When it comes to swine flu, Obama is trying to strike the right balance between protecting public and economic health. That's resulted in some doublespeak and spin, evidence of the inextricable ties between a looming epidemic and a listing economy. Includes comments by WUSTL American culture studies director Wayne Fields, who is an expert on presidential rhetoric.

References:

1. May 2, 2009 — Flu control tests Obama balancing skills in the Associated Press

and 47 others.

Two Kenyan brothers are in this country studying to be doctors. They are also fulfilling their father's dream of building a clinic in their remote home village to fight AIDS, the disease that killed both of their parents. Milton Ochieng is a resident at WUSTL's medical school. Fred is at Vanderbilt.

References:

1. Feb. 8, 2009 — Fulfilling a father's dream in the CNN Newsroom (national)

Ventilator tubes treated with silver to reduce infections cut the risk of pneumonia in gravely ill patients by 36 percent compared with similar, untreated tubes, according to a WUSTL study published in JAMA. WUSTL pulmonary specialist Marin Kollef and colleagues conducted the study.

References:

1. Aug. 19, 2008 — Coated ventilator tubes cut pneumonia threat in the MSNBC

and 6 others.

A failed AIDS drug helped fight West Nile virus in mice, suggesting it might also work in humans against the brain-infecting malady for which there's no vaccine or cure, a WUSTL study showed.
The study led by WUSTL infectious diseases professor Robyn Klein was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

References:

1. Aug. 4, 2008 — Study: Failed Genzyme drug may fight West Nile in the Boston Globe

and 1 others.

News item on WUSTL medical research -- Women who undergo breast reconstruction after cancer surgery are twice as likely to develop an infection at the surgical site if they are given a prosthetic implant instead of their own tissue.
The study appeared in the January issue of Archives of Surgery.

References:

1. Jan. 29, 2008 — Women who undergo breast reconstruction after cancer surgery are twice as likely to develop an infection in the The Times (London)

More than one in 20 patients undergoing breast surgery later developed infections at incision sites, according to a new study, a complication that was more common than thought. Study co-authors WUSTL infectious diseases professor Margaret Olsen and WUSTL plastic and reconstructive surgery professor Keith Brandt comment.

References:

1. Jan. 22, 2008 — Study Says Implants Double Risk of Infection After Breast Reconstructive Surgery in the The New York Times

and 27 others.

WUSTL researchers led by WUSTL molecular microbiology professor David Sibley have revealed that Toxoplasma gondii, a common human parasite, uses a plant-like protein for signalling when to increase its numbers and when to be dormant. T. gondii is found in one in every four humans causing serious disease in patients with weakened immune systems.

References:

1. Jan. 10, 2008 — Plant-like protein underpins common parasites' ability to infect in the DailyIndia.com (FL)

and 7 others.

The germ that caused the plague epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe has a weakness that could help make a particularly dangerous form easier to treat, according to a study published on Thursday.
There are periodic natural outbreaks of pneumonic plague like one that started in 2005 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There also is acute concern terrorists could harness the bacterium as an airborne germ warfare agent to spread pneumonic plague.
Writing in the journal Science, WUSTL scientists led by molecular microbiology professor William Goldman said experiments with mice showed that the onslaught of the bacterium slows markedly when the germ cannot use a key protein.

References:

1. Jan. 25, 2007 — Scientists find potential weakness in plague germ in the Scientific American

and 3 others.

Federal health officials said Thursday that more explicit labeling was just one proposal under consideration for allowing fresh spinach back on the market. Others include stepped-up regulation of how spinach is grown and processed.
WUSTL pediatrics gastroenterology professor Phillip Tarr describes the illness and what people should do if they think they have the illness.

References:

1. Sept. 22, 2006 — Officials consider spinach labeling plan in the Associated Press

and 32 others.

