TWiV 552: Delta and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
Team TWiV reveals DNA polymerases that do not require a primer, and packaging of hepatitis delta virus by the envelope glycoproteins of diverse viruses. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 552 (70 MB .mp3, 116 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 16, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology bacteriophage de novo synthesis dengue virus DNA polymerase envelope glycoprotein hepatitis b virus hepatitis C virus hepatitis delta virus herlper virus mobile genetic element pipolin primer viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Harm Reduction
Kishore and colleagues in NEJM, including Josiah Rich from a university well known to me, discuss the harm reduction approach to injection drug use (IDU). Basically, this means using evidence to guide practice so as to minimize as much as possible the adverse public health consequences of addiction. In addition to the risk of overdose, which is getting most of the attention nowadays, IDU is a means of transmission of Hepatitis C and HIV, and contaminated needles transmit other common infectious organisms that can result in abscesses, and very serious consequences such as myocarditis.So, assuring that users have access to s...
Source: Stayin' Alive - May 23, 2019 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
TWiV 547: Upstate virology
Vincent travels to the University at Albany to speak with Cara, Rachel, and Alex about their careers and their work on stress granules, epitranscriptomics, and arboviruses. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 547 (58 MB .mp3, 96 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - May 14, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology arbovirus DDX68 epitranscriptome flavivirus hepatitis C virus mosquito vector viral viruses West Nile virus zika virus Source Type: blogs
An Encouraging Sign for Harm Reduction Advocates
A New Hampshire high school student who is remarkably knowledgeable about the various harm reduction strategies that are underused to address the overdose crisis engaged Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) in a discussion of the subject during a campaign stop in Littleton, NH. The video of the exchange is here.Senator Booker, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for President in 2020, is a former mayor of Newark, NJ, a city with major drug overdose problems. He had a sophisticated conversation with the student and agreed with her on the need for safe syringe programs. At about 1:50 into the video Booker was asked if he wo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 13, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Hepatitis delta-like virus in birds and snakes
Hepatitis D virus is a unique human pathogen. With a circular, negative stranded RNA genome of ~1700 nucleotides, it is the smallest known human virus. Formation of the HDV particle depends on co-infection of cells with a helper virus, hepatitis B virus. Once thought to be specific for humans, related viruses have now been identified […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - May 2, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information avian HDV circular RNA helper virus hepatitis b virus hepatitis D virus hepatitis delta virus satellite virus snake HDV viral viruses Source Type: blogs
The Secret Safe Injection Facility That Is Saving American Lives
I have written here, here, and here about efforts by a nonprofit in Philadelphia named “Safehouse” to establish a Safe Injection Facility in the neighborhood of Kensington, where IV drug use is rampant and out in the open, and overdoses are soaring. That effort is being impeded by threats from the Department of Justice that it w ill enforce federal law prohibiting such sites. The specific law at issue is known as the “Crack House Statute, ” passed in the 1980s. Leaders in other major US cities who also want to set up Safe Injection Facilities, including Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and Boston, a...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 1, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Baby boomers and hepatitis C: What ’s the connection?
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that is spread through contact with infected blood. Hepatitis C infection can be short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic). Most people with acute hepatitis C eventually develop chronic hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C usually does not cause symptoms, which is why most people with hepatitis C don’t know that they are infected. Left untreated, hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure.
Why screen baby boomers for hepatitis C?
Why are we recommending screening of adults in the baby boomer generation? To understand this, it’s worth reviewing how we got here.
In 1998, t...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 1, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Raymond Chung, MD Tags: Health Healthy Aging Infectious diseases Screening Source Type: blogs
As Seattle Reels From An HIV Outbreak, Safe Consumption Sites Make More and More Sense
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) alarmingly reports a 286 percent increase in cases of HIV among heterosexual persons injecting drugs in King County, Washington from 2017 and mid-November 2018. The report recalls a similar outbreak for similar reasons in rural Indiana that took place between 2011 and 2014, and ultimately led the state to enact legislation permitting needle-exchange programs to operate there. As I explain in my policy analysis on harm reduction strategies, needle exchange programs have a more than 40 year track record reduci...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 24, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Streptococcus suis Infection in Thailand
Currently, Streptococcus suis infection is more commonly reported in Thailand than a number of more familiar zoonoses acquired from pigs – Trichinosis, Hepatitis E, Brucellosis and Japanese encephalitis. [1,2] See graph below
References:
Berger S. Infectious Diseases of Thailand, 2019. 506 pages , 169 graphs , 2,339 references. Gideon e-books, https://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/country/infectious-diseases-of-thailand/
Gideon e-Gideon multi-graph tool, https://www.gideononline.com/cases/multi-graphs/
The post Streptococcus suis Infection in Thailand appeared first on GIDEON - Global Infectious Diseases...
