Recent News

By Region: North America

China prepares for big entry into vaccine market

(The Associated Press) Sinovac is now testing a new vaccine for enterovirus 71, which causes severe hand, foot and mouth disease among children in China and other Asian countries. It is also preparing for clinical trials on a pneumococcal vaccine Yang says could rival …

November 30, 2011
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, South America, South Asia, and Countermeasures
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Antibiotics in swine feed encourage gene exchange

(American Society for Microbiology) A study to be published in the online journal mBio® on November 29 shows that adding antibiotics to swine feed causes microorganisms in the guts of these animals to start sharing genes that could spread antibiotic resistance. Livestock farms use antibiotic drugs regularly, and not just for curing sick animals. Antimicrobial Read More »

November 30, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agriculture, and Public Health
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New compound defeats drug-resistant bacteria

(Brown University) Chemists at Brown University have synthesized a new compound that makes drug-resistant bacteria susceptible again to antibiotics. The compound — BU-005 — blocks pumps that a bacterium employs to expel an antibacterial agent called chloramphenicol. The team used a new and highly efficient method for the synthesis of BU-005 and other C-capped dipetptides. Read More »

November 29, 2011
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, Public Health, and Research
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Vaccine prototype stronger than traditional vaccines

(ScienceDaily) Researchers have created a vaccine that is more potent than traditional vaccines available today. The glycoconjugate vaccine prototype is 100 times more effective than traditional glycoconjugate vaccines. A glycoconjugate vaccine is composed of covalently bound carbohydrate and protein molecules, and is the standard design for many vaccines used to protect against common diseases such Read More »

November 29, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Story Of The Year Goes Largely Unnoticed

(Huffington Post) I happen to be one very minor casualty of the eventually victorious war on smallpox. When I was vaccinated as a child, something uncharacteristically went wrong and I ended up contracting, for a short while, a mild form of cowpox. …