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.

New tools for neglected diseases: an interview with Dr. BT Slingsby, CEO, GHIT Fund

Nearly 3.3 billion people, a little less than half of our world’s population, are at risk of malaria, TB and what we call “neglected tropical diseases”—diseases caused by worms, parasites, viruses and bacteria like Chagas disease, river blindness, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, etc.

24 Dec 2013

WHO hands over management of world's largest public collection of TB strains to ITM in Antwerp

The World Health Organisation handed over the management of the world's largest public collection of tuberculosis strains to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. These TB-strains play a key role in supporting scientific research into infectious diseases, particularly towards a better understanding of the TB bacterium's drug resistance.

13 Dec 2013

Scientists identify new approach to fight malaria parasites

Using advanced methodologies that pit drug compounds against specific types of malaria parasite cells, an international team of scientists, including researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, have identified a potential new weapon and approach for attacking the parasites that cause malaria.

28 Nov 2013

PLOS and DNDi to launch collection of neglected tropical diseases at 10-year anniversary of DNDi

As part of a collaborative initiative, PLOS and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are delighted to be launching a special Collection-PLOS & DNDi: a decade of Open Access and Neglected Tropical Diseases R&D (Research and Development)-to coincide with a joint event at the Institut Pasteur in Paris celebrating the 10-year anniversary of DNDi.

28 Nov 2013

Findings highlight possible new approach to combat malaria

An international team of scientists, including researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, has identified a key metabolic enzyme that common malaria parasites require for survival at each stage of infection in humans. The findings raise the possibility of a new approach to combating malaria, one of the world's deadliest diseases. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Nature.

27 Nov 2013

New concept outlines steps to tackle neglected tropical diseases, expedite poverty reduction efforts

A new concept and policy framework published in PLOS NTDs outlines concrete steps for the global development community as it works to synthesize health goals with economic, environmental and social priorities.

26 Nov 2013

Segregating household sleeping arrangements can help prevent malaria spread

Better malaria control might come from segregating household sleeping arrangements, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Guelph professor.

19 Nov 2013

Genetic mutations in parasite cause over 100 million cases of malaria annually in Africa

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have discovered recent genetic mutations in a parasite that causes over 100 million cases of malaria annually-changes that may render tens of millions of Africans who had been considered resistant, susceptible to infection.

16 Nov 2013

Genome sequence data indicates that common species of malaria may evolve to become bigger threat

Provocative new research shows that the Plasmodium vivax parasite, responsible for nearly 20 million cases of malaria in 2010, may be "rapidly evolving" to overcome the natural resistance conferred by a blood type found in millions of Africans, scientists reported today at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

16 Nov 2013

Research findings could help decrease risk of dengue

A study by an international team of researchers led by Anna M. Stewart Ibarra, Ph.D., of the Center for Global Health and Translational Science at SUNY Upstate Medical University, has provided public health officials with information that will help decrease the risk of dengue, a life-threatening mosquito-borne viral disease that is now one of the fastest spreading tropical diseases globally.

14 Nov 2013

GHIT Fund to host panel discussion to examine recent successes, setbacks in global health

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, along with the New York Academy of Sciences and Japan Society, will host a panel discussion - comprised of preeminent global health experts - to examine recent successes and setbacks in global health and what they see as the secret ingredient to moving a vaccine, cure or diagnostic across the finish line and into the field.

31 Oct 2013

Malaria elimination and insecticide resistance: an interview with Professor Hilary Ranson, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

The first malaria elimination programme was in the 1950s and 1960s. Malaria was eliminated from many countries in Asia and the Americas, largely by indoor spraying with insecticide. But the campaign had very little impact in Africa and eventually resources were moved away from malaria control.

30 Oct 2013

Eisai supplies diethylcarbamazine citrate 100 mg tablets to WHO

Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that it has begun the free supply of diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) 100 mg tablets produced at its Vizag Plant in India to the World Health Organization in line with its commitment to help WHO in its global effort to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in targeted developing and emerging countries.

29 Oct 2013

Study finds persistent deficiency in new therapeutics for neglected diseases

In a study published today in the open-access journal The Lancet Global Health, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and other researchers report a persistent deficiency in truly new therapeutics for neglected diseases, despite nominal progress and an acceleration in research and development efforts. This continued 'fatal imbalance' in medical R&D points to the urgent need to develop and deliver groundbreaking new treatments for the world's poorest and most neglected patients.

25 Oct 2013

Mobilized medical care is necessary to better serve Haitian population after earthquake

Three years after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless in Haiti, a Henry Ford Hospital study found that more mobilized medical care is necessary to bridge cultural and health care barriers and better serve the Haitian population.

7 Oct 2013

Genetically modified bacterial treatment approach reduces or eliminates sleeping sickness

A tag team of two bacteria, one of them genetically modified, has a good chance to reduce or even eliminate the deadly disease African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, researchers at Oregon State University conclude in a recent mathematical modeling study.

4 Oct 2013

HOOKVAC consortium awarded grant to develop, test vaccine for human hookworm

The HOOKVAC consortium, led by the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam, today announced it has been awarded a grant of six million Euros from the European Commission FP7 programme to expand the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership’s (Sabin PDP) work to develop and test a vaccine for human hookworm, a disease that infects 600-700 million of the world’s poorest people.

27 Sep 2013

HOOKVAC consortium to begin first clinical testing of human hookworm vaccine in West Africa

The HOOKVAC consortium, led by the Academic Medical Center (AMC) at the University of Amsterdam, today announced it has been awarded a grant of six million Euros from the European Commission FP7 programme to expand the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership's (Sabin PDP) work to develop and test a vaccine for human hookworm, a disease that infects 600-700 million of the world's poorest people.

27 Sep 2013

LSTM professor awarded The Manson Medal for outstanding contribution in field of tropical medicine

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is delighted that Emeritus Professor and Senior Professional Fellow, David Molyneux, has been awarded The Manson Medal, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's highest mark of distinction.

21 Sep 2013

Four new pre-clinical drug development projects at NIH develop treatment for rare disease

Four new pre-clinical drug development projects at the National Institutes of Health will target a form of blindness and diseases characterized by cardiac problems. The projects were selected for their potential to treat specific rare diseases and to help scientists uncover new information that can be shared with other researchers.

13 Sep 2013