Disease-Carrying African Mongoose Poses Serious Threat To Humans
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New research from Virginia Tech has identified the banded mongoose as one of the biggest public health threats in Africa. According to their report in the journal Zoonoses and Public...
Latest Tropical diseases Stories
A large scale, five year study of mosquitoes from different ecological regions in Kenya, including savannah grassland, semi-arid Acacia thorn bushes, and mangrove swamps, found a reservoir of viruses carried by mosquitoes (arboviruses) that are responsible for human and animal diseases. This research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Virology Journal, highlights the need for continued surveillance in order to monitor the risk of disease outbreaks. Over 450,000 mosquitoes...
Researchers at Michigan State University have identified a test that can determine which children with malaria are likely to develop cerebral malaria, a much more life-threatening form of the disease. The screening tool could be a game-changer in resource-limited rural health clinics where workers see hundreds of children with malaria each day and must decide which patients can be sent home with oral drugs and which need to be taken to hospitals for more comprehensive care. “Rural...
New PLOS Collection assesses the measurement of whether much needed health interventions are reaching women and children across the developing world Measuring coverage of maternal, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries is critical to ensuring that health interventions are reaching the women and children who need them most, says a new Collection of articles published by PLOS this week. Accurate measurement of the effectiveness of those interventions for combating...
Obtains Promising Vaccine Candidates Against Dengue and Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, Advancing Takeda's Commitment to Vaccines and Global Health OSAKA, Japan and DEERFIELD, Ill. and FORT COLLINS, Colo., May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") and Inviragen, Inc. ("Inviragen") jointly announced today that Takeda, its wholly owned subsidiary Takeda America Holdings, Inc., and Inviragen, Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement for Takeda to...
SEATTLE, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Plandai Biotechnology, Inc. (OTCQB: PLPL), a producer of highly bioavailable plant extracts for industries including health, wellness, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical, today announced the formation of Phyto Pharmacare, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which will oversee all aspects of developing and marketing Phytofare(TM) extracts for pharmaceutical and drug applications. Plandai Chief Executive Officer Roger Duffield commented, "As a...
A protein produced by mast cells in the immune system may predict which people infected with dengue virus will develop life-threatening complications, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS). Their study also found that in experiments in mice, a class of drugs commonly used to treat asthma by targeting the mast cells could help treat vascular symptoms associated with dengue infections. The findings were published in the online journal...
With the help of a warning system which measures the risk of dengue incidence using precipitation and air temperature, it is possible to forecast the outbreak of dengue fever up to 16 weeks in advance. This is what Yien Ling Hii concludes in the dissertation she is defending at Umeå University on 3 May. Dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by virus and transmitted to persons by mosquitoes. A person contracted dengue fever usually shows symptoms including sudden spike of high...
A new article in The Journal of Parasitology features a study on schistosomiasis vaccine research. The researchers hypothesized that attacking ESP-induced immune responses would lead to almost total elimination of the parasite. Lawrence, KS (PRWEB) April 25, 2013 Nearly 800 million people, mostly children, are at risk for schistosomiasis, a widespread parasitic disease found in more than 75 developing countries. Although drug treatment is effective, it does not prevent reinfection....
-- Power of One donation campaign harnesses the latest web and mobile technology to rally the global public to fight malaria BASEL, Switzerland, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis and Malaria No More, a leading global charity determined to end malaria deaths, announced today that they are joining forces on the Power of One campaign to help close the treatment gap and accelerate progress in the fight against malaria. Over the next three years, Novartis will support the...
Campaign Alerts Public of the Threat of West Nile Virus and Other Vector-Borne Diseases SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosquitoes and warm weather go hand in hand. Coinciding with the arrival of mosquito season, the California State Legislature declared the week of April 21-27, 2013 as West Nile Virus and Mosquito and Vector Control Awareness Week in California. West Nile virus is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes that can result in debilitating cases of meningitis and...
Latest Tropical diseases Reference Libraries
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease with a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family. It is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes and is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa, but not in Asia. Primates and a few kinds of mosquitoes are the only known hosts. The origin of the disease is most likely Africa. From there it was introduced to South America through the slave trade in the 16th century. There...
West Nile virus (WNV) is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. It is part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses and is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It primarily infects birds but can infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, and other mammals. Humans are generally infected through the bites of mosquitoes and about 90% of West Nile Virus infections are without symptoms. The virion is 45-60 nm and covered with a relatively smooth protein surface. It is...
Marburg virus, or Marburg, is the standard name for the genus of viruses Marburgvirus which contains the species, Lake Victoria Marburgvirus. It causes Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever (MHF) which originated with primates. It originated in Africa and can infect humans and primates. It is in the same taxonomic family as Ebola and both are identical structurally although they elicit different antibodies. It was named after the location of the first outbreak in Marburg, Germany in 1967. The...
Lassa fever, first described in 1969 in Lassa, is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever. Clinical cases were known a decade before this but were not associated with this viral pathogen. It is endemic in West African countries and causes approximately 5,000 deaths. The Natal Multimammate Mouse is the primary animal host. The rodent is a source of protein but the virus is usually transmitted by the contact with the feces and urine of animals accessing grain stores in residences. The lassa virus...
Dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), caused by the dengue virus, is among the spectrum of acute febrile tropical disease and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Occurring mainly in the tropics it can be life threatening and is caused by four closely related virus stereotypes of the genus Flavivirus. It was identified and named in 1779. It has a nickname of "breakbone fever" due to it causing sever generalized bodyache. It tends to be more prevalent in the urban districts of its range...
