Chronic Lyme disease: How often is it diagnosed and treated?

Cincinnati, OH, September 2, 2010—The existence of chronic Lyme disease is an issue of sharp debate within the medical community. Some health care workers who call themselves “Lyme literate” insist that chronic Lyme disease is frequently diagnosed and treated by primary care physicians. Others, however, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, state that there is no convincing biological evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists. Many doctors are concerned with the potential dangers associated with the prolonged and intensive use of oral and intravenous antibiotics (the recommended treatment for chronic Lyme disease), such as blood clots and life threatening infections. A study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics attempts to determine how often chronic Lyme disease is actually being diagnosed and treated.

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Bacterial charity work thwarts medical treatments

Research reveals bacterial altruism makes populations stronger than individuals

Drug resistant bacteria are a problem in many environments, especially healthcare institutions. While the ways in which these cells become resistant are understood at the cellular level, until now, the bacteria’s survival strategies at the population level remained unclear.

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Cranberry juice shows promise blocking Staph infections

New research expands the scope of previous pioneering work by Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers on the mechanisms of bacterial infection

WORCESTER, Mass. – Expanding their scope of study on the mechanisms of bacterial infection, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have reported the surprise finding from a small clinical study that cranberry juice cocktail blocked a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) from beginning the process of infection.

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New research shows how disease-causing parasite gets around human innate immunity

Athens, Ga. – Trypanosomes are parasites responsible for many human and animal diseases, primarily in tropical climates. One disease these parasites cause, African sleeping sickness, results from the bite of infected tsetse flies, putting over 60 million Africans at risk in 36 sub-Saharan countries. The recent 1998-2001 sleeping sickness epidemics in South Sudan, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda killed tens of thousands of people and resulted in over a half million infected individuals.

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Artificial enzyme removes natural poison

First example of ‘Chemzyme’ functioning as antidote

For the first time ever, a completely man-made chemical enzyme has been successfully used to neutralise a toxin found naturally in fruits and vegetables.

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Use the common cold virus to target and disrupt cancer cells?

Study suggests potential for new oncolytic therapies

LA JOLLA, CA-A novel mechanism used by adenovirus to sidestep the cell’s suicide program, could go a long way to explain how tumor suppressor genes are silenced in tumor cells and pave the way for a new type of targeted cancer therapy, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the Aug. 26, 2010 issue of Nature.

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Government urges universal flu vaccinations

CHAPEL HILL – Flu vaccine will soon be available at local pharmacies and doctor’s offices, and government officials are urging everyone over 6 months of age to receive it. This year’s vaccine protects against H1N1 and two other strains of seasonal flu.

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Visualizing viruses: new research pinpoints tiny invaders

In the war against infectious disease, identifying the culprit is half the battle. Now, research professor Shaopeng Wang and his colleagues from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, describe a new method for visualizing individual virus particles. Their research opens the door to a more detailed understanding of these minute pathogens, and may further the study of a broad range of micro- and nanoscale phenomena.

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Novel ‘antisense’ therapies protect primates from lethal Ebola and Marburg viruses

New studies show that treatments targeting specific viral genes protected monkeys infected with deadly Ebola or Marburg viruses. Furthermore, the animals were protected even when therapeutics were administered one hour after exposure—suggesting the approach holds promise for treating accidental infections in laboratory or hospital settings.

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Potential HIV drug keeps virus out of cells

University of Utah biochemist hopes to begin human clinical trials in two to three years

SALT LAKE CITY—Following up a pioneering 2007 proof-of-concept study, a University of Utah biochemist and colleagues have developed a promising new anti-HIV drug candidate, PIE12-trimer, that prevents HIV from attacking human cells.

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