Also In Global Health News: HIV/AIDS In Bangladesh; River Blindness In Tanzania; Potential Immune System Booster; Compounds Might Fight TB

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Tropical Diseases;  Immune System / Vaccines;  Tuberculosis
Article Date: 18 Sep 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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U.S. Commits $13M To Fight HIV/AIDS In Bangladesh

BDNews24.com reports on a new $13 million U.S.-government initiative aimed at "providing HIV-prevention services to two million at-risk people in Bangladesh including injecting drug users, male, female and transgender sex workers and their clients, and HIV-positive people through a network of 50 health centres." USAID will partner with Family Health International (FHI) to implement the program (9/17).

NewsHour Examines River Blindness In Tanzania

For the second piece in a three-part series, PBS' NewsHour examines efforts to combat onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, in Tanzania, including a recent effort, which resulted in a "dramatic drop" in the number of cases of the disease. The show also explores why river blindness is often eclipsed by deadlier diseases like AIDS and malaria (Suarez, 9/16).

French Food Company Says Clinical Trials Show Potential Food Product Boosts Immune System In Patients With HIV

The French food company Danone reported Wednesday that clinical trials of a substance it plans to develop into a nutritional product over the next few years helped improve the immune systems of patients living with HIV, Bloomberg reports (Bauerova, 9/16). "The evidence is now building that medical nutrition may be able to make a difference in the lives of patients not only in HIV but across a broad spectrum of immune-related conditions," said Flemming Morgan, president of the medical nutrition division of Danone, the Financial Times reports (Jack, Wiggins and Daneshkhu, 9/16).

Two Compounds Kill Dormant TB, Could Lead To New Drugs, Study Says

Researchers identified "two compounds that can destroy a defense mechanism in the tuberculosis bacterium that allows it to remain dormant in infected cells," according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Reuters reports. The compounds, which were among 20,000 studied by the researchers, block TB's "self-defense mechanism but do not harm human cells," the news service writes (Steenhuysen, 9/16). According to Agence France-Presse, the finding "could lead to new drugs that disable the microbe, which lies inactive in approximately two-thirds of the world's population" (9/16).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

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