TB & Outbreaks Week articles from March 2001

TB & Outbreaks Week archives from March 2001

Peptide-Based Methodology Works On Any Infectious Disease.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Researchers in the United States have developed a method of obtaining diagnostic peptides that does not require any prior knowledge of the pathogen. ...

Experimental Antibiotic Tested Singly And In Combination With Ofloxacin.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Researchers in the United States say the the antimicrobial KRM-1648 is strongly effective against Mycobacterium ulcerans. "The antimicrobial effect...

Infection Common In Mice Near Off-Road Recreation Area In Utah.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Utah biologists found nearly 30% of deer mice were infected with hantavirus around central Utah sand dunes popular with people who ride off-road vehicles (ORVs). The scientists...

Antibiotic Combination Effective Against Infection.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Researchers in India say combinations of ethambutol and sparfloxacin proved effective against Mycobacterium avium and M. tuberculosis. "The MIC...

Fungal Spores Carried On Clothing.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clothing, particularly cotton, worn by both visitors and patients in hospitals are a leading source of transmission of spores of Aspergillus fungi, according to a study by two Cornell University...

Candy Is Source Of Latest U.S. Scare.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A frightening report of "mad cow disease" dangers in the U.S. has reared its ugly head again. This time, the feared carrier is candy. New York City health officials began investigating sales of...

WHO Office Will Help Developing Countries Detect And Control Epidemics, Emerging Diseases.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) with the support of the Municipality of Lyon, France; the French Government; and the Marcel Merieux Foundation, opened a WHO Office in Lyon on February 8, 2001....

Enzyme Inhibitors Could Help Prevent Transmission.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Unless you were prudent and had a vaccination earlier in the season, there's not much you can do about the flu once you're infected, apart from taking aspirin, vitamins, and hot tea, and lying in...

GS4104 Is Efficacious Against Zoonotic Avian Viruses.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- The neuraminidase inhibitor GS4104 showed promising results when tested against avian influenza viruses, researchers in the United States report. "In...

Prospects For Control Are At Hand.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Effective control of influenza is possible in the United States if available vaccines and antiviral drugs are used as widely as they should be,...

New Animal Model Will Facilitate Vaccine Development.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- The golden hamster will help researchers develop a vaccine against leishmaniasis, say scientists in Spain. "For experimental infections with...

Glycolipid Antigen Useful In Prognosis And Treatment Evaluation.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- According to a study from Korea, clinicians may have a new way of determining drug efficacy in leprosy patients. "A total of 100 untreated new...

Vaccine Does Not Complicate Diagnosis Of Active Disease.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- A dot blot test will be able to distinguish active disease from antibodies produced in response to the OspA Lyme disease vaccine, researchers say. ...

Mass Immunization Has Limited Benefits.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Researchers in Canada report mixed results from a massive immunization campaign against meningitis in that country. During the winter of 1992-1993, a...

Herpes Zoster Blamed For Chickenpox Outbreak In HIV(+) Children.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- An active case of herpes zoster in a child attending a summer camp for children with HIV was responsible for an outbreak of chickenpox. Protective...

Children With Runny Noses At Less Risk Of Developing Asthma.
March 6, 2001... 2001 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Repeated viral infections early in life may reduce the risk of developing asthma up to school age by stimulating the child's immune system, finds a study in the February 15, 2001, issue of the...

New Technique Quickly Identifies Rifampin Resistance In DNA.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- A new method of detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis presence and rifampin resistance could eliminate therapy delays in some patients. Traditional...

Aftermath Of Natural Disasters Poses Major Health Risks.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The good news is, you're not killed or injured in a natural disaster. The bad news is, you might die a few days or weeks later from some terrible disease. That is the scenario that plays out...

Therapy Most Effective When Administered Soon After Symptom Onset.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- A MEDLINE review of published studies on zanamivir and oseltamivir for influenza has clarified protocols for effective treatment of the disease. This...

StaphVAX Elicits Antibodies With In Vitro Activity Against Antibiotic-Resistance.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New in vitro data confirm that human antibodies elicited by Nabi(R) StaphVAX(R) (Staphylococcus aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine), an investigational vaccine under development to protect...

Questionnaire Valuable Indicator Of Which Children Should Get Skin Test.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Nancy Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Public health officials in New York City have developed a questionnaire that accurately screens children at risk for tubeculosis. Such a...

Human Gut Potential Site For Gene Transfer.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bacteria in your gut could be exchanging genetic material, including antibiotic resistance genes, with bacteria that are simply passing through on your food, say researchers from the University of...

Researchers Say Botulinum Toxin Is Major Biological Weapons Threat.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Working Group on Civilian Biodefense, an expert panel convened by the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says that botulinum toxin poses a...

