infection

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Amputated Brazilian Model Dies
Amputated Brazilian
Model Dies
UPDATED

Amputated Brazilian Model Dies

Miss World finalist lost hands and feet after septicemia infection

(Newser) - A top Brazilian model who underwent the amputation of her hands and feet in an attempt to save her from a life-threatening infection died early this morning, CNN reports. Marianna Bridi di Costa was hospitalized in early January for septicemia triggered by a urinary tract infection. Doctors originally believed Bridi...

For Fido, Fetch Can Be Fatal
For Fido, Fetch Can Be Fatal

For Fido, Fetch Can Be Fatal

Tossing sharp sticks at canines not so smart after all, UK vet says

(Newser) - Chasing sticks leads to as many doggy injuries as running around on roads, a leading British vet tells the Times of London. With their pointy ends, erratic trajectories, and tendency to break apart, nature's fetch toys can cause all sorts of canine injuries, from stab wounds to paralysis to slow...

New HIV Study Shows Disease Accelerating

CDC finds 40% more cases than thought; blacks' rate alarming

(Newser) - A new CDC study of Americans with HIV conducted with new technology shows that the virus is spreading faster than previously thought, reports the New York Times. In 2006, more than 56,000 were newly infected with the virus that causes AIDS—40% more than anticipated. The study also showed...

A Pill a Day Could Keep HIV Away
A Pill a Day Could Keep
HIV Away

A Pill a Day Could Keep HIV Away

Massive 15,000-person trial will test drug's effectiveness

(Newser) - With 2.7 million people contracting HIV every year, the race is on to test the efficacy of a daily pill meant to prevent the virus, the New York Times reports. After recent unimpressive results in tests of vaccines and microbicides, the PrEP drugs are now some scientists’ leading hope...

New Superbug Highlights Poor Hospital Hygiene

Deadly C. diff., aided by over-prescription of antibiotics, is on the rise

(Newser) - A deadly new superbug—beefed up by the over-prescription of antibiotics and spread by dirty hospitals and nursing homes—is raising concern in the medical community, MSNBC reports. The so-called C. diff is a mutated form of a benign bug typically transmitted in unsanitary medical facilities, especially bathrooms. Cases are...

Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo
Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo

Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo

Mix kills 2 kids in Boston after taking 22 lives last year

(Newser) - Doctors nationwide took notice yesterday when two Boston kids died of a combined flu and fatal superbug—an increasingly common mix, ABC News reports. The blend of influenza and the staph infection MRSA killed 22 people last year, a huge jump from three cases the year before. Now, doctors fear...

Screening Isn't Slowing Staph: Study
Screening
Isn't Slowing Staph: Study

Screening Isn't Slowing Staph: Study

Researchers back more cost-effective, targeted testing to catch superbug

(Newser) - Widespread screening of hospital patients for the drug-resistant staph bacteria MRSA doesn’t appear to reduce the number of infections, a new study finds. Swiss researchers screened more than 10,000 patients for the superbug when they were admitted to the University of Geneva Hospitals. Another 10,000 weren’t...

Hospital-Bred Bacteria Kills Brits
Hospital-Bred Bacteria Kills Brits

Hospital-Bred Bacteria Kills Brits

Pseudomona are resistant to cleaning products and antibiotics

(Newser) - An untreatable strand of hospital-bred bacteria is killing hundreds of patients each year in the UK, the Observer reports. Pseudomona cases have risen 41% over the past five years, reaching 3,663 in 2006. Like MRSA, the bug is resistant to traditional cleaning agents and antibiotics, and contaminates patients through...

Drug-Proof Superbug Turns Deadly
Drug-Proof Superbug
Turns Deadly

Drug-Proof Superbug Turns Deadly

Antibiotic-resistant staph kills more Americans than AIDS

(Newser) - An antibiotic-resistant strain of staph kills more Americans each year than HIV, accounting for almost 19,000 deaths annually, the first national stats on the superbug reveal. The super-staph is treatable but can quickly lead to dangerous "flesh-eating" infections. "We really need to be on guard against these...

