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Infectious diseases news

A routine virus can slow breast cancer spread to the lungs, offering hidden protective power

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), mostly infects the lungs, nose, throat, and respiratory tract, and can cause illness ranging from mild cold and fever-like symptoms to severe pneumonia and bronchitis. A recent study has ...

Handheld TB test delivers lab-level accuracy in under 30 minutes

Drugs to treat tuberculosis have been around for more than 75 years, yet it remains the world's top infectious disease killer. A big obstacle has been testing. It's either inaccurate—missing up to half of all cases—or requires ...

Your nose may be the gateway to a stronger immune system

At the moment, an influenza vaccine called FluMist is the only licensed intranasal vaccine approved for use in humans. The vaccine is administered through a spray of fluid in the nose, rather than with an injection.

Bacteriophages: Meet the viruses that hunt superbugs

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. These microscopic predators are found everywhere, from soil and water to food and the human gut. Because they attack only specific bacteria, researchers ...

Koala vaccine offers clues to solving human health challenge

A vaccine first developed to protect koalas from a devastating disease is now offering rare insights that could help accelerate human vaccine development for one of the world's most common sexually transmitted infections.

World going too slow on eliminating hepatitis: WHO

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said progress in eliminating hepatitis was too slow, with tools available to eliminate the disease that kills more than one million people annually.

HIV disrupts lung 'clock,' raising COPD and emphysema risk

People living with HIV face a greater risk of developing lung diseases at a much younger age, even if they have never smoked. FIU researchers have now uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that helps explain how HIV causes ...

Long-acting HIV shots appeal to many but uptake remains low

When it comes to HIV medication, many patients think they'd prefer an occasional injection over a daily pill, but uptake remains an issue, according to a Rutgers Health-led survey. When researchers surveyed 801 people living ...

New cellular target prevents hepatitis E infection

An international team of researchers has identified a promising new approach for treating infections with the Hepatitis E virus (HEV). At the center of the study is the drug Apilimod, which specifically blocks the entry of ...

What a 'post‑antibiotic era' could mean for modern medicine

Antibiotics are one of the greatest breakthroughs in medical history. They turned once-deadly infections into treatable illnesses and made modern health care possible. But bacteria are changing, and some of the drugs we have ...

Q&A: As ticks spread, so do the diseases they carry

Up-close tick encounters are nothing new to Peter Krause. As a tick-borne disease researcher, he's conducted fieldwork where these parasites live. After one trip to Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island where ticks ...

Researchers explore new approach to multivirus drug development

Wanted: a cheap, multipotent treatment for viral infections. Must be able to handle new or unfamiliar strains, or (even better) a broad range of viruses—whatever comes along, in other words. Must be impervious to viral attempts ...