Uganda Declared Free Of Feared Disease.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The last case of an outbreak of deadly Ebola infection, which began in October 2000, was reported on January 9, 2001, and health officials say two cycles of the incubation period have passed...

Experts Decide Content Of 2001-2002 Northern Hemisphere Vaccine.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The composition of the vaccine for year 2001-2002 (Northern Hemisphere influenza season) has been decided and communicated to vaccine manufacturers by the World Health Organization (WHO), following...

New Blood Test May Be More Accurate, May Have Other Diagnostic Applications.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new blood test for Lyme disease may provide a more accurate method for detecting the tick-borne illness, particularly in its early stages when current tests may not yield an accurate diagnosis....

Drugfacts.Com, NewsRx Collaboration Expands Availability Of Custom Health News For Professionals.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Drugfacts.com, the premier free drug information resource on the Internet for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, and NewsRx, the leading provider of daily and weekly health news, have...

Vaccine Reduces Middle Ear Infections.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer -- A new vaccine is effective in reducing the acute middle ear infections that are so common in infants. "The heptavalent pneumococcal...

Meningitis Hits West Africa On Annual Sweep.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The World Health Organization reports that several countries in the western region of Africa are suffering their annual meningitis epidemic. "Meningitis sweeps across the Sahelian region each...

Typhoid And Malaria Claim Lives In Kenya.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to media reports from Kenya, outbreaks of typhoid and malaria have killed 28 people in the country's Embu district, Central province, as of February 27, 2001, and 233 more were being...

African Americans Remain Disproportionately Affected, Outbreaks Among Gay And Bi.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite a 10% decline in syphilis rates for African Americans from 1998 to 1999 (from 16.9 cases to 15.2 cases per 100,000 people), African Americans remain disproportionately affected by syphilis,...

MMR Vaccine Linked To Bleeding Disorder.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A report from Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service warns that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is linked to a bleeding disorder called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)...

Researchers Recommend Testing Adolescents Prior To Immunization.
March 13, 2001... 2001 MAR 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Testing adolescents who say they either have not had varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox) or do not remember can eliminate the need for universal...

Mechanism Uncovered For Drug-Drug Interaction With Isoniazid.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- HIV drugs that are metabolized by two specific enzymes are more likely to interact with the tuberculosis drug isoniazid, with potentially toxic results....

Additional Rifampin-Resistant Strains Identified.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Researchers in Germany have identified additional strains of tuberculosis resistant to rifampin and say a test to identify these resistant strains should...

Agreement Signed To Develop New Treatment.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GlaxoSmithKline and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the signing of an agreement for the development of a new treatment for malaria. The product, known as LAPDAP, combines two...

'Promiscuous Prion' Yields Clues To Transmission Across Species Barrier.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By stitching together segments of two species of infectious yeast proteins, called prions, researchers have produced a hybrid prion that can adopt two distinct infectious shapes. This ability...

Adherence Mechanism May Determine TB Virulence.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Researchers have uncovered a binding mechanism in Mycobacterium smegmatis that may explain how M. tuberculosis and other virulent species adhere to cells....

Effectiveness Of Directly Observed Therapy Questioned In Pakistan.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Surprising results from a study of tuberculosis treatment in Pakistan were reported in the March 3, 2001, issue of The Lancet. As expected, improved quality of care greatly improved...

Researchers Warn Against Amprenavir Combinations In HIV/MAC Coinfected Patients.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- Neither rifabutin nor rifampin should be used to prevent Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in HIV patients treated with the protease inhibitor amprenavir,...

Comparison of Fungus Describes Properties That Contribute To Infectivity.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Researchers have defined differences between the fungi Candida albicans and C. dubliniensis that may improve understanding of the pathogenesis of the...

Sequential Disinfection Process Provides Safer Drinking Water.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fresh from the faucet, a killer may be lurking in your drinking glass. Cryptosporidium parvum is a parasitic protozoan that can infiltrate a city's water supply, as happened in Milwaukee in...

BCG Has Potential As Carrier For Improved DPT Vaccine.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Combining the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine for tetanus with a vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus shows promise, according to a new...

Review Clarifies Treatment Protocols For Clostridium difficile.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Appropriate therapy for Clostridium difficile infection is becoming more critical due to increasing infection rates among the elderly and ongoing problems...

Researchers In Italy Develop Safe, Effective Shigella Vaccine.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Vaccination against Shigella spp. offers promise for protection against dysentery, and now researchers working in Italy have pinpointed one vaccine that...

Understanding Genetic Predisposition May Lead To Vaccine.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Better understanding of a genetic tendency for contracting malaria may lead to vaccine development. Families appear to inherit the tendency to...

