News by Subject Medicine & Health

Between 2010-17, 6,072 new tuberculosis cases occurred among children and adolescents in the USA and its territories, and rates have declined overall. However, incidence rates among certain racial or ethnic groups were 14 or more times higher than non-Hispanic white children and adolescents. Incidence rates among children and adolescents living in US-affiliated islands were 12 times higher compared to those living in US states. One third of cases would not have been recommended for screening under existing guidelines.

Researchers have identified key immunological changes in people who abruptly develop an allergic reaction to mammalian meat, such as beef. The work is an important step in developing a treatment for the strange allergy triggered by tick bites.

Sepsis, a complex systemic response to infection leading to organ failure, is generally studied at the level of individual organs; this research has hinted at altered metabolic changes. A new study in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, takes a two-pronged approach and investigates for the first time the metabolic changes across affected organs in a large animal model of sepsis and identifies both potential common and organ-specific metabolic alterations contributing to the disease process.

A CDC report on antibiotics use in health care US healthcare settings show progress made in promoting appropriate use of infection-fighting drugs, but strengthened and continued efforts needed.

A new DNA test to detect chlamydia infection in koalas which gives on-the-spot results within 30 minutes has been developed in a collaboration between researchers in Brisbane, Australia.

A survey of female college students finds 25% had not been vaccinated for HPV and religion may be a contributing factor.

A Montreal hospital moved from an older facility with ward-type rooms to a new facility with all private rooms and this analysis examined whether that was associated with reductions in multidrug-resistant organism colonization and health care-associated infections.

The US each year sees more than 1,500 cases of malaria, and currently there is limited access to an intravenously administered (IV) drug needed for the more serious cases.