What Is Infection? What Causes Infections?
A human with an infection has another organism inside them which gets its sustenance (nourishment) from that person, it colonizes that person and reproduces inside them. The human with that organism (germ) inside is called the host, while the germ or pathogen is referred to as a parasitic organism. Another name for an organism that causes infection is an infectious agent...

The Mysterious Workings Of The Cholera Bacteria Revealed By Rensselaer Professor
Researchers have found that an enzyme in the bacteria that causes cholera uses a previously unknown mechanism in providing the bacteria with energy. Because the enzyme is not found in most other organisms, including humans, the finding offers insights into how drugs might be created to kill the bacteria without harming humans...

Nutra Pharma Receives Patent For Novel Antiviral Treatment Using Modified Cobra Venom
Nutra Pharma Corporation (OTCBB: NPHC), a biotechnology company that is developing treatments for Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Pain, announced that it has received approval from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its patent describing a method of treating and preventing infectious diseases, i...

Advanced Life Sciences Applies For FDA Fast-Track Designation For Restanza In CABP
Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ADLS), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs in the therapeutic areas of infection, oncology and respiratory diseases, announced that the Company has applied to the U.S...

Scientists Devise Strategy In Bid To Beat Viruses
Scientists have developed a new way to target viruses which could increase the effectiveness of antiviral drugs. Instead of attacking the virus itself, the method developed at the University of Edinburgh alters the conditions which viruses need to survive and multiply...

Genetic Architecture And The Evolution Of RNA Viruses
In biology and genetics, the concept of epistasis is what gives rise to the whole being more (or less) than the sum of its parts. The quantitative effect of a given mutation upon the traits of an organism has the potential to depend strongly upon the gene versions present in other parts of the genome, or even other mutations co-occurring in that gene...

Antigenics Presents Positive, Top Line Data From Phase I Herpes Clinical Trial
Antigenics (NASDAQ: AGEN) announced positive results with AG-707, an investigational therapeutic vaccine being developed to treat herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), the virus that causes genital herpes, in infected patients. Developed by Antigenics, the vaccine triggers a cellular immune response, stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells...

Increased Risk Of Illness To Swimmers At Sub-Tropical Beaches
A yearlong beach study led by a team of University of Miami researchers suggests that swimmers at sub-tropical beaches face an increased risk of illness. The multi-disciplinary team examined the risk of illness that beachgoers face when exposed to recreational marine water at sub-tropical beaches with no known source of pollution or contamination. B.E.A.C.H.E.S...

Dynavax Completes Enrollment And First Immunizations In Universal Flu Vaccine Study
Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) reported completing enrollment and the first immunizations of 39 subjects enrolled in its Phase 1 study of the company's Universal Flu vaccine. Safety and immunogenicity data from this study are anticipated in the fourth quarter of this year...

Infectious Prions Can Arise Spontaneously In Normal Brain Tissue
In a startling new study that involved research on both sides of the Atlantic, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the University College London (UCL) Institute of Neurology in England have shown for the first time that abnormal prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, can suddenly erupt fr...

A BBVA Foundation Research Project Identifies The Bacteria Arriving Daily From The Sahara Desert
Every day, millions of microorganisms reach Spain from the Sahara Desert and the Sahel region - by flying. Louis Pasteur demonstrated back in 1861 that germs can move through the air, but it was only recently discovered that bacteria, funguses and viruses can travel thousands of kilometers stuck onto dust particles. Satellite images show clouds that come close to the size of the Iberian Peninsula...

Abbott To Feature Novel Tests And New Upgrades To Testing Platforms At American Association For Clinical Chemistry Lab Expo
A first-of-its-kind test that detects HIV infection earlier than ever before in the United States; a molecular assay for identification of two common sexually transmitted diseases; and an enhanced integrated analyzer offering significant workflow improvements; are among the many new advances Abbott (NYSE: ABT) will highlight at this year's American Association for Clinical Chem...

