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According to an article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pilot projects between CDC and Uganda and CDC and Vietnam have resulted in improvements in disease detection and response that may serve as a model for increasing global health security in the rest of the world. Global health security keeping the U.S. and the world safe and secure from infectious disease threats is achieved by preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks as early and effectively as possible.

Getting tested and treated for the flu and strep throat became much easier in Omaha. Its now as convenient as a trip to the grocery store. Hy-Vee, Inc., in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy and Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., is one of the first pharmacies in the United States to offer customers a rapid-diagnostic influenza or Group A Streptococcus test.

Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München demonstrate that root extracts of the medicinal plant Pelargonium sidoides (PS) contain compounds that attack HIV-1 particles and prevent virus replication. A team spearheaded by Dr. Markus Helfer and Dr. Ruth Brack-Werner from the Institute of Virology and Dr. Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin from the Analytical BioGeoChemistry research unit (BGC) performed a detailed investigation of the effects of PS extracts on HIV-1 infection of cultured cells. They demonstrated that PS extracts protect blood and immune cells from infection by HIV-1, the most widespread type of HIV. PS extracts block attachment of virus particles to host cells and thus effectively prevent the virus from invading cells. Chemical analyses revealed that the antiviral effect of the PS extracts is mediated by polyphenols. Polyphenol mixtures isolated from PS extracts retain high anti-HIV-1 activity but are even less toxic for cells than the crude extract.