Latest News
Expired BCG vaccine in (Indian) health minister's shortlist?
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 24 July 2010)
The Union health ministry came close to putting the lives of lakhs of children in danger by considering procurement of 274 lakh doses of BCG vaccine which were well past their expiry date.
A note from the vaccine procurement cell of the ministry … shows that the ministry was either ignorant of its own previous decisions or dangerously careless while dealing with children's vaccination.
The deadly synergy of HIV and tuberculosis
(http://www.thelancet.com, July 2010)
… Although the epidemic curve for HIV shows signs of flattening out, worldwide, there are about 33 million people known to be infected with HIV, with 2·7 million new cases and 2 million deaths in 2008. HIV infection remains almost invariably fatal unless treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). The number of people receiving ART in low-income and middle-income countries is up from just 400 000 in 2003 to more than 4 million (42% of those needing it) in 2008.
While there has been welcome progress in making ART available, HIV/AIDS raises other challenges that we are only just beginning to face. Among the most pressing of these challenges is the intersection of the global HIV and tuberculosis pandemics.
About 2 billion people (roughly one-third of the world population) are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 2007, there were 1·37 million new tuberculosis cases among people living with HIV and 456 000 deaths. Looked at another way, one in four deaths due to tuberculosis is related to HIV co-infection. The greatest burden of disease is in sub-Saharan Africa, with the WHO Africa region accounting for 79% of people known to be infected with both HIV and tuberculosis. Indeed, in some countries of the region 70% of people with tuberculosis are also HIV positive.
Pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria cause death of 6 million of world's poorest children
(http://www.news-medical.net, 23 July 2010)
A Johns Hopkins University scientist, whose team of researchers recently identified pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria as the primary causes of death of 6 million of the world's poorest children, today called on leaders in donor and developing nations to take action to address the terrible death toll.
"We now have in hand the latest country-specific estimates of the major causes of child deaths," said Robert Black, MD, Chair, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's (JHSPH) Department of International Health, and noted expert on child mortality. "This should help to focus national programs and donor assistance on the solutions that are most likely to be effective. Achieving the global goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds is only possible if the high numbers of deaths are addressed by health interventions, including vaccines."
Dr. Anne Bailowitz, Acting Chief Medical Officer for the Baltimore City Health Department, attributes Baltimore's continued success in maintaining good immunization coverage to a persistent effort that includes a multi-pronged approach including: mandatory physician reporting to a computerized immunization registry; facilitating targeted vaccination clinics in areas with low compliance; and vigorous parent and professional immunization education. One of the ways the city ensures wider coverage is by dispatching a mobile van (TIKE) throughout the city that brings free immunizations to children who might not otherwise have access.
Ugandan hospitals ration AIDS treatment as antiretrovirals start to run out
(http://www.bmj.com, 20 July 2010)
Doctors in Uganda have warned that the country is facing an acute shortage of antiretroviral drugs. New patients with HIV or AIDS are being turned away from clinics, and those lucky enough to be getting treatment are being given just one month’s worth instead of the usual three months’ supply.
Zainab Akol, manager of the health ministry’s AIDS control programme, said, "All the 228 000 patients currently on ARV [antiretroviral] treatment are receiving the drugs. But because we do not have adequate quantities of ARVs, we have first to maintain those already on treatment. We do not recruit new patients at the cost of those we already have."
Nasal vaccine for swine flu launched in Delhi
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 20 July 2010)
Nasovac, manufactured by the Serum Institute, is a single dose vaccine and is to be sniffed only once in each nostril.
Along with a needle prick-free benefit, Nasovac has a superior efficacy profile based on its administration through the respiratory route -- it mimics the path followed by the virus to enter the body, Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman, Serum Institute of India Ltd said.
The safety and efficacy of the vaccine was established through Clinical trials conducted in India for the vaccine.
WHO announces new approaches to HIV prevention and treatment among children
(http://www.who.int, 20 July 2010)
Efforts worldwide on access to treatment for children with HIV have reached a new milestone, with 355 000 children receiving life-saving HIV treatment at the end of 2009, compared to 276 000 at the end of 2008; but many more lives could be saved if more infants started on medication earlier according to new recommendations from WHO
Until now, very few children under the age of one year have been started on HIV treatment, partly because the testing needed for this group has not been available in many settings. Expanding that availability of diagnostic testing is still often a critical need and WHO is calling for greater access to infant diagnosis starting at four to six weeks after birth.
While seeking to optimize the timing and approach to HIV treatment in infants and children who have already been infected, WHO has made new recommendations with the objective of reducing and eventually eliminating new HIV infections in children.
China's Billion-Dollar Aid Appetite
(http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/19/chinas_billion_dollar_aid_appetite, 19 July 2010)
Over the eight years since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria first launched, China has applied for and been awarded nearly $1 billion in grants, becoming the fourth-largest recipient of funds behind Ethiopia, India, and Tanzania. Already, the country has drawn nearly $500 million from this credit line and soon expects to receive $165 million in new grants. China's aggregate award from the fund is nearly three times larger than that of South Africa, one of the most affected countries from these three diseases. Moreover, China has won malaria grant money totaling $149 million (and $89 million more might be on the way) -- in a country where only 38 deaths from the mosquito-borne illness were reported last year. That is more than the $122 million awarded to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reported nearly 25,000 malaria deaths during the same period. In fact, only seven sub-Saharan African countries receive more malaria aid than China -- and 29 countries in Africa get less. Combined, those 29 countries report 64,000 deaths from the disease each year.
China has aggressively pursued Global Fund grants and has continued to win significant amounts with every passing year. Beijing does make a nominal contribution to the fund of $2 million annually, meaning that it has donated $16 million over the last eight years. By comparison, the United States, the leading donor, has committed $5.5 billion, and France has offered $2.5 billion over the same period. These contributing countries expect no financial return for their gift, but China has recouped its spending by 60 times.
How did China ever become eligible for grants in the first place? In short, because of a loophole. The Global Fund decides eligibility for grants based on the World Bank's classification system, which divides countries by income. High-income countries such as the United States, the European industrial countries, and Japan are ineligible. Low-income countries, including many in sub-Saharan Africa, are grant-eligible. In between, so-called lower-middle-income countries like China are eligible if the grants are part of a cost-sharing program through which the fund pays up to 65 percent and the country pays the rest. (China stays in this lower-middle-income category because its huge population keeps per capita figures down.)
Vaccine-Delivery Patch With Dissolving Microneedles Eliminates 'Sharps,' Boosts Protection
(http://www.sciencedaily.com, 19 July 2010)
Patches containing micron-scale needles that carry vaccine with them as they dissolve into the skin could simplify immunization programs by eliminating the use of hypodermic needles -- and their "sharps" disposal and re-use concerns. Applied easily to the skin, the microneedle patches could allow self-administration of vaccine during pandemics and simplify large-scale immunization programs in developing nations.
"Another advantage of these microneedles is that the vaccine is present as a dry formulation, which will enhance its stability during distribution and storage," said Ioanna Skountzou, an Emory University assistant professor.
"The dissolving microneedle patch could open up many new doors for immunization programs by eliminating the need for trained personnel to carry out the vaccination," Prausnitz said.
