Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Tropical Diseases News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/tropical_diseases/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171655.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171655.php Pfizer and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) on Wednesday announced plans to team up in an effort to identify new drug candidates for the treatment of three tropical diseases, the Associated Press/Business Week reports. The scientists will test the efficacy of Pfizer drug candidates against sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease. Tropical Diseases Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171514.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171514.php Lancet Infectious Diseases Examines Hold-Ups In Implementation Of Sleeping Sickness Therapy Tropical Diseases Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171510.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171510.php The WHO on Tuesday announced it would lead a week-long, multi-country vaccination campaign in Africa next week to protect those "deemed at highest risk from yellow fever," Reuters reports. The vaccination drive will target nearly 12 million Africans living in Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone - all countries at high risk of yellow fever outbreaks (Nebehay/MacInnis, 11/17). Tropical Diseases Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171345.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171345.php "More than 24,000 infants die daily from preventable diseases in developing countries," and child deaths have fallen in countries where governments "have shown a high level of political leadership on child health," World Vision International said in a new report (.pdf) released on Monday as part of a five-year campaign to reduce child deaths worldwide, the Pediatrics / Children's Health Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171164.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171164.php Changes Planned For Ugandan HIV/AIDS Campaign "The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) is revamping its national HIV information campaign after HIV prevention messages were less successful than hoped," PlusNews reports. HIV / AIDS Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171111.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171111.php The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), the release of sexually sterile male insects to wipe out a pest population, is one suggested solution to the problem of malaria in Africa. A new supplement, published in BioMed Central's open access Malaria Journal, reviews the history of the technique, and features details about aspects of its application in the elimination of malaria. Tropical Diseases Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171028.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171028.php Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes. Pediatrics / Children's Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171007.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171007.php During its recent board meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved $2.4 billion for the three diseases, PlusNews reports. The money is for the fund's "ninth round of grants, bringing the total amount of approved funding since its inception in 2001 to $18.4 billion," according to the publication. HIV / AIDS Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171010.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171010.php TIME reports on evidence along the Thai-Cambodia border that the malaria parasite is gaining resistance to artemisinin - "the only remaining effective drug in the world's arsenal against malaria's most deadly strain. Tropical Diseases Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170890.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170890.php In a novel approach at disseminating scientific research, the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) held a web summit to release the latest breakthroughs in malaria research, including new approaches to boosting mosquito immunity to malaria, mapping mosquito migrations, and the promise of a rapid sputum test that could revolutionize the way malaria is tracked and tested for in rural areas, which are hotbeds for the disease. Tropical Diseases Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170753.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170753.php Drug companies and nonprofit organizations are joining forces to develop new drugs and vaccines to target so-called "neglected" diseases that claim millions of lives in the developing world each year. Those hard-to-treat diseases include malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever, and other conditions. That's the topic of the cover story scheduled for the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine. Tropical Diseases Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170586.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170586.php Mail & Guardian Examines Sexual Abuse Of Children In Zimbabwe The Mail & Guardian examines how the "economic collapse" in Zimbabwe has contributed to rising numbers of children falling victims to sexual abuse. Pediatrics / Children's Health Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170404.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170404.php The 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference ended Friday in Nairobi, Kenya, " with scientists expressing optimism about several developments in the works to prevent, treat, and possibly eradicate a disease that kills nearly one million people in Africa each year," Tropical Diseases Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170409.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170409.php Human movement is a key factor of dengue virus inflow in Rio de Janeiro, according to results from researchers based at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brazil. The results, based on data from a severe epidemic in 2007-2008, contribute to new understanding on the dynamics of dengue fever in the second largest city in Brazil. Details are published November 10 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Tropical Diseases Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170364.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170364.php Global economic problems and other factors have slowed public health funding from the U.S. and other international donors, threatening recent gains in providing antiretroviral drugs to people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries, according to a new report by Doctors Without Borders, the HIV / AIDS Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170461.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170461.php Tapeworms, or cestodes, are intestinal parasites; they are worms that are flattened like a tape measure. A tapeworm cannot live freely on its own - it survives within the gut (intestine) of an animal, including a human. A parasite is an animal or plant that lives in a host; another animal or plant. Tapeworm eggs generally enter the human host from animals through ingested food, especially raw or undercooked meat. Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170233.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170233.php Chinese scientists have been working on enhancing "the rare sweet wormwood shrub, from which artemisinin - the best drug to fight malaria - is derived" in an effort to fight malaria "not on its own soil, where the deadly disease has been sharply pruned back, but in Africa, where it still kills one child every 30 seconds," Reuters reports. Tropical Diseases Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170237.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170237.php Clinical Infectious Diseases Examines Malaria Treatment An editorial commentary appearing in Clinical Infectious Diseases examines the insight gained in how best to control malaria, based on recent studies of artemisinin combination therapy (ACTs). Tropical Diseases Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170091.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170091.php In a session at the 5th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, experts discussed the tools required to eradicate the disease and highlighted insecticide and drug resistance in some parts of the world, Xinhua reports. Tropical Diseases Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170097.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170097.php Child Mortality In Kenya Still High, Survey Shows "The most current data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics under the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) launched on Wednesday shows mortality among children under five years stands at 7.4 percent, while that of infants is at 5.2 percent," Business Daily reports. Pediatrics / Children's Health Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170000.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170000.php Antigenics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN) today indicated that GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Phase III malaria vaccine clinical trial, containing Antigenics' QS-21 Stimulon® adjuvant, has enrolled more than 5,000 children to date and is expected to involve up to 16,000 children. The pivotal efficacy study of RTS,S, the world's most clinically advanced malaria vaccine, is ongoing in seven African countries. Tropical Diseases Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169957.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169957.php Cholera, an acute diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, has reemerged as a global killer. Outbreaks typically occur once a year in Africa and Latin America. But in Bangladesh the epidemics occur twice a year - in the spring and again in the fall. Tropical Diseases Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169930.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169930.php The growing threat of the H1N1 pandemic and West Nile virus -- as well as other emerging zoonotic, food, or waterborne diseases and environmental changes -- has prompted experts to look for solutions to the increasingly integrated problems among animal, human, and environmental health. In turn, the nonprofit One Health Commission was created to develop a strategy for improved collaboration across human, animal, and ecosystem health sciences. Swine Flu Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169920.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169920.php Subsidized artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) under the Affordable Medicines Facility - malaria (AMFm) program will be available in select countries "in two week's time," Tropical Diseases Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169810.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169810.php By 2031 developing countries could need an estimated $35 billion to fight HIV/AIDS - three times the amount currently spent, according to a Health Affairs study published Tuesday, the New York Times reports. HIV / AIDS