Health care facilities in Missouri are reporting they have not received the shingles vaccine, Zostavax, and that it may be weeks before it is available.

Drug developer Merck had problems with a shortage of the live viruses, which has caused a shortage of vaccine. Merck is the only licensed manufacturer in the United States of the chicken pox, Varicella zoster, shingles, Herpes zoster, and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMRV) vaccine.

Rachelle Collinge, RN, BSN, assistant director of nursing and acting immunization coordinator with the Cole County Health Department, said: “All these are live virus vaccines, so they have to wait for the bulk culture to multiply to get sufficient quantity. They can be slow growing. Merck had some problems recently with a particular batch and it has created a shortage.”

To help combat the shortage, Merck took the MMRV vaccine off of the market temporarily, because both of those are available separately.

One dose of the shingles vaccine is recommended for those 60 years and older. According to www.merckvaccines.com, the Merck Web site, large doses of Zostavax that were ordered June 17-26 were being shipped this week. Those vaccines ordered after then are reported to have a 15-19 week delay. Vaccines ordered this week have a 10-13 week delay.

Missouri’s Cole County Health Department currently is out of the shingles vaccine, but has it on back order, Collinge said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

The shingles rash is caused by a form of the herpes virus:

Posted: October 9th, 2008 under Diseases, Herpes, Shingels.
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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have risen to an all-time high in the U.K., according to researchers.

Nearly 400,000 new infections were diagnosed last year — an increase of six percent increase from 2006, and the biggest jump in the statistics in recorded history there. 

Half of all new cases were found in young people 16 to 24, despite the fact they account for 12 percent of the population.

The U.K. Health Protection Agency recommended all young people should be tested for Chlamydia every year as part of the national screening program.

According to Gwenda Hughes, from the Health Protection Agency Center for Infections,  young people are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections. “This is because they are more sexually active, have more sexual partners, they have a tendency to have overlapping sexual partners and they are more likely to have casual sex partnerships,” she added.

Professor Peter Borriello, Director of the Agency’s Center for Infections, told The Telegraph of London that he is happy the numbers aren’t even higher, given today’s laissez faire attitudes on casual sex.

“We really should applaud and be proud of the way young people do overcome some of these problems and do take responsibility and don’t come away with a sexual infection,” he said.

Around one in ten 16 to 24-year-olds is thought to be infected with Chlamydia, which is the most prevalent infection.

– by Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Diseases, Herpes, Impaired Immunity, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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A new version of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) — considered a “gay cancer” by the medical community– has been discovered by French dermatologists in middle-aged, HIV-negative gay men with apparently normal immune function, according to a leading medical journal.

Caused by HHV-8, a virus of the herpes family, is often a co-morbidity with AIDS. HHV-8 is carried in saliva and the higher rates seen in gay men are attributed to oral sex, the report in the latest edition of  the journal AIDS indicates.

The KS cases observed in HIV-negative men are more aggressive than in the “classical,” originally described type of KS which is seen most often in men of Mediterranean origin, and occurred at an earlier age, i.e., mid-50s instead of late 60s.

One in seven of the KS sufferers went on to develop other cancers – in one case, another skin cancer, but in other cases cancers of the lymphatic system. This is the same proportion of patients who go on to develop other cancers as in HIV-positive KS cases.

Most patients had some form of treatment – the majority topical treatment such as surgery or radiotherapy. But one in six had systemic chemotherapy.

HHV-8, discovered in 1994, is thought to have been already widespread in gay men before the advent of HIV.

The average age at the onset of symptoms was 53 and at diagnosis 56 – considerably younger than the 64-72 age range for diagnosis of classical KS. The youngest person diagnosed was at 35.
Cases of KS with a similar presentation and progression pattern have also been seen in HIV-positive gay men with normal CD4 counts.

The scientists suggest that all men who have sex with men should have their HHV-8 antibody status ascertained, especially if immunosuppressive drugs such as steroids are prescribed.

REFERENCE

Lanternier F et al. Kaposi’s sarcoma in HIV-negative men having sex with men. AIDS 22:1163-1168. 2008.

Lesions from Kaposi’s sarcoma spread over the patient’s torso. Image source: National Institutes of Health.