Experts urge TB vaccine for all London children
(The Independent, 15 July 2010)
All babies born in London should be vaccinated against tuberculosis to protect them against the growing threat from the disease, public health specialists say.
Almost 45 per cent of all childhood TB cases in the UK occur in the capital and the rising incidence has now passed the threshold where routine immunisation should be introduced, according to experts from the Health Protection Agency.
Tuberculosis is often thought to be a disease of the past. It was a major killer until the early 20th century, but the introduction of powerful drugs in the mid -20th century was thought to have beaten it, and by the late 1980s cases had fallen to an all-time low of 5,000 a year. But since then there has been a resurgence and the incidence has steadily increased. There were 9,153 cases among adults and children recorded in the UK in 2009, the largest annual increase (5.5 per cent) since 2005.
Antibiotics could help control malaria: study
(http://af.reuters.com, 15 July 2010)
People at high risk of malaria may benefit from taking a cocktail of antibiotics as a preventative step, according to the results of a study in mice.
Scientists from Britain, Germany and Kenya said the drugs could prompt healthy people to develop a natural immunity to malaria parasites, providing protection against future malaria infections.
The researchers said that a natural immunisation technique like this could only be used in specific settings, where malaria seasons are high risk but relatively short, and where those in danger could be sure to take the protective medicines before being infected.
The antibiotics work by causing a cellular defect in malaria parasites during their journey into the liver of the infected host, the researchers said in a report on their findings published in the Science Translational Medicine journal.
This blocks the malaria parasite's fatal conversion from the liver stage to the disease-causing blood stage. The blocked parasite inside the liver prompts the body to develop a strong protective immunity to malaria, a bit like a traditional vaccination, they said.
It didn't last. By the late 1960s, the malaria toll had surged back to over 300 million, only now many malarial mosquitoes were resistant to DDT and malaria parasites inured to the drug chloroquine. The World Health Organization's Tibor Lepes called the eradication attempt "one of the greatest mistakes ever made in public health." In 1969, after 10 years and $1.4 billion (or $9 billion in 2009 dollars), the World Health Assembly called for its dissolution.
Progress seen in work on universal flu shot
(http://ca.news.yahoo.com, 15 July 2010)
U.S. scientists are reporting they have made progress in the search for what's called the Holy Grail of influenza research — a universal flu vaccine.
In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, they showed that a two-step vaccination process they developed protected mice, ferrets and monkeys against a broad range of flu viruses.
The process triggered development of antibodies that were protective against H1N1 flu viruses dating from 1934 to 2009 — an extraordinary range that could not be matched by conventional flu vaccine.
First Smallpox Vaccine for Special Populations Delivered Under Project BioShield
(http://www.hhs.gov/news, 14 July 2010)
Delivery to the Strategic National Stockpile of the first 1 million doses of the nation’s first smallpox vaccine for certain immune-compromised populations is now complete, the result of a Project BioShield contract.
Under this contract the Danish company Bavarian Nordic is manufacturing and delivering 20 million doses of its next generation smallpox vaccine known as modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) or Imvamune. Delivery of the first million doses began in May and deliveries will continue through 2013. The contract is administered by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, BARDA, a part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In an emergency, such as the virus being obtained from a secure lab and used in an act of terrorism, the vaccine may be authorized for use to protect people who have weakened immune systems, specifically HIV persons who have not progressed to AIDS. Addressing the needs of such special populations is mandated under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).
Report Suggests Nearly 5 Percent Exposed to Dengue Virus in Key West
(http://www.cdc.gov, 13 July 2010)
An estimated 5 percent of the Key West, Fla., population—over 1,000 people—showed evidence of recent exposure to dengue virus in 2009, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health.
"We're concerned that if dengue gains a foothold in Key West, it will travel to other southern cities where the mosquito that transmits dengue is present, like Miami," said Harold Margolis, chief of the dengue branch at CDC. "The mosquito that transmits dengue likes to bite in and around houses, during the day and at night when the lights are on. To protect you and your family, CDC recommends using repellent on your skin while indoors or out. And when possible, wear long sleeves and pants for additional protection."
'More poor' in India than Africa
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/, 13 July 2010)
Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found. The Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, have 421 million "poor" people, the study found. This is more than the 410 million poor in the poorest African countries, it said.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures a range of "deprivations" at household levels. Developed by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with UN support, it will feature in the upcoming UNDP Human Development Report.
The measure assess(es) a number of "deprivations" in households - from education to health to assets and services.
The Vaccine That Came In From the Cold
(http://news.sciencemag.org, 12 July 2010)
Scientists say they may have discovered a way to develop cool new vaccines—and they mean that literally. By replacing essential genes in a mammalian pathogen with their counterparts from Arctic bacteria, they have created strains that provoke a protective immune response in mice—but that don't spread to the warm parts of the body where they could do serious harm. The team hopes that the method will lead to a new generation of vaccines for major bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis.
For a proof of principle, Nano used a bacterium called Francisella novicida, an innocuous cousin of a human pathogen called F. tularensis. (The latter is high up on the list of potential bioweapons because it causes incapacitating malaise and fever and would be easy to disseminate.) One at a time, the team swapped out nine so-called essential genes—involved, for instance, in DNA repair or cell division—in F. novicida for their counterparts from Arctic bacteria, such as Colwellia psychrerythraea, a marine microbe that lives in polar waters and ice. Francisella normally dies at 45˚C; introducing the cold-loving genes lowered that threshold by up to 12˚C, depending on the gene and the species it was borrowed from.
When the researchers injected these altered strains into the relatively cool tails of rats, they found that the microbes reproduced locally but didn't spread to the warmer spleen and lungs, where they would normally replicate as well. The key test was whether the strains could act as vaccines.
Patents no barrier to producing cheaper HPV vaccine
(http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com, 12 July 2010)
A new study believes vaccine manufacturers from developing countries may be able to produce a HPV vaccine at a lower cost without infringing on the numerous patents drug makers have taken out on the vaccine technology.
The researcher’s findings have particular relevance with India as it shoulders almost 25 per cent of the global cervical cancer burden and is a main supplier of childhood vaccines to agencies like the World Health Organization. Its growing middle class is also a potentially large market for the sale of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines.
The researchers specifically focused on India, who in 1995 signed on to World Trade Organization agreements that tightened efforts in granting intellectual property rights worldwide. Researchers identified 19 of 86 international patent applications filed in India by the end of 2008. The resultant data suggested that vaccines identical in formulation or HPV strain coverage to those on the market were not covered by patent claims granted in India.
Researchers speculated that the production of follow-on biologic drugs could be viable, which could provide protection against the two HPV strains responsible for almost 70 per cent of all HPV-induced cancer.
Whilst access to the HPV vaccine would become easier as a result of this, Subhashini Chandrasekharan, a researcher within the IGSP's Centre for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy stated that circumstance is unlikely to hold for future vaccines, including second-generation HPV vaccines.
Vaccines over missiles
(http://www.ottawacitizen.com, 12 July 2010)
In May, delegates of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty met in New York for the first time in five years. Unlike the previous treaty review, this year's month-long conference reached consensus on three "pillars" in the areas of disarmament, ensuring nonproliferation among non-nuclear states, and promoting civilian uses of nuclear technology.
