A new, oil-based emulsion placed in a patient’s nose has proven able to produce a strong immune response against “smallpox and HIV,” according to two new scientific studies.

The results build on previous success in animal studies with a nasal nanoemulsion vaccine for the flu.

Nanoemulsion vaccines developed at the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and the Biological Sciences at the University of Michigan are based on a mixture of soybean oil, alcohol, water and detergents and are emulsified into “ultra-small particles smaller than 400 nanometers wide,” or 1/200th the width of a human hair. When combined the disease-causing microbe, they trigger the body’s immune response, just as an innoculation with needles.

A team led by Michigan scientist Dr. James Baker Jr., M.D., the institute’s director, pioneered the new, modern technology.

“The two studies show the nanoemulsion platform is capable of developing vaccines from very diverse materials. We used whole virus in the smallpox vaccine. In the HIV vaccine, we used a single protein. We were able to promote an immune response using either source,” says Baker.

Most interestingly, in antiquity, a cow pox vaccination was administered to patients through the nose by physicians of Chinese medicine, experts in the history of medicine note.

NanoBio Corp., an Ann Arbor-based biotech company which Baker founded in 2000, has licensed the technology.  Baker is the Ruth Dow Doan Professor of internal medicine and Allergy Division chief at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The surface tension of the nanoparticles disrupts membranes and destroys microbes but does not harm most human cells due to their location within body tissues. Nanoemulsion vaccines are highly effective at penetrating the mucous membranes in the nose and initiating strong and protective types of immune response, Baker says. U-M researchers are also exploring nasal nanoemulsion vaccines to protect against “bioterrorism agents and hepatitis B.”

The smallpox results, which appear in the February issue of Clinical Vaccine Immunology, could lead to an effective human vaccine against smallpox that is safer than the present live-vaccinia virus vaccine, says Baker.

– The Editors

Nasal vaccines are made up of droplets 200 nanometers in size. Source: Michigan Nanotechnology Institute.

Posted: February 29th, 2008 under HIV, Smallpox.
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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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A century after its discovery by  Dr. George H. Whipple, the diagnosis and treatment of “Whipple’s disease” is still quite controversial in the medical community, according to an article in the March issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Researchers say the affliction is a chronic multisystemic disease. The infectious bacterium, Tropheryma whipplei, is “ubiquitously present” in the natural environment.

Clinical features of Whipple’s disease are “non-specific” and sensitive diagnostic methods such as PCR, with sequencing of the amplification products and immunohistochemistry to detect T whipplei, are still not widely available for physicians.

“The best course of treatment is not completely defined, especially in relapsing disease, neurological manifestations, and in cases of immunoreconstitution after initiation of antibiotic treatment,” the authors note. “Patients without the classic symptoms of gastrointestinal disease might be misdiagnosed or insufficiently treated, resulting in a potentially fatal outcome or irreversible neurological damage.”

The researchers suggest that medicine develop procedures for the improvement of diagnosis and an optimum therapeutic strategy.

The article, Whipple’s disease: new aspects of pathogenesis and treatment, was written by Prof. Thomas Schneider MD, Dr Verena Moos PhD,   Prof. Christoph Loddenkemper MD, Prof. Thomas Marth MD, Doctor Florence Fenollar MD, and Prof. Didier Raoult MD.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, director of scientific communications

For more information, go to,

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473309908700422/abstract

Whipple’s disease is a non-neoplastic gastrointestinal disease.

Posted: February 28th, 2008 under Diseases.
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Drug-resistant tuberculosis is spreading more swiftly around the globe than medical doctors initially predicted, the World Health Organization warned in a report released this week.The rate of TB patients infected with the drug-resistant strain “topped 20 percent in some countries,” the highest ever recorded, the U.N. agency said.”Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to see rates like this,” says Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of WHO’s TB infection control and protection department. “This demonstrates what happens when you keep making mistakes in TB treatment.”The report is the largest study of drug-resistant TB, based on information collected from 2002 and 2006. Data were only available from about half of the world’s countries, however.Information is most sketchy on cases from Africa, where experts are particularly worried about a lethal combination of TB and AIDS.”We really don’t know what the situation is in Africa,” Raviglione says. “If multi-drug resistant TB has penetrated Africa and coincides with AIDS, there’s bound to be a disaster.”– The Editors

Posted: February 28th, 2008 under Infection Protection.
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Apparently “unsafe injection practices” at a medical clinic in Nevada may have infected thousands of patients with hepatitis C. About 40,000 Nevadans should be tested for that virus, as well as for HIV, health officials said this week. Hepatitis C is a chronic, potentially fatal virus that can cause liver ailments, including  liver failure and cancer.

A total of six people who underwent procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada last summer now have the blood-borne hepatitis C virus, the Southern Nevada Health District said, noting the infections are related to poor infection control during administration of anesthesia.

Doctors say the unsafe practices had “been in place for several years” and may have put others at risk. About 40,000 patients who received injections of anesthesia at the clinic will be told of the potential exposure in letters arriving next week or so by mail.

Anyone who received anesthesia at the clinic from March 2004 to Jan. 11 should be tested for the virus, along with hepatitis B and HIV, chief health officer Lawrence Sands says.

