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New vaccine to prevent malaria infection shown promise to protect young children

A new vaccine to prevent the deadly malaria infection has shown promise to protect the most vulnerable patients - young children - against the disease, according to an international team of researchers led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and the Malaria Research and Training Center at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa.

4 Feb 2010

African leaders discuss ways to achieve universal malaria control measures deadline

The challenges associated with protecting the people of Africa from malaria took center stage Monday during the second day of the African Union (AU) Summit, the New Times/allAfrica.com reports (2/2).

2 Feb 2010

New therapeutic made from tobacco plants shown to arrest West Nile virus infection

A new therapeutic made from tobacco plants has been shown to arrest West Nile virus infection, according to a new study by Arizona State University scientist Qiang Chen and his colleagues.

2 Feb 2010

Study could help in developing therapeutic strategies for Chikungunya virus infection

A study published online on February 1 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org) shows that antiviral proteins called type I interferons (IFNs) are needed to fend off infection with an exotic mosquito-borne virus called Chikungunya virus.

2 Feb 2010

Experimental vaccine protects mice and monkeys against chikungunya virus

An experimental vaccine developed using non-infectious virus-like particles (VLP) has protected macaques and mice against chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that has infected millions of people in Africa and Asia and causes debilitating pain, researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found.

29 Jan 2010

UCF researcher develops first dual vaccine to fight malaria and cholera

A University of Central Florida biomedical researcher has developed what promises to be the first low-cost dual vaccine against malaria and cholera.

27 Jan 2010

Twenty nations meet in Montreal to discuss Haiti recovery; Haitian officials increase Port-Au-Prince death toll estimate

Officials from 20 countries are meeting in Montreal, Canada, Monday "to discuss long-term reconstruction and arrangements for a donor conference to be held in March," the U.N. said, Bloomberg reports (Gaouette/Craze, 1/25). "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and others will examine eventual debt forgiveness and" a strategy for rebuilding Haiti at the one-day gathering, according to Reuters (Palmer, 1/25).

27 Jan 2010

UCI finding could complicate quest to eradicate deadly disease in humans

Chimpanzees were known to carry the parasite Plasmodium reichenowi, but most scientists assumed the two parasites had existed separately in humans and chimpanzees for the last 5 million years.

20 Jan 2010

Media outlets examine efforts to develop malaria vaccines

Scientists have identified a group of proteins they say could form the basis of a malaria vaccine, Australia's ABC News reports. "However, they say more laboratory work and clinical trials need to be done, with a vaccine at least 10 years away," the news service reports (Macey, 1/19).

20 Jan 2010

Access to clean water remains an issue for victims and Haiti earthquake volunteers

Six days after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti the health and sanitation situation is still less than optimal in the makeshift camps. "Access to shelter, sanitation, water, food and medical care remains extremely limited," announced Riccardo Conti on a bulletin yesterday from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC's).

19 Jan 2010

World Vision responds to Haiti disaster, but situation remains grave

World Vision has signed an agreement with Air Serv International to provide one light aircraft to transport people and cargo (14,000 lbs capacity) between Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince. The first flights began today, making two rotations per day. According to relief staff, these flights will radically improve transports of staff and goods.

19 Jan 2010

PATH MVI announces collaboration in development of malaria TBV

The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) today announced a new collaboration to initiate development toward a vaccine that may eventually help eliminate and eradicate malaria. This collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) and the Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) marks MVI's first investment in transmission-blocking vaccines (TBVs). This vaccine approach aims to stop the malaria parasite from developing in the mosquito, effectively blocking transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans. Malaria kills nearly 900,000 people per year, most of them children younger than age five.

