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(Public Library of Science) A partial dose of a commonly used vaccine against meningitis may be as effective as a full dose, according to new research published Dec. 2 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Fractional dosing would enable large-scale vaccination campaigns during epidemics, especially at a time of global vaccine shortages.

(Public Library of Science) An article in this week's PLoS Medicine describes the African AIDS Vaccine Program, which was established in 2000.

(Public Library of Science) In low-transmission areas, if widely used, artemisinin combination therapy may reduce malaria transmission as effectively as the widespread use of insecticide-treated bed nets, says a new study published in next week's PLoS Medicine.

The study also finds that the use of longer-acting antimalarial regimens with or without artemisinin components may be an effective way to reduce transmission in high-transmission areas, provided the development of parasite resistance can be avoided.

(Public Library of Science) In recent years, the use of a three-day course of an antimalarial treatment called ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) in over 40 countries that face endemic malaria has shown great success in curing this deadly disease.

In a policy paper in this week's PLoS Medicine, a team of researchers argues that the success of ACT "demands a new approach to the ways in which we assess new antimalarial drugs during clinical development and judge their potential utility for public health deployment."

(Public Library of Science) Two new studies published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine show that increasing the number of people vaccinated against influenza can decrease the burden of the disease, and not just in the individuals receiving the vaccine.

(Public Library of Science) In this week's PLoS Medicine, Andrew Woodruff (Internet Sexuality Information Services, Oakland, Calif., USA) and colleagues describe the impact of a project called inSPOT, an Internet-based STD partner notification system that uses electronic postcards (e-cards) to assist people in disclosing an STD diagnosis to their sexual partners.

(Public Library of Science) Researchers from the Genome Institute of Singapore and collaborators have identified a new gene that may confer susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis.

Their findings, published Oct. 10 in the open access journal PLoS Genetics, reported that the gene Toll-like receptor 8, previously shown only to recognize some factors from viruses such as HIV, has a probable role in susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections.

The study also found that males are more susceptible than females.

(Public Library of Science) Birth size, and in particular birth length, correlates with subsequent risk of breast cancer in adulthood, according to a new study published in PLoS Medicine by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

(Public Library of Science) According to a new analysis published Sep. 24 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, neglected tropical diseases as a group may have surpassed HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as the most prevalent infectious diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

(Public Library of Science) Inadequate treatment of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis can leave patients highly infectious, and small numbers of such patients may drive transmission of the disease in the very health care facilities intended to treat it, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.