“We are recommending all patients during this time frame to get tested because we cannot determine which patients may have been exposed,” Sands says.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: February 28th, 2008 under Feature Stories, HIV, Hand Hygiene.
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A House panel today voted to more than triple spending for a global AIDS program that has proven to be one of the Bush administration’s most successful foreign policy initiatives.

The Foreign Affairs Committee’s vote on the plan to approve spending of an average $10 billion annually over the next five years came hours after lawmakers and the White House reached a compromise on some of the policy issues, including spending on abstinence programs.

The bill extends the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which authorized spending of $15 billion total for five years for prevention and care programs in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions hit by the epidemic.

The White House and many Republicans objected to the original Democratic-crafted draft because it removed a provision requiring that a certain amount be spent on abstinence programs. Some Republicans said that would open the way for family planning groups to spend money on abortions.

The compromise worked out in late-night negotiations Tuesday does eliminate the clause requiring that one-third of all HIV prevention funds be spent on abstinence, instead directing the administration to promote “balanced funding for prevention activities” in target countries. The administration must issue a report if programs focusing on abstinence and fidelity.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Posted: February 27th, 2008 under Feature Stories, HIV.
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A new study indicates that there is definitely a “rapid decline” of the anti-influenza antibody after vaccination of elderly patients. The research was published online in the February 5 edition of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

“Advisory committees have cautioned that influenza vaccine–induced antibody declines more rapidly in the elderly, falling below seroprotective levels within four months,” the researchers write. “We conducted a literature review to assess this assertion. The articles that were included in this review reported antibody levels four months after influenza immunization in persons 60 years old, interpretable in the context of annual influenza vaccine–approval criteria. The final review included 14 studies.”

Researchers found that for some elderly patients, the flu vaccine becomes ineffective in as little as one month after innoculation, though some patients reportedly were still immune, i.e., showing antibodies in their bloodstream, upon testing,  some six months after vaccination.

The authors of the report are Doctors Danuta M. Skowronski,  S. Aleina Tweed of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control  and Gaston De Serres of the National Institute of Public Health of Montreal.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Path of infection with the influenza virus. Source: National Institutes of Health.

Posted: February 27th, 2008 under Feature Stories, Influenza.
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A new study indicates that the commonly used rotavirus vaccine causes severe intestinal problems for many children. The research was published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal’s February edition. According to the research findings, intussusception has been clinically associated with type 1 rotavirus vaccine. Intussusception is the slippage of one part of an intestine into another part of the bowel just below it. “Our objective was to determine intussusception rates in children in southern Israel during a 15-year period before the introduction of new rotavirus vaccines,” according to the authors of the article.

A rotavirus is a double-stranded RNA virus that is the leading global cause of dehydrating diarrhea in children.

Researchers examined data from 1990 to 2004 for 316 patients with the intestinal problem. Seventy-six percent of the patients examined were Jewish, while 24 percent were Bedouin children. No child died from the disease. In Bedouin children, a  higher number of patients presenting with the disease were observed from March to May. But, no seasonality pattern was noted in Jewish children. Negative correlation between intussusception and gastroenteritis was found in Bedouin infants during the summer months, but no such correlation was found in Jewish infants.

“Prerotavirus vaccination intussusception rate is high especially among Jewish infants in Southern Israel. Intussusception rates increased significantly during the study period in Bedouin infants,” the authors concluded.

Researchers included Doctors David Greenberg, David, Noga Givon-Lavi, Nitza Newman, John Wheeler, Zehavi Cohen, and Ron Dagan of the Soroka Medical Center. 

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Route of the rotavirus vaccine. Source: Brown University.

Posted: February 27th, 2008 under Anti-Bacterial Resources, Feature Stories.
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Russian tennis champion Maria Sharapova has dropped out of the $1.5 million Dubai Championships citing a “viral illness.”

The Australian Open champion, who also won in Doha last week, is unbeaten this year and had been scheduled to play her first match in Dubai on centre court in Tuesday’s evening session.

“Unfortunately I have been battling a virus for several days and it’s reached a point where I’m unable to compete,” the world number five said in a statement. “This is really disappointing to me, but I do intend to come back to Dubai next year and hopefully have a great tournament.”

Athletes are particularly susceptible to viral illnesses, as unclean locker rooms and floors can spread contagions like the flu or Norwalk-like viruses, doctors note.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Maria Sharapova out sick this week with a viral illness.

Posted: February 26th, 2008 under Feature Stories, Influenza, Norwalk-Like Viruses.
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More than 300,000 people are hospitalized every year because of food-borne illness, and most never recover, according to a national research group. Those infected have become “dangerously ill” and continue to have health problems years later. A national coalition called STOP, which stands for Safe Tables Our Priority, has started a national registry to find out how widespread the problem actually is.

Nancy Donley, a spokeswoman for STOP, notes that because of food poisoning, “there are people who have had long-term kidney problems, diabetes, pancreatic problems, vision problems.”

STOP plans to share all its information with government researchers. To register cases of long term effects from food borne illnesses, log on to http://www.safetables.org.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Poor hand hygiene can lead to illness.

Posted: February 26th, 2008 under Feature Stories, Hand Hygiene.
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