Brucellosis

In 2018, scientists discovered a human antibody which protected mice from the malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Now, a phase 1 clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutues of Health, has begun enrolling healthy adult volunteers. The study will test the safety and effectiveness of monoclonal antibody CIS43LS (mAb CIS43LS) used as prophylaxis against malaria. The trial is currently enrolling volunteers at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It will be the first to test mAb CIS43LS in humans. Study author Robert Seder, MD, Chief, Cellular Immunology Section for NIAID, told  Contagion®  that previous attempts to develop a Malaria vaccine had limited efficacy in the field relative to the results seen in US trials, encouraging investigators to pursue new avenues. "A monoclonal is not a vaccine, because it has a limited lifespan. Th...

article ORLANDO, Fla. - U.S. Reps Val Demings, Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto announced on Friday that the U.S. Department of Health is awarding Orange County $2.1 million to help people and families affected by HIV and AIDS. In a news release, it said, "the federal grant, awarded through HHS's HIV Emergency Relief Program, provides direct financial assistance to metropolitan areas that have been most severely affected by the HIV epidemic." According to the news release, Orlando ranked second among all major metropolitan areas in the country in new HIV cases in 2017. That same year, there were about 10,000 individuals in Orange County living with HIV and AIDS.

LINCOLN — In the early 1900s, Nebraska was not equipped to handle the tuberculosis epidemic that was sweeping across the state. The disease was highly contagious and without a cure. To address this issue, the legislature passed a resolution in 1911 establishing the Nebraska State Hospital for Tuberculosis. “Plague on the Plains: Stories from the Nebraska Hospital for Tuberculosis” tells the story of the hospital which operated in Kearney for 60 years, and features interviews with family members of patients and former employees. The television documentary airs on NET, Nebraska’s PBS and NPR Stations, on at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 on NET World. Tuberculosis sanitariums provided patients with clean living conditions, healthy food, sunlight, fresh air and bedrest. Doctors believed these were the keys to recovery. Expensive sanitariums were available for the middle and upper class, but the working poor, who were most at risk, could not afford this treatment. Nebraska’s hospital was constructed to...

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ST PAUL, Minn — They called him “daddy.” He was in a relationship with their mother – but Arturo Macarro Gutierrez was anything but a loving father. The 36-year-old was convicted on Tuesday of criminal sexual conduct with his girlfriend’s 4-year-old twin girls. According to the Pioneer Press, it all began in Oct. 2018, when one of the girls told her grandmother “daddy” hurt her. She was taken to a hospital – and tested positive for gonorrhea. That was all police needed to know. ABC6 News reports officers got a search warrant, and a SWAT team stormed the home in St. Paul, Minnesota. They found Gutierrez hiding in the attic. Then – another STD test. This one was on Gutierrez, and according to ABC6 News, he tested positive for gonorrhea too. Gutierrez was charged with criminal sexual conduct. When doctors determined the other girl also had gonorrhea, prosecutors added more charges. The Pioneer Press reports the trial lasted four days. Gutierrez was found guilty on all counts. “Th...

THURMAN In honor of World AIDS Day, the Rotary Club of Dunwoody  had a very special speaker - Sandy Thurman, a renowned leader in the field of HIV eradication and a global advocate for vulnerable populations. For more than 30 years, she has collaborated with a wide range of partners to advance development and management of HIV/AIDS programs and policies at the local, national, and global levels. While she is known most for her focus on HIV prevention, care, treatment, and policy, Ms. Thurman has also made important contributions to polio eradication, women’s health, and children’s health. In serving as President Clinton’s AIDS czar, Thurman had a meteoric rise in position and effectiveness.  Her efforts in HIV and AIDS led to her stellar work in developing of Rotary Family Health Days which draws thousands to health centers set up around Africa. The United States spends $6 billion around the world to combat the disease which has one million victims. In Africa, f...

Booking photo for Arturo Macarro Gutierrez courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office × Minnesota man found guilty of raping girlfriend’s 4-year-old twin daughters, giving them gonorrhea Booking photo for Arturo Macarro Gutierrez courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office ST. PAUL, Minn. – A man in Minnesota was found guilty of raping his girlfriend’s 4-year-old twins and infecting them with gonorrhea, the Pioneer Press reports. Arturo Macarro Gutierrez, 36, was convicted of four counts of criminal sexual conduct following a four-day trial in Ramsey County District Court. Gutierrez was arrested in October 2018 after one of the twins told her grandmother “daddy” hurt her. Gutierrez is not the child’s father, but he was dating the twins’ mother at the time. The mom took her daughters to the hospital, and they tested positive for gonorrhea. Police arrested him after SWAT executed a search warrant at his home and found him hiding in the attic. Gutierrez denied h...