Conspicuous by its absence, however, was any mention of the fact that the nuclear weapons states have spent an estimated 10,000 times more on building nuclear weapons than on developing new drugs and vaccines for their indigenous neglected tropical diseases. In contrast, Brazil, which abandoned its nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, today produces most of its own vaccines and, together with my organization (Sabin Institute), is developing new vaccines for hookworm and schistosomiasis -- two of the world's most important neglected tropical diseases.
Most North Americans and Russians are unaware that, 50 years ago, nations on both sides of the Cold War co-operated on a back channel scientific research and development effort that led to the joint development of the oral polio vaccine. Today that vaccine has become the major instrument for global polio eradication efforts. The fact that the U.S. and Soviet Union could put aside their ideological differences shortly after the Sputnik launch at the height of the Cold War for purposes of scientific co-operation and vaccine development, suggests that India, Pakistan, and China, not to mention Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria, could do the same for neglected tropical disease vaccines.
The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria
(http://online.wsj.com, 10 July 2010)
The malaria parasite has been responsible for half of all human deaths since the Stone Age, and one in 14 of us alive today still carry genes that first arose to help protect us from its ravages. Malaria has shaped our trade and settlement patterns, and our demographics. Today, it sickens 300 million every year, and kills nearly 1 million, despite the fact that we've known how to cure it (with parasite-killing drugs) and prevent it (by avoiding mosquito bites) for over a century. And even as the fight against malaria gains momentum, research reveals that malaria's tentacles continue to dig ever deeper.
Part of malaria's wicked genius is that since ancient times, it has fooled us into thinking it is a trivial problem, easily solved.
Ronald Ross, the British Army surgeon who in 1897 helped discover that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes, came up with his Abracadabra cure in the early 1900s. Spend a few weeks skimming mosquito-infested puddles with a thin layer of oil, to smother the larvae as they come up to breathe, and malaria would be destroyed in a matter of months, he said. Malaria is a "very easily preventable disease," he opined. "In two years," Dr. Ross proclaimed, "we shall stamp malaria out of every city and large town in the tropics."
Dr. Ross called his quick-fix "mosquitoism." He hired a band of workers and tried it out in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Another enthusiast, Dr. Malcolm Watson, attempted mosquitoism on the rubber plantations of Malaysia. In 1915, Dr. Watson wrote that he'd soon "be able to abolish malaria with great ease, perhaps at hardly any expense." The malarial death toll barely budged.
Notes from the Field: Pertussis --- California, January--June 2010
(http://www.cdc.gov/, 09 July 2010)
The number of pertussis cases reported to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has increased substantially during 2010. The increase 8hospital. During January 1-- June 30, 2010, a total of 1,337 cases were reported, a 418% increase from the 258 cases reported during the same period in 2009. All cases either met the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists definitions for confirmed or probable pertussis or had an acute cough illness and Bordetella pertussis--specific nucleic acid detected by polymerase chain reaction from nasopharyngeal specimens (1).
US Health Officials Worry About TB in Mexico
(http://www.aolnews.com/, 08 July 2010)
Tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest diseases, has long been forgotten by most Americans, but it is re-emerging in a new, virulent form around the world. U.S. health officials now worry that especially dangerous strains of the airborne pathogen have surfaced in Mexico, thanks to a dysfunctional health care system in the country's poorest regions. And they could spread to the United States.
Dr. Eugene McCray, the chief of the international tuberculosis elimination program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, considers any legal barriers to care "abysmal, because people are in the community and they are going to transmit disease and it is going to affect Americans. It is very short-sighted." He said the best way to halt the disease isn't border protection, but increased collaboration and support to strengthen Mexico's health system.
"The problem with TB is that it is characterized as usually affecting indigenous, poor people, so we continue to marginalize it, and therefore its victims do not have a voice. That is the big problem," said Dr. Alied Bencomo, the new chief TB official in the region. "Anyone can get it, like me, not just the poor. That is the message we need to get out there."
Scientists Find Antibodies that Prevent Most HIV Strains from Infecting Human Cells
(http://www.niaid.nih.gov/, 08 July 2010)
Scientists have discovered two potent human antibodies that can stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the laboratory, and have demonstrated how one of these disease-fighting proteins accomplishes this feat. According to the scientists, these antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection. Moreover, the method used to find these antibodies could be applied to isolate therapeutic antibodies for other infectious diseases as well.
Led by a team from the NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC), the scientists found two naturally occurring, powerful antibodies called VRC01 and VRC02 in an HIV infected individual's blood using a novel molecular device they developed that hones in on the specific cells that make antibodies against HIV. The device is an HIV protein that the scientists modified so it would react only with antibodies specific to the site where the virus binds to cells it infects.
In the final stage of antibody development, antibody-producing B cells recognize specific parts of a pathogen and then mutate, or mature, so the antibody can bind to the pathogen more firmly. VRC01 precursors do not bind tightly to HIV, but rather mature extensively into more powerfully neutralizing forms. This extensive antibody maturation presents a challenge for vaccine design. In their paper, Dr. Kwong and colleagues explore how this challenge might be addressed by designing vaccine components that could guide the immune system through this stepwise maturation process and facilitate the generation of a VRC01-like antibody from its precursors. The scientists currently are performing research to identify these components.
Pharmaceutical cold chain enlightenment in Anatolia
(http://www.contractpharma.com, July 2010)
The purpose of this in-country experiential learning event was to provide key players within the pharmaceutical cold chain the insight into complete cold chain operation and oversight — from product manufacture (or arrival in a country) to administration to the patient.
It united a group of 16 selected “student participants” from various national regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, vaccine industry who are involved in the supply, packaging, distribution, logistics and cold chain management, as well as industry members of immunization related equipment and device manufacturers. The “on wheels” concept provides for an immersive 24/7 experience encouraging personal interaction down the length of the cold chain.
This approach is designed to show participants how the theoretical background of pharmaceutical cold chain management is applied in a variety of storage and health care facilities — a practical application of experiential learning theory.
IDRI and PATH Enter into Research Collaboration Agreement to Evaluate Novel Adjuvants to Enhance Pandemic Influenza Vaccines
(http://www.idri.org/, 25 June 2010)
Two global health non-profit organizations headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) and PATH, have entered into a Research Collaboration Agreement to evaluate novel adjuvants for their ability to enhance the immune response of pandemic influenza vaccines in development. The collaboration supports the goal of PATH’s influenza vaccine project to advance the development of promising new influenza vaccines focusing on novel technologies that can be accessible, affordable, and available to people in low-resource countries in a global outbreak. IDRI, a non-profit biotechnology organization, has developed numerous emulsion adjuvants for use with various antigens for the production of vaccines.
... Under the Research Collaboration Agreement, PATH will sponsor research at IDRI to evaluate different emulsions that may work as effective adjuvants in influenza vaccines for pandemic use. IDRI will provide its proprietary emulsion formulations, and PATH, through its collaborators, will provide IDRI with vaccine candidates for evaluation with various formulations. IDRI will then conduct the studies to identify leading vaccine-adjuvant candidates.
