November 29, 2013
A round-up of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
We invite our readers to join us on December 3 for the launch of The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (CIH) report Global Health 2035: A World Converging Within a Generation , which will take place in London, Johannesburg and Tunis. Over the past year, CDDEP has served as Secretariat to the CIH, which was formed to draw lessons from past health policy successes to inform current and future policies for addressing remaining global health problems. The London launch will be webcast live – this link will be active on December 3 from 09:00-17:00 UTC. For more information, please contact the Secretariat. To visit the official site of Global Health 2035, click here.
A study by the National Cancer Institute found the tumors of mice treated with antibiotics to deplete the gut of bacteria were largely impaired in their ability to respond to immunotherapy that slows cancer growth. [NCI]
NIH-funded scientists have discovered a protein in malaria-causing Plasmodium parasites that is inhibited by a new class of anti-malarial compounds. The protein, phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase, is essential to all stages of the Plasmodium life cycle. The compounds, known as imidazopyrazines, prevent the parasites from developing. [EurekAlert]
Researchers at Lund University have found that a recently discovered HIV strain leads to significantly faster development of AIDS than the currently prevalent forms of the virus. [Journal of Infectious Diseases]
The perverse economics of the antibiotics industry are holding back research and development efforts at a crucial time for the war on antimicrobial resistance, argues John Aziz in The Week. [The Week]
China s campaign against the misuse of antibiotics, which involves a number of management strategies for hospitals, has shown success in decreasing antibiotic sales and prescriptions. [PLOS Medicine]
By using predictive quantitative models, UC San Diego physicists were able to identify the way resistant E. coli cells develop in the presence of antibiotics. [Phys.org]
Antibiotic resistance is a global threat on par with terrorism and global warming, England s Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies said at the BioInfect 2013 conference in Cheshire, UK this week. [PharmaTimes]
Tuberculosis was the cause of 1.3 million deaths worldwide in 2012 and remains a leading cause of fatalities from contagious illness, second only to AIDS. Newsweek highlights the growing threat of multidrug-resistant and extensively resistant forms of the disease. [Newsweek]
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