infectious diseases

See the following -

'I Lost 10 Relatives To Ebola'

Staff Writer | BBC News | April 3, 2014

Ebola fever has killed at least 86 people in Guinea in recent weeks and another six in Liberia. Firmin Bogon, who lives in Gueckedou near the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone, told BBC Afrique how he lost his sister, his wife, his stepmother and other loved ones to the virus. Read More »

Aged Care Facilities Nurturing Superbugs [Australia]

John Elder | The Age Victoria | October 5, 2014

Nursing home residents appear to be significant carriers of superbug infections into hospitals, potentially putting other patients at risk.  This is the latest finding in a series of Monash University studies that have investigated management of infection in Melbourne's aged care facilities, and the over-prescription of antibiotics to residents...

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Antibiotic Resistance Doesn't Just Make Bacteria Harder To Kill – It Can Actually Make Them Stronger

Bacteria can become drug-resistant in two ways – resistance can be natural, meaning that the genes conferring resistance are already present in the bacterial chromosome, or they can be acquired through mutation or by picking up antibiotic-resistance genes from other microbes. It is now possible to use new DNA-sequencing technologies to take a closer look at how the antibiotic resistance can make some bacteria weaker or stronger. And in a new study, we found that – contrary to conventional wisdom around antibiotics – resistance can actually make some bacteria fitter and even more virulent.

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CDC Stands Up New Disease Forecasting Center - To Use Open Source Software and APIs to Expand Data Interoperability

Press Release | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | August 18, 2021

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is announcing a new center designed to advance the use of forecasting and outbreak analytics in public health decision making. Once established, the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics will bring together next-generation public health data, expert disease modelers, public health emergency responders, and high-quality communications, to meet the needs of decision makers.  The new center will accelerate access to and use of data for public health decision-makers who need information to mitigate the effects of disease threats, such as social and economic disruption.

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Corporate Resilience During A Pandemic

As humanity grapples with the spread of COVID-19 globally, the emotional response is to do something, anything, everything. But how do we take that energy and successfully adapt? Most prudent organizations have had on their radar more visible threats like hurricanes, earthquakes, power outages, terrorism, and war. The quiet pervasiveness of a pandemic seems to have caught us by surprise. But is adapting to a pandemic really that different? The good news is that proven principles still apply. Read More »

CSIR In Advanced Phase Of Gene Sequencing Under Its Genome Variation Consortium Project

Nandita Vijay | PHARMABIZ.com | December 29, 2014

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is in an advanced phase of study of  Indian Genome Variation Consortium Project. The researchers are now working towards predictive and personalized medicine with an objective to provide quicker treatment options to treat infectious diseases and life style disorders...

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Ebola Outbreak: Sierra Leone Confirms First Deaths

Staff Writer | BBC News | May 26, 2014

Four people have died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, the first confirmed cases in the country following an outbreak in Guinea, the health ministry has said. Read More »

EU In 'Denial' That Sick Economy Costs Lives, Health Experts Say

Staff Writer | CNBC | March 27, 2013

Europe's financial crisis is costing lives, with suicides and infectious diseases on the rise, yet politicians are not addressing the problem, health experts said on Wednesday. Read More »

Experts support a future Manhattan Project for Biodefense to thwart new threats

Kim Riley | Homeland Preparedness News | July 12, 2019

An effort similar to the Manhattan Project - in which American-led R&D produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II - is needed now in defense against the growing global threats posed by infectious diseases and bioterrorism, sources said Thursday during a Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense meeting...witness panelists and attendees at the panel's first public meeting held yesterday in New York City discussed "A Manhattan Project for Biodefense: Taking Biological Threats Off the Table," a proposed national, public-private research and development undertaking that would defend the United States against biological threats.

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For V.A. Hospitals (And Patients), A Major Health Victory

Tina Rosenberg | The New York Times | January 30, 2015

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the United States is making modest progress in bringing down rates of hospital-acquired infections...

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How Hospitals, Nursing Homes Keep Lethal ‘Superbug’ Outbreaks Secret

Deborah J. Nelson, David Rohde, Benjamin Lesser and Ryan McNeill | Reuters Investigates | December 22, 2016

The outbreak started in January 2014. That’s when a resident of the Casa Maria nursing home here was diagnosed with Clostridium difficile, a highly contagious and potentially deadly “superbug” that plagues hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. By the end of February, six more Casa Maria residents were suffering from the infection, characterized by fever, abdominal cramps and violent diarrhea...

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How IBM’s STEM Uses Big Data To Help Fight Infectious Diseases

Dean Takahashi | MedCity News | September 30, 2013

IBM has teamed up with university researchers to use big data and analytics to predict the outbreak of deadly diseases such as Dengue fever and Malaria. Read More »

I Caught Ebola In Guinea And Survived

Staff Writer | BBC News | April 23, 2014

The number of people who have contracted the Ebola virus in Guinea, according to the World Health Organization, has risen to 208 - and 136 of them have died. About half of these cases have been confirmed in a laboratory - earlier cases were not tested. Read More »

IBM And University Scientists Launch Global Computing Effort To Find Cures For Dengue, West Nile, And Hepatitis C Diseases

Press Release | International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) | August 23, 2007

Researchers Say the 50,000 Years of Computer Time Needed to Discover Cures May Be Achieved in One Year Using World Community Grid Read More »

LabLynx Joins the COVID-19 Fight by Introducing Laboratory System Dedicated to Infectious Disease Diagnostic Testing

Press Release | LabLynx | April 9, 2020

LabLynx, Inc., long-time leader in enterprise-level cloud-hosted LIMS/LIS, today announced it has developed the world's first LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) dedicated specifically to COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Called "CovidLiMS," its main features include, crucially, swift setup-to-live time: 2-5 days, including training, according to LabLynx President John H. Jones.

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