Editors of Canadian Medical Association Journal warn polio outbreak in Tajikistan could spread (http://www.news-medical.net, 25 June 2010)
"A large polio outbreak in Tajikistan - Europe's first in years - has the potential to further spread the dangerous virus to other regions of the world, the [editors of] the Canadian Medical Association Journal [CMAJ] warned Wednesday" in an editorial appearing in the journal, the Canadian Press reports.
The CMAJ editors "suggested the outbreak, the largest since 2005 in a country where polio is not endemic, serves as a reminder that until polio is eradicated, the risk of renewed spread remains," the news service adds.
... CBC News, also reporting on the CMAJ editorial, notes the progression of the polio outbreak in Tajikistan, which grew from seven polio cases confirmed in children in April to more than 560 cases, including "183 that were lab confirmed".
"'In all countries certified as polio-free, including Canada, the Tajikistan outbreak should be clanging alarm bells,' Dr. Noni MacDonald, the journal's public health editor, and editor-in-chief Dr. Paul Hebert wrote with the journal's advisory team," the news service writes.
Kiwanis, UNICEF join forces to save 129 million mothers and newborns (http://multivu.prnewswire.com, 24 June 2010)
Kiwanis International and UNICEF have joined forces to save the lives of babies and their mothers by eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus (MNT), a disease that kills an estimated 60,000 newborns and 30,000 mothers each year. UNICEF Ambassador and actor Tea Leoni delivered the announcement at the 95th Annual Kiwanis International Convention.
... MNT is easily prevented by a series of three vaccinations to women of childbearing age, costing roughly US$1.80. The Eliminate Project: Kiwanis eliminating maternal/neonatal tetanus will raise US$110 million over the next five years to fill the funding gap required to provide an estimated 387 million doses of the vaccine.
The Eliminate Project will deliver life saving vaccines to the most vulnerable women and children in the world: those in remote and difficult to reach areas; conflict zones; and with little access to healthcare.
Researcher Awarded Grant to Study Meningitis Mechanism (http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com, 24 June 2010)
A white blood cell that normally removes bacteria from the bloodstream helps Escherichia coli (E. coli) accumulate in the blood and enter the brain resulting in the deadly infection known as meningitis.
Prasadarao V. Nemani, PhD, a scientist at The Saban Research Institute at Children Hospital Los Angeles plans to find out how this happens with a grant of $1.65 million from the National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes.
... The disease occurs when bacteria replicate and eventually break through the protective "blood-brain barrier." A single layer of endothelial cells, the blood-brain barrier normally prevents bacteria from entering the brain. The molecular mechanisms allowing this build-up of E. coli and its eventual invasion of the brain are not well understood. Nemani’s research implicates a type of white blood cell called a "macrophage."
Pertussis Epidemic in California May be Worst in 50 Years (http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com, 24 June 2010)
Urging Californians to get vaccinated now, Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), warned today that the state is on pace to suffer the most illnesses and deaths due to pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in 50 years.
"Whooping cough is now an epidemic in California," Horton said. "Children should be vaccinated against the disease and parents, family members and caregivers of infants need a booster shot."
As of June 15, California had recorded 910 cases of pertussis, a four-fold increase from the same period last year when 219 cases were recorded. Five infants — all under three months of age — have died from the disease this year. In addition, 600 more possible cases of pertussis are being investigated by local health departments.
SIGA completes fourth human clinical trial of ST-246 smallpox antiviral drug candidate (http://www.news-medical.net, 23 June 2010)
SIGA Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:SIGA), a company specializing in the development of pharmaceutical agents to combat bio-warfare pathogens, announced today the successful completion of its fourth human clinical trial, supporting the safety and tolerability of the anticipated clinical dose of ST-246®, SIGA's lead smallpox antiviral drug candidate. Analyses of the trial's results are consistent with findings from previous studies of ST-246 and together show that the drug will likely be found to be a safe and well-tolerated therapeutic for the treatment of orthopoxvirus infections.
Meningitis vaccine receives crucial approval (http://www.path.org, 23 June 2010)
MenAfriVac™, a vaccine developed through the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) to protect against life-threatening meningococcal meningitis, today received prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO). The action clears the way for phased introduction of the vaccine in Africa later this year.
"Prequalification is a major milestone for MenAfriVac™ and MVP. This partnership between PATH and WHO is a stellar example of our mission and strategy at work," said Dr. Christopher J. Elias, president and CEO of PATH.
... "At 40 cents a dose, it is a moral imperative to introduce the vaccine in meningitis belt countries, most of which are among the poorest countries in the world," said Dr. F. Marc LaForce, director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project. "It is everybody's wish that the global health community and funding agencies will come forward to help introduce the first affordable conjugate vaccine that offers the hope to end 100 years of group A meningitis epidemics in Africa."
SOUTH AFRICA: Hidden toll from TB (http://www.plusnews.org, 23 June 2010)
Shocking results from a study involving post-mortem examinations at a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal Province have revealed the extent to which tuberculosis (TB) is taking a toll on the lives of young, HIV-positive South Africans.
The study, published in the 22 June issue of the PLoS Medicine journal, found that out of 240 inpatients aged between 20 and 45 - who died after being admitted to Edendale Hospital between October 2008 and August 2009 - 94 percent were HIV-positive and half had TB.
... KwaZulu-Natal has the country's highest HIV prevalence and greatest TB burden; even so, the results were a surprise. "Young people were coming in and dying, but we didn't know how many cases of TB we were missing," Dr Douglas Wilson, head of medicine at Edendale Hospital and one of the study's co-authors, told IRIN/PlusNews. "We were absolutely staggered by the amount of TB we found."
Report says G8 countries short $10B on $50B commitment, reveals mixed progress on health goals (http://www.news-medical.net/news, 22 June 2010)
An accountability report, prepared by officials in G8 member countries' foreign affairs departments, acknowledges that G8 "countries are $10 billion behind the five-year, $50-billion commitment they made at their 2005 summit in Scotland," the Canadian Press/CTV News reports.
... On health-related goals, the report notes that in some areas, "G8 commitments have not produced the results hoped for." It highlights the global effort to fight polio, noting that eradication has not yet been achieved, and also notes the high maternal death rate. "Universal access targets with respect to HIV/AIDS will not be met by 2010, and many developing countries, in particular those in Africa, remain off track to achieve the health-related (goals). The (goals) on child mortality and maternal health are proving the toughest area," the report states.
New conjugated vaccine to prevent Meningitis ACWY is now available (http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/, 21 June 2010)
The UK is leading the way in advancing the fight against meningococcal disease by securing the first worldwide delivery of Menveo, the first quadrivalent conjugate vaccine available in Europe that protects adolescents (from 11 years of age) and adults against four strains of bacterial meningitis: A,C, W-135 and Y.
It’s a double first for the UK in advancing the fight against meningococcal disease: the new vaccine can protect travellers against four types of meningitis.
Previous meningococcal quadrivalent (protecting against four strains of meningitis disease) vaccines have always been polysaccharide vaccines, not conjugate vaccines.
The difference between polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines is the duration of protection obtained. Plain polysaccharide vaccines do not stimulate the immune system as broadly as conjugate vaccines, meaning protection is not long lasting and in children response can be poor.
The immune system response to a conjugate vaccine is broader, even in young children, and stimulates immunological memory, meaning protection is longer lasting.
