Immunology

The anti-vaccination culture is making headway. CDC has reported 17 outbreaks and 222 measles cases from 211, mostly in unvaccinated people - the highest since 1996. To identify areas of under-vaccination for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, state and local health departments monitor compliance with school immunization requirements using annual school vaccination assessment reports, supported as a CDC immunization funding objective for the 64 grantees, including the 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), five cities, and eight other reporting areas. CDC also monitors…

Our immune systems are funny things. An American traveling to Taiwan, for example, might be warned to get a hepatitis vaccine - unless they grew up on a farm. Rabies is even scarier.  If you are bitten by an unknown animal, it requires a series of painful injections because if clinical disease sets in, it is usually fatal. In the United States, human deaths from rabies have declined over the past century from more than 100 annually to an average of two per year because of aggressive campaigns to vaccinate domestic animals against the disease.  Recent human rabies cases are primarily…

Right now, we protect people and animals against diseases by inoculating them with vaccines based on real infectious agents - but that brings risk of reinfection and the expense of cultivating and handling deadly viruses and bacteria. The future may mean DNA vaccines, basically cutting out the biological middleman.  DNA vaccines are not new but they haven't taken off - an entire anti-science political sphere rejects both vaccines and genetic modifications so combining both is not making them feel better.  Plus, existing vaccine technologies work;  they are the most effective…

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections doubled at U.S. academic medical centers between 2003 and 2008, according to a new report published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. MRSA infections, which cannot be treated with antibiotics related to penicillin, have become common since the late 1990s. These infections can affect any part of the body, including the skin, blood stream, joints, bones, and lungs.  The findings run counter to a recent CDC study that found MRSA cases in hospitals were declining. The CDC study looked only at cases of invasive MRSA—…

Could a new bag squash a new bug? A new medical bag designed to replace ‘outdated and unsafe’ portable medical bags could transform treatment around the world, says its manufacturer.  A study found a third of its outdated predecessors carry the MRSA bug.  In 2008, East Riding of Yorkshire (NHS ERY) introduced the first of its Neighbourhood Care Teams (NCT) to enable patients with long-term illnesses to receive treatment at home. NCTs now provide over 450,000 patient contacts each year.Dr. David Swann of the University of Huddersfield, discovered 55 percent of medical bags used…

California had the highest number of cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in 60 years, despite the fact that it has a readily available vaccine. A new study in The Journal of Pediatrics describes that 2010 whooping cough epidemic and details strategies to decrease the incidence of this infection. Some science education would be a good place to start. California has a strong anti-vaccine mentality, especially in coastal regions, and results showed much higher incidents of Whooping Cough in those areas, despite those being high income, well-educated communities. Whooping cough is almost as…

A new flightless strain of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has been created by Oxitec scientists, a breakthrough that could help stop the spread of this dangerous and invasive pest.  Aedes albopictus is a serious nuisance biter, but is also capable of transmitting dengue fever, Chikungunya, West Nile Virus and a host of other diseases. In the last few decades it has spread throughout the world where it has gone from bothersome pest to increasing health concern. The Asian tiger mosquito is difficult to control using conventional methods rely; chemical pesticides harm other…

Following successful open release trials in Brazil, Moscamed are now gearing up for the next phase of development in combating the mosquitoes which spread dengue fever, with the launch of their new mosquito production facility. Dengue Fever is a virus spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. There is neither medication nor a vaccine to prevent Dengue Fever so effective measures to control the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti are urgently required since the disease is becoming geographically more wide-spread, more prevalent and more virulent. The incidence of dengue has increased 30 fold in…

Eurartesim(R) - dihydroartemisinin piperaquine (DHA-PQP) - the first artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. Eurartesim was developed collaboratively by Sigma Tau Group, Italy, and the not-for-profit research foundation Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).   Eurartesim is now ready for delivery to Cambodia, the first malaria endemic country to place an order for the newly approved treatment. Cambodia prioritized the use of DHA-PQP as a first line drug and was awaiting EMA approval to…

Around 100,000 years ago, human evolution was in a rut, modern human ancestors consisted of 5-10,000 individuals living in Africa. Yet modern humans somehow emerged from this population bottleneck, expanding dramatically in both number and range, and replacing all other co-existing evolutionary cousins, like Neanderthals. What caused this bottleneck in the first place?  Answers range from gene mutations to cultural developments like language to climate-altering events, like a massive volcanic eruption.  Maybe there is another possible factor: infectious disease. In a new paper, a…