Current research demonstrates that the tonsils may possess the necessary factors to act as a transmission site for the spread of HIV. The related report by Moutsopoulos et al, “Tonsil Epithelial Factors May Influence Oropharyngeal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission,” appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Recent outbreaks of emerging diseases such as SARS and H5N1 avian influenza have underlined the fact that animal pathogens may acquire the ability to spread efficiently in humans ? but as yet have not. Monitoring the transmissibility of pathogens from animals in humans is therefore key for early detection of epidemic spread, and for effective control.
Cancer patients who receive a drug that stimulates the growth of infection-fighting white blood cells may be significantly less likely to die from a chemotherapy-related complication characterized by fever and low white blood cell levels, according to a multi-institutional study led by researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Carnegie Mellon University scientists have made an important discovery that aids the understanding of why HIV enters immune cells with ease. The researchers found that after HIV docks onto a host cell, it dramatically lowers the energy required for a cell membrane to bend, making it easier for the virus to infect immune cells.
Avian Influenza has been reported in nearly 70 countries across four continents since the present wave commenced in 1997 in Hong Kong. It has exhibited a tendency to re-surface in outbreak countries having recurred in nearly 20 countries out of 25 countries affected in 2007 itself.
Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV–more than half a million in 2006 alone. Caring for these children is complicated by the fact that their immune systems are not fully developed in the first year of life, which makes them especially susceptible to rapid HIV disease progression and death.
Officials from the Department Environmental Protection and Allegheny County reminded residents of simple steps they can take to control mosquitoes in their own yards ? an important effort in combating the spread of the West Nile virus.
Three clinical trials in Africa found that adult male circumcision reduced the risk of men acquiring HIV infection from heterosexual sex by 51-60%.
Two new studies emphasize the importance of delivering measles and influenza vaccines to HIV-infected individuals. Both studies are published in the August 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
An international collaboration between European, Australian and American researchers has unveiled some of the genetic mysteries explaining why some people naturally keep HIV levels almost undetectable, whereas others quickly lose control of the infection.