EAC Health Sector Gets U.S.$64 Million Boost from World Bank (http://allafrica.com, 21 June 2010)
The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors has approved $63.66m to create a unique regional network of 25 public health laboratories across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.
This network will operate across country borders, improving access to diagnostic services to vulnerable populations in cross border areas and making optimal use of internet and mobile communications to improve public health.
... "Laboratories are currently the weakest link in the region's public health defenses, seriously hindering each country's ability to confirm and respond in a coordinated manner to disease outbreaks," she noted.
By bolstering diagnostic and surveillance capacities, the new multi-country laboratory network will help to identify potentially devastating disease outbreaks at an early stage, enabling countries to act quickly to prevent the rapid spread of diseases across borders.
Eight Nations Picked as Health-Aid Labs (http://online.wsj.com/ 18 June 2010)
The Obama administration has selected eight countries to serve as learning labs for a new global health strategy aimed in part at reducing maternal and child deaths and combatting preventable diseases.
The move is among the first steps in the administration's overhaul of global health efforts, which calls for slowing increases in funding for HIV/AIDS programs, currently the cornerstone of U.S. health policy. The new strategy would also devote more dollars and attention to attacking neglected tropical diseases and implementing other initiatives.
But it comes amid mounting concerns about how much support President Barack Obama will win from Congress for a proposed 9% increase in global health spending for fiscal 2011.
The countries tapped to receive technical assistance and other resources are Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Mali, Malawi, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Guatemala, ...
SOUTH AFRICA: Poor MDR-TB knowledge among nurses (http://www.plusnews.org, 15 June 2010)
South Africa has one of the highest rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), but a study has found that many nurses have not been trained to handle this deadly, difficult-to-treat strain of the disease.
The research, presented at the recent South African TB Conference in the coastal city of Durban, found that only about 19 percent of the 16 health facilities surveyed in rural and urban areas of Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal provinces had nurses with formal training in MDR-TB management. Dr Tsholofelo Mhlaba, of Health Systems Trust, a health research NGO, said some nurses who had been trained to handle MDR-TB demonstrated similar levels of knowledge as those who were untrained.
Cambridge researcher gets green light for while-you-wait Hep B test (http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/, 27 May 2010)
A 'dipstick' test that detects Hepatitis B within 30 minutes – and could be used in some of the world’s poorest countries – has been given the green light for use in the European Union.
Developed by Cambridge researcher Dr Helen Lee, the inexpensive test delivers accurate while-you-wait results and allows doctors to take immediate action - circumventing the need to send samples away for laboratory analysis.
With around 400 million people worldwide estimated to carry the disease, the Hepatitis B Rapid Test could revolutionise detection of the condition in poorer countries.
Dr Helen Lee from Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW), who led the development of the test said: "Our test is simple, quick, inexpensive and can survive very hot conditions for many months - all vital factors when you are working in poorer parts of the world".
WHO accepts made-in-city (Mumbai, India) vaccine for 2 commonest polio strains (http://www.indianexpress.com/, 21 June 2010)
A state-run corporation has got World Health Organisation (WHO) recognition for its bivalent polio vaccine.
The Parel-based Haffkine Biopharmaceuticals Corporation Limited (HBPCL) supplied 10 million doses last week as its first consignment to the Centre and UNICEF for distribution under the National Polio Survelliance Programme.
WHO heads back to the drug development drawing board (http://www.thelancet.com, 19 June 2010)
... In 2009, WHO brought together 24 experts to assess schemes and innovative proposals that could encourage much-needed research and development into drugs for neglected diseases. The final report by the Expert Working Group (EWG) was due to be rubber-stamped at the 63rd World Health Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 17—21, 2010. Instead, frustration over what some perceived to be a missed opportunity, unclear methods, a lack of transparency, and signs of industry interference led to a week of protracted negotiations, culminating in the creation of a new Consultative EWG (CEWG).
... Katy Athersuch, a policy adviser for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), adds that the move might represent a deeper problem. “What we saw at the WHA [World Health Assembly] was developing countries questioning the role of the Secretariat in protecting their interests”, she says. With the creation of a CEWG, she argues, member states were exerting their right to reclaim oversight over potentially thorny issues.
... Suspicions of impropriety peaked in December, 2009, a month before the finished report was due to be made public. A dossier surfaced on Wikileaks—a website that anonymously publishes sensitive material—showing that confidential EWG documents were being passed to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical and Manufacturer's Association (IFPMA), a pharmaceutical lobbying group based in Geneva. Included in the leak was an IFPMA email in which an undisclosed sender called the EWG's findings “in line with most of the industry positions”. More worryingly, the missive implied that the IFPMA could sway the position of “friendly [EWG] members”.
More Than A Pinprick (http://tehelka.com, 19 June 2010)
Vaccines are a perpetual expense as children are born all the time. Currently, the Indian government procures the trivalent vaccine at around Rs 15 from Indian firms. The WHO-backed pentavalent vaccine will cost Rs 525 at UNICEF-negotiated prices. Then, there will be additional costs for handling and delivering, which makes the pentavalent vaccine 35 times costlier than the trivalent vaccine. That is Rs 735 crore in cost of vaccine alone in perpetuity every year, and increasing due to inflation.
... there is no concern for the 11 million or so Indian children who are not vaccinated because they are too poor to afford private care, and because the government has not yet established systems to reach them. So, while a massive number of children are already suffering, the push for a pentavalent vaccine only increases costs of existing vaccines.
Malawi: Christian sect in measles vaccine standoff (http://www.google.com/hostednews/, 18 June 2010)
More than 100 members of a Christian religious sect have barricaded themselves in an abandoned building in southern Malawi over their refusal to give their children the measles vaccine, a regional health official said Wednesday.
Members of Seventh Day Apostolic Church say their doctrine forbids them from taking medication when they fall sick, as they believe prayer will bring divine healing.
The weeklong standoff in the district of Mulanje follows an outbreak of the highly contagious disease which has killed 48 people in the southern African country this year. Another 9,600 cases have been registered, the government said.
FDA Warns About Fraudulent Tamiflu (http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/, 18 June 2010)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers about a potentially harmful product represented as “Generic Tamiflu” sold over the Internet. FDA tests revealed that the fraudulent product does not contain Tamiflu’s active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin.
The agency reminds patients who are allergic to or may have experienced adverse reactions from penicillin products that they are at risk of experiencing similar reactions from cloxacillin. This includes a sudden, potentially life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis, with symptoms that include difficulty breathing, chest tightness, swelling of the throat or tongue, hives, dizziness, loss of consciousness, or a rapid or weak pulse. To date, the FDA is not aware of any reports of adverse reactions.
Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreading Beyond Western Cambodia (http://globalhealth.kff.org, 18 June 2010)
Resistance to artemisinin-based malaria medications seems to be spreading beyond western Cambodia, where it was first detected, U.S. global malaria coordinator Timothy Ziemer said during a visit to the region this week for a conference, Agence France-Presse reports.
First spotted in western Cambodia in 2007, there are now signs of artemisinin-resistance noted in southern Myanmar and potentially emerging resistance along the Chinese-Myanmar border and in southern Vietnam near Cambodia, according to Ziemer.
