News

More than 2 million people got infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2015, being sexual transmission the main channel of infection. Researchers from the Infections of the Respiratory Tract and in Immunocompromised Patients group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), led by Dr. Daniel Podzamczer, have evaluated the speed at which a new antiretroviral drug, Dolutegravir, is able to reduce the viral load in semen, an area of the body considered to be a reservoir of the virus and where access for drugs is more difficult. The results, published in Journal of Infectious Diseases, show the potential of these new treatments to reduce the chances of sexual transmission of the virus.

Healthcare professionals are hesitant to administer the flu vaccine to pregnant women, despite the potential life-saving benefits, according to a UBC study. The study also shows that pregnant women who were eager to get vaccinated had difficulties because health professionals turned them away.

Research on the mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever in east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula shows that current surveillance systems are unable to detect the virus in livestock before it spreads to humans. A coherent policy is needed to combat the viral disease, which has the potential to spread to previously unaffected areas, according to studies at Umeå University in Sweden.

Researchers have developed a new mouse model that could be used in Zika research to better understand the virus and find new treatments, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.

Researchers have found a strong association between El Niño-Southern Oscillation conditions in the Pacific to observed weather and dengue epidemics in Sri Lanka. According to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, el Niño activity -- measured in sea surface temperature in the pacific -- impacts rainfall and temperatures in Sri Lanka and thus contributes to exacerbated dengue epidemics six months later.

Savlon India has debuted a unique hygiene and health program, Savlon Swasth India Mission, designed to encourage behavioral change toward washing hands among children through various engaging and entertaining educational initiatives in schools.

Imagine swallowing a pill today that continues releasing the daily dose of a medicine you need for the next week, month or even longer. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and their collaborators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a long-acting drug delivery capsule that may help to do just that in the future. To test the capsule's real-world applications, the team used both mathematical modeling and animal models to investigate the effects of delivering a sustained therapeutic dose of a drug called ivermectin, which is used to treat parasitic infections such as river blindness. Ivermectin has an added bonus of helping keep malaria-carrying mosquito populations at bay. The team found that in large animal models, the capsule safely stayed in the stomach, slowly releasing the drug for up to 14 days, and potentially providing a new way to combat malaria and other infectious diseases. The results of this work are published Nov. 16 in Science Translational Medicine.

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of mortality worldwide. The development of novel therapies or vaccines requires improved understanding of how viruses, pathogenic fungi or bacteria cause illnesses. Some bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella invade and replicate within human cells. Science is steadily shifting its focus towards studying infected cells and how differences between individual host cells affect the cellular response to pathogens.