Tropical Disease News and Research

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Tropical diseases encompass all diseases that occur solely, or principally, in the tropics. In practice, the term is often taken to refer to infectious diseases that thrive in hot, humid conditions, such as malaria, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis, and dengue.

Venture social investment 'could be a new thinking' in development aid

In an opinion piece in The Hill's "Congress Blog," Taufiqur Rahman, an international health consultant and founder of the Center for Implementation Efficiency, explores the concept of "venture social investment or VSI," in which the idea of venture capitalism is used "to reward good ideas or sustainable initiatives by investing limited foreign aid money to gain a much bigger and sustainable impact in developing countries" and creating "a partnership between developed world and low-income countries."

17 Jan 2013

WHO warns of dengue's spread, says progress made against NTDs in new report

"Dengue is the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease and represents a 'pandemic threat,' infecting an estimated 50 million people across all continents, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.

17 Jan 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

Malaria control: an interview with Dr Jo Lines

Malaria is a tropical, mosquito-borne disease. It is found all over the tropics, in every continent but diminished now a great deal in most of Latin America, most of Asia. Still 90% of the world’s deaths due to malaria – are in Africa and most of them are in young children in Africa.

16 Jan 2013

WASH improvements necessary to fight NTDs, and vice versa

"We know that in addition to drugs to treat and control [neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)], improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) can help prevent re-infection and contribute to lasting health, education and economic improvements," Anupama Tantri, a senior program officer with the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, writes in the group's "End the Neglect" blog.

19 Dec 2012

Blogs discuss conference on neglected diseases

Several blogs recently reported on issues discussed last week during a conference sponsored by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, titled "Lives in the Balance: Delivering Medical Innovations for Neglected Patients and Populations."

18 Dec 2012

Global travel, climate warming could create right conditions for chikungunya outbreaks in the U.S.

Global travel and climate warming could be creating the right conditions for outbreaks of a new virus in this country, according to a new Cornell University computer model.

18 Dec 2012

Malaria vaccine trial: an interview with Professor Sir Brian Greenwood

Malaria is an infection caused by a parasite called plasmodium, which is transmitted from person to person by females of some species of mosquito. It is primarily a disease of tropical countries.

14 Dec 2012

Fatal imbalance between global disease burden and drug development

Despite important progress in research and development (R&D) for global health over the past decade, only a small fraction of new medicines developed between 2000 and 2011 were for the treatment of neglected diseases, highlighting the 'fatal imbalance' between global disease burden and drug development for some of the world most devastating illnesses, said Doctors Without Borders/M-decins Sans Fronti-res (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), in an analysis to be presented today at an international conference aimed at spurring medical innovations for these diseases.

13 Dec 2012

African scientists gather in Kenya to discuss global response to NTDs

"African scientists from key research institutions and universities have challenged governments to take serious the issues of neglected and tropical disease to curb millions of deaths among the poor," Xinhua reports.

12 Dec 2012

U.N. officials call on Security Council, international community to tackle complex crisis in Sahel

"Top United Nations officials on Monday called on the Security Council and the wider international community to support efforts to develop an integrated strategy to tackle the complex and multifaceted crisis facing the Sahel region of West Africa," the U.N. News Centre reports.

12 Dec 2012

Fexinidazole enters Phase II/III clinical study to treat sleeping sickness

A new oral-only treatment for sleeping sickness has entered Phase II/III clinical study in patients with late-stage sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and soon in Central African Republic (CAR).

6 Dec 2012

Hebrew University researchers pave way for development of new approaches to cure malaria

More than a million people die each year of malaria caused by different strains of the Plasmodium parasite transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito. The medical world has yet to find an effective vaccine against the deadly parasite, which mainly affects pregnant women and children under the age of five. By figuring out how the most dangerous strain evades the watchful eye of the immune system, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have now paved the way for the development of new approaches to cure this acute infection.

4 Dec 2012

VAC-3S immunotherapeutic vaccine for HIV completes first clinical development phase

InnaVirVax, a biopharmaceutical company specialized in research and development on therapeutic and diagnostic solutions for diseases linked to immune dysregulation, has just announced successful completion of the first clinical development phase for VAC-3S immunotherapy in the treatment of HIV infections.

30 Nov 2012

Pharma companies improving access to medicines but lack oversight of outsourced clinical trials, analysis says

Pharmaceutical companies are showing "greater accountability in the boardroom today over access to medicines, with more openness, targets and investment in drugs relevant to the poor," but they "show no evidence that they adequately supervise the conduct of outsourced clinical drug trials, according to a new analysis released on Wednesday," the Financial Times reports.

29 Nov 2012

Blog examines Myanmar's achievements in fighting NTDs

"President Obama recently made a historic visit to Myanmar, becoming the first U.S. President to visit the country," the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog reports.

27 Nov 2012

Recognizing pharmaceutical philanthropy's role in fighting NTDs

"In October 1987, Roy Vagelos, then the chief executive of pharmaceutical company Merck, launched the largest pharmaco-philanthropic venture ever," William Foege, an epidemiologist and former director of the CDC, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece highlighting the company's efforts to combat onchocerciasis in the developing world through the free distribution of its drug Mectizan.

27 Nov 2012

Online flu survey launched in the UK

Does “man flu” exist? How effective is the flu vaccine? And do pets keep you healthy? These are just some of the questions scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine want to explore as they launch a nationwide flu survey.

22 Nov 2012

Commitment, teamwork needed to control, eliminate NTDs by 2020

The focus of the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases: Translating the London Declaration into Action conference, which took place November 16-18 in Washington, D.C., was "how we can work together to put the right systems in place and implement the change needed" to control or eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020, Simon Bush, director of NTDs at Sightsavers, writes in the Huffington Post U.K.'s "Impact" blog.

20 Nov 2012