UNDP releases 8-pronged strategy to help developing countries meet MGDs (http://globalhealth.kff.org, 18 June 2010)
The U.N. Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday released a report (.pdf) outlining "an eight-pronged strategy it hopes can help poor nations advance sustainable development, considerably reduce poverty and essentially drive the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the next five years," ...
"The study was released in advance of a U.N. summit meeting in September which will assess the current status of the MDGs, and perhaps adopt a plan of action for the next five years towards the 2015 deadline," Inter Press Service reports
Financial Times examines how GAVI's $2.6B shortfall might affect new vaccine programs in developing countries (http://www.news-medical.net, 17 June 2010)
GAVI Alliance's plan to introduce new vaccine projects in the developing world "is under threat amid the international economic downturn," the Financial Times reports. "Subsidies to extend the use of vaccines against rubella, HPV to tackle cervical cancer, cholera and Japanese encephalitis in the developing world are among those likely to be cancelled or delayed," according to GAVI's CEO Julian Lob-Levyt, the newspaper writes.
The effects of GAVI's budget shortfall - estimated to be $2.6 billion over the next five years - will be the topic of discussion during the group's board meeting this week, according to the Financial Times.
Global polio eradication initiative launches 2010-2012 strategic plan for interrupting polio worldwide (http://www.who.in, 17 June 2010)
Partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are examining every possible option to seek fresh funding while managing existing cash flow to limit any threat to the immunization plan. The risk of not stopping polio in endemic countries was made clear when a large type-1 outbreak originally from India spread to Tajikistan early in 2010 where, to date, it has paralysed 239 children. Tajikistan had been polio-free since 1997. This highlights the urgency of capitalizing on recent gains made in the polio-endemic countries.
“Polio eradication remains an urgent priority for our foundation,” said Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We call on donor governments to also prioritize polio as we seek to eliminate these last, most difficult cases.”
“The complete eradication of polio is an absolute goal and it requires absolute commitment from us all,” said UNICEF Executive Director Tony Lake.
Top billionaires Gates, Slim launch health program for poor (http://www.google.com, 16 June 2010)
The world's top billionaires, Bill Gates and Carlos Slim, will team up with the government of Spain in a 150-million dollar health initiative for poor people in Central America and Mexico, it was announced here Monday.
Funds for the "2015 Meso-American Health Initiative" will be shared equally by the three contributors and will go over the next five years to improve maternal health, nutrition, vaccination, anti-dengue and anti-malaria campaigns in the region.
Tuberculosis centre opens in Nigeria (http://www.iol.co.za, 14 June 2010)
The United States on Monday donated a multi-million-dollar facility for the detection and treatment of tuberculosis to Nigeria, where around 400 000 people suffer from the disease.
Located on the outskirts of the northern city of Zaria, the facility includes a state-of-the-art bio-safety laboratory and a medical staff training centre as well as clinics for people living with HIV and Aids.
"This facility can train large numbers of people to diagnose tuberculosis," Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on the occasion.
"It can also improve the quality of the testing done for people with HIV around the country," he told reporters after a tour of the four-block facility.
Global Fund freezes Zambia aid, citing corruption (http://af.reuters.com, 15 June 2010)
The Global Fund has suspended more than $300 million in health assistance to Zambia because of concerns about corruption -- the latest graft scandal to hit President Rupiah Banda before an election due next year.
The freeze, which is likely to affect the southern African country's fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, comes a year after Sweden and the Netherlands suspended $33 million in Health Ministry aid due to a missing $5 million.
Uganda lacks half of required health workers (http://www.newvision.co.ug/, 15 June 2010)
UGANDA is short of 50% of the required health workers in the public service, according to a report by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
... The country needs about 46,977 health workers in public service, of which only 28,000 health workers are currently in service.
The report also showed that most of the health workers were in urban areas, which constitute only 12 to 16% of the country’s total population.
NIGERIA: Vitamin A handouts boost polio vaccine acceptance (http://www.irinnews.org, 14 June 2010)
Campaigns to distribute Vitamin A supplements to reduce high rates of child mortality and morbidity in northern Nigeria have had the unexpected side-effect of encouraging heavily stigmatized polio immunizations in the region.
Helen Keller International (HKI) started administering Vitamin A to children under five in northern Nigerian states in 2001 to reduce child mortality and protect children against river blindness, which is endemic in some states, including Borno.
Vitamin A can reduce under-five deaths by 30 percent, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), and reduce malaria infection rates in children by one-third.
As a result, the treatment tends to be welcomed by parents. Realizing this, health officials and international NGOs started to use Vitamin A to entice parents into accepting the polio vaccine.
Gamma Interferon A Wake-Up Call For Stem Cell Response To Infection (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com, 11 June 2010)
Most of the time, the body's blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells remain dormant, with just a few producing blood cells and maintaining a balance among the different types.
However, invading bacteria can be a call-to-arms, awaking the sleeping stem cells and prompting them to produce immune system cells that fight the foreign organisms. The "bugler" that awakes the stem cells in this battle is gamma interferon, a front-line protein defender against bacterial infection,...
... "Our model predicts that bacterial infection detected by sentinel immune cells stimulates the increased release of gamma interferon, which then travels through the blood stream to activate HSCs (hematopoietic stem cells) in the bone marrow, leading to expansion and mobilization of the immune progenitor pool (the cells that ultimately produce immune system cells)," ...
Harnessing The Immune System's Diagnostic Power (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/, 10 June 2010)
An inexpensive system for earlier disease diagnosis could save innumerable lives. It would also have a profound impact on the nation's healthcare industry, currently buckling under the strain of spiraling costs.
Now Dr. Bart Legutki, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University has pioneered a method for profiling the immune system, using clues provided by antibody activity to track an individual's state of health.
... The new technique, known as immunosignaturing, could provide rapid, pre-symptomatic diagnosis for a broad range of ailments, from infectious diseases to chronic afflictions to varied forms of cancer, offering the best hope for successful treatment.
... the immune system is exquisitely sensitive to any alterations in an individual's state of health resulting from infection or disease, registering these changes through subtle fluctuations in antibody activity. "The body has already done the hard work of figuring out what is going on inside us," he says, adding, "We just need to interpret the message."
The immunosignature can be thought of as a snapshot of an individual's immune system activity at the point in time the test is taken. The test involves a tiny sample of blood that is spread across a slide, with a resulting image that appears as a pattern of colored spots. The team demonstrated that a baseline immunosignature of antibody activity could be established and then compared with an immunosignature following exposure to a vaccine or pathogen.
World Bank health efforts failing in Africa: study (http://www.google.com/hostednews, 10 June 2010)
Billions of dollars for health programmes in sub-Saharan Africa by the World Bank and other development agencies over the past decade have been largely ineffective, a study released Wednesday showed.
The survey funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the international lender and its partners' approach "is not achieving intended outcomes," especially against diseases like tuberculosis.
It criticized the so-called sector-wide approaches (SWAps) in which donors support a government for broad-based improvements in the country's health care system instead of more targeted aid.
The World Bank and partner agencies failed to do enough to control TB in the poorest countries in Africa between 2001 and 2008, said the report released by the ACTION (Advocacy to Control TB Internationally) group.
The report noted that there were 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008 and 1.8 million deaths linked to the disease, 44 percent of them in Africa. It said most TB patients in sub-Saharan Africa go undiagnosed, including many cases of drug-resistant TB.
