http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. "Borreliosis" or "Lyme disease" is caused by the bacterium "Borrelia burgdorferi". In Austria approximately 16,000 people fall ill with borreliosis annually following a tick bite. Roughly every fifth tick in Austria carries the pathogen. Borreliosis can be treated effectively with antibiotics, however a prophylactic vaccination is not available. In a current multicentre study, in which the MedUni Vienna participated, the reliable effectiveness of a possible vaccine against borreliosis has now been proved. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-effective-vaccination-borreliosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 14 May 2013 08:53:29 EST news287740400 (Medical Xpress)—The results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial in Europe of an investigational Lyme disease vaccine co-developed by researchers at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at Baxter International Inc., a U.S. based healthcare company, revealed it to be promising and well tolerated, according to a research paper published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The vaccine was shown to produce substantial antibodies against all targeted species of Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme disease in Europe and the United States. Baxter International conducted the clinical trial of the vaccine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-lyme-disease-vaccine-clinical-trial.html Medications Mon, 13 May 2013 07:54:50 EST news287650482 Scientists have developed a global media surveillance system that enables them to look for, and systematically monitor, up-to-the-minute public concerns and rumors about vaccines originating from 144 countries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-global-surveillance-tool-detectsmonitors-vaccines.html Medications Sun, 12 May 2013 18:30:01 EST news287576224 (Medical Xpress)—In her latest report to the government, Professor Dame Sally Davies - the UK's Chief Medical Officer - says the current antibiotics resistance crisis poses a "catastrophic threat". http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-combined-approach-antibiotics-resistance.html Medications Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:16:51 EST news282557801 Antibiotic resistance has been recognised in recent years as a major healthcare problem, however, a paper in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reviewing the issue on a global scale, concludes that, not enough attention is given to the critical role that the natural environment plays in the cycling of antibiotics and the associated development of resistance by bacteria. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-recognising-role-environment-global-antibiotic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:50:02 EST news282296269 The routine use of steroids to treat tuberculosis may help reduce deaths from all types of the disease, according to a new review of existing research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-steroids-deaths-tuberculosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 12 Mar 2013 07:37:26 EST news282292585 Today, The Lancet Infectious Diseases published a new report that examines the global economic burden of Chagas disease. In the first study of its kind, researchers measured the health and economic impact of Chagas disease and found that the total economic burden of Chagas disease matches or exceeds that of many more well-known diseases such as rotavirus, Lyme disease and cervical cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-highlights-chagas-disease-health-socio-economic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:30:03 EST news279472375 The rate of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men in England and Wales has remained unchanged over the past decade despite an almost four-fold increase in HIV testing, rising treatment coverage, and a 20 percent shortening of time-to-diagnosis, according to new research published Online First in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hiv-men-sex-england-wales.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278872420 The antibiotic amoxicillin, that doctors typically prescribe for common lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) such as cough and bronchitis, is no more effective at relieving symptoms than the use of no medication, even in older patients. The findings from the largest randomised placebo controlled trial of antibiotics for acute uncomplicated LRTI to date are published Online First in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-european-trial-commonly-antibiotic-ineffective.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:30:02 EST news275072920 Each year the flu puts more than 200,000 Americans in the hospital and causes anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths. With the exception of the H1N1 flu (also called swine flu) in 2009, most of these deaths occur in people over 65. But even for healthy younger people, the flu—characterized by high fever, body aches, headaches, and coughing—can be rough. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-ready-flu-season.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:03:37 EST news273225802 Researchers, led by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, the Health Protection Agency in Birmingham and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, have pioneered the whole genome sequencing (WGS) method through a study of 254 TB cases in the Midlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-tuberculosis-genetic-family-tree-key.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:30:05 EST news272129666 (HealthDay) -- The global prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus infection, and HIV is high among homeless people, although significant heterogeneity is seen in prevalence estimates, according to a study published online Aug. 20 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-prevalence-tb-hepatitis-hiv-high.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:43:46 EST news264689016 A controversial drug used to treat patients with severe sepsis (a whole-body inflammatory response often bought on by blood poisoning) withdrawn by manufacturer Eli Lilly in October 2011 due to concerns over its efficacy may offer some benefit to patients after all, according to a new systematic review of the evidence published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-blood-poisoning-drug-withdrawn-effective.html Medications Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:30:02 EST news261673528 Poor-quality and fake antimalarial drugs are leading to drug resistance and inadequate treatment that is endangering global efforts made to control and eliminate malaria over the past 10 years, according to a review of the evidence published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. In particular, the emergence of resistance to artemisinin drugs, currently the most effective treatment against malaria, on the Thailand-Cambodia border should be a wake up call, warn the authors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-poor-quality-antimalarial-drugs-threaten-jeopardize.