ICE detention centers saw sustained outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, says study

More than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers experienced large, repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in the last three years, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. Between Jan. 1, 2017, and March 22, 2020, the researchers identified 1,280 cases of influenza, 1,052 cases of chickenpox, and…

Stronger treatments could cure Chagas disease

Researchers in the University of Georgia’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases have found that a more intensive, less frequent drug regimen with currently available therapeutics could cure the infection that causes Chagas disease, a potentially life-threatening illness affecting up to 300,000 people in the United States. Trypanosoma cruzi is a single-celled parasitic organism…

New study demonstrates importance of large-scale SARS-CoV-2 antibody

Novel approach to measuring antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Current antibody testing strategies are known for their lack of specificity, leading to a large proportion of false positive results. German researchers lead by Prof. Anette-G. Ziegler at Helmholtz Zentrum München developed a novel approach to measuring antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 by defining antibody positivity as a dual-positive response…

Priming the immune system to attack cancer

Immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitor drugs, have made worlds of difference for the treatment of cancer. Most clinicians and scientists understand these drugs to act on what’s known as the adaptive immune system, the T cells and B cells that respond to specific threats to the body. New research from an international team co-led by…