CPL Biologicals completes construction of vaccine facility in Dholka, India (http://www.news-medical.net, 10 June 2010)
CPL Biologicals (CPLB), a joint venture of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX), today announced that it has completed construction of its vaccine facility in Dholka, India and will commence equipment and installation validation this month so that the facility conforms to global standards for production of vaccines for human use.
... The facility plans to produce seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines based on Novavax's advanced virus-like particle (VLP) technology which enables the rapid development and production of novel vaccines without the use of live virus.
India's tuberculosis genome project under fire (http://www.nature.com/, 9 June 2010)
India's Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) project has drawn criticism from geneticists for not publishing its first results in a peer-reviewed journal. Researchers have also dismissed as hype some of the claims made by the project's chief coordinator, Samir Brahmachari.
Launched with much fanfare in September 2008 in the presence of Kapil Sibal, then India's science minister, the 1.5-billion-rupee (US$32-million) OSDD project aims to speed drug discovery — primarily against tuberculosis — by giving researchers an open platform for sharing their work through the Internet.
... Most of the concerns surrounding the work centre on the revelation that the massive task of re-annotating the M. tuberculosis genome — which contains around 4,000 genes — to link genes to their function, was completed in four months by about 400 college students with the guidance of senior OSDD project team members. And although the data from the project are available online, the team has no plans to publish them in a peer-reviewed journal.
WHO: Pharma interests didn't influence flu verdict
(http://www.google.com, 9 June 2010)
The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday strongly rejected suggestions that her decisions about swine flu were influenced by advisers' links to pharmaceutical companies.
"At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said.
She also dismissed claims the global health body had stirred unnecessary public fear over the pandemic.
2.8 million people on aids treatment through Global Fund investments (http://www.theglobalfund.org, 8 June 2010)
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced its mid-year results which show that 2.8 million people with HIV have received life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, a 22 percent increase on results reported in June 2009.
Global Fund-supported tuberculosis programs have so far provided 7 million people with effective TB drugs treatment. This is a 30 percent increase from mid-2009. Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people infected with HIV; the World Health Organization estimating that one in four TB deaths worldwide is HIV-related.
The Global Fund also reported progress in the fight against malaria, with a cumulative total of 122 million insecticide-treated bed nets delivered through its funded programs to families at risk of contracting the disease. This is a rise of 39 percent from 88 million nets distributed one year ago.
Gates Foundation gives $1.5 bln for women's health (http://www.reuters.com, 8 June 20018)
The program aims to cut across the "silos" of health initiatives focused on one thing -- AIDS, for example, or nutrition -- and get broader initiatives into place.
"That is in addition to grants that we already make in vaccines, diarrhea, malaria," Melinda Gates told reporters.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would try to focus the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto later this month on the subject, adding the goal is to raise $15 billion.
"We may need an additional $45 billion by 2015," Ban said.
Ban and Gates described a comprehensive approach through 2014 to help women deliver babies safely and plan healthy families with access to contraception, while incorporating current vaccination and nutrition programs.
Medical waste in city gets an image makeover (http://expressbuzz.com/, 5 June 2010)
At a time when increasing medical waste is posing a major environmental concern, an organisation has come forward to deal with the issue.
Image, a branch of the Indian Medical Association, is engaged in collecting and disposing of hospital waste from major hospitals in the city.
The medical waste includes used needles and syringes along with theatre waste. Contaminated and toxic materials are collected separately and are segregated.
TB Trial Splits HIV Community (http://allafrica.com, 6 June 2010)
One of South Africa's most eminent HIV scientists has been accused of causing "preventable deaths" during a clinical trial he conducted on people co-infected with HIV and TB.
Reaction to the trial, published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, has split the South African HIV/AIDS community with a number of HIV clinicians criticising the study design.
But Professor Salim Abdool Karim, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, says that it is easy to judge his trial with the benefit of hindsight.
"But when the trial was designed, there were no clear guidelines about whether TB and HIV could be treated together, mainly because of concerns about how patients would tolerate the drugs, how the drugs would interact and concerns about 'Immune Reconstitution Syndrome [a resurgence of latent infections]," said Abdool Karim.
Report condemns swine flu experts' ties to big pharma (http://www.guardian.co.uk, 4 June 2010)
Scientists who drew up the key World Health Organisation guidelines advising governments to stockpile drugs in the event of a flu pandemic had previously been paid by drug companies which stood to profit, according to a report out today.
An investigation by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting unit, shows that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was authored by three scientists who had previously received payment for other work from Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of Relenza.
City analysts say that pharmaceutical companies banked more than $7bn (£4.8bn) as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue of transparency has risen to the forefront of public health debate after dramatic predictions last year about a swine flu pandemic did not come true.
Community Mobilisation Key to Fight TB (http://allafrica.com/, 4 June 2010)
African medical experts have realised they need to make a much bigger effort to educate rural communities if they want to effectively contain the continent's tuberculosis (TB) epidemic.
... Until recently, TB testing and treatment was mainly offered in hospital settings, which meant that poor people who live in peri-urban or rural areas struggled to access those services. Moreover, many patients failed to adhere to the months-long course of treatment because they live too far away from their nearest hospital to go to regular follow-up visits and pick up their medication.
To slow down infection rates, several Southern African countries have now launched community-based screening, treatment and care programmes, especially in remote areas where access to health education and care is limited.
India-made H1N1 vaccine launched (http://www.deccanchronicle.com, 4 June 2010)
India on Thursday unveiled its first indigenous vaccine against the dreaded H1N1 which claimed over 18,000 lives globally and more than 1,000 in the country.
The country was earlier importing the vaccine from French company, Sanofi Pasteurs, for only health workers and other high-risk people. The vaccine, produced by Zydus Cadilla, was launched on Thursday by Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who took one of the first shots.
WHO says H1N1 flu pandemic continues (http://www.reuters.com, 3 June 2010)
The WHO emergency committee, composed of 15 external advisers, said it remained critical for countries to maintain vigilance concerning the pandemic, including necessary public health measures for disease control and surveillance, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement.
"We're still in the pandemic," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters.
Chan said that pandemic flu activity was expected to continue, and the committee would meet again by mid-July to review the status of the outbreak once more data from the winter influenza season in the southern hemisphere was available.
African mining may be driving TB epidemic: study (http://www.reuters.com, 1 June 2010)
Researchers from Britain and the United States said their study suggested that crowded living and working conditions, dust in mines, and the spread of HIV mean Africa's mining industry may figure in up to 760,000 new cases of TB each year.
Men traveling from afar to work in mines, such as from Botswana to South Africa, are at the greatest risk of getting TB, the researchers wrote in a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
But their wives, children and friends are also at high risk of catching the disease when miners travel back and forth to work, often many times a year.
Molecules similar to blood-thinning drug heparin can stop malaria from infecting red blood cells (http://www.news-medical.net, 2 June 2010)
New treatments for malaria are possible after Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists found that molecules similar to the blood-thinning drug heparin can stop malaria from infecting red blood cells.
... Using real-time video microscopy of red blood cell infection, the team showed that heparin-like carbohydrates blocked the ability of the malaria parasite to infect cells, Dr Beeson said.
