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.

Combining two anti-malarial vaccines could greatly reduce number of infections

Using two experimental anti-malarial vaccines, which work in different ways, can greatly reduce the number of malaria infections in animal studies.

19 Jun 2018

UC San Diego establishes new Center For Anti-Parasitic Drug Discovery And Development

Neglected tropical diseases are a group of chronic and disabling parasitic infections that primarily affect poor and underserved communities.

14 Jun 2018

Livestock may play important role in epidemiology of leptospirosis in sub-Saharan Africa

Leptospirosis, which affects more than one million people worldwide each year, is known to be transmitted to humans from a wide range of animals. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have discovered that more than 7 percent of the cattle and 1 percent of sheep and goats in local slaughterhouses in northern Tanzania are infected with Leptospira bacteria.

8 Jun 2018

Study finds cattle as possible source of human leptospirosis in Africa

The bacterial infection leptospirosis is increasingly recognized as an important cause of fever in Africa. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have analyzed the major risk factors for contracting leptospirosis and discovered that rice and cattle farming are associated with acute infection.

8 Jun 2018

New project maps impact of climate change on tropical diseases

The HEALTHY FUTURES project developed an online interactive atlas that maps and predicts the risk in eastern Africa of three deadly tropical diseases: malaria and Rift Valley fever, both transmitted by mosquitos, and schistosomiasis, which is caused by worms that emerge from freshwater snails.

7 Jun 2018

Research sheds light on genetic characteristics of Indonesia's rotavirus

Rotavirus A causes acute diarrhea in young children, and infects both animals and humans worldwide. A Japanese research group has found that the acute gastroenteritis infecting children in Indonesia between 2015 and 2016 was caused by dominant strains of equine-like G3 rotavirus, genetically different from human strains of the virus.

31 May 2018

Limiting global warming could reduce millions of dengue cases every year

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C could avoid around 3.3 million cases of dengue fever per year in Latin America and the Caribbean alone - according to new research from the University of East Anglia.

28 May 2018

Ethics of conducting clinical research during public health emergencies

Following the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine established a committee to assess the clinical trials conducted in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

22 May 2018

Bone marrow is an important reservoir for replication and transmission of malaria parasites, shows study

A Plasmodium vivax infection is like an iceberg: It's dangerous, in part, because much of it hides out of view.

8 May 2018

Researchers use smartphone to diagnose people infected with Loa loa worm

The Berkeley researchers figured out that they could quickly determine who has the Loa loa worm using a smartphone, customized to work like a microscope. They could then skip the medication for those people and give it to everyone else. Kamgno, who received the latest version of the phones in 2016, dubbed the mobile microscopes "revolutionary."

19 Apr 2018

Clinical study to find improved treatment for visceral leishmaniasis starts in eastern Africa

A new study to find a safer, efficacious and more patient-friendly treatment and improved diagnostic tools for people living with visceral leishmaniasis has begun in eastern Africa, within the new Afri-KA-DIA Consortium with funding from The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

13 Apr 2018

Simple web-based tool for evidence-based integration of disease control

It's a simple idea: Pair the control of a neglected tropical disease with a more prominent disease that afflict the same populations to reduce morbidity and mortality. The approach could be a win-win, but for public health officials, having evidence to support implementation of an integrated approach is vital.

12 Apr 2018

LSTM researchers show potential of novel antiparasitic drug to combat malaria

Researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have shown the large potential impact of a completely new type of antimalarial drug that kills mosquitoes, as opposed to existing drugs that target the parasite, to reduce the spread of malaria.

27 Mar 2018

Simple dietary supplement found to improve birth outcomes

A simple dietary supplement (L-arginine) was found to improve birth outcomes, paving the way for future clinical trials to test this inexpensive and safe intervention.

9 Mar 2018

Scientists identify single genetic change in Salmonella that plays key role in bloodstream infections

Scientists have identified a single genetic change in Salmonella that is playing a key role in the devastating epidemic of bloodstream infections currently killing around 400,000 people each year in sub-Saharan Africa.

1 Mar 2018

Genetic variants make Asians and Europeans more prone to severe dengue

As globalization and climate change spread tropical infectious diseases around the globe, not all populations have the same degree of susceptibility.

23 Feb 2018

Chagas disease associated with two-fold increase in odds of strongyloidiasis, study shows

Chagas Disease (caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi) and strongyloidiasis (caused by the helminth S. stercoralis) are neglected tropical diseases that share a similar epidemiological burden and result in chronic infections with high morbidity and mortality.

14 Feb 2018

Open Pharma drug discovery project aims to develop new treatments for mycetoma

The MycetOS project was launched today by the University of Sydney, Erasmus MC, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative to use an Open Pharma approach to discover compounds that could lead to new treatments for patients suffering from fungal mycetoma (eumycetoma), a devastating disease for which current treatments are ineffective, expensive, and toxic.

6 Feb 2018

Study paves new way for development of vaccines against epidemics

The search for vaccines, treatments and preventive methods against infection by emerging viruses is one of the major challenges of global epidemiology.

30 Jan 2018

Neglected tropical diseases to be tackled in Africa’s poorest communities

World Health Organization and Uniting to Combat NTDs collaborate to tackle the five most common Neglected tropical diseases; onchocerciasis, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis and helminthic infections.

30 Jan 2018