Chicken Pox Virus May Be Linked to Serious Condition of Elderly

A new study links the virus that causes chicken pox and shingles to a condition that inflames blood vessels on the temples and scalp in the elderly, called giant cell arteritis. The study is published in the February 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The condition can cause sudden blindness or stroke and can be life-threatening. The varicella zoster virus, of the herpes virus family,...

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How Can You Protect Yourself & Your Family from Ebola Virus?

By now, it should be obvious that we cannot rely on this administration to keep Ebola out of our country. It has been unwilling to restrict air travelers from entering or to secure the open land border. The CDC is simply offering lame rationales to support administration policy. Its advice on infection control is inconsistent. Also it is based on categorical assertions that are unproved or demonstrably false. Hospitals are unprepared even by CDC...

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Real-Time Tracking to Monitor Dangerous Bacteria Inside the Body

Combining a PET scanner with a new chemical tracer that selectively tags specific types of bacteria, Johns Hopkins researchers working with mice report they have devised a way to detect and monitor in real time infections with dangerous Gram-negative bacteria. These increasingly drug-resistant bacteria are responsible for a range of diseases, including fatal pneumonias and various bloodstream or solid-organ infections acquired in and outside the...

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Anti-HIV Vaccine is Possible Report Scripps Florida Scientists

In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists from the Jupiter, Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine. The research, which involved scientists from more than a dozen research institutions, was published February 18 online ahead of print by the prestigious...

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Containing The Ebola Epidemic – Or Not

Standard public health measures for dealing with infectious disease epidemics have long been known. The mainstays are quarantine and contact tracing. These are obviously easier and more effective when there are very few cases. Apparently, neither hospitals nor individuals have adhered to CDC guidelines. Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas discharged the index Ebola patient despite his travel history. Allegedly, the patient was not entirely honest...

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What Are You Not Being Told About The Ebola Virus?

The information I’m about to present here is frightening. There’s really no way around that. However, I request that you do your very best to maintain a calm state of mind. Right now in West Africa the worst Ebola outbreak in history is in full swing and is jumping borders at an alarming rate. Already it has spread to four countries, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and now Nigeria. This latest jump into Nigeria is particularly serious...

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Don’t Get Your Hopes Up on Ebola Vaccines – Warn Scientists

A team of leading international scientists on Tuesday called for new Ebola vaccines to be made available in months rather than years and warned against complacency after a reduction in infection rates. “Despite falling infection rates in West Africa, the risk that the current Ebola outbreak may not be brought completely under control remains,” said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest medical charity....

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Where Did The Ebola Virus Come From?

Ebola is one of about 177 pathogens that are considered to be newly emerging diseases. These diseases are generally zoonotic diseases.  Animal diseases that have jumped species. A familiar example of a zoonotic disease is measles, which is derived from dog distemper. For the past thirty years, forty-one previously unrecognized human infectious diseases have jumped from their normal animal hosts to human beings. This has frequently occurred in Africa,...

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Are You Upset About Measles? Next Controversy HPV Vaccines

While measles and the human papillomavirus (HPV) are vastly different diseases, failing to get vaccinated against them can have equally serious consequences, suggests Bradley Stoner, PhD, a medical anthropologist who studies infectious disease transmission at Washington University in St. Louis. “HPV vaccine is highly safe and highly effective, yet vaccination rates in the US are embarrassingly low. Other countries have done a much better...

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Ebola Infections Going Up Again 144 New Cases in Two Weeks

The WHO reports an increase of Ebola infections the second week in a row. A total of 144 newly confirmed cases were reported in the week ending February 8th, according to figures from the World Health Organization, up 45% from the 99 confirmed cases reported in the week ended Jan. 25. New Ebola infections sharply increased in Guinea. The United States announced the withdrawal of nearly all troops fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by end...

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