 people in the West African country of Burkina Faso have a gene that defends them against malaria - one of the region's biggest killers - researchers report in Nature. The gene codes for a...

Trinity Biotech Launches Rapid Diagnostic Test.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Trinity Biotech, PLC, (TRIB) has launched its Uni-Gold Malaria one-step test, a simple, rapid, qualitative, and cost-effective method for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum, one of the parasites...

Genomics Collaborative Awarded U.S. Patent To Develop Diagnostics.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genomics Collaborative, Inc., (GCI) has been issued a U.S. patent titled "Method of Diagnosing and Treating Increased Risk of Death from Community Acquired Pneumonia Associated with A-Allele of...

Oxfam Lauds U.S. Effort To Make Anthrax Medicine Available.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Oxfam America is praising recent efforts by the U.S. government to provide a much-needed antibiotic by asking Bayer Corp. to relax its patent on the antianthrax medicine Cipro (ciprofloxacin). "We...

Wash Your Hands the Right Way To Reduce Infection.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Postmaster General and the U.S. Surgeon General are recommending that Americans wash their hands after handling mail due to the current anthrax risk. The Council on Family Health (CFH) has...

Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Test Cleared For Marketing In Japan.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Digene Corp. (DIGE) has received clearance from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to market its Hybrid Capture 2 CT/GC Test for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) DNA and...

American Home Products Submits Plan To Produce Vaccine.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American Home Products Corp. will submit a plan to the U.S. government to develop and manufacture a smallpox vaccine. Should AHP enter into an agreement with the U.S. government, a new smallpox vaccine...

Volunteers Stand In Line For Diluted Smallpox Vaccine.
December 4, 2001... 2001 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Volunteers are lining up to be vaccinated against smallpox, a once routine occurrence now considered extraordinary yet necessary because of recent events. A total of 684 healthy individuals will...

Mitochondrial Damage May Cause Brain Cell Death.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A substance released by degraded mitochondria may mediate the brain damage seen in bacterial meningitis patients, researchers say. "Streptococcus...

Overlooked Chaperone Protein Strongly Immunogenic.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Europe say that the mycobacterial chaperone protein Cpn 60.1 may be more potent that the better-known Cpn 60.2. "Much attention has focused...

Anthrax Genome May Contain Clues To Fighting Infection.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The completed anthrax genome - expected within the next few months - should provide new clues to help explain what makes the infection a killer and perhaps how best to fight different strains,...

Smallpox Vaccinations May Cause High Rate In Older Pakistanis.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Pakistan suspect that smallpox vaccinations administered in that country may be partly to blame for the high prevalence of hepatitis C virus...

Scientists Identify How Mosquito Smells Its Targets.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The mosquito may be nature's most effective bioterrorist, accounting for millions of deaths each year, but the end of its eons' long reign of terror may be in sight. Scientists have begun to apply...

S28463 Effectively Treats Mycobacterium bovis Infection.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Canada say that they have identified a potential new weapon in the arsenal of antimycobacterial treatments. "It has been shown that...

Moxifloxacin May Make Effective Isoniazid Supplement.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The fluoroquinolone antibiotic moxifloxacin may be useful for neutralizing tuberculosis infections, researchers say. Nacer Lounis and colleagues at the...

Radiology Helps Confirm Infection Quickly.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the medical community continues its pursuit of the most efficient method to confirm cases of inhalational anthrax, computed tomography (CT) has been shown to be quick and accurate in enabling...

Topical Antimicrobial Formula Tests Highly Effective Against Spore Bacteria.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- First Scientific, Inc., announced that it has successfully completed an initial round of testing against spore-forming bacteria that are similar to Bacillus anthracis, the cause of the acute and often...

Unwarranted Use Of Cipro Means Unnecessary Risk Of Kidney Damage.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Kidney Fund (AKF) is warning Americans who may wish to take Cipro as a precautionary measure against anthrax that they could be exposing their kidneys to serious harm. With numerous...

