March 14, 2014
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
A paper co-authored by CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan and published in the journal PLOS ONE found that incentives can alter national governments decisions to report infectious disease outbreaks. [PLOS ONE]
Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly difficult to treat, with new strains showing resistance to nearly all known antibiotics. [Verge]
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $23 million to the University of Notre Dame for research being carried out to prevent malaria and dengue fever. [Reuters]
DIVINOCELL, an EU-funded research project, has been studying the way bacteria reproduce and devised a new strategy for developing antibiotics. This new approach is based on creating antimicrobial compounds that interfere with bacterial cell division. [Medical Xpress]
New research published online in the journal Chemistry & Biology this week shows that common pain relievers known as NSAIDs also act against bacteria by binding to and inhibiting a specific bacterial protein. This could lead to new strategies for fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. [EurekAlert]
Through studies on the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing have found that a naturally occurring molecule, N-acetylglucosamine, can enhance defense mechanisms against neurodegenerative diseases a discovery that could bring about major advancements in treating Alzheimer s, Parkinson s and Huntington s disease. [Medical Xpress]
Three more cases of measles have been identified in New York City part of a larger outbreak that is centered in Northern Manhattan and has led to five hospitalizations. [ABC]
Journalist Joseph Stromberg discusses the reasons for the subpar performance of the Google Flu Trends service and potential solutions to the problem at Smithsonian. [Smithsonian]
Decades of agricultural research have shown that antibiotics have the ability to fatten up poultry and livestock. Researchers are now investigating whether they have the same effect on humans. [The New York Times]
In his exhibition Malaria: Blood, Sweat and Tears , photographer Adam Nadel explores various aspects of malaria: the history and spread of the disease, its relationship to human populations and the personal lives of those infected. [Slate]
Image via Steven Depolo/Flickr
