CONTENTS
- Podcasts
- Reports and Studies
- Flu Reports
- Canadian News
- International News
PODCASTS
April 3, 2011
Vincent, Alan, and Rich explore a novel bunyavirus isolated in China, the recent polio outbreak in Republic of the Congo, and cell to cell transmission of a retrovirus by biofilm-like extracellular assemblies.
27 March 2011
Virologist Michelle Ozbun and the TWiV team review the biology of human papillomaviruses.
REPORTS, STUDIES
BIOTECanada April 2011
WHO details virus-related patents in pandemic preparedness report
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Apr 1 released a report compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), another United Nations agency, on flu pandemic preparedness patents and patent applications. The report's purpose is to assist the WHO's virus-sharing working group, which over the past several years has been grappling with how to assure that developing countries that share influenza viruses with the international research community and pharmaceutical industry benefit from the resulting vaccines, medications, and diagnostic tests. (Report in PDF)
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Apr 1 released a report compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), another United Nations agency, on flu pandemic preparedness patents and patent applications. The report's purpose is to assist the WHO's virus-sharing working group, which over the past several years has been grappling with how to assure that developing countries that share influenza viruses with the international research community and pharmaceutical industry benefit from the resulting vaccines, medications, and diagnostic tests. (Report in PDF)
Web-based surveillance system panned for pandemic H1N1
A Web-based surveillance system designed by Johns Hopkins and Department of Defense researchers gathered solid data but was not useful for detecting or monitoring pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza, according to an assessment in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) today.
A Web-based surveillance system designed by Johns Hopkins and Department of Defense researchers gathered solid data but was not useful for detecting or monitoring pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza, according to an assessment in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) today.
FLU REPORTS
Week Ending March 26: In week 12, influenza B continues to increase steadily in most regions of the country except the Atlantic provinces. Of the 520 positive tests reported during week 12, 55.6% were influenza A and 44.4% were influenza B. Influenza activity has declined in most of western Canada but persists in parts of Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
Week Ending March 26: During week 12 (March 20-26, 2011), influenza activity in the United States decreased.
CANADIAN NEWS
Counting on wise parents
Calgary Herald April 8, 2011
Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leading Canadian infectious disease expert is prompting parents to once again consider a painful subject: circumcision.
Calgary Herald April 8, 2011
Dr. Noni MacDonald, a leading Canadian infectious disease expert is prompting parents to once again consider a painful subject: circumcision.
Winnipeg Free Press April 8, 2011
HIV infection rates are falling globally, but that's not the case in Manitoba or across Canada. The number of new cases in Manitoba rose to 102 in 2010, compared with 99 in 2009, according to the 2010 Manitoba HIV Program report released late Thursday. In 2007, there were 66 new cases of HIV in the province.
PHAC April 7, 2011
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is investigating an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in three provinces.
Tamiflu effectiveness overstated: UBC prof
CBC.ca April 7, 2011
CBC.ca April 7, 2011
A University of British Columbia professor who specializes in researching publicly approved medicines is casting doubt on the effectiveness of the anti-pandemic drug Tamiflu.
Montreal Gazette April 7, 2011
Hospitals across Quebec are battling steady increases in a number of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a new Health Department report reveals. 'This tells you that the system is probably stretched to its limits right now'
CBC.ca April 7, 2011
A distinctive tuberculosis was unintentionally left by 18th-century Voyageurs in remote aboriginal communities along their trade routes and still plagues those communities today, new research shows.
Canadian Press April 6, 2011
The Cape Breton Regional Health Authority says the death of a palliative care patient is related to the outbreak of C. difficile at the district's health facilities.
Toronto Star April 3, 2011
In what some might view as revolting quackery, Toronto researchers are performing a "fecal transplant" later this month as part of a major study to see if donated stool can cure patients of a severe bacterial infection.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Center for Global Health Apr 5, 2011
Reuters, April 8, 2011
A team of graduate students has created a new smartphone application they say will allow healthcare workers in remote locations to diagnose malaria cases on the spot.
W. H. Prusoff, Who Developed AIDS Drug, is Dead at 90
The New York Times 8 April 2011
William H. Prusoff, a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine who, with a colleague, developed an effective component in the first generation of drug cocktails used to treat AIDS, has died.
The New York Times 8 April 2011
William H. Prusoff, a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine who, with a colleague, developed an effective component in the first generation of drug cocktails used to treat AIDS, has died.
MedPage Today April 7, 2011
The FDA has declined to expand the approved age range for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil to 45, according to the product's manufacturer
BBC April 7, 2011
Antibiotic resistant infections have reached unprecedented levels and now outstrip our ability to fight them with drugs, European health experts warn.
Reuters April 7, 2011
A gene that makes bugs highly resistant to almost all known antibiotics has been found in bacteria in water supplies in New Delhi used by local people for drinking, washing and cooking, scientists said on Thursday.
Nature News April 4, 2011
This week, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the European Commission launch a joint assault on these conditions, whose small numbers of patients make it difficult to test new treatments and develop diagnostic methods. The International Rare Disease Research Consortium being formed under the auspices of the two bodies has the ambitious goal of developing a diagnostic tool for every known rare disease by 2020, along with new therapies to treat 200 of them.
HealthDay News April 4
Several high-risk forms of human papillomavirus antibodies may be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, held April 2 to 6 in Orlando, Fla.
HealthNewsDigest.com (New Release) Apr 4, 2011 - 5:29:59 PM
Last summer, Dartmouth’s Mary Flanagan, the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities, began collaborating with the Mascoma Valley Health Initiative (MVHI) on “POX: Save the People,” a game that helps players better understand how vaccines protect the population from the spread of infectious disease.
The New York Times April 2, 2011
The increased interest is "fueled in part by the billions of dollars that the American government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other organizations have poured into international health in recent years," according to the newspaper. The article looks at some of the different programs that send Americans overseas to participate in global health programs and looks at the effects of their involvement on local health programs
BusinessWeek (HealthDay) April 4, 2011
HPV, a common sexually transmitted virus that accounts for most cases of cervical cancer, may also play a role in lung cancer, researchers report. In other smaller studies, HPV has been found in lung cancer patients. But what role the virus plays, if any, in the development of the disease is not known, the scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said.
2 Infection Control Today April 2, 2011
A large, multi-year study of antibiotic use in Veterans Health Administration's acute care facilities demonstrates dramatically increased use of carbapenems, a powerful class of antibiotics, over the last five years. These drugs are often considered the last treatment option for severe infections with multi-drug resistant pathogens.
Center for Global Health Apr 1, 2011
This financial condition is only a symptom of the real crisis that has been brewing over the last decade: What is WHO’s role in a changing world?
Disease model predicts more cholera for Haiti
Sci Dev.net Mar 28, 2011
Sci Dev.net Mar 28, 2011
A mathematical model of cholera epidemics predicts that the number of cases in Haiti will be double the UN's projection.
