Infectious Diseases

Bacteria-eating viruses 'magic bullets in the war on superbugs'
A specialist team of scientists from the University of Leicester has isolated viruses that eat bacteria—called phages—to specifically target the highly infectious hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Now an exciting new collaboration between the University of Leicester, the University of Glasgow and AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation could lead to the use of bacteriophages for treating the superbug Clostridium difficile infections. MedicalXpress

Elusive secret of HIV long-term immunity
In the new study, D'Aquila and his team have found that controllers, long after they have acquired HIV, have a more abundant supply of the critical immune protein A3 in specific white blood cells called resting memory T cells. This is where the virus lies silently in an inactive form and roars back when anti-retroviral drugs are stopped. In controllers, though, their bounty of A3 means that any new HIV made from those cells inherits a helping of A3, which turns the new viruses into harmless wimps that can't infect other cells. MedicalXpress

Narrow-spectrum UV light may reduce surgical infections
Despite major efforts to keep operating rooms sterile, surgical wound infections remain a serious and stubborn problem, killing up to 8,200 patients a year in the U.S. A study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers suggests that narrow-spectrum ultraviolet (UV) light could dramatically reduce such infections without damaging human tissue. The study, conducted in tissue culture, was published today in the journal PLOS ONE. MedicalXpress

Rapid blood test to diagnose sepsis at the bedside could save thousands of lives, study suggests
Researchers at King's College London have identified a biomarker – a biological 'fingerprint' – for sepsis in the blood, and showed it could be possible to diagnose the condition within two hours by screening for this biomarker at a patient's bedside. MedicalXpress

Vaccine confers long-term protection against cholera
A clinical study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases shows for the first time that an oral cholera vaccine (ShancholTM) provides sustained protection against cholera in humans for up to five years. The study showed the vaccine had a protective efficacy of 65% over a five-year period. The landmark study was a collaboration between scientists from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) an international organization based in Seoul, and the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, (NICED), an institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. MedicalXpress

Researchers look at benefits of flu vaccines in the elderly
The results indicate that, over a long time period, the influenza vaccine has performed worse than expected in elderly individuals, thus proving the need for improvements in influenza vaccine development. MedicalXpress