I t was a Thursday evening in the fall of 2014, the end of one of those hectic days in the clinic at Bellevue Hospital — hardly a moment between patients and the computer system having epileptic fits. When I finally made my way out of the hospital’s atrium, my head was still swimming in all my patients’ issues. Suddenly I found myself up against a phalanx of news trucks parked in front of the hospital. There was a cackle of urgency in the air, with reporters and camera crews shooting live broadcasts up and down the block. And then I realized: Ebola had arrived at Bellevue. At the start of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, there was chatter among staff — half joking, half serious — that if Ebola was going to come to the U.S., it would surely come to Bellevue. But as the epidemic crescendoed in Africa, the chatter became serious and planning began in earnest. A high-tech isolation ward was created, with its own laboratory and waste-removal system. A specialized medical team underwent...

According to the Pioneer Press, Arturo Macarro Gutierrez’s conviction on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct came Tuesday, 15 months after one of the victims, who were both 4 years old, accused the 36-year-old St. Paul man of hurting her. Authorities arrested him after he and the girl tested positive for gonorrhea, the newspaper reported.

ST. PAUL — A jury convicted a St. Paul man of raping his girlfriend’s 4-year-old twins and giving them both a sexually transmitted disease, court records say. Arturo Macarro Gutierrez, 36, was convicted Tuesday, Jan. 28, of four counts of criminal sexual conduct, including two in the first degree and two in the second degree, following a roughly four-day trial in Ramsey County District Court. His defense attorney could not be reached for comment. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Dawn R. Bakst, who prosecuted the case, intends to ask for a longer sentence then is called for under state sentencing guidelines given the nature of the case, according to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Gutierrez was charged in October of 2018 after one of the 4-year-old girls told her grandmother that her “daddy” hurt her, according to the criminal complaint. Gutierrez was in a relationship with the girl’s mother at the time. The woman took the child to Children’s Hospital, where tests were run t...

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 29, 2020-- The report presents a detailed analysis of the Gonorrhea diagnostics market in the US, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) and Japan. Current scientific views on the Gonorrhea definition, epidemiology and etiology are reviewed. The report provides the 5-year test volume and sales forecasts by country for the following market segments: Hospitals Commercial/Private Labs Physician Offices Public Health Labs For each country, in addition to test volume and sales projections, the report presents sales and market share estimates for major suppliers of Gonorrhea tests. Also, the report examines the market applications of DNA Probes, Monoclonal Antibodies, Immunoassays, IT and other technologies; profiles leading suppliers and recent market entrants developing innovative technologies and products; and identifies emerging business expansion opportunities, alternative market penetration strategies, market entry barriers and...

ONTARIO — Malheur County Health Department’s Mary Lue Galligar, RN, gave a presentation to the Ontario City Council recently, informing them about the rates of sexually transmitted infections (commonly called STIs) present in the county and the services offered by Malheur County Health Department in response to these infections. One such program launched locally by the department is an initiative to lessen the amount of Hepatitis A outbreaks. Following is question-and-answer with Galligar, which she responded to via email, pertaining to this topic. Argus : When did this program begin? Galligar : The Oregon Immunization Program sent out notice of a grant opportunity in the fall of 2019 for Hepatitis A Outbreak Prevention. We’ve been fortunate in Malheur County not to have had any cases of Hepatitis A reported, but there have been outbreaks around the country, including in neighboring Southwest Idaho. We decided to pursue the funding opportunity to try to proactively prevent ...

The consumption of sugar is a fundamental source of fuel in most living organisms. In the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the uptake of glucose is essential to its life cycle. Like in other cells, sugar is transported into the parasite by a transport protein -- a door designed for sugar to pass through the cell membrane. The details in how this door works has now been revealed. "By elucidating the atomic structure of the sugar-transporting-protein PfHT1, we can better understand how glucose is transported into the parasite," says David Drew, Wallenberg Scholar at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and leading the study at Stockholm University. The main goal of the research is basic understanding of this important biological process, but with the potential for development of new antimalarial drugs. Malaria kills almost half a million persons each year, according to the WHO. By blocking the door for sugar, it has been shown that one can stop the growth of ...

NEWS AND VIEWS 29 January 2020 Unlike many sugar-transporting proteins, a transporter in one species of malaria parasite can import several types of sugar equally effectively, aiding the parasite’s survival. The structure of this protein reveals the reason for its versatility. Thorsten Althoff & Thorsten Althoff is in the Department of Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. Search for this author in: Jeff Abramson Jeff Abramson are in the Department of Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. Contact Search for this author in: Most cases of malaria are caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum 1 . Given that there are more than 400,000 malaria-associated deaths annually, and that P. falciparum is constantly evolving to resist pharmacological therapies, opportunities for developing drugs that target this organism must be continuously...