WEDNESDAY, July 16 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that people of African descent are much more likely to have a genetic trait that makes them more susceptible to infection with the HIV virus.

Scientists estimate that the trait -- which also provides protection against a form of malaria -- might account for 11 percent of the HIV cases in Africa, the continent hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.

TUESDAY, Feb. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Increasing the administration of antibiotics from annually to twice a year in rural African villages could help reduce serious eye infections that can lead to blindness, a new study suggests.

An ocular strain of the sexual transmitted disease chlamydia causes the contagious eye disease trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Although it has been eliminated from Western Europe and the United States, it is still common in poor, arid areas such as rural sub-Saharan Africa.