At least three clients of an unlicensed spa in New Mexico contracted HIV after receiving platelet-rich plasma (PRP) microneedling facials, according to an investigation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The investigation, spanning 5 years with parts of it still ongoing, has resulted in the closure of the spa and is […]
public health
Doxy-PEP Cut STIs in San Francisco in Half
Syphilis and chlamydia infections were reduced by half among men who have sex with men and transgender women 1 year after San Francisco rolled out doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP), according to data presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Denver this week. Read more in Medscape.
Poorer People Get Little Benefit from Digital Activity Trackers
Devices that nudge the rich and middle class to exercise don’t offer same boost to those with lower incomes. Technologies like smartwatches, mobile apps and websites have been touted as an accessible and effective way for people to monitor and increase their physical activity and improve their health. But a new analysis has found that […]
Fish Parasites Are on the Rise
The number of parasitic worms in ocean fish has increased as much as 90-fold. Some fish parasites are on the rise, bringing with them risks to human health and fisheries-based economies. Now researchers have a new way to track their numbers—by digging into old records and museum samples. Read more in Hakai.
Zika vaccine development: two years on from the outbreak
Two years after the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, researchers have made good progress in developing vaccines against the disease, with some candidates now in Phase II trials. However, the brief nature of the outbreak is making wide-scale testing of the new vaccines difficult and some […]
US bill restricts use of science in environmental policymaking
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing a future in which its hands will be tied on making many policies if a new bill becomes law. Last week the US House of Representatives passed a bill, the HONEST Act, that would prevent the EPA from basing any of its regulations on science that is […]
Canada Foundation for Innovation awards $18 million to Amundsen
CFI aims to secure ongoing operation and maintenance funds for research facilities including Canada’s only research icebreaker. Laval University has received more than $18 million for the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen in the latest round of funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Major Science Initiatives Fund. Over the next five years, the funding will […]
Florida’s White Ibises May Be Spreading Disease
The increasingly urban birds are carrying salmonella. If you’re golfing in Florida this winter, resist the urge to feed the friendly white ibises congregating around the water hazards—they might just give you salmonella. The birds, native to Florida’s dwindling wetlands, have been moving to urban golf courses and parks. There they come into close contact […]
Excessive Pubic Hair Grooming Linked to Higher Rates of STIs
Shaving and grooming may create an opportunity for infections to spread. People who frequently groom or remove their pubic hair are more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections, according to new research. The researchers surveyed more than 7,500 people aged 18-65 from across the United States, and found that two-thirds of men and 84 percent […]
NIAID director wins Canada Gairdner Global Health Award
Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has been awarded 2016’s Global Health Award from the Gairdner Foundation for his decades of work against HIV/AIDS. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has won the 2016 Global Health Award from Canada’s Gairdner Foundation for […]