A rapid lung-oriented immunoassay accurately diagnoses sputum smear-negative active tuberculosis (TB), according to a report in the January Thorax. Reuters Health Information
In patients with infective endocarditis, long-term daily use of aspirin does not reduce the risk of embolic events and may increase the risk of bleeding, report clinicians from Canada in the January 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. Reuters Health Information
In an Australian double-blind, randomized study, topical application of lidocaine, along with oral analgesics, may offer rapid pain relief for many children with acute otitis media. Reuters Health Information
Based on a comprehensive battery of diagnostic tests, including nucleic amplification assays, researchers in New Zealand have found that a viral etiology is more frequent than previously reported in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP). Mixed viral/bacterial infections are also common and are associated with greater disease severity, they report in the January issue of Thorax. Reuters Health Information
Recent news stories have examined links between calcium supplements and risk for MI, between the combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin and the statin alone, and between gay men and multidrug-resistant CA-MRSA, as well as studying the safety of meat from cloned meats animals, and the creation in a laboratory of a beating rat heart. Medscape Medical News
In a report released Thursday, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe two cases of laboratory-acquired Brucellosis that occurred in Indiana and Minnesota in 2006. Reuters Health Information
An industrial air scrubber in Sarpsborg, Norway has been identified as the source of an outbreak of Legionnaires disease that occurred in May 2005, investigators report in the January 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. Reuters Health Information
The results of a randomized crossover study suggest that continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) therapy improves ventilation in infants with moderately severe bronchiolitis and hypercapnia. Reuters Health Information
Contrary to the results of earlier research conducted among Asians that suggested an effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphisms on the susceptibility to and severity of community-acquired pneumonia, a study among white patients reported in the January issue of Chest failed to find these relationships. Reuters Health Information
Blood taken from uninfected donors and genetically engineered to recognise the H5N1 bird flu virus was able to protect mice from several strains of the virus, a researcher at Dutch biotechnology firm Crucell said on Friday. Reuters Health Information