Doxycycline Gets Anthrax Labeling.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is in the process of approving new labeling for doxycycline and other antibiotics to treat anthrax, in response to increasing national interest in antibiotic...

CDC To Test Western Farms For Safe Level Of Anthrax.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists say trace amounts of anthrax in a building aren't harmful, but just how much is safe? Government scientists are headed to North Dakota and Texas to try to find out. Those states have...

Government Urged To Consider Homeopathic Medicine As Prophylaxis.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Congress was urged in testimony before the House Government Reform Committee, Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman, full committee hearing ("Comprehensive Medical Care for Bioterrorism Exposure - Are...

Guinea Pigs Could Be Early Detectors Of Anthrax.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- No high-tech devices exist to detect aerosol anthrax, but Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, physicists have come up with the short-term solution of using guinea pigs. The small...

U.S. Opts To Keep Smallpox Stock.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Bush administration says it will keep the government's stock of smallpox virus in case it should be needed to develop new vaccines or treatments, putting off yet again a commitment eventually to...

Tequin Gets FDA Approval For Short Course Treatment.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) has announced that Tequin (gatifloxacin), a broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone antibiotic, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a short-course...

Utah Outbreak Of Soil Fungus Surprises Scientists.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A soil-borne fungus was responsible for making 10 people sick at Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah this summer, health officials said. The fungus has never infected anyone in northern...

FDA Selects Xenobiotic Detection Systems Bioassay For Dioxin Research.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Xenobiotic Detection Systems' (XDS) patented CALUX technology has been selected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for investigation as a possible screening tool for chemical contamination...

Microbia Issued Patent For Drug Discovery.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent protecting methods for regulating fungal gene expression that enable Microbia, Inc.'s, fundamentally new approach to antifungal drug discovery...

Number Of Infections Drops Across The West.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of people infected with potentially fatal hantavirus fell significantly across the West this year, along with a drop in rodent populations and changing weather patterns, researchers say. ...

Microbiotix And Phytobiotech Enter Research And Screening Collaboration.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Microbiotix, Inc., and Phytobiotech, Inc., have formed a research and screening collaboration to identify and develop novel antibiotic agents that inhibit bacterial DNA replication. Specifically,...

Healthy Americans Now Encouraged To Get Immunized.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Healthy persons - those not considered at high risk for influenza complications - are encouraged to seek vaccination, according to new recommendations issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

DNA Vaccine Is Safe And Immunogenic.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vical, Incorporated, and the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center has announced results of initial Phase II human testing for safety, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy of a multigene DNA vaccine...

Solvent In Car Maintenance Products Can Cause Nerve Damage.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Repeated exposure to a chemical found in some car maintenance products can cause nerve problems, including numbness in the hands, feet and forearms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

Drug Adherence Key In Keeping Babies Virus Free, Study Suggests.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The best available defense against serious lower respiratory infections in infants is a drug that can cost the consumer more than $2000 a treatment. That cost may prove problematic for some...

Old Drugs Could Treat African Sleeping Sickness.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By sorting through libraries of existing drugs, scientists have identified a subset of old medicines that may help combat a prevailing problem: the parasitic microbes that cause African sleeping...

Report Encourages New TB Drug Development For $700 Million Market.
December 11, 2001... 2001 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fueled by the growing tuberculosis epidemic, the market for drugs to treat TB will approach $700 million by 2010, according to a new report issued by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, a...

Synercid Effective Against Drug-Resistant Enterococcus.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States and Europe say that quinupristin/dalfopristin (Synercid, Aventis) can be used to treat patients with drug-resistant...

Virulent M. avium Morphotype Common In Humans.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that a dangerous form of Mycobacterium avium can and does regularly infect humans. "Isolates of Mycobacterium...

Protease Inhibitors Ineffective Against Pneumocystis Bacteria.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Contrary to previous reports, HIV drugs have little effect on Pneumocystis carinii microorganisms, researchers in the United States warn. "Human...

Large-Scale Quarantine Is Not Recommended In Most Cases.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Imposing a large-scale quarantine after a bioterrorist attack in the United States should not be considered a primary public health strategy in most currently imaginable circumstances. In the...

