November 16, 2012
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
Between the release of a joint consensus statement on the need to preserve antibiotic effectiveness and combat resistance and the relaunch of our popular online tool ResistanceMap, CDDEP projects have received substantial local and national news coverage this week. Highlights include stories in USA Today, The LA Times, and Wired s Superbug blog. For a complete roundup, please see this blog post.
Despite passionate arguments for its continuation from Dr. Kenneth Arrow and malaria control program officers, this week the Global Fund decided to effectively end the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm). Individual countries will be able to elect to use Global Fund grants to subsidize malaria drugs, but a larger global subsidy will no longer exist. [NYT, Malaria Journal, Nature]
CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan, in conjunction with four other directors of organizations that work to combat antibiotic resistance, has written a letter published in the Financial Times that highlights the urgency of our diminishing supply of working antibiotics and the need for collective action. [FT]
Mark Dybul, who served as the United States Global AIDS Coordinator, will be joining the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria as the new executive director in 2013. [Devex]
RTS, S, an experimental malaria vaccine, has produced disappointing results in its Phase III tests, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the latest trial on infants, the vaccine has reduced malaria cases by only 30%, while in the previous trial it had reduced the risk of malaria in children between the ages of five and 17 months by 50%. [NYTimes, AFP]
According to research published in the journal PLoS One, scientists find that urine from cows can spread antibiotic resistance through the soil. [Discover Magazine]
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Sanger Institute have successfully used whole genome sequencing to identify, analyze and stop an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a UK hospital. [BBC]
Summarizing relevant research on the usage and impact of antibiotics on children, Dr. Perris Klass stresses the necessity for the judicious use of antibiotics. [NYTimes]
A study published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that mild infections, febrile episodes or the use of antibiotics during pregnancy do not strongly contribute to autism for the newborn child. [CNN]
New research published in the journal PLoS One reveals that trichomoniasis, one of the most widespread sexually transmitted diseases, becomes even more dangerous when infected with a virus. When the parasite causing this disease gets infected by the virus, the current antibiotic treatment fails to produce desired results. [Live Science]
India starts using technologically advanced methods to combat tuberculosis in the country. [Dawn]
In new research published in the Journal of The American Chemical Society, scientists identify the molecular interactions that enable bacteria, such as the E. coli, to develop resistance against carbapenems, one of the more important classes of antibiotics. [Science Daily]
Research published in the journal Infectious Diseases of Poverty explores the opportunities for innovation in treating infectious diseases in resource-constrained developing countries.
Image via Michaelll/Flickr