Source: GIDEON blog - April 23, 2019 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Source Type: blogs
What is Detoxing From Alcohol Like, and How We Can Help Make It Comfortable
Detoxing from Alcohol
Detoxing from alcohol can look very different to many different people. The way you may feel when you detox from alcohol depends on the severity of your addiction and how long you have been addicted to alcohol for. If someone has had a few too many drinks at a celebration, chances are, they might feel hungover the next morning. They might experience nausea or a headache, but are able to feel back to normal later that day or the following day.
However, for someone suffering from an alcohol addiction, the experience is much different. The body of someone suffering from alcohol addiction is chemically wi...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - April 17, 2019 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Alcohol Alcohol Rehab Information Alcoholism Detox Resources for Alcohol and Drugs/Opiates Drinking Substance Abuse alcohol abuse alcohol dependence alcohol dependency alcohol detox alcohol treatment Source Type: blogs
Ultraviolet and Red Light Kill Infections in Donor Organs
Donor organs are hard to come by partially because of ischemic damage, physical damage, presence of infection, and other reasons. Researcher at the University of Toronto in Canada and University of São Paulo in Brazil have developed a method of getting rid of bacteria and viruses from donor organs using only light.
The technique involves first removing all donor blood from the organ, running a preservation liquid through the organ, and illuminating organs using ultraviolet and red light for about a half hour or so. In order to boost effectiveness, a photosensitizing drug is introduced into the liquid that is activated by ...
Source: Medgadget - April 15, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: News Source Type: blogs
Complications of measles
Since it is not a brief answer, rather than respond to Mr. Bachtell ' s question in the comments, I ' ll do a front page post on it.CDC provides information about complications of measles here. This applies to the United States and other wealthy countries. Measles is much more dangerous in poor countries where many children are malnourished or debilitated from chronic infections, but that ' s a bit off topic.The actual death rate from measles in developed countries is about 1-2 per 1,000. However, 1 in 20 children will get pneumonia as a complication, which may require expensive treatment including mechanical ventilation. ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - April 12, 2019 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Criminal antivaxxer
Thirty years as a science writer, covering almost every #STEM beat at some point, I just received my first antivax death threat…
“Your criminal bastard david bradley published an article lying about the benefits of vaccinations. The only benefit is for the evil criminal government bastards running this planet who need to be executed! We know vaccines are nothing but toxic bioweapons ow because of Planet X and they are designed to make people too sick and stupid to pay attention! They also spread government-created designer diseases like when they AIDS in smallpox and hepatitis vaccines. So your evil lying bast...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - April 11, 2019 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Patients Win When Payers and Providers Speak the Same Language
By CECI CONNOLLY
Discouraging headlines remind us daily of the ugly battles between payers and providers. Fighting for their slice of the $3.5 trillion health care pie, these companies often seem to leave the consumer out of the equation. But it is not the case across the board. Our latest research documents that when doctors and health plans drop their guards, align incentives and focus on the mutual goal of delivering the best possible care, patients win.
For example, when SelectHealth in Utah
partnered with obstetricians and refused to pay for medically unnecessary — often
dangerous — early induc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 9, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Hospitals Patients The Business of Health Care Alliance of Community Health Plans Ceci Connolly Partnership to Improve Patient Care partnerships Source Type: blogs
TWiV 541: Cloaking devices
The TWiVers present mitoviruses, which infect mitochondria, and how quasi-enveloped hepatitis A virus gets naked again. Click arrow to play Download TWiV 541 (54 MB .mp3, 89 min) Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - March 31, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology endocytosis ESCRT pathway hepatitis a virus Leviviridae lysosome mitochondria mitovirus Narnaviridae Narnavirus quasi-enveloped viral viral uncoating viruses Source Type: blogs
