NTD’s in the news for the week of 13 Mar - 19 Mar 2016
AllAfrica.com
In total, an estimated 1.7 billion people require treatment for neglected tropical diseases. These include river blindness, snail fever, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, among others.
Perlu Anda Tahu, Penyakit Infeksi Tropis yang Kerap Terabaikan (You Need To Know, the Tropical Infectious Diseases Often Overlooked)
Tribun Jambi
Penyakit tersebut antara lain, demam dengue dan chikungunya, penyakit chagas, ulkus burukuli, dracunculiasis, echinococcosis, endemic treponematoses (yaws), trematodiases, leishmaniasis, lepra, filariasis, onchocerciasis, rabies, schistosomiasis, ...
AllAfrica.com
In Mozambique, the most prevalent NTDs include schistosomiasis, trachoma, intestinal parasites, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.
Washington Post
They cause schistosomiasis (also called bilharzia), a disease that spreads through contaminated water and can damage the bladder, kidneys and liver. More than 61 million people were treated for it in 2014, according to the World Health Organization.
Buruli Ulcer / Mycobacterium ulcerans
L'Institut Pasteur, « un centre de référence » de renommée mondiale (Pr Bakayoko-Ly Ramata) (The Pasteur Institute, "a reference center" of world renown (Pr Bakayoko-Ly Ramata)
...ents infectieux, les virus des diarrhées, la tuberculose, les MST, la rage, le choléra, l'ulcère de Buruli ..
Une unité chirurgicale de traitement de l'ulcère de Buruliouverte à Divo (Surgical treatment unit BU open Divo)
Agence Ivoirienne de PresseDivo, 21 fév (AIP) – La ministre de la Santé et de l'Hygiène publique, Raymonde Goudou, a réceptionné et inauguré, dimanche à Divo, une unité chirurgicale de traitement de l'ulcère de Buruli.
Chagas disease / American trypanosomiasis (Trypanosoma cruzi, T. cruzi)
Regulatory Focus
Martin Shkreli's former company Kalobios is seeking a PRV and FDA approval for benznidazole, a Chagas disease treatment the company acquired for $2 million upfront in December 2015. If the drug wins approval, the company could potentially sell the PRV ...
Nature.com
An abrupt shift from an agricultural lifestyle to city living can facilitate this process. Chagas disease, a parasitic infection spread by insects called triatomines, has long plagued rural parts of Latin America.
Medical Xpress
Researchers have overturned a century old assumption that "kissing bugs" only feed on blood. The Latin American insects are named after their habit of night time feeding on the face of the victim, often spreading the deadly Chagas disease.
The Conversation UK
Could this be a solution to the global Chagas disease epidemic?
The Rockefeller University Newswire
He was the perfect candidate to investigate this, as his graduate studies focused on trypanosomes; these parasites, responsible for serious diseases such as sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, diverged from the families that developed into yeast, ...
Cysticercosis / Taeniasis (Taenia solium, T. solium)
Times of India
As delectable as pork momos are, inadequately cooked meat filling could be the reason you catch tapeworm infection of the brain, warn Indian scientists, who have taken science to kitchens by suggesting simple steps to improve the quality of northeast ...
Dengue
Hawaii 24/7 (press release)
The response to the ongoing DengueFever outbreak continues. As of 1 p.m. Friday (March 18) the State Department of Health had reported one new confirmed case of dengue fever.
The Hindu
Experts in Public Health, entomology, sanitary engineering, government administration and voluntary organisations came together to discuss environmental sanitation and how it could be used to eradicate dengue in the city at a conference organised by ..
Big Island Video News
The Department of Health reported one new case of dengue fever on Friday, bringing the total number of since the outbreak began in September 2015 to 262. However, the case was not newly acquired. State health officials say “there are currently zero (0) ...
Tech Times
The kit will allow doctors to determine in a single test whether a person is infected with Zika, dengue or chikungunya, the CDC said, whereas existing methods require three separate tests.
NDTV
NEW DELHI: Researchers in the US have found promising results from clinical trials on a new dengue vaccine that is very effective at preventing the deadly infection and is likely to require only a single dose.
