http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Scientists have found the 'key' that HIV uses to enter our cells' nuclei, allowing it to disable the immune system and cause AIDS The finding, published today in the open access journal PLoS Pathogens, provides a potential new target for anti-AIDS drugs that could be more effective against drug-resistant strains of the virus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-hiv-discovery-scientists-block-virus.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:00:01 EST news242575016 US health authorities on Thursday urged a 12-week drug regimen for people with latent tuberculosis as an effective alternative to the current nine-month regimen which many people do not finish. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-urges-shorter-treatment-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:09:46 EST news242572175 It's estimated that nearly one-third of the world's population -- more than two billion people -- are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organization, 5 to 10 percent of infected people eventually develop active tuberculosis and can transmit the bacterium to others. Almost two million die from the disease each year. But the current treatment regimen for the disease is long and arduous, making patient compliance difficult. As a result, some strains of the bacteria have become resistant to many or all of the available antibiotics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-tb-treatment-limits-infection-drug.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:24:05 EST news240668637 After a stroke the brain tries to protect itself by blocking all inflammation. However, this also makes the patient highly susceptible to infection which can lead to death. Researchers have now discovered the mechanism behind this response and how to possibly treat it. The research is published this month in the journal Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-infection-important-post-stroke-problem.html Medical research Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:05:20 EST news238853109 Antivirulence drugs disarm pathogens rather than kill them, and although they could be effective in theory, antivirulence drugs have never been tested in humans. A new study to be published in the online journal mBio on Tuesday, October 18 reveals these drugs have the potential to fight infection while avoiding the pitfalls of drug resistance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-antivirulence-drugs-infections-resistance.html Medical research Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:29:01 EST news237486525 Antibiotic resistant E. coli was much more prevalent in villages situated along roads than in rural villages located away from roads, which suggests that roads play a major role in the spread or containment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, commonly called superbugs, a new study finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-roads-pave-superbugs.html Medical research Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:04:17 EST news236520220 In the new movie "Contagion," fictional health experts scramble to get ahead of a flu-like pandemic as a drug-resistant virus quickly spreads, killing millions of people within days after they contract the illness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-searchers-global-drug-resistant-influenza.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:08:17 EST news235228083 Repeated exposure of the eye to ophthalmic antibiotics appears to be associated with the emergence of resistant strains of microbes among patients undergoing intraocular injection therapy for neovascular retinal disease, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-ophthalmic-antibiotics-antimicrobial-resistance-intraocular.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:31:06 EST news235063799 More than 60 percent of hospital nurses' and doctors' uniforms tested positive for potentially dangerous bacteria, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-doctors-nurses-hospital-uniforms-dangerous.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:50:21 EST news234003000 (Medical Xpress) -- Research at Victoria University is targeting new drugs to fight drug-resistant and other forms of tuberculosis (TB). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-drugs-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:12:58 EST news233914356 As officials track a recent salmonella outbreak from ground turkey, consumers can take some simple precautions to protect their families, advises a food-safety expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-family-salmonella-ground-turkey.html Health Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:57:10 EST news232102462 A new study has identified the recent emergence of a multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella that has a high level resistance to ciprofloxacin, a common treatment for severe Salmonella infections. The study, led by François-Xavier Weill, MD, and Simon Le Hello, PharmD, at the Pasteur Institute in France, is published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and is now available online. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-emergence-multidrug-resistant-strain-salmonella.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:50:02 EST news231511260 Are you genetically predisposed to tuberculosis? Scientists may now be able to answer this question and doctors may be able to adjust their therapeutic approach based on what they learn. That's because new research presented in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that two frequent mutations in an immune system gene called TLR1 are responsible for cellular changes that ultimately make us less likely to resist the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-discovery-customized-tuberculosis-therapies-based.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:50:23 EST news231416433 Hospitals struggle to prevent the infections that complicate treatment for cancer, joint replacement, heart surgery and other conditions. Hospital-acquired infections are often resistant to multiple antibiotics, leading to approximately 100,000 deaths and more than $30 billion in additional health care costs yearly. New drugs are being developed to combat these infections, but resistance invariably emerges to these last-line drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-insight-drug-resistance-hospital-microbes.html Medical research Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:29:37 EST news229789767 The new "super-bug" CRKP, known officially as carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, is just the latest in a series of emerging drug-resistant strains of bacteria that pose a serious threat to human health. CRKP has been reported in nearly 40 states, and there are currently no medicines to treat these infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-drug-resistant-super-bugs-ucla-expert.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 11 May 2011 09:42:33 EST news224325705 A single change to even one of the thousands of DNA codes that make up each gene in the human genome can result in severe diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy or Huntington's Disease. A similarly minor change in the DNA of a virus or bacteria can give rise to drug resistant strains that are difficult for physicians to treat with standard drug therapies. For these reasons, scientists have long sought ways to study the effects genetic mutations can have on an organism but have been hampered in these efforts by an inability to easily and efficiently produce and analyze the thousands of potential changes possible in even one small gene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-technology-screen-genetic-mutations.html Genetics Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:18:04 EST news221408250