Filariasis News and Research

RSS

Filariasis (Philariasis) is a parasitic and infectious tropical disease, that is caused by thread-like filarial nematode worms in the superfamily Filarioidea, also known as "filariae". There are 9 known filarial nematodes which use humans as the definitive host.

Eisai supplies diethylcarbamazine citrate 100 mg tablets to WHO

Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that it has begun the free supply of diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) 100 mg tablets produced at its Vizag Plant in India to the World Health Organization in line with its commitment to help WHO in its global effort to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in targeted developing and emerging countries.

29 Oct 2013

LSTM professor awarded The Manson Medal for outstanding contribution in field of tropical medicine

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is delighted that Emeritus Professor and Senior Professional Fellow, David Molyneux, has been awarded The Manson Medal, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's highest mark of distinction.

21 Sep 2013

Low-cost intervention reduces transmission of lymphatic filariasis to undetectable levels

An international team of scientists have demonstrated that a simple, low-cost intervention holds the potential to eradicate a debilitating tropical disease that threatens nearly 1.4 billion people in more than six dozen countries.

22 Aug 2013

DFID awards 5-year grant to DNDi to advance research and development for neglected diseases

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has announced its renewed support to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), allocating a total of - 30 million (- 35 million) over the coming five years (2013-2018) to DNDi's Research & Development (R&D) portfolio to fight neglected diseases.

22 Aug 2013

Human filariasis research: an interview with Professor Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Filariasis refers to a group of diseases caused by parasitic worms, which are transmitted by blood feeding insects. Two species infect the lymphatic and blood systems causing lymphatic filariasis, which in some people can lead to gross swelling of the limbs and 'elephantiasis'.

18 Jul 2013

UC Riverside researchers develop easy-to-wear patch that makes humans invisible to mosquitoes

Technology that hampers mosquitoes' host-seeking behavior, identified at the University of California, Riverside in 2011, has led to the development of the world's first product that blocks mosquitoes' ability to efficiently detect carbon dioxide, their primary method of tracking human blood meals.

17 Jul 2013

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine receives US$ 10 million to continue research against human filariasis

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has received US$ 10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue their breakthrough drug discovery and development research against human filariasis - parasitic worm infections which cause river blindness and elephantiasis, some of the world’s most debilitating diseases affecting up to 150 million people in 83 countries throughout the tropics.

1 Jul 2013

Sustained engagement, partnership needed to implement new treatments for neglected diseases

Days after two landmark resolutions were adopted at the World Health Assembly - on neglected tropical diseases and on research and development, financing and coordination for the health needs of developing countries - over 400 scientists, representatives and ministers of health, ambassadors, national control programme representatives, African regulators, health workers, public health experts, and activists from 21 African countries and 10 others from around the world gather in Nairobi to take stock of health innovation for neglected diseases in Africa over the past decade.

6 Jun 2013

Queen's University Belfast scientists awarded research grants to tackle tropical diseases

Queen's University Belfast has been announced as a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Scientists at the University's Institute for Global Food Security have been awarded grants to pursue two Innovative global health and development research projects aimed at tackling tropical diseases.

31 May 2013

New diagnostic test for lymphatic filariasis

A new diagnostic test for a worm infection that can lead to severe enlargement and deformities of the legs and genitals is far more sensitive than the currently used test, according to results of a field study in Liberia, in West Africa, where the infection is endemic.

21 May 2013

Three steps to eliminating NTDs

In a post on the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) editor-in-chief Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, reviews progress being made toward the elimination of NTDs through mass drug administration and other efforts.

25 Apr 2013

VOA News reports on pilot program against lymphatic filariasis in Nigeria

VOA News reports on "a new public health strategy, tested in Nigeria," which is "raising hopes" that the tropical disease known as lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis, can be eliminated.

9 Apr 2013

Anacor signs research agreement to discover drug candidates to treat neglected diseases

Anacor Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has signed a research agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the Gates Foundation) to discover drug candidates intended to treat two filarial worm diseases (onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis) and tuberculosis.

9 Apr 2013

New Pope will need to consider burden of NTDs

"Almost certainly, in its deliberations [to select a new Pope,] the conclave of cardinals will consider a number of difficult and well-publicized problems now facing the Catholic Church," Peter Hotez, co-editor in chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, writes in the journal's "Speaking of Medicine" blog.

14 Mar 2013

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

"It's not a race, exactly, but there's an intriguing uncertainty about whether a former U.S. president or a software magnate will cause the next deliberate extinction of a species in the wild. Will Jimmy Carter eradicate Guinea worm before Bill Gates eradicates polio?" Wall Street Journal commentator Matt Ridley asks in his "Mind & Matter" column.

13 Feb 2013

Lancet commentary cautiously optimistic about public health system in Haiti

In this Lancet commentary, John Vertefeuille, Scott Dowell, Jean Domercant and Jordan Tappero of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examine the state of the public health system in Haiti three years after a 7.0 earthquake struck the country, writing, "Haiti is starting to show that its health services have expanded far beyond those in place before the earthquake occurred."

17 Jan 2013

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases, thanks to a new global strategy, a regular supply of quality assured, cost-effective medicines and support from global partners.

17 Jan 2013

UCSF teams to study new ways to reduce childhood mortality and disease in developing nations

Two UCSF teams have received a total of $16 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study new ways to significantly reduce childhood mortality and disease in developing nations.

11 Jan 2013

NEJM examines global disease eradication efforts

"Since the last case of naturally occurring smallpox, in 1977, there have been three major international conferences devoted to the concept of disease eradication," an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports and includes "a brief review of five diseases selected for eradication or elimination that illustrate the potential benefits of such efforts and some of the challenges they pose."

9 Jan 2013

Washington Post examines Haiti's efforts to fight lymphatic filariasis

The Washington Post reports on Haiti's efforts to fight lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic mosquito-borne disease that can cause elephantiasis and is present in 80 percent of the country.

2 Oct 2012