Study Identifies Effective, Inexpensive Test For Tuberculosis In Children
An international team of researchers comparing recently-developed methods for diagnosing tuberculosis in children in resource-poor countries has concluded that the best test for high-risk children is the microscopic-observation drug-susceptibility (MODS) technique using two gastric aspirate specimens from each child tested...

First Nations People On Peritoneal Dialysis At Greater Risk Of Infection And Death
First Nations people in Canada on peritoneal dialysis are at increased risk of peritonitis and death, irrespective of whether they live in a rural or urban location, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)...

Anesthesia Type May Impact Whether Total Hip Or Knee Replacement Patients Contract A Surgical Site Infection
A study appearing in the August 2010 issue of Anesthesiology found that patients receiving a total hip or knee replacement in Taiwan had a higher incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) when general anesthesia was administered for the operation than when the same procedures were performed under epidural/spinal (regional) anesthesia...

AU Summit Panel Focuses On Water, Sanitation To Meet MDG Targets In Africa
African countries should focus on preventing diarrhea - the biggest killer of children in Africa - in order to achieve Millennium Development Goal targets, Yunia Musaazi, WaterAid's East Africa policy advisor, told delegates at the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports. "Everyday, 2,000 African children die from diarrhea...

Legionnaire's Disease Bacteria Tap Into The Material Transport In Immune Cells
During a Legionella infection, the bacteria are engulfed by immune cells and bound by a membrane in the cell interior. Legionella protects itself against destruction by releasing proteins that reprogramme the human cell and exploit it for its own purposes. One of these proteins is DrrA...

Study Of Infections Associated With Eczema
The National Institute of Allergy and Infections Disease has awarded a five-year $31 million contract to National Jewish Health, which is leading a consortium of academic medical centers seeking to better understand skin infections associated with atopic dermatitis...

Hepatitis Virus Transmission Through Misuse Of Anesthesia
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be transmitted during intravenous (IV) administration of anesthesia, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. In this study, doctors found that anesthesia contamination - not endoscopy contamination - was the cause of infection...

How Deadly Fungal Microbes Enter Host Cells
A research team led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech has discovered a fundamental entry mechanism that allows dangerous fungal microbes to infect plants and cause disease. The discovery paves the way for the development of new intervention strategies to protect plant, and even some animal cells, from deadly fungal infections...

Public Health Leaders Push Ambitious Agenda To Stop TB Deaths Among People Living With HIV
It's a story that unfolds every day around the world but is rarely heard. A woman, man or child living with HIV gets exposed to tuberculosis (TB) in a setting where there are no measures to stop the spread of infection. It could be a workplace, a prison, a clinic or even at home. Soon the person is sick - coughing, feverish and weak...

Better Bandages, Food Packaging, Fresher Shoes, Thanks To New Antibacterial Material
A new form of paper with the built-in ability to fight disease-causing bacteria could have applications that range from anti-bacterial bandages to food packaging that keeps food fresher longer to shoes that ward off foot odor. A report about the new material, which consists of the thinnest possible sheets of carbon, appears in ACS Nano, a monthly journal...

Infection-Resistant Orthopedic Research Funded By NSF
Dr. Woo Young Lee of the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science department along with Dr. Hongjun Wang of Chemistry, Chemical Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology have recently received significant NSF funding for their research entitled, "Evaporative Assembly of Drug-Eluting Bioresorbable Nanocomposite Micropatterns...

European Medicines Agency Confirms Positive Benefit-Risk Balance Of Rotarix
Following a review of the oral vaccine Rotarix, the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has concluded that the vaccine continues to have a positive benefit-risk balance and that the presence of a very small amount of viral particles does not present a risk to public health...

Highly Contagious Pertussis Re-Emerges; Required Tdap Vaccine Protects Against It
Pertussis is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal bacterial disease which has increased alarmingly in the past decade. To help provide protection, all students 11 and older entering the sixth grade in Alabama schools this school year must have a tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine...