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 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156355.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156355.php Researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool will work with universities across Africa as part of a £30 million initiative to strengthen research into science and health on the continent. The Wellcome Trust initiative will see the formation of seven new international consortiums that will focus on developing and sustaining high quality research into the health and wellbeing of African people. HIV / AIDS Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156297.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156297.php The WHO on Wednesday announced plans for a clinical trial to test a new drug that "could halve the treatment period for river blindness [or onchocerciasis], a disease that threatens 100 million people mostly in Africa," AFP/Dow Jones Newswires/CNN Money reports (7/1). Tropical Diseases Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156212.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156212.php An additional 30 million bed nets, the development of life-saving new treatments and new funding to increase access to anti-malarial drugs are announced today in a package of measures by International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, as the UK continues its fight to rid the world of malaria. Every year 247 million people are infected with malaria with nearly one million of those dying from the disease. Tropical Diseases Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156166.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156166.php Deadly diseases including plague, Ebola and Rift Valley Fever are being targeted as part of a new multi-million pound international partnership involving African researchers and the London International Development Centre (LIDC). Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156170.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156170.php More than fifty institutions from eighteen African countries - from Senegal to Sudan to South Africa - are to participate in international consortia under a £30 million initiative from the Wellcome Trust to strengthen research capacity on the continent. Africa is affected by some of the world's deadliest diseases, including HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. HIV / AIDS Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156133.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156133.php Just about one-third of people seeking malaria treatment in Kenya received the recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and some people are being treated with ineffective drugs like chloroquine, which was phased out almost 10 years ago, according to the recently launched 2007 Kenya Malaria Indicator Survey - the country's "first ever comprehensive malaria study," the Tropical Diseases Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155983.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155983.php The British Medical Journal examines the outcome of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, last week. Tropical Diseases Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155986.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155986.php Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson examines why some Ugandans do not support indoor spraying of DDT to prevent malaria. Grace Kagoro, a biology professor and environmental researcher at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, is "nervous about adding what she said could be one more shock to the soil and water," according to Jackson. Tropical Diseases Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155880.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155880.php The first microsatellite-based genetic linkage map has been published for Schistosoma mansoni, a blood fluke that is known to infect over 90 million people in Africa, the Middle East and the New World. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology hope the map will stimulate research and open doors to new advances in combating this neglected human pathogen. S. Blood / Hematology Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155800.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155800.php Newsweek Examines Efforts To Stop Disease Spread By Genetically Modifing Mosquitoes Newsweek examines the genetic modification of mosquitoes in an effort to stem the spread of dengue fever and malaria. Dengue fever, which is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, "is spreading fast," according to the magazine, with more than 100 million people afflicted yearly. Tropical Diseases Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155620.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155620.php USAID announced on Thursday a $1 million commitment to a Red Cross project aimed at helping those "living along southern Africa's Zambezi River cope with worsening natural disasters because of climate change," the AP/Washington Post reports. Aid / Disasters Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155624.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155624.php Health Community Should Welcome Human Rights Community's Help With Reducing Maternal Deaths Efforts by the human rights community to reach the 2015 U.N. Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters "should be welcomed by the health community," according to a Lancet editorial. Women's Health / Gynecology Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155667.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155667.php In one of the most field-intensive efforts to explore the connection between malaria and tropical deforestation, a team led by Jonathan Patz, a specialist in the link between environment and health at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has established a strong correlation between the extent of forest destruction and the incidence of the Amazon's most dangerous malaria vector, the mosquito Anopheles darlingi. Tropical Diseases Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155623.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155623.php VOA News examines malaria in southern Sudan. In the region, malaria is "widespread" and accounts for "up to 30 percent of all diseases treated by health facilities." It is the "number one killer of children in southern Sudan," though there are "no reliable statistics on the number in southern Sudan who suffer, or die from, malaria," VOA News reports. Tropical Diseases Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155622.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155622.php In malaria-endemic areas, vitamin A supplements - which cost about 2 U.S. cents each - can help reduce infections in children by one-third, according to a study published in the Malaria Journal, IRIN reports. The study analyzed results from previous studies conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Papua New Guinea since 1995. Tropical Diseases Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155641.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155641.php Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with quinine. Once confirmed, these findings would suggest that dietary tryptophan supplements could be a simple and inexpensive way to improve the performance of this important drug. Tropical Diseases Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155486.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155486.php Taiwan Marks Increased Numbers Of HIV-Positive Students The Taiwan AIDS Foundation said that according to Department of Health's Centers for Disease Control statistics, the average age of HIV positive people in the country is getting younger, the China Post reports. HIV / AIDS Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155449.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155449.php According to new research* carried out by Lloydspharmacy, the UK's leading community pharmacy chain, around 2.1million British holidaymakers and travellers are ignoring the need to protect themselves against malaria. This may explain the alarming rise in the number of cases found in the UK, with the British Medical Journal reporting a 30% rise in malaria cases in the UK over the last 15 years**. Tropical Diseases Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155344.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155344.php Researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have found that variation in the same gene in humans and baboons produces the same kind of disease resistance. The findings were published in the June 24 online edition of the journal Nature. Genetics Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155417.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155417.php Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness affects tens of thousands of people every year in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a fatal disease with few treatment options. According to an article in this week's issue of The Lancet, Nifurtimox in combination with eflornithine is safe, effective, and more affordable than current treatments for sleeping sickness. This new drug combination should be implemented as a matter of priority by control programmes across sub-Saharan Africa. Tropical Diseases Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155320.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155320.php IRIN Examines Hardships Facing Parents, Guardians Of Children Living With HIV/AIDS IRIN examines the hardships parents and guardians of the estimated 170,000 Kenyan children currently infected with HIV often face. "Caregivers face the dilemma of how to disclose status to ... HIV / AIDS Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155323.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155323.php There was more than a 50 percent drop in the total number of malaria cases reported by public facilities in Cambodia between 2003 and 2008, according to the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control's annual report, which was released on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post reports. Tropical Diseases Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155188.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155188.php University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have discovered an important new insight into how a commonly prescribed drug may work to treat those infected by a parasitic flatworm. The Schistosomasis parasite infects about 200 million people in tropical areas worldwide and is endemic in more than 70 countries, where people become infected simply by bathing, drinking, or cooking water contaminated with the flatworm. Tropical Diseases Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155158.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155158.php The pharmaceutical company, Merck, announced Monday it was partnering with the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in an effort to improve treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTD), the AP/CNBC reports. "The agreement covers drug candidates for illnesses like visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, potentially lethal parasitic illnesses spread by insects. Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155048.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/155048.php On the eve of an international meeting bringing together 200 African researchers to discuss progress on research for neglected tropical diseases (NTD), Merck & Co., Inc. and the not-for-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) announced a master agreement to support discovery and development of improved treatments for NTDs. The agreement covers a wide range of NTDs including visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease that infect millions of people. Tropical Diseases