Tropical Disease News and Research

RSS

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.

New anti-Wolbachia drug could potentially treat onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis

Researchers from LSTM and the University of Liverpool have successfully optimized a hit from a whole cell screening of a 10000-compound library to deliver the first novel fully synthetic and rationally designed anti-Wolbachia drug, AWZ1066S, which could potentially be used to treat onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis.

8 Jan 2019

Speedier examinations may be useful in public health assessments of scabies

For years, the diagnosis of scabies has relied on time-consuming and intrusive full-body examinations. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have found that an exam of just a patient's hands, feet and lower legs may have the potential to catch more than 90 percent of all scabies cases, regardless of severity.

28 Dec 2018

Sleeping sickness parasite exhibits metabolic flexibility and adaptability

Parasitic protozoa called trypanosomes synthesize sugars using an unexpected metabolic pathway called gluconeogenesis, according to a study published December 27 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by David Horn of the University of Dundee in the UK, and colleagues.

28 Dec 2018

Physical contact with primates puts people at risk of infection with new diseases

Animal diseases that infect humans are a major threat to human health, and diseases often spillover to humans from nonhuman primates. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have carried out an extensive social sciences evaluation of how populations in Cameroon interact with nonhuman primates, pointing toward behaviors that could put people at risk of infection with new diseases.

28 Dec 2018

Schistosomiasis prevention and treatment could help control HIV

Of the 34 million people worldwide with HIV, and the 200 million with schistosomiasis, the majority live in Africa— where millions of people are simultaneously infected with both diseases.

13 Dec 2018

Natural flavonoid is effective at treating leishmanisis infections, study shows

Current treatment options for the parasitic disease leishmaniasis are largely ineffective, expensive, and tend to be plagued by resistant parasites and side effects. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have showed that a natural flavonoid is effective at treating Leishmania amazonensis infections.

11 Dec 2018

EMA recommends first all-oral treatment to tackle deadly sleeping sickness

The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive scientific opinion of fexinidazole, the first all-oral treatment that has been shown to be efficacious for both stages of sleeping sickness.

16 Nov 2018

Humans play key role in distribution and transmission of Bartonella bacteria

Bartonella bacteria are disease-causing, blood-borne pathogens found in various mammal species. A study in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Hannah Frank and colleagues at Stanford University, California suggests that humans play an important role in disease risk, infection patterns, and distribution of Bartonella, advancing current understanding of Bartonella’s evolutionary history and how the bacteria may be transmitted between humans and other animal species.

16 Nov 2018

Group of students aim to improve malaria diagnosis using old smartphones

Over 212 million cases of malaria are reported annually, with the majority of incidences occuring in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, a lack of medical resources means blood sample analysis is often delayed, leading to errors and ultimately high mortality rates.

16 Nov 2018

All infectious diseases likely to be seasonal

A new study has suggested that all infectious diseases are driven by seasonal elements, based on an analysis of 69 infectious diseases.

9 Nov 2018

Anopheles species may be important vectors driving spread of Mayaro virus in the U.S.

Mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles are well known as primary vectors of malaria. But a new study suggests that Anopheles species, including some found in the United States, also are capable of carrying and transmitting an emerging pathogen, Mayaro virus, which has caused outbreaks of disease in South America and the Caribbean.

9 Nov 2018

Anti-parasite drug may improve long-term prognosis of Chagas patients

Researchers have found that the anti-parasite drug benznidazole may improve the long-term prognoses of patients with chronic Chagas disease, according to a study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, by Clareci Silva Cardoso at the Federal University of São João del-Rei, Divinópolis, Brazil, and colleagues from the SaMi-Trop study, a project funded by NIAID/NIH.

2 Nov 2018

Monkeys infected with Zika virus points to a sylvatic transmission cycle

Zika virus has been detected in dead monkeys found in Brazil near São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo State, and Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

30 Oct 2018

Survey finds high prevalence of HTLV-1 infection among teens and adults in Gabon

A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, by Mirdad Kazanji, of the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville in Gabon, and the Institut Pasteur de la Guyane in French Guiana, suggests that 30 years after the first epidemiological survey of the seroprevalence of Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infections in Gabon, the country remains highly endemic, with a seroprevalence of 7.3%.

19 Oct 2018

Researchers use nanoparticles to treat snake bites

Venomous snakebites affect 2.5 million people, and annually cause more than 100,000 deaths and leave 400,000 individuals with permanent physical and psychological trauma each year.

5 Oct 2018

New ReFRAME drug repurposing collection offers hope for treating major diseases

Each year, millions of people worldwide suffer from potentially fatal infectious diseases that often leave survivors facing a lifetime of related health problems. But what if drugs against such diseases already existed but nobody knew it?

4 Oct 2018

Special glowing paper strip as rapid, reliable test for infectious diseases

Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands) and Keio University (Japan) present a practicable and reliable way to test for infectious diseases.

3 Oct 2018

Panel of human antibodies developed to neutralize black mamba snake toxin

IONTAS Limited, a leader in the discovery and optimisation of fully human antibodies, today announced a collaborative paper published in Nature Communications with the Technical University of Denmark, and the Instituto Clodomiro Picado of the University of Costa Rica describing the development of a panel of human antibodies that neutralise elements of black mamba snake toxin in an in vivo model.

3 Oct 2018

Study shows Bartonella infections in vampire bats are highly prevalent in Peru and Belize

Bartonella are bacteria that cause endocarditis, a potentially life-threatening illness in humans and domestic animals.

29 Sep 2018

Researchers identify new genetic disorder in a human patient

Researchers from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and physicians from Spectrum Health have identified for the first time in a human patient a genetic disorder only previously described in animal models.

21 Sep 2018