Getting a cold, stomach bug or other infection may lead to increased memory loss in people with Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the September 8, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

A new study suggests that blood transfusions for hospitalized cardiac patients should be a last resort because they double the risk of infection and increase by four times the risk of death.

Boston University School of Medicine researchers (BUSM) have observed in a study of pregnant women that consumption of at least seven servings per day of fruits and vegetables moderately reduced the risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). The BUSM study appears online in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

A disease spread simulation has emphasized that flu interventions must be imposed quickly, if they are to be effective. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have shown that staying at home, closing schools and isolating infected people within the home should reduce infection, but only if they are used in combination, activated without delay and maintained for a relatively long period.

Inflammation, the body’s earliest response to damage or infection, can aid the healing process and trigger an immune response against invading pathogens. But inflammation gone awry can also undermine health, as in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or asthma.

Melbourne, Australia —26 February 2009— The newly introduced Interferon-Y release assays (IGRA) is a new group of blood tests that offer many operational advantages over the conventional tuberculin skin tests (TST) -- particularly in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis (TB).

Infection prevention and control resources and programming in Canadian long-term care facilities fall short of recommended standards, a new Queen's University study shows.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the Scripps Research Institute have found novel prion infectivity in white and brown fat tissues of mice. The study appears December 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

With less than half of patients with necrotizing soft tissue infections displaying the physical signs of these very serious infections, researchers have found two simple blood tests can help physicians diagnose what is commonly known as "flesh-eating bacteria," according to a study in the December issue of The American Journal of Surgery.

In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University, have developed a multidisciplinary approach involving immunology, genomics and bioinformatics to predict the immunity of a vaccine without exposing individuals to infection.

A new study shows that the DNA of so-called "good bacteria" that normally live in the intestines may help defend the body against infection.

A new study suggests that bacteria-infecting viruses – called phages – can make collective decisions about whether to kill host cells immediately after infection or enter a latent state to remain within the host cell.