Big Island Now
One new case of dengue fever was reported on the Hawai'i Department of Health's dengue fever update website on Friday. The case, which involved a visitor, raises the overall confirmed dengue count to 262 cases.
The News International
This refers to the APP report, 'Recent rains likely to increase breeding of dengue larvae: Rafique' (March 13). It would be prudent if Adviser on Health to the Punjab Chief Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique acquires some basic knowledge of dengue fever ...
Business Insider
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A dengue vaccine developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health scientists protected everyone given the shot against the virus in a promising small study published on Wednesday, with the researchers saying it could become ..
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
A clinical trial in which volunteers were infected with dengue virus 6 months after receiving either an experimental dengue vaccine developed by NIH scientists or a placebo injection yielded starkly contrasting results.
NBCNews.com
A new vaccine protected 100 percent of volunteers from getting infected with dengue virus, a sometimes deadly mosquito-borne germ that's a close cousin of Zika virus.
Latin Post
With the rise in dengue cases throughout the world, finding an effective vaccine remains at the top of the list of many health officials.
National Institutes of Health (press release)
A clinical trial in which volunteers were infected with dengue virus six months after receiving either an experimental dengue vaccine developed by scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or a placebo injection yielded starkly ..
Big Island Now
No new cases of dengue fever were confirmed on Thursday, leaving the number of confirmed cases at 261. The Hawai'i Department of Health is not listing any cases as “potentially infectious” to mosquitoes.
Scientific American
Scientists have found what may be the strongest evidence yet that a vaccine can prevent dengue, by deliberately infecting volunteers with a weakened form of the disease-causing virus.
Hindustan Times
We may soon have a vaccine to cure Zika virus with researchers claiming on Thursday that an experimental vaccine against dengue was 100% effective in early trials.
Hawaii News Now
Kailua-Kona and Hilo are no longer on the list of areas on the Big Island where becoming infected with dengue fever is a risk.
Malay Mail Online
Datuk Seri Noh Omar claimed that despite being the beneficiary of an RM18.37 billion federal fund, Selangor was not showing any improvements in the national war against the dengue outbreak.
STAT
Vaccinated and unvaccinated volunteers were injected with mild dengue viruses in an attempt to see if the component of the vaccine meant to protect against a particular strain actually works. In the trial, all unvaccinated trial participants became ..
Thomson Reuters Foundation
WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - A dengue vaccine developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health scientists protected everyone given the shot against the virus in a promising small study published on Wednesday, with the researchers saying it could ..
Big Island Video News
HAWAII ISLAND – The Hawaii Department of Health reports no new confirmed cases of dengue fever have been identified since Thursday March 10th, and a new risk map posted today shows a decreased risk of acquiring the mosquito-borne disease in East ..
The News International
The Local Government and Community Development Department (LG&CDD), Health Department Punjab, in collaboration with the two foreign companies has launched a campaign to reduce the incidence of dengue across the province.
The Phnom Penh Post
Efforts to catch and fight dengue outbreaks in Cambodia are more likely to be effective if they are conducted at the provincial level, according to a study published last week in online science journal BioMed Central.
CNN(CNN)
A new type ofdengue vaccine called TV003 seems to protect people against at least one type of the virus, according to a small study. If further research can bear out its effectiveness, the new vaccine could eventually represent a big advance in ...
Saint Croix Source
The current dengue outbreak has had seven confirmed cases so far. After touring Zika response efforts in Puerto Rico for the first half of last week, Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden said the outbreak is a pressing crisis.
The News International
Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department has launched a surveillance campaign against dengue fever under which the teams of health department have so far visited as many as 370 schools and 7000 houses for larvae identification and elimination and ..
Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii Department of Health officials on Thursday morning confirmed another case of dengue fever on Hawaii Island — the state's first new case after nearly two weeks without another diagnosis, keeping alive a dengue scare that began last fall.
Hawaii 24/7 (press release)
The response to the ongoing Dengue Fever outbreak continues. As of 1 p.m. Monday (March 14) the State Department of Health has reported no new confirmed cases of dengue fever since Friday.
The Straits Times
Dengue cases fell for the third consecutive week, with 397 new cases of people being infected with the mosquito-borne virus being reported in the week ending March 12.