Sepsis Screens Can Be Ineffective During Leukopenia.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - One sign of possible systemic infection is not reliable in patients with low white blood cell counts, researchers in Italy warn. "Procalcitonin (PCT) has...

Computerized Maps Are Latest Weapon In Battle Against Diseases.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fever, fatigue, sore throat, muscle aches, runny nose, and an all-over miserable feeling. It's the time of year for influenza and other sicknesses, and we are all at risk. But, there is an even...

Mantoux Test Ineffective For Mycobacterial Lymphadenitis Patients.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Tuberculin skin testing can lead to false diagnoses of tuberculosis when used on patients with mycobacteria-induced lymph node inflammation, researchers in...

NIH Begins New $20 Million Program In AIDS and Tuberculosis.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- On World AIDS Day, the Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new building program to provide extended support for collaborative, multidisciplinary,...

Pfizer Clarifies Vibramycin (Doxycycline) Label.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pfizer, Inc., is updating prescribing instructions for its antibiotic Vibramycin (doxycycline) to highlight the drug's utility in treating inhaled anthrax. Separately, the company said it is donating...

Synthon Chiragenics, Brigham and Women's Collaborate On Drug Candidates.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Synthon Chiragenics Corp. has signed an agreement with The Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts to research potential antibacterial candidates to treat highly resistant germs. The...

ABS Negotiates Anthrax And Smallpox Vaccine Agreement.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American Biogenetic Sciences, Inc., (MABA, ABS) has negotiated a 10-year agreement with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation covering human vaccines for anthrax, smallpox, botulism and...

Anthrax Scare Is Posing Problems For Legitimate Research.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An anthrax researcher with a small company recently came to Paul Keim seeking more samples he needed for his work. Keim, a microbiologist at Northern Arizona University, politely said he was too...

Cautious Scientists Won't Open Leahy Letter For Safety Reasons.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The anthrax-laden letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy will be opened only when scientists feel confident they can recover all of the anthrax in the envelope, the FBI says. "No one wants to go forward...

Success Of Afghanistan Reconstruction Depends On Health Support.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health sector reconstruction in Afghanistan must be guided by a strong international commitment to save and improve lives, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. It also called for generous...

Alliance Urges Joint Approach To AIDS And Tuberculosis.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fighting the converging epidemics of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) will require improved anti-TB drugs as well as wide access to antiretrovirals, with an integrated approach to treating both diseases,...

Immunomedics Awarded U.S. Patent For Antibody Therapy.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunomedics, Inc., (IMMU) has been awarded a U.S. Patent for a method of treating sites of infection by targeting organism-specific antibodies containing toxic agents to the sites. Such organisms...

Aventis Pasteur Has Shipped All Fluzone Orders.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aventis Pasteur, America's largest supplier of influenza vaccine, shipped all previously committed influenza vaccine orders in their entirety to customers by the middle of November. The company, which...

Scientists Say Flu Pandemic Remains A World Threat.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At a time of bioterrorism fears, influenza should not be overlooked as a force of nature or a potential weapon of terrorists, disease specialists say. Flu has the potential to become a pandemic,...

Even If Bovine Disease Has Reached U.S., Precautions Have Stopped Spread.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- There's a small chance that mad cow disease has reached the United States undetected - brought by British cattle during the 1980s - but government prevention measures would have stopped it from...

Worse Of Outbreak May Be Over In Britain, According To Study.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Britain may have seen the worst of its epidemic of a form of mad cow disease, according to a French study that says the number of cases may not rise much above 200, far fewer than previous estimates....

Sepsis Drug May Also Work For Meningitis Complications.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An increasing number of people are dying each year from meningitis, and many of these deaths are due to complications related to sepsis. The FDA approval of Xigris for the treatment of severe sepsis...

Streptococcus Bacteria Does Not Affect Macrophage Function.
December 18, 2001... 2001 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Macrophages in the lungs of African HIV patients function normally in the face of streptococcus infection, researchers report. "Streptococcus pneumoniae...