Infectious Disease Animations

FDA Approves Most Comprehensive System To Test Donated Blood For HIV, Hepatitis B & Hepatitis C
The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new nucleic acid test from Roche to screen donated blood for HIV-1 Group M RNA, hepatitis C RNA and hepatitis B DNA in a single, automated assay. The test, called the cobas TaqScreen MPX Test for use on the cobas s 201 system, is a qualitative in vitro test for comprehensive single-assay detection of HIV-1 Group M RNA, HIV-1 Group O RNA, HIV-2 RNA, hepatitis C Virus RNA and hepatitis B Virus DNA in human plasma.

Diseases To Watch For In 2009 Include Hantavirus
The Iowa Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) urges Iowans to take steps to stay healthy in 2009. Influenza season is entering its most active months; in addition, recent cases of norovirus, shigellosis and hantavirus offer opportunities to remind Iowans that good hygiene and disease prevention are the best ways to avoid illness. The best prevention against influenza is receiving a yearly flu shot. The flu is a respiratory illness caused by viruses.

Texas DSHS To Resume Annual Wintertime Rabies Bait Drop Jan. 7
The Texas Department of State Health Services' annual airdrop of vaccine baits, credited with turning the tide against the spread of rabies strains carried by coyotes and gray foxes, will begin next week. Some 2.9 million baits will be dropped over parts of 41 Texas counties.

Novartis Strengthens Vaccine Pipeline With Agreement For Novel CMV Vaccines Candidate
Novartis has strengthened its vaccines pipeline through an exclusive agreement to license AlphaVax' investigational Cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine program. This CMV agreement adds to Novartis' promising early stage pipeline of novel vaccines, which focuses on significant unmet needs for the prevention of fatal diseases such as meningococcal infections and other hospital and community acquired infections.

Flu Season Is Here: How To Detect Symptoms Of Viral Myocarditis In Children And Young Adults
Influenza, strep throat and the common cold afflict many people during the winter months, particularly in children and young adults, yet there is one often undiagnosed viral condition that can be far deadlier then these common viruses. Viral myocarditis is a sometimes fatal infection that inflames the myocardium, the thick muscular layer of the heart wall, and is the most common cause of heart failure in otherwise healthy children and young adults.

What Is The Pathogenesis Of C. Jejuni-related Disease?
Campylobacters are small Gram-negative spiral rods. Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), a foodborne organism contracted from untreated water, milk and meat, especially chicken, is one of the most important causes of bacterial diarrhea worldwide. However, its mode of pathogenesis is not clear. A research article to be published on December 28, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question.

Dengue Fever Could Be Controlled Via Mosquito Parasite
With laboratory-bred mosquitoes, scientists in Australia and China showed it may be possible to reduce the spread of dengue fever by using a parasite to shorten the life-span of the mosquito that carries the virus.

Text Messages Could Help Tuberculosis Drug Compliance
Use of mobile phone text-messaging (or short message service/SMS as it is also known) could help tuberculosis patients in the world's most remote locations adhere to their treatment. The promising early results of this strategy are discussed in the World Report in this week's edition of The Lancet, written by freelance journalist Eliza Barclay.

Preventive Antibiotic Use Reduced ICU Deaths
Researchers studying nearly 6,000 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) in 13 hospitals throughout the Netherlands, found that giving antibiotics as a preventive measure to ICU patients increased their chances of survival. The study was the work of first author Dr.

PAHO, IDB And Sabin Refine Fight Against Neglected Diseases In Latin America And Caribbean
With more than 210 million poor people bearing the burden of neglected diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and partner agencies are setting up a trust fund to control and eliminate these "forgotten" diseases.

Bovine TB Infection Still Threatens Human Health In The UK
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) still remains a threat to human health in the UK, although the overall risk of infection is considered to be small, reveals research published in the journal Thorax. The researchers detail three cases of TB infection arising in rural Cornwall, South West England. Two confirmed cases of bovine TB caused by Mycobacterium bovis arose in a woman and her pet dog.

Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo
The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared on 25 December an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Mweka District, Kasai Occidental province based on laboratory results from the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon. CIRMF confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in 2 samples from 2 of the patients in the outbreak by antigen detection.

Zimbabwe: Chaos In New Cholera Outbreak, Reports Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
A second cholera outbreak has hit Chegutu, a town 100 km west of Harare, where more than 100 people have died since the first cases appeared on November 24. MSF arrived in Chegutu, which has a population of 55,000, on December 12 after being told that day of the cholera emergency there. The scene MSF found at the town's small government cholera treatment center (CTC) was grim.

Producing A More Effective Oral Form Of A Powerful Disease-fighting Protein - Bioconjugate Chemistry Journal
Scientists in Japan are reporting an advance toward using a natural disease-fighting protein in pills or syrups that patients can take by mouth rather than injection. Their study is the first to show that coating the protein with a polymer material already in wide medical use can increase its absorption by the intestine. The research appears in the current issue of ACS' Bioconjugate Chemistry, a monthly journal.

1918 Flu Killed Millions Because Of Three Genes
A team of scientists from the US and Japan have identified a combination of three genes in the flu virus that was most likely responsible for making the 1918 flu strain so deadly that it caused the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease ever known to humankind, leaving tens of millions dead in its wake.