The number of lives lost due to viral hepatitis infections is increasing and already accounts for 3,500 deaths daily, according to this report by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is the first consolidated WHO report on viral hepatitis epidemiology, service coverage and product access, with improved data for action. …
A chickenpox vaccine has been launched in the UK. Glaxo SmithKline, the manufacturer responsible for the pioneering move says that the vaccine will be particularly beneficial for prospective mothers and healthcare workers. Official sources say that there has been a rise in the number of adult cases of chickenpox since …
Starting September 2002, about two million children would be vaccinated free of cost against Hepatitis b in 15 cities and 32 districts in the country. The move follows the inclusion of the vaccination in the Universal Immunisation Programme (uip) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (mhfw), which took …
Hepatitis B is a communicable disease with a high strike rate the germ: "The Hepatitis B virus kills 20 out of every 100 infected people each day. This works out to 400 times the people who die of AIDS daily,' points out S K Sarin, president, Indian Association for Study …
recognising the worsening global epidemiological trends for dengue, the recently held 55th World Health Assembly of the World Health Organ isation (who) passed a resolution urging the international community to spend more funds and expend efforts on dengue research. who reports that every year, 50
a vital agreement signed by the Union government to develop the aids vaccine has few takers due to the lack of transparency in the project. The allegations are that many ethical and health-related questions have been overlooked. India recently joined hands with New York-based non-profit organisation International aids Vaccine Initiative …
aids may soon become curable. Scientists will put on trial in India, a potential AIDS vaccine made from a modified Vaccinia Ankara formulation. Incidentally, Vaccinia Ankara is a harmless version of a pox virus that was the basis for smallpox vaccines. When modified, it would act as the vector, or …
a dose of oral polio vaccine (opv) can relapse and turn into the deadly disease-causing virus, reveals a recent study conducted by researchers from Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc). The researchers studied a 1999 polio outbreak in Hispaniola, a Caribbean island. The outbreak had killed two children …
The Supreme Court recently asked the Union government to consider banning the production of anti-rabies vaccine from sheep. The court highlighted allegations that patients administered such vaccines faced the danger of paralysis and even death. Hearing a petition that charged the companies with manufacturing vaccines in dismal conditions, the court …
A vaccine effective against human papillomaviruses (HPV), which are thought responsible for most cases of cervical and anal cancers, enters clinical trials in Japan this month. If the trial is successful, the vaccine would be the first used to prevent cancer, claim its developers, a group of researchers from the …
killing cells laden with the hiv may form a key part of future aids vaccination strategies. A new aids vaccine, which does exactly that holds good promise, say researchers. Vaccinated monkeys survived a usually lethal infection with a monkey-human hybrid virus, shiv. Their primed immune system kept virus levels below …
PUSHPA M BHARGAVA Former director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology Manipulating research is not a new phenomenon. Earlier, the reason for manoeuvring the results of scientific research was professional rivalry. But for the last four decades, it has been economic gain and power, which could be personal, corporate or …
researchers might have to rethink their strategy for developing an effective vaccine against Human Immunodeficiency Virus (hiv) reveals a study published in Nature . Researcher Dan Barouch of Harvard Medical School in Boston and his team have shown that hiv can mutate and evade the protection provided by vaccines. The …
seeing is believing. This idiom seems to be very significant in the light of recent revelations on numerous children dying because of World Health Organisation's (who) blind acceptance of wrong information. Researchers from who and United Nations Children's Fund (unicef) recently analysed vaccination data for the past 20 years and …
Scientists in India have created a new vaccine for anthrax, which they say could be less toxic and more effective than the one that is currently available. The alternative has been developed by a team from the Centre for Biotechnology at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University. It is made …
Vaccines and tight controls on livestock movement would be used by Zimbabwe to combat an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease. "Instead of slaughtering the cattle, we will set up a taskforce consisting of government and industry officials. The taskforce would ensure that there is no movement of cattle, and vaccines …
the scientists of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (niaid), Washington, usa , have developed a vaccine, which would protect people from Leishmaniasis transmitted by sand flies and known in India as kala azar. Different species of the parasite can bring about different symptoms, which range from nose, throat …
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a genetically prepared vaccine against asthma. The vaccine has been prepared by introducing a gene from dust mites, a common cause for allergic asthma. The vaccine prevents children from developing asthma when exposed to allergens, as antibodies are already present in …
at least 200 horses died during 1999-2000 at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chennai, because of non-adherence to any scientific protocol for production of anti-snake venom serum ( asvs) and authorities' neglect and apathy. This was stated in an inspection report of experts. The institute specialises in the production …
