Public health

  • Conquering cholera in Haiti without vaccinating most people

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccination against cholera in Haiti; it has instead emphasized cleaning up the water supply and improving sanitation as the best ways to check the spread of the disease; a new study suggests that vaccination would be effective, and that cholera could be contained in Haiti by vaccinating less than half the population

  • Fish zapping: shocking Asian carp out of Midwest waters not feasible

    The several species known as Asian carp are not native to U.S. waterways but have been found in rivers throughout the Midwest; these fish are competing with native species for food and altering ecosystems; they are also dangerous to boaters and other river users since Asian carp can weigh up to sixty pounds and are known to jump out of the water during even minor disturbances; scientists had hoped to modify or expand low-voltage electrical barriers like those used around Chicago waterways to direct Asian carp from particular areas, but found that the level of electricity needed would be far too high

    • University of Florida Clinical Toxicology Online Graduate Course. Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction. Arm yourself with knowledge.
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  • Helicopter monitors radiation levels in Washington, D.C.

    For the last week, a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) helicopter has been flying over Washington, D.C., measuring naturally occurring radiation levels; the purpose is to establish a baseline of radiation levels so that abnormal spikes – occurring, for example, as a result of exploding a dirty bomb — may be readily detected

  • New way to design vaccines: modifying antibodies to trigger immune response

    In an approach with the potential to aid therapeutic vaccine development, scientists have shown that enzymatically modified antibodies can be used to generate highly targeted, potent responses from cells of the immune system

  • FDA issues new food safety rules to fight contamination

    One in six Americans becomes ill from eating contaminated food each year; most of them recover without harm, but bout 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die; the FDA estimates the new food safety rules could prevent about 1.75 million illnesses each year

  • New strategy for bacteria antibiotic resistance

    Scientists used microfluidics to observe the behavior of individual tuberculosis-like bacteria in the presence of antibiotics; their observations call into question the prevailing theory of bacterial resistance, and they have proposed a new explanation for why some bacteria become resistant

  • Thousands at risk from dirty syringes used in clinics, hospitals

    U.S. health officials are still fighting a battle which was supposed to be over more than fifty years ago: dirty needles (the disposable syringe became widely available in the early 1960s); in the last eleven years, more than 150,000 patients nationwide were victims of unsafe injections, and two-thirds of those injections have been administered since 2008

  • Hydrogen peroxide vapor kill superbugs dead

    Infection control experts at the Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called hospital superbugs

  • The burden of disease links ecology to economic development and growth

    According to conventional economic wisdom, the foundation of economic growth is in political and economic institutions; researchers argue that, in fact, vector-borne and parasitic diseases have substantial effects on economic development across the globe, and that these diseases are major drivers of differences in income between tropical and temperate countries; the burden of these diseases is, in turn, determined by underlying ecological factors: it is predicted to rise as biodiversity falls

  • Natural defense against malaria identified

    One of the world’s most devastating diseases is malaria, responsible for at least a million deaths annually, despite global efforts to combat it; researchers have identified a protein in human blood platelets that points to a powerful new weapon against the disease

  • Texas drought helps in demonstrating viability of drought-tolerant corn

    There is nothing like a couple years of drought to help determine the advances being made in drought-tolerant corn, and the historic drought in Texas in 2011 and in the Corn Belt in 2012 helped Texas A&M scientists show that different types of drought-tolerant corn performed well with far lower levels of irrigation

  • Budget cuts cause states to lose ground on emergency preparedness

    A new report examines the preparedness of states for different emergencies, including plans to evacuate children from schools, vaccination requirements, disease outbreaks, the ability to deal with chemical terrorism, staffing for a prolonged infectious disease outbreak, having a multi-hazard written evacuation plan, Medicaid coverage of flu shots, nurses’ ability to work in other states, and other emergency factors; the report found that only five states met eight of the ten measures used to evaluate public health preparedness

  • Pigs in southern China found to be infected with avian flu

    Researchers report for the first time the seroprevalence of three strains of avian influenza viruses in pigs in southern China, but not the H5N1 avian influenza virus; their research has implications for efforts to protect the public health from pandemics

  • Antibiotics based on a new principle may defeat MRSA, TB

    Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have presented a new principle for fighting bacterial infections, in other words, a new type of antibiotic; the new antibiotic mechanism is based on selectively blocking the thioredoxin system in the cells, which is crucial to the growth of certain bacteria; scientists hope to be able to treat such conditions as stomach ulcers, TB, and MRSA

  • New, quick way to ID people exposed to dirty bomb, radioactive radiation

    Research conducted by scientists from the Berkeley Lab could lead to a blood test that detects if a person has been exposed to radiation, measures their dose, and separates people suffering from inflammation injuries — all in a matter of hours