Infection

OXFORD, England -- Abstinence-only programs to prevent HIV and pregnancy in high-income countries are ineffective, according to a systematic review of 13 U.S. trials.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Zinc lozenges do nothing to prevent or treat the common cold, a systematic review of studies of the over-the-counter treatment suggested.

BALTIMORE -- Internal medicine residents scored poorly on a 20-question quiz testing their ability to diagnose tuberculosis and choose appropriate treatment, researchers found.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- FDA advisers have recommended approval of the problem-ridden multiple sclerosis drug natalizumab (Tysabri) for treatment of moderate to severe Crohn's disease, but only with extensive safety monitoring.

The authors describe a case of air embolism that developed during a plane flight in a woman who had a congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation. They review the pathophysiological mechanisms, risk factors, clinical features, and treatment of air embolism.

For several days, a 50-year-old man has had copious green stools, vomiting, and fever. His symptoms began shortly after he was discharged from a regional burn center, where he was treated for full-thickness burns that covered 60% of his body surface.

A 39-year-old woman complained of excruciating pain that radiated from a chronic lesion on the left upper lip to the entire left side of the face. She had AIDS but was not receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Dermclinic: A Photo Quiz to Hone Dermatologic Skills

ROCKPORT, Me. -- With two seizures in his medical history, the latest yesterday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., has a greater than 50% risk for a third, and may require antiepileptic drugs, specialists said today.

BOSTON -- New genetic contributors to multiple sclerosis have been uncovered for the first time in 35 years, according to researchers here.

TORONTO -- Donepezil (Aricept) helped stave off fading cognition in patients with severe Alzheimer's but failed to otherwise stem the advance of the disease, researchers found.

SYDNEY -- Treatment with the new protease inhibitor darunavir (Prezista) was able to drive HIV to undetectable levels in 71% of patients compared with 60% for patients taking lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra).

SYDNEY -- A new class of HIV drugs, the CCR5 inhibitors, is designed to prevent HIV from entering cells and should be helpful in disease management if they gain regulatory approval, said researchers at an industry-sponsored symposium here.

LOS ANGELES -- Diesel pollution may induce cardiovascular risk, researchers found in a genome-wide study.

DENVER -- Controversial TB patient Andrew Speaker is a free man -- declared non-contagious, released from the hospital, and given medical clearance to fly on commercial aircraft without posing any risk to fellow travelers.

SYDNEY -- Making circumcision widely available to adult men in regions of the world where HIV infection is highly prevalent will save millions of lives and should be undertaken immediately, researchers urged here.

SYDNEY -- Starting antiretroviral therapy in the first 12 weeks of life markedly reduces mortality for infants born with HIV infection.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Corticosteroids appear to be ineffective against first episode bronchiolitis in infants, despite frequent emergency room use, researchers said.

SYDNEY -- An investigational HIV drug that blocks the virus from entering its target cells "isn't ready for prime time" in the treatment of newly diagnosed patients, a researcher said here.

SYDNEY -- A combination of two new HIV drugs can reduce the virus to undetectable levels even in patients with a highly resistant strain, according to two studies presented here.

SYDNEY -- Malignancies still plague a major study of the investigational HIV drug vicriviroc, which blocks one of the pathways the virus uses to enter target cells, a researcher said here.

SYDNEY -- As the long-term prognosis for patients with HIV improves, it becomes more important to assess the patient's risk for cardiovascular disease and other health issues, researchers suggested here.

SYDNEY -- The novel integrase inhibitor raltegravir was as effective initial therapy as the standard treatment, a researcher said here.

SYDNEY -- New compounds that seek ways to disrupt mechanisms of the HIV life cycle were outlined here, reflecting an expanding investigative antiviral pipeline

CHICAGO -- Medicare patients who couldn't read a physician's instructions, or who didn't understand what they read had a higher mortality rate than patients with adequate reading skills.

SYDNEY -- A novel HIV drug aimed at barring entry of the virus into the cell was safe and had a long half-life in an early trial, lowering viral load for up to two weeks after treatment stopped, a researcher said here.

SYDNEY -- HIV vaccine research is poised to take a step into the unknown -- the use of live but attenuated viruses to create immunity.

SYDNEY -- Doctors and patients should not be content with keeping human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at low levels, but should seek to optimize treatment to suppress virus to undetectable levels.

SYDNEY -- Tuberculosis and HIV therapy can take place at the same time without the risk of long-term HIV treatment failure, researchers said here.

SYDNEY -- The pendulum of HIV treatment is starting to swing -- once again -- toward the "hit early, hit hard" theory.