Co.Exist
Brazil is fighting a war on mosquitoes. The current headline might be Zika, but the country's bloodsuckers are also spreading dengue fever and other killer diseases. The answer could be technology, in the form of genetic modification.
GMA News
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is looking into a statistical model that readily predicts the threat of dengue outbreaks in public elementary and high schools.
The Star Online
THE Perak Health Department has recorded two dengue-related deaths in the state this year. One was a 41-year-old lorry driver from Sungkai and the other a 47-year-old unemployed woman from Kampung Tersusun Batu 8, Ulu Kinta.
Phuket Gazette
Krabi PPHO Chief Paisan Kue-Aroon has ordered officials to gather information to see what preventative measures can be taken in future.
Chandigarh Tribune
Mosquitoes emerge in mid-March. With the recent rain, the situation will be worse in May as there is plenty of stagnant water for mosquitoes to breed.
Sun.Star
MORE dengue cases were recorded in Cebu City in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year, records Cebu City Health Department (CHD) revealed.
Sun.Star
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Records of dengue cases in Pampanga abruptly shot up as the Department of Health (DOH) noted a 31 percent increase in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2015.
PRI
Tourists and locals watch the sunset from White Sands Beach Park in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, January 31, 2016. The mayor of Hawaii's Big Island declared a state of emergency this winter to deal with a growing outbreak of dengue fever, spread by infected ..
Times of IndiaDengue fever cases rise in MalaysiaTimes of IndiaHowever, the number of dengue cases could have been much higher in Sandakan, as following the month-long Dengue Control and Prevention Mega Operation, which ends on March 15, case numbers had fallen by 96 percent in the district, she said.
Daily Times
LAHORE: Punjab Health Adviser Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that due to the recent rains, breeding of larvae in dengue-breeding spots will increase and.Govt departments urged to adopt proactive approach in anti- dengue activities
The Star Online
YOU are sleeping quite soundly when a sharp buzzing sound around your head wakes you up, forcing you to try to swat it away. Or else you are walking in the park and only realise you were bitten when rashes appear on your arms and legs.
The Sun Daily
SANDAKAN: A total of 913 dengue cases have been reported in Sabah from January to March 10, an increase of 70 cases as compared to the same period last ...
Daily News Egypt
WHO Assistant Director General Marie-Paule Kieny said experts concurred there was no evidence that traditional mosquito control methods had had any significant impact on transmission of dengue, a virus close to Zika.
Channel News Asia
This is the third reported dengue death in Singapore this year. Last month, a 67-year-old Toa Payoh Lorong 4 resident also died from the virus.
Dracunculiasis / Guinea worm
gurtong
The Ministry of Health has reported significant reduction in the number of guinea worm cases stressing that the country will be free from the guinea worm disease by the end of 2016. 17 March 2016. South Sudan To Eradicate Guinea Worm By End Of 2016.
Human African trypanosomiasis / Sleeping sickness
Institute of Development Studies
... to people (zoonoses), ecosystems and wellbeing for the past four years. In particular it has explored henipavirus infection in Ghana, Rift Valley fever in Kenya, Lassa fever in Sierra Leone, and trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in Zambia and ...
AllAfrica.com
The hospital also takes credit for having developed a treatment protocol for sleeping sickness in Lebialem Division which is being used worldwide with very minimal side effects.
Leishmaniasis
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists”: Kala Azar elimination — within our reach William Starbuck senior program officer for Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala azar) at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) India, and Usha Kiran Tarigopula, deputy director for Bihar Programs at BMGF India, discuss progress and challenges toward eliminating Visceral Leighmaniasis in Bihar,…
The Conversation UK
Leishmania - sand fly interactions; functional genomics of insect vectors of medically important diseases; sand fly genome sequencing project; digestive physiology of bloodsucking insects; insect microbiology; microbial symbiosis; microbial ecology ...
Leprosy / Hansen's disease (Mycobacterium leprae, M. leprae)
Daily Pioneer
Waking up to the increasing leprosy threat in the country, the Government is mulling a preventive treatment for contact persons of newly diagnosed patients to decrease their risk of developing the crippling disease.
