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. …
while battles rage between pharmaceutical companies and developing nations for cheaper access to existing drugs against aids, new research is also emerging. Two of the recent developments, one a vaccine that inhibits hiv, other, a therapy that attacks the deadly virus are worth the metion. A vaccine that does not …
Goat milk may become the source of malaria vaccines in coming times. Researchers have made genetic modifications in mice to alter the character of the milk they produce. This milk has been successfully used to vaccinate monkeys from the attack of the Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The scietist beileive the same …
The foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in Anuradhapura district in the north-central province of Sri Lanka. According to G G N Abeykoon, director general of animal health of the province, livestock was being vaccinated to stop the spread of the disease. "The situation is under control. The outbreak is not …
the past few years have seen an alarming increase in the number of malaria cases. The World Health Organisation ( who ) puts the annual number of cases between 300-500 million, and deaths between 1.5-2.7 million. Controlling the disease has become difficult due to insecticide resistance in the mosquito and …
The second phase of the anti-polio programme in Pakistan commenced from November 30. Some 7.2 million children under five years will be given polio drops. According to the health department, volunteers and health workers manning more than 30,000 mobile units have been given specific centres in the province for administering …
Polio vaccination coverage in the Sindh region of Pakistan was evaluated to above 90 per cent, said World Health Organisation sources. A preliminary statistical assessment of 30 clusters of houses has shown that the polio coverage, conducted by the Sindh health department during the five Sub-national Immunisation Days, was better …
TO control the spread of AIDS in India, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has agreed to undertake AIDS vaccine trials in the country. At present, an estimated four million persons in the country are infected with HIV. On November 8, after a two-day seminar with some of the leading …
A new type of vaccine that uses a virus' DNA to build up the body's immunity may be used in future to protect people from diseases such as malaria. In a recently published study, scientists have come out with the results of the vaccine's first tests on humans. The vaccine …
The division bench of the Mumbai high court consisting of Ochief Justice M B Shah and justice Jahangirdar directed the Union department of family welfare to place an order of 4.3 crore doses of oral polio vaccine with Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd. It has been agreed that the department of …
a california-based company, VaxGen, has received permission from the us Food and Drug Administration (fda) to conduct the world's first large-scale test of aidsvax
tens of millions of tuberculosis ( tb ) patients worldwide are facing a serious risk to their lives. They may succumb to the disease even before medical science comes up with a better vaccine or more effective antibiotic treatments. Barry Bloom of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New …
left in the lurch: Enron Corp has withdrawn its plan to set up a US $ 6 billion hydroelectric-power project in Nepal. With this, the company's grand plan has been stalled for South Asia. Enron's decision to withdraw from the proposed 10,800 megawatt project clearly shows the wide ripple effects …
scientists in the us , Finland and India have reported significant breakthroughs in research that could help develop vaccines for rotavirus infection. Rotavirus infection is caused due to ingestion of the viral particles in water or other means of child-to-child infection. According to the World Health Organisation, the disease accounts …
a nasal spray vaccine may prove effective in preventing influenza in children. Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (niaid) , Bethesda, usa , have succeeded in controlling the infection with the help of this viral vaccination. They have also developed a sprayer that is capable of …
Sri Lanka's premier medical agency has recommended immediate withdrawal of a vaccine imported from India and revaccinate over three million children. Doctors say that these children received substandard drugs imported from India. According to the Government Medical Officers' Association, the DPT vaccine used to immunise infants against diphtheria, tetanus and …
a vaccine has been developed that can prevent urinary tract infections ( utis), one of the most common health problems all over the world. The ailment is mostly caused by bacteria called E coli. Millions of people, especially women, have to be hospitalised for treatment of uti s and four …
A nasal vaccine for influenza, containing inactivated viruses, has proved effective in trials on 51 volunteer medical students in Israel. Although the medical students were exposed to the illness on a daily basis during their work, none of the immunised students caught flu. Developed by Zichira Zakey-Romes of the Hebrew …
SCIENTISTS have just synthesised possibly the most complex anti-cancer vaccine to treat patients suffering from prostate cancer at a bospitaJ in New York, US. Boost to immunity Sam Danishefsky and his colleagues from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York have made copies of a large active fragment, …
stomach disorders, respiratory illnesses and other inflammatory malfunctions - caused due to the entry of pathogens through the linings of the gut (the intestine), the tonsils, nose and lungs - are common in India. So is the knowledge of their causative factors. What most of us are unaware of is …
As the immune system is designed to distinguish 'self' from 'foreign' and reject the latter, intestinal immunity also has a role in preventing exaggerated immune responses (allergy) by discriminating between the two. For example, touching the leaf of the Japanese sumac tree, used in making lacquer, can cause severe skin …