18 Jan 2010

Emory University researchers invent a new weapon to monitor mosquito-borne diseases

Emory University researchers believe they have come up with the cheapest, most efficient way yet to monitor adult mosquitoes and the deadly diseases they carry, from malaria to West Nile Virus. Emory has filed a provisional patent on the Prokopack mosquito aspirator, but the inventors have provided simple instructions for how to make it in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

13 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) announced Tuesday that it has been forced to halt "aid distribution to about 1 million people in southern Somalia because of attacks against staff and demands by armed groups that aid groups remove women from their teams," the Associated Press reports.

5 Jan 2010

Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria increases their resistance to human disease-causing viruses

Earlier this year, researchers showed that they could cut the lives of disease-carrying mosquitoes in half by infecting them with a bacterium they took from fruit flies. Now, a new report in the December 24th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, suggests that their strategy might do one better: The Wolbachia bacteria also makes the mosquitoes more resistant to infection by viruses that are a growing threat to humans, including those responsible for dengue fever and Chikungunya.

28 Dec 2009

Also in Global Health news: Food shortages in Eritrea; Kenya HIV testing; aid in Malawi, Nepal; U.S. agriculture appointment

BBC examines Eritrea's decision to pass on international food aid in an effort to produce enough food for its population. According to Girma Asmerom, Eritrea's ambassador to the EU, "foreign food aid demonises the local people and makes them lazy." The government's strategy for addressing food shortages, includes distributing food from some areas in the country that had a bumper harvest, he said.

28 Dec 2009

Motility mechanism of malaria pathogens explained

How do one-celled parasites move from the salivary gland of a mosquito through a person's skin into red blood cells? What molecular mechanisms form the basis for this very important movement of the protozoa?

23 Dec 2009

Scientists offer potential new way to combat malaria

Stopping male mosquitoes from sealing their sperm inside females with a 'mating plug' could prevent mosquitoes from reproducing, and offer a potential new way to combat malaria, say scientists publishing new results in PLoS Biology on 22 December.

22 Dec 2009

Malaria nasal vaccine, antimicrobial peptide against MRSA, and safer method to prolong orange juice shelf life

An experiemental nasally administered malaria vaccine prevented parasite transmission from infected mice to mosquitoes and could play an important role in the fight against human malaria. The researchers from Japan report their findings in the December 2009 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.

19 Dec 2009

Safe living guidelines for transplant recipients

Keeping pets healthy can reduce infection risks for people who have received solid organ transplants and veterinarians should be seen as an integral part of the healthcare team. That's just one of the key pieces of advice from a safe living article published in an infectious diseases supplement in the American Journal of Transplantation.

18 Dec 2009

Mosquito News and Research

New vaccine to prevent malaria infection shown promise to protect young children

African leaders discuss ways to achieve universal malaria control measures deadline

New therapeutic made from tobacco plants shown to arrest West Nile virus infection

Study could help in developing therapeutic strategies for Chikungunya virus infection

Experimental vaccine protects mice and monkeys against chikungunya virus

UCF researcher develops first dual vaccine to fight malaria and cholera

Twenty nations meet in Montreal to discuss Haiti recovery; Haitian officials increase Port-Au-Prince death toll estimate

UCI finding could complicate quest to eradicate deadly disease in humans

Media outlets examine efforts to develop malaria vaccines

Access to clean water remains an issue for victims and Haiti earthquake volunteers

World Vision responds to Haiti disaster, but situation remains grave

PATH MVI announces collaboration in development of malaria TBV

Emory University researchers invent a new weapon to monitor mosquito-borne diseases

Also in global health news: Aid in S. Somalia; virus-resistant mosquitoes; composting toilets in Haiti; U.S. Congressional Group visits India

Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria increases their resistance to human disease-causing viruses

Also in Global Health news: Food shortages in Eritrea; Kenya HIV testing; aid in Malawi, Nepal; U.S. agriculture appointment

Motility mechanism of malaria pathogens explained

Scientists offer potential new way to combat malaria

Malaria nasal vaccine, antimicrobial peptide against MRSA, and safer method to prolong orange juice shelf life

Safe living guidelines for transplant recipients

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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