Ford Foundation Initiative to Tackle HIV Crisis in United States (http://www.fordfound.org, 2 June 2010)
The Ford Foundation today announced a $25 million effort to fight the disproportionate yet largely hidden impact of HIV/AIDS on marginalized communities in the United States.
The initiative will target the District of Columbia and nine states in the South that rank among the highest in new AIDS cases. It will also support efforts to address the spread of HIV among African Americans, women and Latinos. The effort will build upon investments made by Ford over the past several years to address the impact of HIV in these communities and to fight the discrimination that allows the epidemic to spread. It is informed by decades of Ford work tackling difficult human rights issues facing highly marginalized communities.
HTDS commences clinical trials for MEVAC-A vaccine in Vietnam (http://www.news-medical.net, 2 June 2010)
Hard to Treat Diseases, Inc. (HTDS; http://www.htdsmedical.com) and Shenzhen Mellow Hope (www.mellowhope.com) announce, that the company commenced clinical trials for the company's Hepatitis A (brand name MEVAC-A) vaccine.
Following 2 years of cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, HTDS reached the stage of clinical trials for its MEVAC-A. To complete the trials, the company obtained the Import License for the samples, and expects to ship those to Vietnam in June 2010.
The company expects to finalize the clinical trials within 6 months. Following the trials, Vietnamese Ministry of Health will release Registration Certificate for the vaccine immediately and the company will start to market its product on this growing market
Malaria Kills: Distributing 63 million bednets in Nigeria with RapidSMS (http://mobileactive.org, 25 May 2010)
The human and economic cost of malaria in Nigeria is staggering. There are currently 110 million clinically diagnosed cases in a population of 151 million. Malaria kills 250,000 children under five years old in Nigeria every year, and is the cause of 11% of maternal deaths. 60% of out-patient visits and 30% of hospitalizations in the country are malaria-related.
In addition to the enormous toll malaria takes on public health, it is also expensive. 132 billion Naira (USD $870 million) is lost every year in the form of malaria prevention and treatment costs and from the loss of overall economic productivity. And yet in spite of the risk malaria poses to the Nigerian people, health surveys from 2006 to 2008 indicated that only 8% of households in the country owned at least one insecticide-treated net ...
UNICEF Innovation, working with its country offices, launched a mobile technology initiative in 2008 to address the challenges in on-the-ground data collection and supply chain management in aid delivery. RapidSMS, on of the products that orginitated with the Innovation team, is a free, open-source framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination, and communication. The software was introduced as a tool to resolve a common problem in the delivery of aid projects: How can relevant be collected and accessed data faster?
... UNICEF first deployed RapidSMS in Nigeria in mid-2009 to track and collect data from the Immunization Plus days, a polio eradication initiative of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency. In order for RapidSMS to be used in the first phase of the bednet distribution program, new features had to be created, says Akinbo, UNICEF’s local software developer. Because it was designed with flexibility and scalability in mind, RapidSMS is relatively easy to customize for specific projects with technical expertise.
Polio—a pathogen on a precipice (http://www.thelancet.com/, June 2010)
... Polio, like dracunculiasis and smallpox, has no non-human reservoir and has known preventive interventions, in this case highly effective vaccines, and therefore is an attractive target. And the prominence of the disease in high-income countries charged early control efforts. In the USA, for example, President Franklin D Roosevelt, who was paralysed by the disease, initiated the huge charitable fundraising efforts known as The March of Dimes, which was instrumental in funding the development of both Salk and Sabin polio vaccines. Resulting immunisation programmes in the USA and Europe staring in the 1950s saw rapid and early success. The incidence of polio in the USA and Europe declined rapidly, and in 1960 Czechoslovakia became the first country to declare polio eradicated. In 1985 the Pan American Health Organization launched an initiative to eradicate polio from the Americas, and in the same year, the Rotary Organisation pledged to raise US$120 million to immunise all children worldwide. With such positive initial gains WHO, UNICEF, the Rotary Organisation, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988.
Within the first 5 years of the initiative, global incidence of the disease declined from an estimated 350 000 to 100 000. Since then, enormous gains have been made freeing much of the world from the crippling viral disease, which is now endemic in just a handful of regions in four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Nonetheless, despite 22 years of gains, in the past 5 years the disease and its would-be eradicators have reached something of a stalemate. Each year 1000—2000 people have been affected by the disease, with outbreaks in both endemic and non-endemic countries. The impasse has led some to question the goal of eradication. Given the low incidence of the disease, are the benefits of achieving eradication worth the ongoing expense? But this question misses the point—the incidence is so low only because of eradication efforts; were surveillance to be relaxed and were mass immunisation campaigns to give way to routine vaccination alone, numbers of cases would surely rise again, and the disease spread to regions from which it has been eliminated.
South Africa prepares for the football World Cup (http://www.thelancet.com/, June 2010)
... The world event, which is expected to draw more than 350 000 foreign visitors to nine cities in the country, presents a number of challenges given its size and the diversity of fans that will be attending. Mass gatherings have the potential to increase transmission of imported and endemic communicable diseases, including pandemic H1N1 influenza, according to South Africa's National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). However, because the World Cup is being held during the northern hemisphere's summer the NICD says South African will escape the worst of the H1N1 pandemic.
... Frew Benson, the Health Department's head of communicable diseases, says the 2010 southern hemisphere vaccine against influenza A H1N1 has been incorporated into a trivalent vaccine formulated for the winter influenza season and also protects against seasonal strains of influenza A H3N2 and B.
He said 1·3 million doses had been bought for the public sector and a further 3·5 million donated by WHO. Of these, 300 000 doses had been distributed so far. Only high-risk groups are being targeted for vaccination, starting off with pregnant women, children younger than 15 years with HIV and other chronic illnesses, frontline health-care workers, people with lung and heart problems, and members of the defence force who will be assisting with the football event. “We are hoping to conclude our vaccination campaign before the start of the World Cup.”
... A recent measles outbreak that began in 2009 in Gauteng has spread to the eight provinces, with the NICD's latest figures showing 12 277 cases from January last year to April this year. Most of these cases have been in Gauteng, then KwaZulu-Natal and then Western Cape. In April, the health department began a 2-week measles campaign and extended it by 9 days to try to reach 15 million children younger than 5 years of age for measles vaccination and 5 million for polio.
Outbreaks among inmates (http://www.thelancet.com, June 2010)
The Zambian prison system is in drastic need of overhaul, concludes a new report released and coauthored by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Unjust and Unhealthy notes that inmates are at heightened risk of contracting tuberculosis and HIV. Those that do fall sick are highly unlikely to receive adequate health care: the entire budget for prison medical services is around US$42 000; this has to serve some 15 300 prisoners, living in a jail system designed for 5500.
... Of course, it is tuberculosis that particularly flourishes where there is overcrowding. Zambian prisons are simply not equipped to tackle the disease: “clinics often only have paracetemol and lack basic equipment and infrastructure including running water, disinfectant and gloves” the report states. Hence prisoners must attend local clinics to receive testing and treatment. This can prove problematic. There might be a lack of fuel or transport, or prison officers just do not want to risk an escape. There are often lengthy delays between patients presenting with symptoms and their being tested for tuberculosis.
