Health and Medicine

Life-threatening pneumonia in bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients can be controlled using a strategy called pre-emptive therapy, scientists heard today (Wednesday 10 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick.

“We have found that early diagnosis and treatment of colds and flu in transplant and immunocompromised patients can reduce the risk of pneumonia. But pre-emptive therapy is not just a question of providing drugs to patients.

Epilepsy drugs given to women during pregnancy can treble the risk of congenital malformation or developmental delay in their children, finds research in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

Stopping treatment for epilepsy during pregnancy is not an option, but there is an urgent need to develop safer drugs, conclude the researchers. Six in every 1000 pregnancies will be to a woman treated with epilepsy drugs.

One hundred and forty nine mothers being treated with antiepileptic drugs in

There is a strong genetic component to the gluten intolerance disorder, coeliac disease, shows research in Gut.

In the largest study of its kind, Italian researchers studied 47 twin pairs, who were selected on the basis that one belonged to the Italian Coeliac Disease Association (AIC). They were tested for antibodies specific to coeliac disease to ensure that ‘silent’ disease was detected, and their genetic profile was mapped. Tissue samples were taken to confirm changes indicative of the

Diseases involving irremediable tissue damage of the musculoskeletal system account today for about 15% of hospital admissions in developed countries. With the ageing of the population, this is believed to gain significantly in importance in the coming years.

The majority of the disorders affecting the musculoskeletal system are the joint diseases, in particular osteoarthritis. The latter disease process is typically initiated and associated with defects of the articular cartilage and the un

New technology is leading to a vaccine against Group B Streptococci (GBS), a common cause of meningitis as well as a frequent cause of pneumonia in newborns. Key proteins have been found that can kick-start the immune system to fight these bacteria, scientists heard today (Tuesday 09 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick.

“We have developed a method to rapidly screen for cell surface proteins in GBS, which can cause pneumonia a

HIV infection can be controlled with antiretroviral drugs, but it cannot be wiped out. New evidence suggests that low levels of HIV may still lead to long-term brain damage and dementia, scientists heard today (Tuesday 09 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick.

“There is concern for the longer term outlook of treated patients because of the likely presence of a low grade inflammation of the brain. Infected drug users are at grea