Seven members of one family in a remote village in Indonesia have died of bird flu, and disease detectives from around the world are trying to determine the facts surrounding the case.
It remains unclear if the family members transmitted the deadly illness to one another or if all were infected by a source yet to be identified.
WUSTL molecular microbiology professor Andrew Pekosz comments.

References:

1. May 25, 2006 — Outbreak has bird-flu experts stumped in the Chicago Tribune

and 11 others.

A global effort to wipe out the disfiguring disease known as elephantiasis has won its first major victory by nearly eliminating the parasite that causes it in most areas of Egypt, one of the first countries to begin treatment.
The World Health Organization and other institutions joined forces with drug makers GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Merck & Co. five years ago to try to eliminate new cases of elephantiasis world-wide by 2020.
Under the program, Egypt began treatment in 2000. Researchers from Ain Shams University in Cairo and WUSTL studied the outcome in four Egyptian villages.

References:

1. March 24, 2006 — Effort to wipe out elephantiasis makes gains in the Wall Street Journal

and 15 others.

Neurologists who study AIDS have watched, waited and worried for nearly a decade about the long-term effect of HIV on the brain. They've known that the drug cocktails that so effectively extend lives don't protect the brain very well from the virus. A new NAS study has now provided the first actual look at the destruction HIV causes in living brains.
David Clifford, head of the Neurologic AIDS Research Consortium at WUSTL medical school, comments.

References:

1. Nov. 7, 2005 — Scans show loss of brain tissue with HIV in the Los Angeles Times

A species of mosquito common in the eastern U.S. and capable of carrying the West Nile virus has made its way to the Midwest for the first time, a finding made by WUSTL junior chemistry major Stephanie Gallitano.
Gallitano, WUSTL biology professor Jonathan Chase and Gallitano's mentor and postdoctoral fellow James Vonesh comment.

References:

1. Sept. 26, 2005 — Invasive Mosquito Species Found in Midwest in the Washington Post
2. Sept. 27, 2005 — Asian mosquito has made its way here, scientists say in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

and 32 others.

WUSTL scientists led by Wayne Yokoyama have found a group of immune system cells they say resemble James Bond, in that they receive a "license" allowing them to kill invaders.
The "licensing" process apparently helps reduce the chances the cells will erroneously attack the body's own tissues.
The study is detailed in the Aug. 4 issue of the journal Nature.

References:

1. Aug. 3, 2005 — Immune cell actions likened to James Bond in the United Press International

and 6 others.

Article on a Philadelphia scientist who is working on a virulent Southeast Asian flu strain that is killing birds and threatens to start a flu pandemic. He is testing a prototype vaccine that could play a critical role in protecting people from the flu — especially against a lethal pandemic strain. Some experts believe it could lead to a long-lasting shot that might make annual flu clinics a thing of the past. WUSTL researcher Andrew Pekosz talks about the positive results his own team has had and said he hoped their vaccine would be ready for human trials in a year.

References:

1. June 21, 2005 — A new approach to fighting flu in the Philadelphia Inquirer

and 17 others.

The NIH awarded a $40 million grant to Colorado State University for a regional center to fight animal-to-human diseases such as West Nile and hantavirus. The Rocky Mountain center will be one of 10 regional consortiums, including WUSTL, funded by the NIH to research threats from infectious diseases and bioterror agents.

References:

1. June 2, 2005 — National Institutes of Health funds regional research center at Colorado State in the Associated Press State & Local Wire

and 48 others.

WUSTL scientists have discovered a new method the body's immune system uses to fight back foreign proteins that invade the system.
WUSTL pathology professor Emil Unanue comments.

References:

1. May 18, 2005 — New method to combat foreign proteins in the United Press International

and 3 others.

The ancient scourge known as leprosy likely originated in either East Africa or Central Asia and extended its reach in a pattern mirroring human migration, according to a new analysis of its bacterial agent's unusual genetic fingerprint.
WUSTL biology professor Alan Templeton, who was not involved in the study, comments.

References:

1. May 13, 2005 — Rewriting leprosy's global expansion in the Newsday (New York)