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.

WHO Director-General pushes for sustained commitment to MDGs at World Health Assembly

During her opening address to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for increased global efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports. Chan also set-up several global health challenges to be addressed during the five-day meeting, according to the news service.

19 May 2010

Opinions: Gender-based violence and HIV; AIDS vaccine; Global NTDs; Responses to NYT HIV/AIDS articles

"Gender-based violence is a world-wide pandemic and directly affects the spread of HIV/AIDS. Fear of violence limits the ability of women and girls to choose their partners; to find out about a partner's HIV status or disclose their own; and to get medical or counseling services," according to a U.S. government editorial in VOA News.

19 May 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

As the 193 WHO member states gather at next week's World Health Assembly (WHA) "a draft global code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel will be on the agenda. Negotiation and adoption of a WHO code of practice is an unprecedented opportunity to advance global consensus to address the critical challenges of migration of health workers and its effect on health systems worldwide," the authors of a Lancet Comment write.

15 May 2010

MIT, South Africa announce plans to join patent pool for 'neglected diseases'

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and South Africa's Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) will join the Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases, Science|Business reports.

10 May 2010

New study may help design better vaccines for dengue fever

Some of the human immune system's defences against the virus that causes dengue fever actually help the virus to infect more cells, according to new research published today in the journal Science.

7 May 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports consolidated financial results for first quarter 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010, and company highlights.

6 May 2010

Opinions: Sanitation and women, child health; GM in Global Food Security bill; U.S. malaria strategy; GHI on NTDs; Haiti recovery

"If Stephen Harper is serious about maternal health and child health [as suggested by his plans for the upcoming G8 and G20 summits], he needs to recognize that healthy mothers come from healthy communities," Maude Barlow and Meera Karunananthan of the Council of Canadians write in a Chronicle Herald opinion piece that examines the connections between the health of women and children and access to drinking water and sanitation.

30 Apr 2010

News outlets examine World Malaria Day 2010

Ahead of Sunday's World Malaria Day, news outlets examined global efforts to combat the disease and the mood among advocates.

27 Apr 2010

PMI releases 6-year malaria strategy

The U.S. government Thursday released a six-year strategy to address malaria globally, Reuters reports (Fox, 4/22). The plan was issued through the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in conjunction with World Malaria Day, April 25, and is a "core component of President [Barack] Obama's Global Health Initiative," according to a USAID press release (4/22).

24 Apr 2010

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria

A new evaluation of malaria rapid diagnostic tests will help health workers quickly identify which patients have the disease and need immediate treatment, putting into action recent World Health Organization recommendations to confirm diagnosis of malaria before treatment.

24 Apr 2010

First annual U.S.-African Union high level bilateral meetings start in Washington

Representatives of the African Union (AU) on Wednesday began meeting with members of the Obama administration in Washington, as part of the first Annual U.S.-African Union High Level Bilateral Meetings, United Press International reports (4/21).

23 Apr 2010

New USG strategy to combat malaria globally

In conjunction with World Malaria Day, and in accordance with the requirements of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Lantos-Hyde), the U.S. Government, through the President's Malaria Initiative, today released a comprehensive strategy to combat malaria globally.

23 Apr 2010

Ovale malaria is two similar but distinct species that do not reproduce with each other: Research

Scientists investigating ovale malaria, a form of the disease thought to be caused by a single species of parasite, have confirmed that the parasite is actually two similar but distinct species which do not reproduce with each other, according to research published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

20 Apr 2010

DNA barcoding-sequencing of gene in sand flies identifies two species carrying Leishmania naiffi

In the first survey of sand flies in Panama to use genetic barcoding, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Gorgas Memorial Laboratories identified 20 sand fly species from Barro Colorado Island. Two species carried Leishmania naiffi, a parasite that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis: persistent, itchy skin lesions. Three species carried Wolbachia, a bacterial parasite of insects that could contribute to a strategy to control the flies and limit disease transmission.

7 Apr 2010

Scientists identify potential new method for treating sleeping sickness

Scientists have identified a potential new approach to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly known as sleeping sickness, which afflicts "tens of thousands of people in sub-Saharan Africa" annually, IRIN reports. By targeting an enzyme the sleeping sickness parasite needs in order to survive, researchers say they can kill it without causing harm to the patient (4/1).

2 Apr 2010

Opinion: Job development for Haiti; NTDs in Africa; U.S. investment in TB

"Even before the earthquake, the Haitian economy was already on shaky ground. There is 70 to 80 percent unemployment in the formal economy. ... U.S. policy helped build this disastrous economy," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker writes in a Miami Herald opinion piece. Baker says previous employment efforts in Haiti resulted in "stop-gap jobs," which do not provide "employment stability or social protections."

2 Apr 2010

New development in treatment of African Sleeping Sickness

African sleeping sickness or Human African Typanosomiasis is a potentially fatal disease affecting 50 to 70 thousand Africans each year. Carried by the bite tsetse fly this fatal disease is actually caused by a tiny parasite that attacks the nervous system, brain, spinal column resulting in mental confusion and finally death.

1 Apr 2010

Major breakthrough may help develop low toxicity drugs for sleeping sickness

Scientists from the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee - working together with partners at the University of York and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto - have made a major breakthrough in identifying new treatments for a fatal disease which infects tens of thousands of Africans each year.

1 Apr 2010

PAHO documents increase in dengue fever cases in Latin America

Countries in Latin America "are bracing this year for a particularly virulent outbreak of the mosquito-borne tropical disease" known as dengue fever, after reports show an increase in the number of cases recorded this year, Agence France-Presse reports. "The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said so far it has logged some 146,000 cases in the first three months of the year, of which 79 have been fatal. This time last year there were some 79,000 cases of dengue reported, with 26 deaths," the news service writes.

26 Mar 2010

Body lice and head lice have same origin

Body lice, which cause highly lethal epidemics (trench fever, typhus and relapsing fever Borrelia), originate from head lice. This has recently been shown by a team from the Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Unit (CNRS/IRD/Université de la Méditerranée), in collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Florida and Illinois (US).

26 Mar 2010

Tropical Disease News and Research

Further Reading

WHO Director-General pushes for sustained commitment to MDGs at World Health Assembly

Opinions: Gender-based violence and HIV; AIDS vaccine; Global NTDs; Responses to NYT HIV/AIDS articles

Recent releases in Global Health

MIT, South Africa announce plans to join patent pool for 'neglected diseases'

New study may help design better vaccines for dengue fever

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals reports consolidated financial results for first quarter 2010

Opinions: Sanitation and women, child health; GM in Global Food Security bill; U.S. malaria strategy; GHI on NTDs; Haiti recovery

News outlets examine World Malaria Day 2010

PMI releases 6-year malaria strategy

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria

First annual U.S.-African Union high level bilateral meetings start in Washington

New USG strategy to combat malaria globally

Ovale malaria is two similar but distinct species that do not reproduce with each other: Research

DNA barcoding-sequencing of gene in sand flies identifies two species carrying Leishmania naiffi

Scientists identify potential new method for treating sleeping sickness

Opinion: Job development for Haiti; NTDs in Africa; U.S. investment in TB

New development in treatment of African Sleeping Sickness

Major breakthrough may help develop low toxicity drugs for sleeping sickness

PAHO documents increase in dengue fever cases in Latin America

Body lice and head lice have same origin

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