January 24, 2014
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
Bill and Melinda Gates highlight three myths that block progress for the poor in their 2014 Gates annual letter. Tackling the myth that foreign aid is a big waste, they discuss the impact of foreign aid and the phenomenal returns from investing in health, especially in saving lives in the poorest countries. [Gates Foundation]
Discussing how foreign aid, through investments in public health in poor countries, has helped saved millions of lives, Jeffrey Sachs also argues for well-designed aid programs with sound operating principles. [Foreign Policy]
An op-ed by Larry Summers and Gavin Yamey both members of the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, for which CDDEP serves as Secretariat discusses possibilities for closing the global health gap and achieving a “grand convergence”. Summers also appeared alongside Bill Gates and Bank of Botswana Governor Linah K. Mohohlo at a Davos event on January 24 to discuss the benefits of investing in health. [Huffington Post]
Former CDDEP researcher Sweta Adhikari wrote a guest blog post on last week’s UN event “Toward a Grand Convergence in Global Health: What Convergence Means for Health after 2015 . [CDDEP]
New research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society demonstrates how the potency of ADEPs, a new class of antibacterials that kill bacteria through a novel mechanism, can be increased up to 1,200 times. [Futurity]
According to a study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, internet-based surveillance systems for monitoring emerging infectious diseases are logistically and economically appealing and could help trace outbreaks earlier than traditional surveillance methods; however, the authors stress that internet-based surveillance should be viewed as an extension rather than an alternative to traditional surveillance systems. [Vaccine News Daily]
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have launched a new website with guidance and resources to help prevent infections in long-term care facilities. [CDC Blogs]
A new study to be published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology finds that Salmonella bacteria are incredibly difficult to kill after they are able to form biofilms on surfaces; hence, preventing the entry of Salmonella into post-cook areas of food processing facilities is essential. [EurekAlert]
The most commonly used antibiotics to treat Shigella infections are losing their effectiveness in mid- and far-western Nepal, according to new research published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Diseases. [SciDev Net]
Citing a recent study, The Local writes that about 190,000 patients in Germany are victims of medical errors during treatment and about 19,000 die annually as a result of those errors. [The Local]
The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) recently released new guidance on attire for doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers to prevent the spread of infections in hospitals and other healthcare settings. [NBC News]
A new study of Iowa patients published in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology finds that those living within one mile of confined or concentrated animal-feeding operations (CAFOs) are three times more likely to have been colonized by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). [Wired Superbug]
The Economist discusses a novel approach being implemented in the Comoros to eradicate malaria from the country. The experiments which are supervised by Dr. Li Guoqiao, one of the researchers who helped develop artemisinin use combination therapy based on artemisinin to target the malaria parasites directly instead of mosquitoes. [The Economist]
Rats can help diagnose tuberculosis with 90% accuracy, pick up 44% more positive cases of the disease than microscopy, and also possibly help detect Salmonella infections, reports The Conversation. [The Conversation]
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