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New research demonstrates how geographic profiling can help combat infectious diseases

Every 30 seconds, infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis kill as many people as Jack the Ripper did in his entire career. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal International Journal of Health Geographics demonstrates how the mathematical model of geographic profiling, used in the hunt for serial killers, can help combat infectious diseases.

18 May 2011

Sanofi hopes to launch dengue vaccine in 2014

France's Sanofi-Pasteur, the world's largest vaccine maker, said Friday it hopes to introduce a dengue vaccine in 2014 to some high-risk nations, AlertNet reports. The vaccine is in the last stage of clinical testing in Australia, and the company said it hopes to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine annually, according to the news agency.

17 May 2011

Pre-existing malaria prevents secondary infection by another Plasmodium strain

A team of researchers have found that pre-existing malaria prevents secondary infection by another Plasmodium strain, the parasite responsible for malaria, by restricting iron availability in the liver of the host.

16 May 2011

Mosquito's midgut bacteria can inhibit malaria parasite development

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified a bacterium in field-caught mosquitoes that, when present, stops the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans.

13 May 2011

Researchers solve mysteries of chikungunya's emergence in Asia

What causes a virus to suddenly begin infecting large numbers of people? Scientists have long known that the process they call "viral emergence" involves a wide variety of factors. Some are changes in the environment, either generated by natural causes or human activity. Others are internal, arising from accidental changes - mutations -in the virus' genetic code.

6 May 2011

Targeting mosquito larvae and not adults could worsen dengue epidemics, study says

Targeting only mosquito larvae and not adult insects in insecticide-based dengue control programs could increase mosquito resistance and decrease human immunity to the disease, particularly in urban areas, according to a study published online in the Lancet on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

5 May 2011

South Australian man succumbs to Murray Valley Encephalitis

A 27-year-old South Australian Riverland man has succumbed to Murray Valley Encephalitis (MVE) – a viral disease that is carried by mosquitoes. According to SA Health's chief medical officer Paddy Phillips, the man had been receiving hospital care for MVE since March.

3 May 2011

Stop malaria by taking precautions before travelling to endemic zones

More than half of UK malaria cases are seen in people visiting friends and relatives in West Africa and India. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there were 243 million cases of malaria in 2008 and almost a million deaths worldwide.

28 Apr 2011

NIH awards UH with $361,000 grant for chikungunya vaccine study

It is spread to humans by mosquito bites, causing arthritic symptoms so severe that some victims can't even walk. While rarely fatal, the effects of the chikungunya virus can last up to a year.

28 Apr 2011

New malaria initiative

According to the UN chief envoy for malaria a $5 billion campaign has saved several hundred thousand lives in recent years, keeping international efforts on track to virtually end deaths from the mosquito-borne disease by 2015. The UN reveals that about 780,000 people, mostly babies and toddlers in sub-Saharan Africa, now die from malaria annually, down from nearly 1 million in 2008.

26 Apr 2011

WHO Africa regional director issues message for World Malaria Day

In a message marking Monday's World Malaria Day, Luis Gomes Sambo, WHO's regional director for Africa, noted that this year signifies the end of the U.N. decade to roll back malaria and "offers an opportunity for renewed commitment" to fight the disease, the Angola Press reports.

26 Apr 2011

World Malaria Day opinion pieces

Andrew Mitchell, Britain's secretary of state for international development, discusses the U.K.'s approach to combating malaria around the world in a post on the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

26 Apr 2011

NetGuarantee's inaugural transaction to help save lives from malaria

NetGuarantee, a new innovative finance facility, announces its first transaction with Zurich in North America, part of the Zurich Financial Services Group, to celebrate World Malaria Day today, April 25.

26 Apr 2011

Africa's football leaders earn UAM recognition for combating malaria

Today on World Malaria Day, the United Against Malaria campaign, under the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, recognized leaders from Africa's football and corporate spheres for their role in bringing malaria control messages to more than two billion 2010 World Cup spectators through public service announcements and media, and to 10 million employees through "Malaria Safe" corporate initiatives.

25 Apr 2011

Genetically modified mosquitoes tested to prevent spread of malaria: Study

According to the latest study in the journal Nature, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Washington, Seattle found that after making specific genetic changes to a few mosquitoes and then allowing them to breed could eventually dramatically reduce the spread of the deadly disease malaria.

20 Apr 2011

$2.3 million of malaria medicines stolen

According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, malaria medications valued at almost $2.3 million may have been stolen from government-run distribution centers in Africa and other locations.

20 Apr 2011

Groundbreaking news on Dengue

Daily temperature fluctuations, not just high temperatures, play a significant role in the transmission of dengue, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that strikes millions of people in tropical and subtropical countries, according to ground-breaking research led by French, Thailand and U.S. scientists and conceived by medical entomologist Thomas Scott of the University of California, Davis.

18 Apr 2011

Mosquito borne virus alert for Western Australia

There is a mosquito alert for people living and holidaying in northern and central WA after a high number of reports of encephalitis and Ross River virus. According to Department of Health entomologist Sue Harrington, it is confirmed that a Carnarvon resident has been diagnosed with the potentially fatal encephalitis while several other cases are currently being investigated.

12 Apr 2011

New dengue test receives FDA marketing clearance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today allowed marketing of the first test to help diagnose people with signs and symptoms of dengue fever or dengue hemorrhagic fever, a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics.

11 Apr 2011

Researchers test plants used in traditional African medicine against malaria

The malaria parasite has gradually developed resistance to the most commonly used medicines. To make matters worse, several mosquito species that host and transmit the parasite have become resistant to insecticides, making it difficult to eliminate them from populated areas.

8 Apr 2011