News

Research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests that exposure to specific combinations of allergens and bacteria within the first year of life may protect children from wheezing and allergic disease. These observations come from the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) study, which aims to identify factors responsible for asthma development in children from inner-city settings, where the disease is more prevalent and severe. Since 2005, the URECA study has enrolled 560 children from four cities-Baltimore, Boston, New York and St. Louis. The children all have at least one parent with asthma or allergies, placing them at high risk for developing asthma. The study is following the children from birth, and the current publication evaluates the group through three years of age.

Between May 29 and June 1, 2014, 37 new cases and 21 new deaths were reported from the following 5 districts: Conakry, 3 new cases and 0 deaths; Gueckedou, 11 new cases and 13 deaths; Macenta, 4 new cases and 1 death; Telimele, 19 new cases and 5 deaths; and Boffa, 0 new cases and 2 deaths. The cumulative number of cases and deaths attributable to EVD in Guinea is now 328 (laboratory confirmed 193, probable 80, and suspected 55) including 208 deaths. The geographical distribution of these cases and deaths is as follows: Conakry, 56 cases and 27 deaths; Gueckedou, 190 cases and 140 deaths; Macenta, 44 cases and 24 deaths; Dabola, 4 cases and 4 deaths; Kissidougou, 7 cases and 5 deaths; Dinguiraye, 1 case and 1 death; Telimele, 22 cases and 5 deaths; and Boffa, 4 cases and 2 deaths.

A Purdue University-led research team has figured out how to disable a part of the SARS virus responsible for hiding it from the immune system; a critical step in developing a vaccine against the deadly disease. The findings also have potential applications in the creation of vaccines against other coronaviruses, including MERS, says Andrew Mesecar, who led the research.