Osteoporosis Drugs Found To Combat Malaria, Other Infections.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A series of bisphosphonate drugs already approved to treat osteoporosis and other bone disorders in humans carry potent anti-parasitic activity, offering a new approach to the treatment of...

Thoracic Imaging A "Cornerstone" In Diagnostics And Therapeutics.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The European Respiratory Journal is presenting a series of articles on current topics in thoracic imaging - "one of our key partners in clinical and experimental respiratory medicine,"...

Genetic Marker Profiling Plus Spoligotyping Offer Reliable Transmission Indexing.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Developing patient profile groups based on spoligotyping in isolates with low copies of the genetic marker IS6110 can accurately index tuberculosis...

CT Scans Correlate With Histopathological Findings.
March 20, 2001... 2001 MAR 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Researchers have outlined criteria for the interpretation of computed tomography (CT) scans in patients with chronic tuberculous empyema. H.Y. Kim...

Commercial Assays Not Specific Enough.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A comparison of six commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for the detection of tick-borne encephalitis reveals a lack of accuracy due to cross-reaction...

Pigs Are Reservoir For Hepatitis E Virus And Infection Risk For Humans.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer - New study results confirm previous evidence that hepatitis E virus (HEV) could be transmitted from pigs to humans. Medical researchers have performed a...

BAL Neopterin May Be Novel Marker For TB And Lung Cancer Disease States.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers in Egypt say neopterin levels in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid may be a useful marker for disease activity in tuberculosis and some lung cancers. Prior research has identified...

Influx Of Somalian Refugees Does Not Pose Infection Risk For Danes.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In Denmark, where nearly two-thirds of all tuberculosis cases are immigrants, researchers have found that the risk of infection to resident Danes is extremely small. T. Lillebaek and...

Meeting Will Address Multi-Drug Resistant TB.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The global tuberculosis problem is getting worse. Recent figures showed that London, England, has more cases of TB now than it has had for over a century. Drug resistance can make this...

Short-Course Rifampin and Pyrazinamide Is Effective For Prison Inmates.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A short-course of rifampin and pyrazinamide treatment for tuberculosis was well tolerated and increased the number of jail inmates completing therapy, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease...

Halofantrine Can Be Harmful For Certain Groups.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Public health researchers issued a reminder that the antimalarial drug halofantrine can adversely affect people with heart abnormalities and those taking mefloquine. Halofantrine is an...

Egg-Allergic Children Should Receive MMR Vaccination.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - An allergy to eggs should not prevent children from receiving the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Many children with egg allergies do not...

Effective Nasal Immunization May Attract Younger Flu Vaccine Candidates.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - An intra-nasal flu vaccine tested on healthy older children and adults appears to be effective at reducing the incidence and duration of respiratory...

Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte-Based Vaccine Prevents Infection In Mice.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Researchers have demonstrated that mice vaccinated with Ebola virus nucleoprotein are completely protected from a lethal challenge of the viral hemorrhagic...

Study Finds Vaccinating Healthy Adults Against Flu Could Save The US $1.3 Billions Annually.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Routine annual influenza vaccination of all working adults could save the U.S. as much as $1.3 billion each year, according to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) study published in the...

DNA Antigen May Lead To Development Of More Effective Vaccine.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Immunization of mice with a DNA protein protects against leprosy infection at least as well as the Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG)...

DNA Fingerprinting Of TB Strains Is Not Sufficient To Determine Epidemiology.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have begun to rely heavily upon molecular fingerprinting to identify clusters of related tuberculosis infections within populations, but perhaps they should not. Scientists at the...

Whole-Blood Antigen Assay Closely Correlates Skin Test Results.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have developed a whole blood antigen assay that can reliably identify tuberculosis infections. When compared to skin testing with tuberculin...

Yeast-Expressed Proteins Are Likely Vaccine Candidates.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Antigens produced using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein expression system are considered good candidates for a malaria vaccine, say researchers at the...

Sanitizing Hand Gel Increases Handwashing Among Health Care Workers.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study published in the March 2001 issue of the American Journal of Nursing finds that nurses, physicians, and other health care workers were more likely to sanitize their hands when an...

Pulmonary Resection Remains Viable Adjunct Therapy For Multi-Drug-Resistant TB.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pulmonary resection for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis should be considered if there is persistent infection and the patient does not tolerate medical therapy, surgeons say. B.J. Pomerantz...

Worldwide Vaccine Program Could Eliminate CMV.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an ideal candidate for worldwide eradication through immunization, say researchers working in England. "Using seroprevalence...

Most Elderly People Cannot Use Flu Inhaler Effectively.
March 27, 2001... 2001 MAR 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Most elderly people cannot use the inhaler device that delivers the anti-influenza drug zanamivir (Relenza), a new study reports. Researchers suggest that improvements should be made to the...