Residents of New York City are more rapidly becoming infected with HIV than the rest of America. The rate of infection in the city is three times the national rate, the city’s health department reported this week.

Working with a new statistical model for tracking new infections developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, city health officials estimated that 72 out of every 100,000 New Yorkers contracted HIV in 2006. That compares to 23 out of every 100,000 individuals around the country.

All told, 4,800 New Yorkers became infected with HIV, including 3,863 New York City residents, during the last year.

The federal government’s new model uses a technology to analyze blood samples to determine if an HIV infection is recent or has been ongoing.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: August 27th, 2008 under Diseases, HIV.
Comments: none

A little boy in Utah is slowly recovering from ”rabbit fever,” a rare infection. The disease is properly known as tularemia, an affliction which can be transmitted by flies, mosquitoes, and ticks. The disease can also be spread by contact with infected animals or eating undercooked meat, or inhaled.  Nearly 200 people are infected with the disease each year in the U.S.  Another Utah case has been reported so far this year, in Iron County.  Last year, 17 people in Utah were afflicted with the dreaded disease, sparking an investigation by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC investigated that outbreak.
   

That case came from a horsefly. That creature bit 10-year-old Darrell Oleson when he was fishing with his father and brother on July 5. Oleson was hospitalized with a high fever and ultimately had surgery to remove infected lymph nodes in his neck.  The child’s parents said he was recently released from the hospital and won’t be allowed to go to school for up to two months.
   

Symptoms of the disease generally appear within three to five days after infection and include swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, and a skin ulcer at the wound site.   

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: August 27th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this week that it is investigating the developers of Tysabri to update the label of the multiple sclerosis drug. The new labeling will reflect two cases of a serious brain infection diagnosed a few weeks ago in patients taking the medicine. The agency’s announcement also included language that should come as a relief to patients, some of whom have worried that the new cases of the infection — progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) — could create regulatory problems for the drug.

The drug was removed from the U.S. market a few years ago when three patients developed PML, a rare and potentially deadly brain infection. The drug was reintroduced under a strict safety program that prohibits patients from taking Tysabri while they are taking other drugs that may also weaken the immune system.

Both new cases were found in Europe. The first patient had previously taken other MS drugs; the other patient had not.

But in its alert released late yesterday, the FDA said it “still believes that Tysabri” taken alone “may confer a lower risk of PML” than when the drug is taken with other medicines that alter the immune system.

Combined with the news of the label change, the news suggests the two new cases may not have a major effect on the drug’s regulatory status in the U.S.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: August 26th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none

Amniotic fluid infections are much more common than earlier believed and may be a major cause of premature births, says a study led by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Nearly 12 percent of all births in the U.S. are premature, and the frequency of premature birth is increasing, according to researchers.

The Stanford doctors analyzed the amniotic fluid from 166 women in pre-term labor and found that 15 percent of the samples contained bacteria or fungi, compared to previous estimates of 10 percent. Some of the bacteria and fungi found in the samples hadn’t been suspected of playing a major role in pre-term birth.

Women with the highest degree of amniotic fluid infection were most likely to deliver more premature, sicker infants, the doctors said.

“To find that this amniotic compartment, which we have traditionally viewed as somewhat sacrosanct, is infected significantly more often than we thought is a little shocking,” author Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease and of microbiology and immunology, said.

The study was published in the Aug. 26 issue of the journal PLoS-ONE.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Posted: August 26th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none

A letter warning physicians in Vancouver Island, Canada, to be on “high alert” for patients with symptoms of listeria is being disseminated this week in connection with the deadly listeriosis outbreak.

The outbreak was linked to the death of four people including one person on Vancouver Island.

The letter tells doctors to watch for symptoms associated with listeriosis - often flu-like and possibly including nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, high fever, severe headache, and a stiff neck.

The letters tells doctors to maintain “a high index of suspicion for this organism,” said medical health officer Dr. Lorna Medd, of the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

This girds doctors to prepare for patients who might require testing for listeria, Dr. Medd said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Listeria outbreak worrying to health officials in Canada.

Posted: August 25th, 2008 under Diseases, Listeria.
Comments: none

The California Nurses Association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is this week holding a reception at the Democratic Convention in honor of the 92 members of the Congressional HR 676 Caucus and the Democratic nominee for president of the U.S., Barack Hussein Obama.  

The meeting is set for Tuesday, August 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Ballroom at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colo.

“Speakers will include CNA/NNOC co-president Deborah Burger, RN; Greg Junemann, Chair of HR 676 Labor Caucus and President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Dr. Claudia Fegan, past President of Physicians for a National Health Program; and other special guests,” according to a statement provided to Infection Protection.

