Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have successfully developed a miniaturized device that can be used to detect the highly pathogenic avian flu (H5N1) virus.
Vaccination in a phase II clinical trial of Merck & Co., Inc.’s investigational HIV vaccine (V520) is being discontinued because the vaccine was not effective.
The bacterium that causes a highly contagious and sometimes deadly form of diarrhea is frequently carried by persons who do not have any of the disease symptoms, according to a study in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
More than 150 million people worldwide are infected with filarial parasites — long, thread-like worms that can live for years inside the human body and cause severe, debilitating diseases such as elephantiasis. Mosquitoes spread the larvae of these parasitic nematodes from human to human, placing at risk more than a billion people who live in places in Africa, Asia and Latin America where filarial parasites thrive.
More than 150 million people worldwide are infected with filarial parasites — long, thread-like worms that can live for years inside the human body and cause severe, debilitating diseases such as elephantiasis. Mosquitoes spread the larvae of these parasitic nematodes from human to human, placing at risk more than a billion people who live in places in Africa, Asia and Latin America where filarial parasites thrive.
The rare immunodeficiency disorder known as Job’s syndrome is caused by a specific genetic mutation that both overstimulates and understimulates the human immune system, leading to harmful bacterial and fungal infections and the physical features characteristic of the syndrome, according to two independent groups of scientists, one from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the other from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Iomai Corporation (Nasdaq: IOMI) announced that travelers who received the company’s patch-based travelers’ diarrhea vaccine were significantly less likely to be sickened as compared with travelers who receive a placebo, according to research presented today by Chief Scientific Officer Gregory Glenn, M.D. at a late-breaker presentation during the “Vaccines and Pediatric Infections” session of the 47th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy being held in Chicago.
When it comes to washing with soap and water, some Americans seem be slipping up. In an observational study sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA), slightly over three-quarters of men and women (77%) washed their hands in public restrooms – a six percent decline from a similar study conducted in 2005.
A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body’s own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL, Swiss Exchange: CRX) announced that its researchers have discovered a monoclonal antibody that is active against H5N1 avian influenza. The studies will be presented at the 5th International Bird Flu Summit scheduled for September 27 and 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada.