Infectious Disease

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Patients and third-party payers are getting a fair amount of bang for their health-care bucks, calculated a Harvard economist, and colleagues.

NEW ORLEANS -- As the waters from Hurricane Katrina receded a year ago, they left a once-thriving medical-research establishment in shambles, much of it irretrievably lost.

WASHINGTON -- An empirical therapy used to battle the Spanish flu early in the 20th century may be a valuable addition if the 21st century avian flu turns into a pandemic, researchers here suggested.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Canadians from coast to coast are remarkably prone to inflammatory bowel disease, possibly the result of a climate that discourages bacterial activity and promotes sterile conditions in childhood.

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany -- Antibacterial chewing gum to fight cavities? Go spit in the ocean, say skeptical dentists.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Most so-called post-polio syndrome may be the effect of muscle weakness that comes with age rather than an exacerbation of the disease decades later, according to researchers here.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Long-term effects of West Nile virus infection may emerge irrespective of the severity of initial acute symptoms, according to investigators here.

TORONTO -- Human growth hormone appears to reverse some elements of HIV-treatment related lipodystrophy, researchers reported here.

TORONTO -- HIV therapy introduced in Third World countries should focus on antiretroviral regimens designed for long-term success, investigators emphasized here.

TORONTO -- The bleak early days of the AIDS crisis, when clinicians were grabbing at straws, provided lessons for today, said researchers who reviewed the history of the epidemic -- now in its 25th year -- at the 16th International AIDS Conference here.

NANTES, France --The seventh trial of adjuvant Navelbine (vinorelbine)-Platinol (cisplatin) tips the balance toward improved survival in patients with stage IB to IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

TORONTO -- The target of most HIV therapy is the virus itself, but researchers said here that another approach -- blocking cells' entry points and locking the virus out -- is also starting to show promise.

TORONTO -- An extensively drug-resistant virulent strain of tuberculosis (XDR-TB) killed 52 of 53 patients who were co-infected with HIV during an outbreak in a rural South African hospital, researchers reported here.

TORONTO -- An intravaginal ring, similar to those used to deliver contraceptives and hormonal agents, is a promising way to deliver anti-HIV microbicides, investigators reported here.

TORONTO -- An investigational pediatric version of a recently approved HIV drug is safe and well-tolerated at two different doses and appears to be effective, researchers said here.

BOSTON -- Serious side effects and the cost of chemotherapy for younger breast cancer patients are greater than previously estimated, researchers reported.

SYLMAR, Calif. -- Methicillin-resistant bacteria are taking emergency room doctors back a half-century to the pre-penicillin days, when skin infections were lanced and drained.

TORONTO -- The transmission of drug-resistant HIV appears to be stabilizing, at least in Europe, but about 9% of newly infected HIV patients still carry a virus that carries resistance mutations to one of the three main classes of anti-retroviral medications.

TORONTO -- HIV patients are 18 times more likely than the general population to become infected with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and the rate appears to be increasing.

An update on developments in infective endocarditis by addressing a number of questions physicians commonly raise concerning prophylaxis, diagnosis, and management.

SEATTLE -- For children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the multidrug, multidose regimen of home oral chemotherapy may be too complicated for some parents to master, according to a study here.

TORONTO -- HIV-positive patients are at a small but increased risk of cardiovascular disease from antiretroviral therapy, investigators reported here.

TORONTO -- Increased cholesterol and triglycerides in HIV-infected children being treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can be markedly reduced by switching regimens, researchers reported here.

TORONTO -- Even in HIV-infected patients who have tried and failed several drug regimens, the goal should still be to reduce the virus to undetectable levels, according to guidelines presented here.

TORONTO -- Once patients have controlled HIV with a standard drug cocktail, treatment with a "boosted" protease inhibitor may be all they need to keep the virus at bay.

TORONTO -- HIV patients ages 50 and over do a better job controlling the virus but may need more help managing adverse effects and comorbidities.

LOS ANGELES -- Unmarried life may impinge on life expectancy, according to researchers here.

SOUTHAMPTON, England -- Teens appear to have problems using condoms properly, found investigators here.

GENEVA -- The notion of HIV-treatment interruption -- consigned not long ago to the ash heap of failed ideas -- should be revisited, said investigators here.

LONDON -- Improvements in highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) has resulted in lower viral loads and higher immune cell counts but not a decline in mortality or progression to AIDS.