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 21 May 2012 18:30:01 EST news256816149 Researchers said Monday they were a step closer to developing a vaccine against the type of meningitis that mostly affects Europe and North America and kills hundreds every year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-closer-meningitis-vaccine.html Medications Mon, 07 May 2012 04:46:33 EST news255584761 (AP) -- U.K. health officials are increasing their surveillance for any potential disease outbreaks that could disrupt the London Olympics this summer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-uk-boost-health-olympics.html Health Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:53:40 EST news252687213 Female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries are nearly 14 times more likely to be infected by HIV compared to the rest of country's population, according to an analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings suggest an urgent need to scale up access to quality HIV prevention programs in these countries. The study was published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-countries-female-sex-workers-infected.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:00:25 EST news250955267 A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University. The meta-analysis, which compared studies worldwide, showed that the saliva HIV test, OraQuick HIV1/2, had the same accuracy as the blood test for high-risk populations. The test sensitivity was slightly reduced for low risk populations. The study, published in this week's issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, has major implications for countries that wish to adopt self-testing strategies for HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-saliva-hiv-grade.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:40:02 EST news246626925 A research team led by St. Michael's Hospital's Dr. Kamran Khan is teaming up with British authorities to anticipate and track the risk for an infectious disease outbreak at the London Olympics this summer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-disease-outbreaks-olympics.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:28:30 EST news246018503 (Medical Xpress) -- Computer models that provide accurate simulations of how crowds behave can be used to identify health and safety issues at MGs, and could be adapted to simulate the spread of infections and to test the potential of public health interventions to disrupt or prevent an outbreak, according to the fourth paper in The Lancet Infectious Diseases Series on mass gatherings health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-crowd-behaviour-infections-mass.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:02:35 EST news245916145 University of Queensland research into the world's most deadly influenza pandemic in 1918 has shed light on a major medical mystery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-worlds-deadliest-pandemic-mystery.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:20:01 EST news240562586 Over the past decade in western Europe there has been a dramatic improvement in the ability of antiretroviral therapy to keep HIV under control in adults with virological failure to drugs from all three of the original antiretroviral classes, and an accompanying decrease in the rates of AIDS, according to a study published Online First in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The authors claim that this effect is probably the result of several new drugs being introduced over the same period that are more tolerable, easier to use, and active against virus resistant to typical first-line and second-line drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-antiretroviral-therapy-tripled-proportion-adults.html HIV & AIDS Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:30:03 EST news237383577 According to Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., program leader in cancer epidemiology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues in the Netherlands, earlier circumcision of males in South Africa may be a positive step in slowing the spread of both HIV and the human papillomavirus (HPV). Their commentary and data were published in a recent issue of the British medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases (Vol. 11) 581-582. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-earlier-male-circumcision-hiv-hpv.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:48:33 EST news237127686 The immune response to an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine was greatly enhanced in healthy adults if they were first primed with a DNA vaccine expressing a gene for a key H5N1 protein, researchers say. Their report describes results from two clinical studies conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-priming-dna-vaccine-avian-flu.html Medical research Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:12:11 EST news236887907 More than 150 cases of measles have been reported in the United States already this year and there have been similar outbreaks in Europe, a sign the disease is making an alarming comeback. The reappearance of the potentially deadly virus is the result of unfounded fears about a link between the measles shot and autism that have turned some parents against childhood vaccination, says Gregory Poland, M.D., of Mayo Clinic. In the September issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings (http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com), Dr. Poland urges doctors to review extensive scientific research that has found no connection between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-mayo-clinic-physician-mistaken-measles.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:42:53 EST news233923345 Insecticide-treated bednets, whose use is being widely promoted in Africa to combat malaria, may paradoxically be linked to local resurgence of the disease, according to concerns raised by a study on Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-malaria-qualms-bednet-programme.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:00:01 EST news232858126 (Medical Xpress) -- If you want to improve HIV testing rates in remote rural areas, get the community involved, says UCLA's Thomas Coates, who has directed a new study examining HIV testing programs in communities in Africa and Southeast Asia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-hiv-village.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 05 May 2011 06:32:50 EST news223795946 A large clinical trial comparing treatments for typhoid has recommended the use of gatifloxacin, a new generation and affordable antibiotic. The results of the trial in Kathmandu, Nepal, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Li Ka Shing Foundation, are published today in the Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-clinical-trial-antibiotic-typhoid-income.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:17:40 EST news223273023 Current UK procedures to screen new immigrants for tuberculosis (TB) fail to detect more than 70 per cent of cases of latent infection, according to a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-immigrant-screening-majority-imported-latent.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:45:31 EST news222579875 (PhysOrg.com) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) must take a tougher stance on super bugs, according to a University of Queensland infectious diseases expert. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-super-bug-global-action.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:13:43 EST news221390011