May 08, 2015
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
Global malaria mortality has decreased 42 percent since 2000, but there is still much work to be done, according a Post-2015 Copenhagen Consensus health perspective article co-authored by CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan. The article contends that continued malaria mortality reduction should focus on two targets: combating artemisinin resistance and mass distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets. [Copenhagen Consensus]
Why should we be concerned about animal antibiotic use, and what can be done to reduce it? In an interview with The Food Journal on livestock antibiotic use, CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan discussed connections between livestock antibiotic use and drug resistance, particularly in light of growing animal antibiotic use worldwide. The article cited recent CDDEP research that predicts a 67 percent increase global animal antibiotic consumption by 2030. [The Food Journal and Food, Nutrition and Science, PNAS]
The newest strategy for fighting C. diff is to ward off infection using other strains of C. diff. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers infected study participants non-toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) in hopes that the “friendlier” strain would colonize spaces in the gut that the toxic one normally inhabits and block further infection. Just 2 percent of the participants who were successfully colonized with the non-toxigenic strain reported repeat C. diff infections, compared with 30 percent of those who received a placebo or for whom colonization was not successful. [JAMA, BBC]
A case of the measles inhibits immune systems for up to two years after infection—and the measles vaccine offers more disease protection than originally thought. Researchers analyzed data from before and after the measles vaccine was introduced in the United States, United Kingdom (both in the 1960s) and Denmark (in the 1980s) and found that the effects of measles infection were more long-lasting than first thought—”children who survive measles remain vulnerable to other diseases for an average of 2.5 years.” The protection given by the vaccine then could minimize susceptibility of individuals to other diseases, making the vaccine even more beneficial than previously understood. [Science, Science News]
The Ebola outbreak in Liberia could be declared finished on Saturday. If no infections are reported, May 9th will be the 42nd consecutive day without an Ebola case in the country—the number of days without a new case needed to declare freedom from the virus. The virus is lingering in unexpected places in the body, though: Researchers have reported that remnants of Ebola virus in patients’ eye fluid remained months after they were declared cured—and one American doctor’s eye temporarily changed colors after he was infected. [The Guardian, New York Times]
Hog farm workers are nearly six times more likely to carry a strain of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus than the general population, according to research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study shed further light on connections between agricultural antibiotic use and drug resistance. National Geographic blogger Maryn McKenna writes, “What [the research] does do is draw a firm association between recent exposure to swine, and greater probability of acquiring resistant bacteria. In the ongoing debate over the risks of using agricultural antibiotics, that is a useful thing to know.” [Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Geographic Phenomena]
A strained healthcare system and overcrowded hospitals in Nepal will likely continue to add to the mortality of the April 25 earthquake. Hospitals in Kathmandu are overwhelmed with the estimated 14,000 people injured in the quake. Some responders have voiced concerns about a potential cholera outbreak similar to the one that struck Haiti after its 2010 earthquake, though the WHO has now kept a ready stock of a vaccine for the disease. Sanitation improvements are still the most important strategy for halting cholera outbreaks: The vaccine needs to be administered in two doses and kept refrigerated—particularly difficult issues without important infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake. [NPR, New Scientist]
An experimental drug may defend against urinary tract infections by boosting innate immune response. The drug, described in a PLOS Pathogens study, stabilizes regulator protein HIF-1alpha, which plays an important role in protecting bladder cells against an invading pathogen. The researchers said it both protected against new UTIs and helped treat active infections, and “might eventually provide a therapeutic alternative or complement to standard antibiotic treatment.” [PLOS Pathogens, UC San Diego]
Brazil has seen over 700,000 dengue cases so far this year—more than double the number in the same period in 2014. The increase in cases represents about 368 cases per 100,000 people, which the WHO considers a countrywide epidemic, though Brazilian health officials say the cases are confined to specific states. More than half the reported cases were in São Paulo. [BBC]
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Image of C. diff courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
