Understanding biases in epidemic models important when making public health predictions
Mathematical models have become invaluable decision-making tools for public health officials. As demonstrated during the United Kingdom's foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, models can be useful in two ways: they can reveal the underlying characteristics of an infection and they can allow the comparison of alternative control measures. Often, however, such models make implicit assumptions that may s...Sleeping Sickness Epidemic Spreading in Uganda
A drug first used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in people taking certain types of painkillers offers an alternative to surgery after miscarriage, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions. The study appears in the August 18, 2005, New England Journal of Med...Researcher says flu responders can learn from 1918 epidemic
A doctoral student's research brings lessons and insight to a looming pandemic While that prospect would terrify the average person, it also intrigues Jim Higgins, a doctoral candidate at Lehigh Unive...Lethal needle blight epidemic may be related to climate change
Increased summer precipitation apparently helping to spread spores of pathogen Biologists studying a lethal blight of lodgepole pines in northwestern British Columbia present strong evidence in the September issue of BioScience that climate change is to blame for the outbreak. The blight, caused by the fungus Dothistroma septosporum, causes trees to lose their needles and, in the case of...New U. of Colorado at Boulder flu chip may help combat future epidemics, pandemics
A novel "Flu Chip" developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder that can determine the genetic signatures of specific influenza strains from patient samples within hours may help world health officials combat coming epidemics and pandemics. Tests last month on the new technology by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta showed the CU-Boulder Flu Chip can determine...Wisconsin stands at the center of scientific efforts to avert flu epidemics
Don't take that title the wrong way and run screaming for the nearest border. Wisconsin has yet to become a hot spot for the spread of avian influenza and, it can be hoped, won't become one. However, it may be the place where a possible pandemic is monitored and even controlled. Wisconsin i...Wisconsin software companies aid epidemic detection
Milwaukee's municipal government uses an emergency room management application that includes a Web-based syndromic surveillance system for spotting potential epidemics, said Dr. Seth Foldy, the city's health commissioner. The emergency room application was developed by the <a href= "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11919529&dopt=Abstract&hol...Leptospirosis epidemic feared in mumbai - 12 killed
Leptospirosis, the one of the feared form of epidemic fevers, is spread by a virulent bacteria in the urine of rats and dogs. "We have 12 deaths (in the past fortnight) from leptospirosis as of Thursday evening and 45 confirmed cases in city hospitals, " Maharashtra state Health Minister Digvijay Khanvilkar told.Leptospirosis, which is a 'great mimicker' of symptoms is being misdiagnos...Undertaking the obesity epidemic
According to a new survey, many people trying to lose weight are not using the right scheme. Researchers phoned 1000 local residents and found that 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women said they were overweight or even obese.// Most of these were trying to lose weight or at least not gain any more. But only a third of those trying to lose weight and one fourth of those keeping t...New genital gel could empower women against the AIDS epidemic
John Moore of Cornell University in New York and his colleagues are enthused by their finding of a new viral blocker that prevents the virus from burying into human cells. This blocker, in its initial testing in monkeys was found to curb sexual transmission of HIV between monkeys. The new study has backed the belief that microbicides - chemicals that hobble viruses - could act as shields against...Diabetes could become an epidemic
The Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation is predicting a 300pc rise in the number of people affected by Type 2 Diabetes, though other experts say this figure is possibly a little high. In a new report from the DRWF it is indicated that an epidemic of type two diabetes is to occur. If left untreated or mismanaged the condition can lead to heart disease, blindness and kidney failure. It is als...Teens' vitamin D deficiency an epidemic
Those habits contributed to a vitamin D deficiency that has helped weaken the 18-year-old's bones and left him prone to fractures.//Doctors say it's an often overlooked problem that may affect millions adolescents. Often undetected and untreated, vitamin D deficiency puts them at risk for stunted growth and debilitating osteoporosis later in life. There's even evidence that chronic def...