December 14, 2012
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
CDDEP blogs about DCPSim, an agent-based model created by our researchers to compare the cost-effectiveness of various health interventions. [CDDEP]
The Lancet publishes seven articles summarizing the findings of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD2010), the largest ever systematic effort to describe the global distribution and causes of a wide array of major diseases, injuries, and health risk factors. [The Lancet]
Presenting relevant insights from GBD2010, Humanosphere blog article discusses the study, and states that the study is almost guaranteed to provoke and disrupt the international community s approach to improving global health. The New York Times also discusses the study. [NYTimes]
An article published in PLoS Blogs comments on GBD2010’s inadequate transparency with regards to its analytical choices, methods, and assumptions. [PLoS]
An NYT op-ed discusses the economic and scientific challenges of developing new antibiotics, and recommends a new collaborative model for drug discovery. [NYTimes]
Stopping the misuse of the word antibiotic could play an important role in promoting informed antibiotic use.
In research published in the journal Nature Genetics, British geneticists use genomic data to map the origin and spread of drug-resistant Clostridium difficile. [NPR]
A study published in International Journal of Health Geographics shows how geographic profiling, a statistical tool used in criminology to find serial killers, can be used to locate sources of infectious diseases. [Phys.org]
Findings from research on mice reveal that blocking a protein known as ABCC10 made cancer drugs more effective, suggesting the protein s link to drug resistance and potential new therapies for cancer treatment in humans. [Science Blog]
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) blames fake and substandard drugs as the major obstacle in the fight against malaria. [AllAfrica]
New research published in the journal Science illustrates how a molecule produced by platelets combines with Duffy, an antigen located on the surface of red blood cells, to kill Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite that causes malaria. The researchers also reason that the absence of the Duffy molecule in the people of Africa might explain the prevalence of this strain of malaria in the African continent. [The Conversation]
To help fill a $3.6 billion funding gap to tackle Africa s malaria problem, the board of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership calls on governments and development partners for support. [Devex]
