Infectious Disease

WASHINGTON -- A left-ventricular assist device that provides a steady rather than pulsed blood flow may serve as an effective bridge to transplant, found a multicenter team.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Facial transplantation involves less immunosuppression-related risk than previously estimated, investigators here reported.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA today allowed a human thrombin (Evithrom) on the market after the risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infection kept it on the sidelines for more than a half-century.

LYON, France -- The severity of precancerous lesions tracks to specific bacterial strains, investigators here reported, strengthening the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer.

HOUSTON -- Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are likely buoying up oropharyngeal cancer rates while other head and neck cancers decline, researchers said.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Even in the rural southeast, a high proportion of gay men are using crystal methamphetamine, a drug that promotes risky sexual behavior, researchers said.

ROCKVILLE. Md. -- Women appear to be particularly vulnerable to head-and-neck cancer from smoking, according to National Cancer Institute researchers.

BRISTOL, England -- For universal vaccination of pre-adolescent girls against human papillomavirus, the development of the vaccine was only the first step to wide-scale cancer prevention.

ATLANTA -- Three recent outbreaks of respiratory illness erroneously attributed to pertussis led CDC investigators to urge diligence in confirming that the pathogen is indeed the culprit.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Children infected with HIV at birth appear to maintain normal behavior and academic performance after 10 years of follow-up, researchers reported here.

ATLANTA -- Two new strains of norovirus may be responsible for a nationwide spike in outbreaks late last year that led to 19 deaths, the CDC said.

More than seven out of 10 respondents to a MedPage Today poll say they would wish patients a "bon voyage" if they want to travel overseas for expensive surgery or treatment not available in the U.S.

SEATTLE -- Breathing nitric oxide during liver transplantation helps kick start the grafted organ, researchers reported.

PITTSBURGH -- Hospital-acquired Legionnaires' disease can be predicted by monitoring water systems for high levels of the bacteria that cause it, researchers here said.

BOSTON -- Obesity may be caused -- at least in some cases -- by a virus, researchers said here.

GALVESTON, Tex. -- Burn-associated morbidity and mortality in children are driven by an increased hypermetabolic and inflammatory reaction and impaired cardiac function related to burn size.

CHICAGO -- For many older patients, sexual activity doesn't abate but it clearly begins to fade away, found a national survey.

HYATTSVILLE, Md. -- The U.S. death rate fell to a historic low in 2004 and the life expectancy at birth hit a record high, according to the National Center for Vital Statistics here.

AMSTERDAM -- In severe peritonitis, repeat laparotomy done only when the patient's condition demands it cuts down on the number of procedures and medical costs, researchers found.

BOSTON -- Heavy alcohol use appears to speed HIV progression, researchers here said.

NANTES, France -- Geneticists are on the trail of a way to determine which kidney- transplant recipients can be taken off immunosuppressants safely.

ATLANTA -- West Nile virus cases this year are running a little ahead of last year, according to the CDC.

BOSTON -- A cluster of estrogen receptors deep in the brain may hold clues to why women acquire visceral fat at menopause.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The FDA has added a boxed warning to the litany of cautions about the use of entacavir (Baraclude), a hepatitis B drug, for certain patients co-infected with HIV.

GHENT, Belgium -- Production of avian influenza vaccine could substantially increase with use of an antigen-sparing strategy that increases levels of neutralizing antibodies, investigators here reported.