Infectious Diseases

Tuberculosis :: Promising New TB Drug Enters Clinical Trial

A promising new drug candidate that may be effective against both actively dividing and slow-growing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) has begun testing in humans, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today. The novel antibiotic, PA-824, may shorten the time needed to treat tuberculosis (TB), a contagious disease that claims approximately two million lives worldwide each year. In partnership with the non-profit New York-based Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), NIAID contributed to the drug candidate?s preclinical safety and efficacy testing in animal models. Now, a clinical trial to assess PA-824?s safety, sponsored by the TB Alliance, has opened at a medical clinic in Lincoln, NE.

HIV :: Human Cells Can Silence HIV Genes – RNA silencing

For the first time, scientists have shown that humans use an immune defense process common in plants and invertebrates to battle a virus. The new finding that human cells can silence an essential part of HIV?s genetic make-up could have important implications for the treatment of people infected with the virus. Led by Kuan-Teh Jeang, M.D, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part the National Institutes of Health, the researchers published their findings in this week?s issue of the journal Immunity.

Immune System :: How disease bacterium survives inside immune system cell

New research on a bacterium that can survive encounters with specific immune system cells has strengthened scientists? belief that these plentiful white blood cells, known as neutrophils, dictate whether our immune system will permit or prevent bacterial infections. A paper describing the research was released today online in The Journal of Immunology. Frank R. DeLeo, Ph.D., of Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health, directed the work at RML, in Hamilton, MT, in collaboration with lead author Dori L. Borjesson, D.V.M., Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Respiratory :: Excess oxygen worsens lung inflammation

Research performed at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has revealed that oxygen therapy aimed at helping mice with acute lung inflammation breathe paradoxically worsened their illness. The researchers say excess oxygen appears to thwart a natural process that limits lung tissue damage. They overcame this deleterious side effect, however, by adding an inhaled anti-inflammatory drug to the oxygen therapy.

Health :: Viral hemorrhagic fevers – Ebola virus infects cells

Ebola virus reproduction in laboratory-grown cells is severely hampered by enzyme-inhibiting chemicals, and these chemicals deserve further study as possible treatments for Ebola virus infections in humans, report scientists supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Health :: Marburg hemorrhagic fever

Marburg hemorrhagic fever is a rare, severe type of hemorrhagic fever which affects both humans and non-human primates. Caused by a genetically unique zoonotic (that is, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family, its recognition led to the creation of this virus family. The four species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.

Leukemia :: A case of Leukemia treated with homeopathy medicines

Leukemia :: A case of Leukemia treated with homeopathy medicines

Hereunder I am presenting a case of Leukemia. I cannot claim this case to be of any academic value or an instructive case, yet this case shows that Homoeopathic medicines act while allopathic treatment was being given simultaneously. And above all, the Homoeopathic medicines were prescribed on meager symptoms without seeing the patient even once. The result of such mixed treatment is evident that after the use of Homoeopathic medicines the pathology became normal and the patient improved to a great extent.

New way to control drug-resistant bacteria

Based on an improved understanding of bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – scientists reporting in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal “Nature” believe they have discovered a potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria, an increasingly worrisome public health problem.

Asthma :: Program reduces asthma-related illness in inner-city children

A program that reduces allergens and tobacco smoke in the home resulted in fewer asthma-related illnesses in children participating in the intervention than in those who were not, according to a new study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Children taking part in the intervention had 21 fewer days of asthma-related symptoms over the 1-year course of intervention.

Organ transplantation :: Consortium to improve success of organ transplants

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), launched a three-site consortium spanning Boston, Cleveland and Philadelphia that will work to improve the outcomes of organ transplantation.