Another new Antibiotic +

[Guest guest]

Hi Group,

Here is another new Antibiotic and some other interesting things.

HEAVY-SCI

> Stories of modern science...from UPI.

> -0-

> NEW ANTIBIOTIC KILLS TOUGH MICROBES

> The first drug from a new class of antibiotics is as

> effective as the

> most potent microbe killer now available to patients suffering

> life-

> threatening infections. The experimental compound destroys

> even bacteria

> that have developed resistance to other antibiotics. Veterans

> Affairs

> Medical Center says that in more than 500 emergency cases, the

> new

> antibiotic cleared advanced, highly resistant infections 75

> percent of

> the time. Linezolid, the first antibiotic from a new class of

> drugs is

> especially aimed at pneumonia, skin and soft tissue infections

> and

> associated blood stream infections, known as bacteremia.

> -0-

> NEW ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS IN NYC

> Public health officials in New York said they are

> investigating

> whether more people may have died from a mosquito-borne

> encephalitis

> outbreak. Authorities at the federal Centers for Disease

> Control have

> determined that one of three fatalities earlier attributed to

> St. Louis

> encephalitis actually died of West Nile encephalitis. Blood

> and spinal

> fluid samples from 77 people who tested negative for the St.

> Louis

> encephalitis are now being re-examined for West Nile virus, or

> a close

> variant of Kunjin virus. This marks the first time either

> virus,

> normally found in Africa and Australia, has been detected in

> the Western

> Hemisphere.

> -0-

> OVARY GRAFT NOT FOR NORMAL MENOPAUSE

> The physician who announced last week success in performing

> the

> world's first ovary graft says the procedure is not aimed at

> preventing

> or reversing normal menopause. Kutluk Oktay of New York

> Methodist

> Hospital says he has received about 300 phone calls from women

> hoping to

> prolong or reinstate their childbearing ability. Oktay reports

> he is

> refusing those requests because the experimental graft is

> meant to offer

> hope to young women - under age 32 - whose fertility is

> threatened by

> treatment for cancer. Furthermore, he says, removing an ovary

> shortens a

> woman's reproductive life by about three years.

> -0-

> US NOT READY FOR BIO-WAR ATTACK

> A new Pentagon and CIA-sponsored study on biological

> terrorism says

> that U.S. public health should now be considered an indicator

> of

> national security. Adversaries are believed to be increasingly

> seeking

> to use viruses and diseases as weapons. The study, not yet

> publicly

> released, says the public health system is ill-prepared to

> respond to an

> attack. There is no organized reporting structure for tracking

> outbreaks, the stockpiles of vaccines and antibiotics are

> inadequate.

> -0-

> GATES TO FUND TB VACCINE

> The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - the charitable arm

> of

> Microsoft Corporation's founder Bill Gates - will give $25

> million

> toward development of a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis. The

> gift was

> made to the Sequella Global Tuberculosis Foundation. TB kills

> more

> adults than all other infectious diseases combined. The

> disease is the

> leading killer of women and the leading infectious killer of

> youths and

> adults. Gates, considered the world's richest man, is

> estimated to be

> worth in excess of $50 billion.

> -0-

> DENGUE FEVER HITS MEXICO BORDER AREA

> The Texas border town of Laredo is sweating the worst

> outbreak of

> potentially deadly dengue fever in the state in the past four

> years,

> with a dozen confirmed cases. The 12 cases have been reported

> in

> surrounding Webb County, which marks them as the first

> confirmed

> outbreaks in the Laredo area in the past 19 years. Even more

> worrisome

> for officials in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across the Rio Grande

> from

> Laredo, are reports of hundreds of dengue cases. Health

> officials say

> there are too many cases to count accurately, but they

> estimate as many

> as 500.

> -0-

> By Cukan (UPI)

> -0-

>

>

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> http://www.xoom.com/magoffers/fastco/?TYPE=sciencexine