Posted: June 30th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Diseases, HIV, Herpes, Impaired Immunity, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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Syphilis rates in the U.S. and Western Europe has increased significantly, according to a recent review article. “As in other high-income settings, rates of primary and secondary syphilis reported in the U.S. decreased during the 1990s, and by early 2000, the rate was the lowest since reporting began in 1941. The resurgence of primary and secondary syphilis in the U.S. began in late 2000 and has continued unabated.”

Dr. Kevin Fenton, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues, authors of the article, say, “In many high-income countries, successes in syphilis prevention and control were accelerated during the early and mid-1990s, with many countries approaching or achieving elimination of endemic disease transmission. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, syphilis incidence has started to rise in high-income settings, in part driven by increases in cases among men who have sex with men, although more recent increases among heterosexual people have also been reported.”

Syphilis, which infects some 12 million people worldwide every year, is caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum.

The paper goes on to report that “we can differentiate social determinants of syphilis epidemiology into three broad categories: (1) general populations of developing countries, (2) low socioeconomic status minority populations of developed countries, and (3) homosexual men.”

The increase in syphilis is marked “by high rates of HIV co-infection, high-risk sexual behavior, and the use of drugs such as methamphetamines,” the authors report. Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) is an expensive health proposition. The economic impact costs the U.S. health care system as much as $15.5 billion annually.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says “novel” approaches are being undertaken to control and to prevent the disease. It is a given that with the new rise in cases, health care professionals must renew their training and efforts in dealing with the significant increase in cases.

The CDC calls for the following actions to be taken by the medical community:

• Development of a revised formula for allocating federal syphilis elimination funding to states and cities, allowing CDC to respond more rapidly to emerging geographical trends in syphilis cases.
• Creation of a new program evaluation approach to more rapidly modify prevention programs to meet the changing epidemic.
• Production of a new surveillance tool designed to capture behavioral data which provides local and national information to direct our responses to the syphilis epidemic.

The CDC is addressing the amazing rise of Internet use in connecting partners for sex. This is especially true for gay men. The Internet, itself is used to combat the problem by more effectively reaching at-risk populations with prevention approaches, such as health communication to increase community awareness and outreach to encourage testing and partner services.

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The review was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

– by Peter Menkin, San Francisco Correspondent

Posted: May 30th, 2008 under Diseases, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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A new study by scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham shows the genetic identity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the version responsible for sexual transmission, in “unprecedented detail,” according to The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The finding provides vital evidence in the ongoing search for an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine, scientists said. The research team found that among billions of HIV variants only a few lead to a sexually transmitted disease.

According to George M. Shaw, MD, PhD, professor in the UAB departments of medicine and microbiology and senior author on the report, the research sheds new light on potential vulnerabilities in the virus at a time when science, medicine and society are still reeling from the failure of a major HIV vaccine clinical trial.

“We can now identify unambiguously those viruses that are responsible for sexual transmission of HIV-1. For the first time we can see clearly the face of the enemy,” said Shaw, a project leader with the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology.

The center is a National Institutes of Health-sponsored consortium of researchers at UAB, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Oxford University in England, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham, N.C.

The study was performed by sequencing many copies of the HIV envelope gene present in the viruses taken from 102 recently infected patients.

In 80 percent of the newly infected patients, a single virus caused transmission, though each virus was different in each patient. In the other 20 percent of patients, two to five unique viruses caused transmission.

According to Brandon Keele, PhD., an instructor in UAB’s department of medicine and lead study investigator, these “findings allow us to identify not only the transmitted virus, but also viruses that evolve from it.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Hidden traits of HIV revealed in lab studies.

Posted: May 16th, 2008 under Diseases, HIV, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a two-year, $2.0 million grant to a San Diego-based firm, Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq: VICL) to fund the ongoing development of Vical’s immunotherapeutic plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccine for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), a sexually transmitted virus and the leading cause of genital herpes.

Researchers said the  HSV-2 vaccine will also be evaluated with Vical’s innovative Vaxfectin (R: 63.71, -2.97, -4.45%) adjuvant.

The pre-clinical development activities covered by the grant will be conducted at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch, both centers of excellence in herpes research. The vaccine will be designed for use in people already infected with HSV-2, with the goal of reducing or eliminating periodic viral flare-ups.

According to Vijay B. Samant, Vical’s president and chief executive officer, chronic antiviral treatment carries a significant healthcare cost and contributes to the emergence of drug-resistant strains and increasing infection rates. “A therapeutic vaccine that could control disease symptoms and transmission would be a welcome addition to the HSV-2 treatment arsenal. We are pleased to collaborate with leading academic research centers in addressing this critical public health need,” says Samant.