The Hindu
For the first time, over 1,000 people afflicted by leprosy have been registered to vote in the upcoming Assembly election, said C. Manimaran, nodal officer of the State Commission for the Differently Abled, at the chief electoral office.
The Japan Times
Lawyers are urging former leprosy patients in Japan to file for state compensation over decades of mistreatment before their right to make such claims expires at the month's end.
Hawaii News Now
The former site of a Pearl City hospital that once treated Hansen's Disease patients has been transformed into an affordable rental community with 331 units, half for seniors and the other half for families. The final phase of the project opened its ...
Onchocerciasis / River blindness
Graphic Online
Asubende, once a bustling community of about 800 inhabitants around the time of the Onchocerciasis Control Programmes's (OCP) campaign, is now reduced to less than 50 persons, with six blind persons and their nuclear family of supporters that are ..
Inside Philanthropy
One disease that has been plaguing some of the world's least developed countries for decades is onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness. Oncho is most widespread in parts of Africa, Latin America, and Yemen, and is one of the five most common ...
CSRwire.com (press release)
Through decades of effort by a range of partners led by WHO's African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), the transmission of new cases of river blindness in Africa has been greatly reduced. In many countries it is suspected that transmission ...
Rabies
Pharmacy Today, American Pharmacists Association, pharmacist.com
A new case report highlights the importance rabies awareness and education. The report details the case of a Missouri man, aged 52 years, who died from rabies about 2 weeks after first visiting a hospital emergency department (ED) with acute onset of …
A fox that bit several people in Leicester last week has tested positive for rabies according to the Leicester Police Department. The fox bit two residents in the area of King Street on March 10, the following day it was found near the Leicester ...
Healio
The case of a Missouri man who died from rabies 2 weeks after he first visited an ED with symptoms shows that crucial early diagnosis of the virus may be hampered by delayed recognition, researchers wrote in MMWR
mHealthIntelligence.com
The program, launched in 2011 by the University of Glasgow, enables hundreds of frontline health workers in the southern part of the country to report on rabies cases via their smartphone. Their information is combined with reports from veterinarians ...
New Vision
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. Dogs 703x422. Rabid dogs transmit rabies. Arua district Veterinary officer, Dr.Willy Nguma is appealing to the ministry of health to quickly ..
Business Wire (press release)
The report presents a detailed analysis of the Rabies diagnostics market in the US, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) and Japan. Current scientific views on the Rabies definition, epidemiology and etiology are reviewed.
Sydney Morning Herald
A man who is getting rabies shots after a monkey bit him on the head in Bali has warned travellers against going near the creatures. Anthony Wallace, of East Gosford, was on a seven-day holiday with girlfriend Libby McManus when he was bitten at Ubud ..
Schistosomiasis (Schisto, Bilharzia, Snail Fever)
MD Magazine
Strongyloides stercoralis, a soil-transmitted parasite, infects as many as 100 million individuals across the globe – endemic to tropical and subtropical regions, including Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the ...
Nature.com
Alternative macrophage activation is essential for survival during schistosomiasis and down modulates T helper 1 responses and immunopathology.
Other Neglected Conditions:
Venomous Snakebite
news9.com KWTV
“We've already seen our first I think three or four snake bites of the year and it's just going to escalate from here,” said Managing Director Scott Schaeffer. He encouraged everyone to call their 24/7 help line at (800)-222-1222, that is staffed with ...
StarAfrica.com
The Swaziland Anti-venom Foundation is offering free lessons on snakes to willing Swazis as an initiative to save lives of victims of snakebite, APA reports on Wednesday. It has been noted that most people who are bitten by snakes die due to lack of ...
KFDA
AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - Snakes are coming out of hibernation and experts are encouraging people not to use snake bite kits. Within the past 30 days, ten snake bites have been reported to the Texas Panhandle Poison Center Network.
Courier Mail
PARAMEDICS have treated three people for snakebites in less than an hour among a total of five cases around the state today.
GhanaWeb
Three pupils and a teacher from the Dabo District Assembly Primary and Junior High School in the Wa West District suffered snake bites last year through the ...