Interesting to note that in Canada — where socialized medicine is practiced — health care professionals abhor the system and want the government to transition to a fee-for-service system, as in the U.S. Obama, whose citizenship status is now being questioned in a federal court case in Philadelphia, case number 2:08cv04083, also supports socializing medicine like many foreign countries have done.

– by the Editors

Obama meets with nurses.

Posted: August 25th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none

A new drape for dialysis patients, created by a U.K. nephrologist, may reduce the risk of dialysis patients developing MRSA.

The drape ensures that tunneled haemodialysis lines are inserted in a sterile way and with the least amount of discomfort for patients. The lack of proper products that propelled Dr. Kevin Eardley, consultant nephrologist at The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, to develop his own, creative medical products solution.“Because there wasn’t a drape purposely designed for tunneled haemodialysis catheter insertion, doctors were having to use drapes which did not have holes the correct size or shape for the procedure. They also had to use more than one drape at a time,” Eardley commented.

The drape is also designed to reduce the feeling of claustrophobia many patients experience by having a transparent covering over the patient’s face. This will also aid nurses’ observation and reassurance of the patient during the procedure, the doctor said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Posted: August 22nd, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity, MRSA.
Comments: none

Researchers from a number of leading European universities, led by Umeå University Hospital in Sweden, have determined that childhood infections can increase the risk for snoring as an adult.

Doctors surveyed 15,556 randomly selected people in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Estonia about their childhoods and their adult snoring habits.

Chronic snoring, loud and disturbing snoring at least three nights a week, was reported by 18 percent of those studied.

Hospitalization for a respiratory infection before the age of 2, suffering from recurrent ear infections as a child, growing up in a large family, and exposure to a dog at home as a newborn were all independently related to snoring in later life, according to the report published this month in an medical journal.

The doctors speculated that these risk factors may be related to allergies and infections, which can lead to inflammation of the upper airway early in life and bolster risk for adult snoring.

Being hospitalized for a respiratory infection before age 2 increased risk by 27 percent, while recurrent childhood ear infections raised the odds by 18 percent. Being exposed to a dog as a newborn increased the chances of being an adult snorer by 26 percent. And the smallest effect was seen among people raised in large families, which increased the risk by 4 percent.

Among people with respiratory infections at a young age, risk of snoring was nearly doubled among those who had gained weight as adults.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Snoring study from Scandanavia points to respiratory infections as source.

Posted: August 22nd, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity.
Comments: none

A major recall of deli meats has many Canadians eyeing their refrigerators, fearing they are among those afflicted with the bacterial illness, listeriosis. A massive outbreak of the disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes is being investigated by the Canadian government. There has been a recall of contaminated meat products by Maple Leaf Foods. Doctors have yet to establish a direct connection between the outbreak and the food produced at the firm’s meat plant in Toronto.

The infection has sickened nearly 20 people and killed one. Some health officials believe the number of those affected will likely increase substantially.

What should you do if you know or think you’ve eaten any of the 23 products - including ham, smoked turkey and roast beef - yanked this week from grocery store shelves?

That depends on whether someone has developed symptoms, how serious they are, and if the person falls into certain risk groups for severe disease, says Dr. Andrew Simor, head of microbiology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto.

“In most cases, the infection is pretty mild, people might not even be aware they have it,” Simor indicates. “They might have a mild flu-like illness, maybe some mild abdominal pain, and diarrhea.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

An image of listeria from the University of California.

Posted: August 21st, 2008 under Diseases, Listeria.
Comments: none

The New Yorker Magazine is reporting on new discoveries in science on bacterial virulence in its latest issue.  According to the magazine, researcher Frederick Asubel, a bacterial geneticist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is seeking to discover new drugs that will interfere with a bacterial phenomenon called “quorum sensing” through which bacteria release tiny molecules which communicate with each other and which signal when a “critical mass” of bacteria have accumulated.

“Once this quorum is reached, the bacteria turn on their virulence genes,” writes Dr. Jerome Groopman, MD. “Bacteria don’t want to alert their host that they are there by immediately producing virulence factors which the host would recognize, triggering the immune system. When they reach a certain quorum, there are too many of them for the host to do anything about it.”

The research on “quorum sensing” is emerging from studies on antibiotic resistance, Dr. Groopman reports. Dr. Groopman indicates that antibiotic resistance is so strong now it is as if antibiotics had never been invented, and medicine is back to where it was, in terms of treatment of infectious agents, about a century ago.

The title of the article is, Superbugs: Infections that are almost impossible to treat.  The article appears in the August 11 and August 18 issue of the esteemed magazine.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Posted: August 21st, 2008 under Clostridium difficile, Developing Diseases, Impaired Immunity, MRSA.
Comments: none