According to David Koelle, professor of medicine in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine, technologies such as pDNA vaccines can contribute to priming and boosting CD8 T-cell responses to HSV-2, have the best chance of changing the natural history of established HSV-2 infection, potentially improving symptoms, lesions, shedding, and perhaps even transmission.

The grant supplements the $300,000 awarded to Vical in 2005 for the HSV-2 vaccine program.

– The Editors

Lesions are a common symptom of HSV-2. Image Source: University of Iowa.

Posted: April 17th, 2008 under Diseases, Genetics & Gene Therapies, Herpes, Herpes-Cold Sores, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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Twenty-five percent of teenage girls in the U.S. have a sexually-transmitted disease, according to report on the BBC.

The study, by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discerned an even higher prevalence of STDs among black girls.

Scientists examined data from a representative sample of 838 U.S. girls, aged 14 to 19.

The most common infections were:

* A virus that causes cervical cancer - HPV.
* Chlamydia.
* Trichomoniasis.
* Herpes.

The government says the study is the “first in its kind” to examine the extent of common sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent girls.

Researchers say that nearly half of the African-American girls surveyed had at least one STD, while the rate was 20 percent among white and Mexican-American teenagers.

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, affected 18 percent of the girls surveyed, chlamydia 4 percent, trichomoniasis 2.5 percent, and herpes simplex virus percent.

The CDC said it was a serious issue because the diseases could lead to infertility and cervical cancer. Screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among our highest public health priorities.

– by the Editors

 

STDs are a major public health concern in the U.S. now.

Posted: March 11th, 2008 under Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
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Medicine has yet to find the “best strategy” for long-term therapy for patients infected with chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV), according to a new article in the international journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Presently, available options for the treatment for HBV infection include doses of drugs interferon alfa and four oral antiviral agents, lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, and telbivudine.

“These treatment strategies are either therapies of finite duration that aim to achieve sustained off-therapy responses, or long-term treatments that aim to maintain on-therapy remission,” the authors note. 

Most patients do not respond to the interferon alpha treatment.

Thus, oral antivirals are the only candidates for long-term treatment of patients with chronic HBV infection. There are other treatment options too. “Viral suppression has favorable effects on patients’ outcome and modifies the natural history of the disease,” the authors note. “Viral resistance is the main drawback of long-term antiviral therapy. Lamivudine monotherapy is associated with higher resistance than adefovir or telbivudine. Entecavir resistance is rare in naive individuals, but increases over time in lamivudine-resistant patients.”

The article appears in the latest issue of the journal, and is entitled,  Therapeutic strategies in the management of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. The authors are Dr George V Papatheodoridis MD,   Spilios Manolakopoulos MD,   Prof Geoffrey Dusheiko MD,  and Prof Athanasios J Archimandritis MD.  The doctors are with the department of internal medicine of the Athens University School of Medicine, Athens, Greece.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, director of scientific communications

Image courtesy of Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University.

Posted: March 3rd, 2008 under Antibiotic Resistant, Feature Stories, Hand Hygiene, Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Comments: 1

A new report released by the Ministry of Health indicates that there were more than 4.7 million cases of infectious diseases in China last year, up 2.95 percent from 2006. That’s nearly four in every 1,000 people.  The diseases killed 13,037 people, 2,311 more than the previous year.

According to the report, rabies was the “top killer” among the 37 leading diseases, claiming 2,873 lives last year.

Additionally, the report noted:

* Respiratory tract and blood-borne/sexually transmitted diseases rose by 3.55 and 6.96 percent, respectively.

* The number of HIV/AIDS cases reported increased 45 percent year-on-year.

* The number of hepatitis C cases was up 30 percent, and syphilis cases up 24 percent on last year, according to the report.

The report indicates that four human cases of bird flu were reported last year resulting in two deaths. In 2006, there were eight fatalities from 12 cases.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, director of scientific communications

For more information, go to,

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-02/23/content_6478813.htm

AIDS awareness poster — China.

Posted: February 29th, 2008 under Avian Flu, Feature Stories, HIV, Influenza, MRSA, Measles, Pneumonia, Rubella, SARS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Tuberculosis, Whooping Cough.
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