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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 ...

Scientists map how the body traps 'sleeping' tuberculosis

Scientists at James Cook University have uncovered new insights into how the body contains latent tuberculosis, using a cutting-edge technique that allows researchers to map exactly where immune cells and bacteria interact ...

How disinfectants influence microbes across hospital rooms

Just because a topical antiseptic is swabbed on the skin doesn't mean it stays on the skin. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists studied how a powerful antiseptic, called chlorhexidine, affects bacteria in hospital ...

New Zealand study finds a significant rise in sepsis cases

Hospital admissions for sepsis rose significantly between 2000 and 2019, with infants, people over 70, Māori and Pacific peoples and those living in areas of deprivation at much higher risk of developing the condition, researchers ...

New test identifies active, infectious form of tuberculosis

Researchers in the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have created a new tuberculosis blood test that can detect the active, infectious form of the disease. The discovery enables faster diagnosis and ...