News by Subject Medicine & Health

Data released today from the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) show that the HIV epidemic is coming under control in Lesotho. These results add to prior PEPFAR-supported Population-based HIV Impact Assessments (PHIAs) announced in the last nine months for Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Together, these data demonstrate impressive progress toward controlling the HIV epidemics in the five countries.

Researchers at Houston Methodist have solved a 100-year-old mystery, providing them a possible key to unlock a pathway for treating diseases caused by flesh-eating bacteria. Muthiah Kumaraswami and his team at Houston Methodist Research Institute found a critical target on which to focus for developing a potential Group A Streptococcus vaccine or antibiotic to fight it. By manipulating this target, they hope to either reduce the severity of these infections or clear them up faster.

A sexual history and consultation in the practice setting can contribute to counteracting the spread of sexually transmitted infections. This is the result of a representative survey that questioned 2524 persons about their sexual practices and sexual contacts outside their main relationships, as well as about contraceptive measures, whose results Julia Haversath and coauthors summarize in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2017; 114: 544-50).

Tattoos and body piercings are an increasingly popular form of self-expression, but it is important for young people to carefully consider the consequences and potential risks associated with body modifications, according to the first clinical report on the topic published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Roughly 300,000 Texans living in impoverished border communities known as 'colonias' are facing substandard housing, lack of resources and exposure to toxic stress. New research finds these communities are also ill-equipped to face a natural disaster.

In a recent study, screening rates for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among baby boomers increased fivefold in the year following implementation of an electronic health record (EHR)-based prompt for primary care physicians.