homeWeek in Review
CONTENTS:
- Flu Reports
- NCCID E-News
- Greater than AIDS campaign
- Canadian News
- International News
- Moffat HPV Study News
- Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (ROI) Conference News
FLU REPORTS
WHO Influenza Update Week Ending Feb 25, 2011 (note: North America hard hit)
PHAC FluWatch Week Ending Feb 19, 2011
CDC Flu View Week Ending Feb 19, 2011
‘GREATER THAN AIDS’ CAMPAIGN
Here Media Empowers Gay Community to be "Greater Than AIDS"
World’s Largest Gay Media Company Partners on Cross-Cutting HIV/AIDS Campaign, Launches New Informational Resources
NATIONAL COLLABORATING CENTRE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
NCCID E-news for March 1, 2011
CANADA
Mac researcher wins Killam award
Hamilton Spectator Mar 01 2011
Dr. Gerry Wright, a world expert in antibiotic resistance who is the director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at Mac, will receive $140,000 over two years to pursue independent research.
HPV causing surge in oral cancer rates: doctors
CTV Mar 1 2011
Not so long ago, the majority of patients with oral or throat cancer were older smokers or heavy drinkers. But the face of neck cancer is changing, all because of a sexually transmitted virus.
VIDO’s INTERVAC Facility ready to open
Biotechnology Focus
Construction of the new International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), the newest facility of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan is nearing completion. Scheduled to open later this month, the facility will be among the largest of its kind in the world, and by far the largest infrastructure investment in vaccines ever made by Canada.
When HIV moves into nursing homes
Feb 27, 2011 The Toronto Star
'Accelerated aging' is sending gay men into nursing homes prematurely — and forcing them back in the closet
Swine flu: still waiting for the Big One
Winnipeg Free Press Feb 26, 2011
Swine flu, glibly nicknamed but clever, mobile and deadly, already had claimed hundreds of lives by the time the president spoke in 2009. There was, health officials warned, a real risk H1N1 influenza -- the scientific name sounded more like a chess move than a latter-day Black Death -- would decimate the human race, harvesting millions of souls irrespective of country, continent, health, wealth, age, race, or class. But it didn't.
A Chance for Canada to Play Hero with Medicines
TheTyee.ca 25 Feb 2011
Bill could break log jam holding back cheap, timely drugs for poorer countries. Why are Liberals opposed?
INTERNATIONAL
For first time, scientists show an HIV vaccine impacts the genetic makeup of the virus
University of Washington (press release)
An AIDS vaccine tested in people, but found to be ineffective, influenced the genetic makeup of the virus that slipped past. The findings suggest new ideas for developing HIV vaccines. The results were published Feb. 27 in Nature Medicine.
Gene therapy raises hope for a future AIDS cure
Associated Press Mar 1 2011
In a bold new approach ultimately aimed at trying to cure AIDS, scientists used genetic engineering in six patients to develop blood cells that are resistant to HIV, the virus that causes the disease.
Report: Inappropriate Antibiotic Use Still High Despite Educational Efforts
The Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (News release) Feb 28, 2011
The CHRT released an issue brief showing continued high rates of inappropriate antibiotic use, despite a 15-year national outreach campaign by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to educate providers and consumers on the dangers of antibiotic overuse.
Hub on front line of HIV fight, but vaccine stays elusive
Boston Business Journal Feb 25, 2011
“The search for an AIDS vaccine has been very frustrating,” said Mayer, medical research director and co-chairman of The Fenway Institute, research arm of Fenway Health in Boston. Leading researchers acknowledge that there's a difficult road ahead in ...
Syphilis screening missing the forest for the trees
San Diego Gay & Lesbian News Feb 28, 2011
Advice for a new class of syphilis tests: Get new spin doctors.
5 Important steps for extending the life of the world's arsenal of antibiotics
Biotechnology Focus Feb 2011 issue
On November 5th, 2010, The New York Times ran an article by Andrew Pollack titled “Antibiotics Research Subsidies Weighed by U.S.” It reported that government officials are considering offering financial incentives to the pharmaceutical industry to spur the development of vitally needed antibiotics.
South Africa: Texts for Tuberculosis: Enabling Patient Advocacy
Triple Helix Online February 28, 2011
Texts for TB provides every patient that presents with TB at a clinic and enrolls in the treatment program a cell phone (Figure 1.1) and 250 SMS texts per month for free. In exchange, patients are required to abide by Texts for TB requirements.
The Dangers of the Antivaccine Movement
TIME Feb. 24, 2011
In recent years, some parents, influenced by fringe activists who believe vaccinations cause autism, brain damage and other ailments, have begun to refuse them for their children. Dr. Paul Offit, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has seen the consequences: preventable childhood deaths, community outbreaks of outdated diseases and misinformed, angry parents.
MOFFAT HPV STUDY NEWS
Here is the link to the Moffat study in the Lancet.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2962342-2/fulltext
Huffington Post (Dr. Jon LaPook blog) Mar 1, 2011
An infection rate of 50 percent for a virus that can cause cancer sounds scary. But knowing a few more facts about HPV helps put the risk in perspective. About 90 percent of men and women infected with HPV virus get rid of it on their own within about two years. There are many different strains of HPV -- some that cause cancer and some that don't.
Half of men may have HPV infections: study
Reuters February 28, 2011
Half of men in the general population may be infected with human papillomavirus or HPV, the human wart virus that causes cervical and other cancers, strengthening the case for vaccinating boys against HPV, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
ROI CONFERENCE
MSM and the HIV epidemic in low- and middle-income countries
Science Speaks Blog 01 Mar 2011
Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, from Johns Hopkins University offered an elegant overview of the epidemiology of the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) in low- and middle-income countries during a symposium at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections on Monday entitled “Responding to Risk”.
Kaiser Foundation (Media Roundup) March 01, 2011
At the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston on Monday, researchers "suggested the potential" of a gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir to reduce the risk of anal HIV transmission
AIDS gel shown to protect anal tissue from HIV
Reuters Feb 28, 2011
An experimental gel containing a prescription HIV drug has been shown for the first time to protect rectal tissue against the virus that causes AIDS, according to new research
HIV Protection Lasts After Circumcision
MedPage Today February 28, 2011
The benefit of male circumcision for HIV prevention persists, even long after the procedure, a researcher reported here.
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