(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) NIH scientists and colleagues report that an experimental vaccine given six weeks before exposure to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) fully protects rhesus macaques from disease. The vaccine also generated potentially protective MERS-CoV antibodies in blood drawn from vaccinated camels. MERS-CoV, which causes pneumonia deep in the lungs, emerged in 2012 and has sickened more than 1,400 people and killed 500, mostly in the Middle East and Asia. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi authorities closed an emergency ward in one of the kingdom's largest hospitals after at least 46 people, including hospital staff, contracted the potentially fatal Middle East respiratory syndrome, also known as MERS, a health official said Wednesday. Dr. Hanan Balkhi of the Health Ministry's department for infectious diseases said that of the 46 people infected at King Abdulaziz Medical City in the capital, Riyadh, 15 were medical staff. Another 20 people showing symptoms are being tested, she added. The patients from the ward, set to remain closed for two weeks, are being transferred to other hospitals, she said. The Health Ministry recorded three new MERS deaths in Riyadh on Wednesday. The victims were all Saudi males ranging in age from 65 to 86, acco...

Authors: Kishaba T Abstract  Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is relentless progressive interstitial lung disease (ILD) of unknown etiology. Main pathogenesis is aberrant recovery of epithelial injury and collagen deposition. Majority of IPF patients have been elderly men with smokers. However, there are important differential diagnosis such as fibrotic non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), Connective Tissue Disease (CTD) associated ILD, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonia (CHP). Clinical point of view, non-productive cough and progressive exertional dyspnea are main symptoms. In addition, scalene muscle hypertrophy, fine crackles and finger clubbing are key findings. Serum marker such as lactate deydrogenase (LDH), Krebs von den Lungeng-6 (KL-6) are sensitive for ILD dete...

CONCLUSIONS: We observed a high prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia among newly diagnosed ILD patients. Our findings suggest that there is a substantially increased risk of osteoporosis and that early screening and aggressive treatment with various anti-bone resorptive therapies are necessary in ILD patients. (Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis 2015; 32: 151-159). PMID: 26278695 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Sarcoidosis Vasculitis and Diffuse Lung Diseases)