BLOGS:
Pharmaceutical Executive (press release) (registration) (blog)
Tools are needed — many tools, and better tools than the current ones — to diagnose, prevent, and treat poverty-related and neglected diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis,sleeping sickness, and worm and parasitic infections.
The Phoblographer (blog)
Ed Hanley is a Toronto-based multi-dimensional artist–of which includes his affinity for photography. In fact, he loves doing documentary work. On a visit to India, he ran across a Leper Ward.
Philly.com (blog)
With modern medical care, and an available anti-venom, it is unusual for snakebites to be fatal, but last summer a rattlesnake bite in western Pennsylvania led to the death of a 39-year-old man.
BMC Blogs Network (blog)
Tropical Medicine and Health published its first articles with BioMed Central today, after choosing to partner with us last year.
The Better India (blog)
In the current course of treatment, the rabies vaccine takes 14 days to produce antibodies and the virus has the potential to reach the brain by that time if the bite is severe or somewhere close to the head.
The END7 campaign awarded scholarships to three outstanding student leaders to attend the second annual END7 Student Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Read scholarship winner Nicole Spitzer’s reflection on her experience in D.C.
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
by Vahid H. Gazestani, Najmeh Nikpour, Vaibhav Mehta, Hamed S. Najafabadi, Houtan Moshiri, Armando Jardim, Reza Salavati The functions of the majority of trypanosomatid-specific proteins are unknown, hindering our understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of Trypanosomatida.
by Johnny Vlaminck, Taniawati Supali, Peter Geldhof, Cornelis H. Hokke, Peter U. Fischer, Gary J. Weil Background Conventional diagnostic methods for human ascariasis are based on the detection of Ascaris lumbricoides eggs in stool samples.
by Leigh R. Bowman, Sarah Donegan, Philip J. McCall Background Although a vaccine could be available as early as 2016, vector control remains the primary approach used to prevent dengue, the most common and widespread arbovirus of humans worldwide. We reviewed the evidence for effectiveness of vector control methods in reducing its transmission.
by Michal Sima, Blanka Ferencova, Alon Warburg, Iva Rohousova, Petr Volf Background Certain salivary proteins of phlebotomine sand flies injected into the host skin during blood-feeding are highly antigenic and elicit strong antibody-mediated immune responses in repeatedly-exposed hosts.
by Mohit Singla, Meenakshi Kar, Tavpritesh Sethi, Sushil K. Kabra, Rakesh Lodha, Anmol Chandele, Guruprasad R. Medigeshi Dengue virus, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, is a causative agent for dengue infection, which manifests with symptoms ranging from mild fever to fatal dengue shock syndrome.
by Mary Henry, Noêmi GalAn, Katherine Teasdale, Renata Prado, Harpreet Amar, Marina S. Rays, Lesley Roberts, Pedro Siqueira, Gilles de Wildt, Marcos Virmond, Pranab K. Das Background Leprosy is a leading cause of preventable disability worldwide.
by Nazia Afreen, Irshad H. Naqvi, Shobha Broor, Anwar Ahmed, Syed Naqui Kazim, Ravins Dohare, Manoj Kumar, Shama Parveen Dengue fever is the most important arboviral disease in the tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world.
by Andrew C. Sayce, Dominic S. Alonzi, Sarah S. Killingbeck, Beatrice E. Tyrrell, Michelle L. Hill, Alessandro T. Caputo, Ren Iwaki, Kyoko Kinami, Daisuke Ide, J. L. Kiappes, P. Robert Beatty, Atsushi Kato, Eva Harris, Raymond A. Dwek, Joanna L. Miller, Nicole Zitzmann It has long been thought that iminosugar antiviral activity is a function of inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum-resident α-glucose
by Abilio Augusto Fragata-Filho, Francisco Faustino França, Claudia da Silva Fragata, Angela Maria Lourenço, Cristiane Castro Faccini, Cristiane Aparecida de Jesus Costa Introduction Chagas disease is one of the most important endemic parasitic diseases in Latin America. In its chronic phase, progression to cardiomyopathy has high morbidity and mortality.
OTHER
Weekly / March 18, 2016 /65(10)
18 Mar 2016
Online informal sources for disease outbreak monitoring and real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats.
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“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
- Albert Einstein
