A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health. 

Last week’s discussion “Global Health 2035: Grand Convergence in Health Through Universal Health Coverage” can now be viewed online. The discussion was organized by the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, for which CDDEP serves as secretariat, and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. An overview of this and other Global Health 2035 events  including the February 12 briefing at the International Monetary Fund  can be found at www.globalhealth2035.org. [Columbia]

Every drug certified by the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as pacemakers and prosthetics, must be tested for endotoxins with Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), a substance that can only be derived from horseshoe crab blood. But the annual “blood harvest” required to produce LAL is putting horseshoe crab populations in danger, leading researchers to seek out a synthetic substitute. [The Atlantic]

According to a new study of Tanzanian children published in the New England Journal of Medicine, febrile illnesses in children are usually caused by viral infections. These findings could reduce the overuse of antibiotics in these countries. [EurekAlert]

According to data from a major federal health survey, the obesity rate among 2-to 5-year-old children in the US has declined 43% in a decade. [New York Times]

A study published this week by University of Pennsylvania researchers shows that the Plasmodium vivax malaria parasite originated in Africa. The parasite was previously believed to have originated in Asia due to the presence of the closest genetic relative of P. vivax in Asian macaques; however, the discovery of African apes infected with parasites identical to human P. vivax has overturned this belief. [Vaccine News Daily]

Countries around the world need to improve their disease surveillance programs and mechanisms for coping with the spread of infectious diseases, argues an editorial published in the New York Times this week. [New York Times]

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, have discovered a single protein, AP2-G, that is responsible for spreading malaria. The protein is necessary for switching on genes that control the development of precursor malaria cells to the male and female forms of the parasite – the only stage that is infectious to mosquitoes, according to the researchers. Switching off AP2-G prevents malaria cells from growing into sexual-stage parasites a method that could prove very important for controlling the spread of the disease. [The Hindu ]

Administering a live measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to children at the recommended age is associated with fewer hospitalizations for common infections, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers speculate that the vaccine may have a general immune stimulating effect preventing some hospital admissions for unrelated infections. [Healio]

A new method for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria involves disarming microbes, interfering with their ability to adapt for survival in the human body. [MedicalXPress]

Scientists working on the EU s Earth Observation and Environmental Modelling for the Mitigation of Health Risks (Eo2HEAVEN) project are aiming to improve forecasting methods for epidemics, which could improve the ability of governments and international health organizations to control the spread of disease. [Infection Control Today]

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Photo via Wellcome Images/Flickr.