News

Healthcare institutions face the question of whether to use disposable or reusable medical devices. Although in certain situations one category is clearly a better choice than the other, choosing between disposable products and reusable devices is more frequently a difficult and unclear decision. Both devices are characterized by compelling pros and cons that may force healthcare facilities into a complex and multi-faceted decision-making process.

The most dangerous malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is responsible for nearly half a million deaths annually across Africa and Southeast Asia. Of increasing concern, this parasite is now developing resistance to common antimalarial drugs. Gaining a better understanding of the parasite’s development in the body is urgently required. Now, a multi-university team, which includes Penn State, has broken the code that may lead to new defenses against the deadly parasite.

Changes in the tests that diagnose foodborne illness are helping identify infections faster but could soon pose challenges to finding outbreaks and monitoring progress toward preventing foodborne disease, according to a report published yesterday in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Week Report.

Consumers don't buy leafy greens and other healthy supermarket produce anticipating the food might make their families sick. Or at least, they didn't used to. But high profile recalls of fruits and veggies seem to be a new normal in the American food landscape. The recalls follow outbreaks of foodborne illnesses caused by microbes like E. coli. These outbreaks can send unsuspecting veggiephiles rushing to the nearest toilet or, worse yet, the hospital. Some outbreaks can even result in deaths.

New data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO/Europe ahead of World TB Day show that an estimated 340,000 Europeans developed tuberculosis (TB) in 2014, corresponding to a rate of 37 cases per 100,000 population.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a human (host) protein that weakens the immune response to HIV and other viruses. The findings, published today in Cell Host & Microbe, have important implications for improving HIV antiviral therapies, creating effective viral vaccines, and advance a new approach to treat cancer.

Brain abnormalities in babies born with microcephaly and associated with the current Zika virus epidemic in Brazil are described by a team of doctors in a new study published in The BMJ today. The findings show that babies born with microcephaly, presumably due to the Zika virus infection, have severe brain damage with a range of abnormalities.

Providing vital healthcare services to people in developing countries without reliable electricity, refrigeration and state-of-the-art medical equipment poses a number of challenges. Inspired by pregnancy tests, researchers from Florida Atlantic University, Stanford University, and Baskent University in Turkey, have developed a novel method to store microfluidic devices for CD4 T cell testing in extreme weather conditions for up to six months without refrigeration.

Since the recent link to severe neurological defects in infants born to mothers infected during pregnancy, Zika virus (ZIKV) has become a public health and research priority. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases reports details from the 2015 Zika outbreak in Rio de Janeiro--the first with a high proportion of cases confirmed by molecular diagnosis--and proposes changes to the current diagnostic criteria for ZIKV disease.

A simulation of how the so-called superbug carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) might spread among healthcare facilities found that coordinated efforts prevented more than 75 percent of the often-severe infections that would have otherwise occurred over a five-year period. The study was led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and published last month in the American Journal of Epidemiology.