Health Experts Don't Cotton to Dirty Lab Coats

Traditional MD garb now banned in Britain for spreading infection

(Newser) - British doctors have been ordered to ditch their traditional lab coats because the National Health Service has determined that they're unwittingly spreading the superbug MRSA and other deadly hospital-acquired infections from patient to patient on the coats' cuffs. Doctors will now have to work with bare forearms and are banned...

Stomach Bug Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Virus found in 80% of sufferers

(Newser) - Researchers seeking the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome have linked a group of intestinal viruses to the disease, according to a new study. About 80% of patients with the syndrome showed signs of enterovirus gut infections, compared to only about 20% of otherwise healthy volunteers. "It opens up a...

Syphilis Surges in Surprise Comeback

Experts worry about increasing infection rate among women

(Newser) - Just two years after it was almost eradicated, syphilis is experiencing a stunning comeback across the nation, health officials report. Nearly twice as many cases were reported in New York City in the first three months of this year, compared to the same time last year, the New York Times ...

South African Prez Fires AIDS Crusader

Minister sacked as Mbeki continues to deny science of HIV

(Newser) - South Africa's president has fired his government's leading HIV/AIDS crusader, the prime mover of a plan to offer free treatment to millions. Thabo Mbeki dismissed his deputy health minister, who has opposed his AIDS denialism for years, the Mail and Guardian reports.  Mbeki has drawn worldwide outrage for the...

Foot-and-Mouth Turns Up at Second Farm

New suspicions that virus may have spread in floodwaters

(Newser) - England is culling a second herd of cattle feared to have foot-and-mouth disease. The animals were showing symptoms on an unidentified farm within a restricted zone around the area southwest of London where the first outbreak occurred. Investigators were considering the possibility that a flood in July may have spread...

Hospitals Make Progress Against Infections

Cheap measures help caregivers prevent thousands of deaths

(Newser) - Infections picked up in hospitals kill nearly 100,000 people in the US every year and are on the rise, but some institutions seem to have found a remedy: simple hygiene. The Times visits the VA hospital in Pittsburgh, which has slashed the rate of virulent bacterial infections by using...

Staph Infection Rate Stuns Experts
Staph Infection Rate Stuns Experts

Staph Infection Rate Stuns Experts

Eye-opening numbers on antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs' dwarf previous estimates

(Newser) - Over a million hospital patients contract a dangerous, drug-resistant staph infection every year, a rate 10 times more than previously thought. Tens of thousands infected with antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" may die from what officials call one of the nation's most serious public-health threats, today's Chicago Tribune reports.

TB Patient Preps for Surgery
TB Patient Preps for Surgery

TB Patient Preps for Surgery

Docs will remove tubercular portion of Andrew Speaker's lung; could clear the disease

(Newser) - The TB traveler will go under the knife to remove a tennis-ball sized area of infected lung tissue, his doctors said today. Andrew Speaker, who triggered an international health crisis last month when he took a transatlantic flight while infected with an extremely drug-resistant strain of TB, will undergo surgery...

'Outbreak' Morphs Into 'Rashomon'
'Outbreak' Morphs Into 'Rashomon'

'Outbreak' Morphs Into 'Rashomon'

Finger-pointing over TB patient's travels spreads across two continents

(Newser) - The Atlanta lawyer whose honeymoon baggage included a dangerous strain of TB is at the center of a contentious international public-health dispute. The Times reports on the conflicting accounts of warnings issued to Andrew Speaker and the governments of the countries he visited. Meanwhile, other American passengers on his flights...

TB Patient, Family Ties Revealed
TB Patient, Family Ties Revealed

TB Patient, Family Ties Revealed

Atlanta lawyer's father-in-law is a CDC researcher

(Newser) - The quarantined tuberculosis patient is an Atlanta lawyer who recently married the daughter of a CDC TB researcher, CNN reports. Andrew Speaker, 31, took a private plane to Denver today to be treated for extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR TB. Microbiologist Robert Cooksey says he knew of his son-in-law's infection...

Drug-Resistant TB Patient Flies Commercial

Carrier crossed Atlantic twice, putting passengers at risk

(Newser) - A man infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis boarded two transatlantic flights in two weeks, CNN reports, putting his fellow passengers at risk. Planes are equipped with air filters that should catch the rod-shaped TB bacili, but the CDC recommends anyone on Air France 385, from Atlanta to Paris May 12, or...

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